him. If the paparazzi were still following her, she didn’t care. What mattered was tonight’s get-together with Takis’s family.
They would have seen or read this new barrage of sensationalizing information linking the two of them. Her desire to protect him from any pain had her pressing hard on the accelerator all the way to Tylissos.
Lys spotted his car at the house before she pulled up behind it. After getting out she ran to the door and knocked. When there was no answer, she tried opening it, but he’d locked it.
“Takis?” she cried out and knocked harder.
Maybe he was over at his parents’ hotel. If Danae had seen the news, there was no doubt he’d seen it too. Possibly his brother might have come over to the house to talk to him and they were out somewhere. Or maybe he’d driven Takis over to the hotel.
She simply didn’t know, but she intended to find out and dashed to her car. It didn’t take long to reach the hotel. She parked near the front entrance and hurried inside. An attractive dark-haired woman manned the front desk.
“May I help you?”
Lys took a deep breath. “My name is Lys Theron. I need to speak to Takis Manolis. Is he here by any chance?”
“You’re Lys!”
“Yes.”
“I’m Doris, Lukios’s wife.”
“Oh—I’m so happy to meet you.”
“We’re all very excited about tonight.”
If Takis’s sister-in-law had seen the news this morning, she was hiding her reaction to it well.
“So am I, but I need to find Takis. Do you have any idea where he might be? I went over to the house and his car is there, but he didn’t answer the door.”
“Let me check with Hestia. She’ll know.” Lys waited while she made a phone call. When Doris hung up she said, “After breakfast he went to the village with his father and hasn’t come back yet. If you’ll wait just a minute, she’s going to phone him and find out when he’ll be back.”
Lys held back her groan. “Thank you.” The poor darling was probably trying to defend her reputation the best way he could, but it didn’t look good.
Doris’s phone rang and she picked up. Their conversation didn’t last long before she clicked off. “They may be gone for a while. Hestia would like you to come back to their apartment. She wants to talk to you. Their door is at the end of the left hall.”
“I appreciate your help, Doris.”
Shaking inside as well as out, she headed for the apartment where Takis had been born and grew up. Hestia met her at the door with a hug and asked her to come into the living room. Wonderful smells from the kitchen filled the room.
“I’m sorry to come by now when I know you’re preparing for this evening, but I need to see Takis as soon as possible.”
His mother eyed her with concern. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”
She sat on the couch, folding her arms against her waist. “I wish I could tell you.”
“If it’s about the latest tabloid gossip, I pay no attention to it.”
Lys let out a slight gasp. “Then you know what was in the paper this morning.”
“Takis mentioned it at breakfast before he and his father left the hotel together.”
“I went over to his house, but he’s not there. I—I’m so afraid.”
“What is it?” she asked in such a kind voice, Lys had to fight the tears that threatened.
“He asked me to marry him, but I fear I’m not the right kind of woman for him. That’s what I need to tell him so we can call off this engagement party.”
“My son has never done anything he didn’t want to do. He wants you for his wife.”
“But gossip follows me wherever I go and it will rub off on him. I’d do anything to protect him and your family.”
“Tell me something truthfully. Do you love him?”
Her question brought the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Desperately, but he loves you and your husband with all his heart. He’s been so traumatized all these years for hurting you by leaving Crete, the last thing he needs now is to marry a woman who will bring more hurt to you.”
His mother shook her head. “What hurt are you talking about?”
Lys wiped her eyes. “He carries this terrible guilt that he abandoned you when he left for New York. He can’t forgive himself for it.”
“Oh, my dear—” She came over to the couch and put her arm around Lys. “By the time Takis was a year old, his father and I knew he was different than the other two. He insisted on exploring his world and needed more to make him happy. When his girlfriend died, we knew he had to find his life and were thrilled that Kyrie Rodino gave him that opportunity.”
“You were?” Lys cried. “Honestly?”
“Of course. We’re so proud of what he’s done and accomplished.”
Lys couldn’t comprehend it. “Then he’s the last person to know. He’s been afraid that he’s let you down and can never win your approval. And he’s worried that there’s—” She stopped herself before she said something she shouldn’t.
“That there’s what?” Hestia prodded.
“If I tell you, I’m afraid he’ll never forgive me.”
“Of course he will.”
“H-He’s afraid either you or your husband are seriously ill,” her voice faltered. “He thinks that’s why you asked him to come home for good.”
His mother lifted her hands in the air. “We’re in the best health we can be at our age.”
“Oh, thank heaven!” Lys half sobbed.
“Where would he get an idea like that?”
“Because you asked him to come home. He thought there had to be a vital reason.”
“There was. There is. We love him, and we miss him. We figured he’d made enough money on his hotels that he could come back and do something else amazing here in Crete.”
“He has done that!” Lys jumped to her feet. “You know the children’s hospital where your granddaughter had to go the other day?”
Hestia nodded.
“Takis had that hospital built and funds it completely.” At this point tears spilled down his mother’s cheeks. “He’s building another one in Athens.”
“Our dear son,” she whispered.
“Please,
