The Greek Tycoon Box Set: The Complete Serial: Books 1-10 (43 page)

“We’ll get it done, don’t worry.”

Worry grabbed hold of her.
 

“When?”

“I don’t know.” Atreus shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll get everything done on time.”

Suddenly, everything was too much for her.
 

“
We’ll get everything done on time?
” she snapped. “Sure, because I’m making sure everything gets done. Things don’t just magically happen, you know, Atreus.”

Oh, how she hoped he would see through her anger to the hurt that was hidden just below the surface. That he’d look at her with those lovely concerned eyes and come over, wrapping her up in a hug until she could cry all her stress away. But he didn’t.

“You think I don’t know that?” he shot back. “You seriously think I’m doing nothing? I’m preparing for the court case that might see us losing Dios.”

Carla’s breathing was thick and heavy, like the air around them was suddenly full of smog.
 

“Why did you have to marry such a crazy woman in the first place?” she said. “Didn’t you know she would be like this?”

“Why did you have to get with such a crazy man like Brian?” he countered. “He’s caused us his own fair share of trouble. More than Serene, up until now.”

Though Carla knew she’d started it, she felt her heart in her mouth.
 

“Why did you say that to me? I didn’t mean for him to do any of this.”

“And you think I meant for Serene to do what she’s done? You’re unbelievable.”
 

He hoisted Dios up on his hip and paced in front of the fountain, the agitation clear in his face and body.

“Fine,” Carla said. She still felt the nausea from the morning sickness, and now their argument was making her feel even worse. She just hated fighting but didn’t seem to be able to stop her heart from pouring out its pain. “Fine then. That’s just fine.”

He turned around to her, his eyes intense and his voice heavy with emotion.
 

“What is it? What? What is so wrong that I’m making you so unhappy?”

“Just… Just…”
 

Everything she wanted to say caught in her throat while her chest was a whirlpool of so many emotions. She wanted to stalk off and run back to the Cottage, but she also wanted to run up to him and squeeze him in the tightest hug that ever existed. She wanted to shout at him, but also to kiss him all over his face and tell him that everything was going to be all right.

She felt paralyzed, stuck between two opposites. In the end, all she did was sigh.
 

“I just love you,” she whispered. “That’s all.”

“And I love you, too,” he said, confusion crossing his face. “I didn’t know that was an issue. I don’t understand.”
 

Dios struggled to get down so Atreus placed him on the floor.

Suddenly Carla felt the tears spilling over her lash line again.
 

“I don’t think this is going to work.”
 

“What?”

All the hope felt sucked out of the world.
 

“Let’s face it, Atreus,” she said. “Ever since we’ve got together, people are trying to drag us apart, to make things hard for us. Maybe it’s God or the Universe telling us we’re not meant to be together. Maybe we’re fighting fate.”

“No,” he said.

“We’re being stubborn in the face of all the signs telling us we should just split and never see each other again. Seriously, have you ever had this much trouble in a relationship before? Brian coming after us, and Tom, and kidnapping our guests? And Serene and Nikolas taking Little Ekali and now Serene trying to get her claws on Dios? It doesn’t make sense. If we were supposed to be together, everything would be easy.” She heard her voice crack. “Maybe we’re just kidding ourselves.”

Atreus’ eyes were wide and disbelieving.
 

“Are you serious? Are you
actually
serious?”

How could she not be? Everything she had said was true—since they’d been together, they’d had nothing but trouble. She nodded slowly, even though her whole body was racked through with pain as she did.

“I am,” she said.

*****

Chapter 6

Atreus sat on the edge of the fountain and stared at Carla.
 

“You’re kidding, right? This is some nightmare I’m having. You can’t be for real.”

But the horrible truth was dawning on her more and more. All she could do was shake her head slowly.

“So you don’t… you don’t love me?”
 

Carla had never heard him sound more vulnerable. It broke her heart.
 

“Of course I love you,” she rushed to say.
 

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Maybe love isn’t enough to keep things together.”

He stood up again and came toward her.
 

“What do you need? What do you need that I’m not giving you? What can I do to make you happy?”

She sighed, backing up a little bit. If she was close to him, she’d be tempted to fall into his arms and forget all she was saying.
 

“It’s not you. And I
am
happy. So happy, in fact, that I’m scared I won’t always be this happy. I don’t think I could bear to be so content and then lose it all. That’s why I think…”
 

She was going to say,
we should end it now
, but couldn’t. It felt too final, too
damning
.

“What?” Atreus said, throwing his hands in the air. She found his voice harsh and too loud. “That doesn’t make any sense! So you’re unhappy because you’re too happy? What kind of sense does that make?”

Carla let out a slow breath.
 

“Please speak to me more gently.”

“Huh?” Atreus looked really angry. “You come here basically implying that as well as Dios I might lose you, and then tell me to speak more gently? Are you playing some kind of game or trick on me, Carla? I really don’t find it funny.”

Carla backed away from him. She watched Dios as he tottered around the fountain, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around him.
 

“It’s not a game or a trick or a joke. I’m serious. Look at the situation, Atreus. Look at how badly everything has been going for us.”

Atreus looked like all the wind had been knocked out of him. His eyes left her face and focused on some far away tree.
 

“I thought everything was going really well. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, despite what all these people have tried to throw at us. I thought we were stronger than ever. I thought we said we’d get through everything together. You have our baby inside you, for God’s sake. Dios calls you Mama. What more do you want?”

It felt like a tidal wave was rising up in Carla’s chest.
 

“It’s not that I
want
something, it’s just…” The truth was, Atreus’ argument had knocked all the strength out of hers, so much so that she couldn’t even recall her own reasoning. “Oh, I just don’t know!”

She put her face in her hands and willed more tears to come just so she could feel a release. They didn’t, though, even when she screwed up her eyes.
 

“How can you not know?” Atreus said, heartbreaking passion in his voice. “
How can you not know?
”

Carla felt something on her leg, then opened her eyes to see Dios had pressed his hand against her thigh.

He looked up at her and said, “
Sss!
” which was his version of
shh.
 

Whenever Carla wanted to stop him chattering before he went to sleep, she would say, “Shh!” and she would smile at Atreus as Dios replied, “
Sss!
”

Little Dios then looked at his father and said it once again.
 

“Sss!”

Carla looked down at Dios and felt her soul swell. He was trying to get them to be quiet! She looked up at Atreus and saw that his expression had softened, too. Tears shone in his eyes. When he glanced up, their eyes met, in an altogether different feel.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t leave,” he whispered back. “I need you.”

“And I need you.”

Atreus lifted Dios from the ground and hauled him up on his hip. Then he hugged Carla until all three of them were nuzzled together.

“All those bad things happening to us,” Atreus said. “The fact that we’ve got through them I see as a sign that we
are
meant to be together, not that we should be apart.”

Carla smiled.
 

“I like that theory a lot better.”

*****

The weeks rolled by in a much more leisurely way after that. Carla forgot the stress she had been going through, and now saw the garden for the beauty that it held. The summer was turning into the first days of autumn, some of the green leaves turning gold. Luckily the warmth in the air held out, and most days were sunny.

Wedding plans went smoothly, and though the court date rapidly approached, Theo kept them updated and Atreus was turning increasingly to prayer. Carla gained some comfort from it, too, and they tried to keep each other from getting too fearful.

The court date was on a Friday. The Monday at the start of that week saw their fear ramp up a notch.

“Court date this week,” Atreus said over breakfast.

Dios stuffed Cheerios into his mouth, oblivious.

“I know,” Carla said. She sipped her orange juice and watched him sip his.
 

Being pregnant she did not drink coffee at all, and Atreus found it set his nerves too much on edge and prevented him from sleeping.
 

“We’ll get through this,” she said with more confidence than she really felt.

All the wedding preparations had been made for Saturday, but they barely allowed themselves to think about it. They wouldn’t allow themselves even an ounce of joy before they knew that Dios was safe with them.

Carla’s phone buzzed into life on the kitchen table, filling the room with its vibrating sound. They both jumped, as they pretty much always did these days when a phone rang.

The number was a local one she didn’t recognize. She braced herself for some awful news, just in case.
 

“Hello?”

“Hello, darling.”

Carla breathed a sigh of relief. It was her Granddad, and he sounded cheery enough.
 

“Hi, Granddad. How are you now, feeling better? How’s Grandma?”

“I’m right as rain,” Charles said. “Told you I would be. Nothing to worry about. And Grandma’s a very happy woman.”

“Why’s that? And you’re on a local number. Where are you?”

“Ah ha,” Charles said. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Something about talking to her grandparents always put her at ease. Carla guessed it was all the good childhood memories of snuggling up under a blanket there, watching the ice skating championships on TV, and sipping down her granddad’s special hot chocolate with cinnamon and marshmallows. Or splashing about in the garden sprinkler in the heat of the summer, then sitting on the patio, dripping wet, exhausted and happy, to eat home-made strawberry ice cream.

“Aw, come on, Granddad, tell me.”

“Are you free today for us to take you out for lunch?”

“I knew it! You are here!?” She looked up at Atreus. “We’re free today, aren’t we?”

He nodded.

“Yes, we are free, Grandad!”

“Good,” Charles said. “We’ll swing by at around 11:30. See you then.”

Before Carla could ask him any more questions, he’d hung up the phone.

*****

“So you’re
still
not going to tell us, Mr. Simpson?” Atreus laughed.
 

Charles looked in the rearview mirror at him and frowned good-naturedly.
 

“I keep telling you, son, call me Charles.”

Mary turned round from her place in the front and tapped Atreus on the knee.
 

“Oh, never mind him. You call him whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Carla stroked Dios’ hand. He was perfectly safe in the car seat but kept wiggling, eager to see the world outside his window. She was in the middle seat, squished up next to Atreus.
 

“So you’re really not going to tell us where we’re going?”

Mary took on a mischievous grin.
 

“No. We’re taking you out to lunch, and that’s all we’re telling you.”

Charles followed the navigation, taking them down winding country backroads Carla and Atreus had never been down until they finally pulled up in front of a quaint cottage, beautiful with gray stone and slate tiles on the roof. A rubble stone retaining wall had flowers blooming over the top of it, and a white gate in its center.

“Here we are,” Charles said proudly.