Читать книгу A Forever Family: Reunited By Their Baby - Rebecca Winters - Страница 13

AT THREE THE NEXT afternoon, Nik left Fran holding the baby while he walked out to meet Leandros and his wife at the helicopter pad behind the villa. They’d been paying their respects to the other family, the ones who had lost their parents in the tornado and who couldn’t get away before now.

“Fran will be relieved you’re here now. It’s all that matters.” He led them out to the patio of the Angelis family villa where everyone had congregated to talk and eat. More tears ensued while Leandros and Kellie commiserated with his family.

Incredibly, the pain of losing Melina and Stavros was softened by the joy of having found Demi alive, a blessing no one had expected. Nik was heartened to see his family’s spirits had lifted despite their loss.

“It’s all over the news,” Sandro spoke up. “Demi is known as the Miracle Baby. Did you know the hotel in Leminos has become famous overnight?”

“So has the hospital,” Cosimo declared. “They even interviewed Demi’s doctor on the noon news.”

Though the whole family was eager to hold her, Demi clung to Fran just as Nik had suspected she would. The only time she didn’t cry was when his parents held her. But after a few minutes, Demi was looking for Fran and making sounds that indicated she didn’t want to be with anyone else.

Nik knew his parents were hurt, but they hid it well. When they had issued her an invitation over the phone to be their guest for as long as she wanted, they had had no idea they would need her on hand to keep Demi happy. He smiled to himself. Though Fran had turned him down about staying on, she didn’t know this story wasn’t over yet.

His father eyed Fran who was holding Demi against her shoulder. The baby looked around chewing on her teething ring. “Tell us what you thought when you found her. We want details,” he beseeched her.

Fran broke into a tender smile. Once more she repeated her amazing tale. “The hotel is situated on a corner of the street. My first thought was that her mother or father had been walking her in a stroller on the other side of the hotel when those gale-force winds drove Kellie and me to run inside for shelter.

“It seemed more than possible she’d been blown into the garden at the rear of the building. But if that were true, then where were her parents? I was in shock to think she’d been exposed to the elements all night. Honestly, she looked like she’d been dropped from the sky.”

Nik’s sisters-in-law made moaning sounds to think such a thing had happened.

Kellie sat forward. “I came around back and saw Fran holding a limp baby who was wearing only a torn shirt. I thought I was hallucinating.”

“You weren’t the only one,” Fran added. “When neither the police or the hospital staff had heard of anyone looking for their baby, I began to think that’s exactly what had happened, that she’d been carried by the wind and deposited in a cushion of bushes.”

“But twelve miles—” Nik’s mother cried out and put her hands to her mouth. “God wanted her to live.” His father nodded his silver head and wept.

“Nik?” Fran eyed him from her place on the swing. “Has your family seen the pictures you took with your camera?”

He’d been planning to show them later. “Let’s do it right now,” he said, but he had difficulty talking because of the lump in his throat. After pulling out his phone, he clicked on to the picture gallery and handed it to his parents. “Slide your thumb across to see all of them. I took a few pictures in the hospital, too.” He’d made certain he’d gotten some shots of Fran.

For the next little while his family and the Petralias took turns viewing them. Nik’s sixand seven-year-old nephews were eager to look at them, too. The younger threeand four-year-olds had no idea what was going on and played with their toys. In the quiet, Fran’s eyes met his. They were both remembering that surreal moment when she’d showed him the now-famous spot.

While everyone was talking, he walked over to her. “Do you think she’s ready for something besides a bottle?”

“I hope so. She needs the nourishment.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. I’ll tell cook to get out a jar of her favorite fruit and meat.”

Fran hugged the baby. “You’d like some food, wouldn’t you, sweetheart?”

Whether she wanted it or not, she needed it. Having made up his mind, Nik left the patio and headed for the kitchen. In a minute he returned with the food and the high chair that had been in use for several years.

He put it in front of Fran, then plucked the baby from her arms and set her inside it. The cook had given him a bib that he tied around her neck. Both Fran and Demi looked up at him in surprise.

Nik shot them an amused glance. “We’ll both feed her,” he explained and sat down on the swing next to her. “You take the turkey.” He handed her the jar and a spoon. “I’ll give her some plums.”

“Coward,” she whispered. Her chuckle filled him with warmth.

To his relief the baby began to eat, which meant her initial trauma had passed and she was relaxed enough to want her semi-solid food again. Once she’d been put in a private room at the hospital, the nurse hadn’t been able to get her to eat anything. Fran had to see the transformation and think twice about turning him down when he asked her again.

“Well, look at you,” she said to Demi with a big smile. “I didn’t know you were such a good eater.”

Demi beamed back at both of them. Nik had never actually fed Demi before. Aided and abetted by Fran, he found himself having more fun than he could remember. Some turkey clung to the baby’s upper lip, making her look adorable. Both he and Fran chuckled in delight to see her behaving normally.

Soon she finished her food while the family looked on in varying degrees of interest and curiosity. They weren’t used to seeing Nik feed her. But most of all, they were shocked at the way Demi responded to Fran. The hurt in his parents’ eyes had intensified. It didn’t surprise him when Nik’s father eventually got up from his chair and walked over to give his granddaughter a kiss on the cheek.

“One would never know what you lived through, Demi,” he spoke in Greek. “Come to your grandpa.” He wiped her mouth with the bib, then untied it and picked her up to take her over to Nik’s mother.

Demi adored her grandfather, but the further he took her from Fran, the more she squirmed and kept turning her head to find her. Nik’s mother got to her feet and held out her hands to Demi, but the baby started to cry.

“What’s wrong, darling?” his mother talked to her in their native tongue, attempting to cuddle her. “Tell me what’s the matter.”

Nik knew the answer to that. She wanted Fran. It really was astonishing to see that even with the entire family surrounding her, Demi wanted a stranger if she couldn’t have her own mother and father. He eyed Fran covertly, daring her to close her mind and heart to what was going on here.

His stomach muscles tightened as he watched the looks of surprise and confusion from everyone, but especially at the pain on his parents’ faces when Demi started crying in earnest.

They’d lost Melina, but it had never occurred to anyone that Demi wouldn’t soak up the love they were ready to heap on her. Nik believed it was a passing phenomenon. It had to be. But right now something needed to be done to calm the baby down.

“You know what I think?” he said in English. “Demi’s barely out of the hospital and needs to go to bed.” So did his parents who needed to rest to get through this ordeal.

“Of course,” his mother concurred.

“Fran and I will take her and put her down, then we’ll be back.”

He clutched the baby to him and started for the villa. Fran got up from the swing and followed him to the apartment. Earlier he’d asked the housekeeper to get it prepared. With the help of the staff, they’d moved the crib and other things from the nursery in Melina’s apartment to the spare room. For now it would serve as a nursery while Fran took care of Demi.

Together they got the baby ready for her afternoon nap with a fresh diaper and a white sleeper with feet.

“You look so cute in this,” Fran said, kissing her cheeks several times. Once again Nik marveled how natural she was with Demi, almost as if the baby were hers. Neither of them were bilingual, but it didn’t matter. They spoke a special language of love that managed to transcend. Watching Demi, you’d think Fran was her mother. How could that be? Unless…

Was it possible that the baby’s head had suffered an injury when she hit the earth and she’d developed amnesia?

Were there cases of such a thing happening to an infant? Amnesia might explain her connection to Fran. She’d been the first person Demi saw when she’d awakened in the hospital.

But if that were true, then why did she respond to the family, to Nik? Though it was half-hearted, she did recognize everyone. He was baffled and anxious to talk to a doctor first thing in the morning.

Nik drew a bottle of premixed formula from the bag. When Fran put the baby in the crib, he handed Demi her bottle. Speaking Greek to her, he told her he loved her and wanted her to go to sleep.

Before she started drinking, the baby made sounds and stared up at the two of them with those dark brown eyes that could have been Melina’s.

“Come on, Fran,” he whispered. “Let’s go.”

“See you later, sweetheart.” Fran patted her cheek, then started to follow Nik out of the room. They’d no sooner reached the door than Demi burst into tears.

Fran looked at him with pleading eyes. “I can’t leave her yet.”

Nik had been counting on that. “She loves you.”

Again Fran averted her eyes because she knew what he’d just said was true. “You go on and be with your family, Nik. I’m sure you have things to discuss before the funeral tomorrow. Tell Kellie to come and keep me company while Demi falls asleep.”

“I will. Maybe when she sees how much the baby wants you, she’ll tell you the vacation can wait a few more days.”

“I—I don’t think so.” Her little stammer indicated she wasn’t quite as confident as she’d been on the plane.

“We’ll see,” he murmured.

She gripped the bars of the crib. “The baby’s worn-out from all the excitement, but still needs time to settle down and get sleepy. I’ll join you on the patio later.”

This extraordinary woman was right on all counts, but if the truth be told, Nik would rather stay in here with her. “All right, but I’ll be back soon to relieve you if she proves too restless.”

He strode swiftly through the villa to the patio and sought out Kellie. “Fran wants to talk to you. I’ll show you to the nursery.”

She spoke to Leandros who nodded his head, then she followed Nik through the house. Before they entered the apartment he said, “I’m not sure there wouldn’t have been a catastrophe tonight if Fran weren’t here to take charge of Demi.”

Kellie smiled at him. “After college she went into hospital administration, but they soon found out she’s a remarkable people person for the young and the old. That’s why they put her in the position she holds now. I wager she’s sorely missed already. I’m lucky she could take off these two weeks for our vacation.”

Having seen her in action with Demi, Nik agreed. He also got the message from Kellie not to count on Fran’s generosity beyond tonight. In fact, he was sure he’d been warned off, in the nicest way possible. While cogitating on that thought, he was more determined than ever to prevail on Fran to remain longer.

They reached the door to the apartment. “Come find the family after my niece has fallen asleep.”

A half hour later Fran tiptoed out of the nursery with Kellie and they went into the bedroom. “I think she’ll stay asleep now. Tell me what’s happened with Leandros?”

“If anything, things are worse. But before we get into that, tell me what’s going on with Nik.”

“What do you mean?”

Kellie sat down on the side of the king-size bed. “He has you ensconced in this fabulous apartment with the baby in the adjoining room, almost like you’re a permanent fixture.”

“I told him I’d help out until after the funeral tomorrow.”

“But he’d like it to be longer, right?”

Nothing got past Kellie. Fran nodded. “On the flight to Mykonos, Nik asked me if I would stay on to tend Demi until she’s comfortable with the family again. He hopes I’ll remain here until I have to go back to Philadelphia. I told him no because you and I were on vacation.”

“Are you hoping I won’t hold you to it?”

She shook her head. “No, Kellie. I only told him that as an excuse. This has nothing to do with you or our trip. I need to leave tomorrow before I find myself wishing I could take her back home with me. If it were possible, I’d like to adopt her.”

“Adopt an Angelis?”

“I know how outrageous that sounds. That’s why I’m glad we’re leaving tomorrow.”

Looking haunted, Kellie got up from the bed. “I know how attached you are to the baby already and would love to say yes to him.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t.”

“You must think I’m being difficult, but it’s because I’m afraid to see you get hurt again. When I think what you went through with Rob…”

Fran sucked in her breath. “Believe me, I don’t want that kind of pain again either. When I found Demi in that garden, I felt like I’d been handed a gift. I wanted her to be mine. But she isn’t! If I stayed here ten more days, it would kill me to have to walk away from her, traumatizing her once again. I refuse to put myself or her in that position. I’ve had too many losses in my life.”

“Oh, Fran—” Kellie gave her a commiserating hug.

She wiped her eyes. “I’m glad we’re leaving after the funeral. I need to put this experience behind me and forget Demi exists. It has dredged up too many painful memories. I need to move on.”

By now Kellie’s eyes were wet. “That makes two of us. Leandros doesn’t want me working in his office.”

“He wouldn’t even consider it?”

“No. He says he wants to be able to come home to me after a hard day’s work, but the reason is crystalclear. Though he hasn’t come right out and said it, our love life has never been satisfactory to him.

“How could it have been with a bride who was in terrible pain the first time he made love to her? His marriage to Petra was nothing like ours. They were expecting a baby when—when—” She couldn’t go on. “That’s why I have to put some real distance between us. Karmela can supply him what’s missing. Our marriage is over.”

“I can’t bear it, Kellie.”

“It’s for the best. Like you, I refuse to wallow in any more pain. As for the Angelis family, they need to hire a nanny as soon as tomorrow after the funeral and get her installed right away.”

“Agreed. I know Demi will miss me, but she’ll get over it. She’ll have to. I made that clear to Nik.”

“For your sake, I’m glad.” They eyed each other for a long moment. “Even though I’m nursing a horrendous headache, what do you say we put on our best smiles and go out to the patio as if nothing in the world is wrong? After we’ve mingled for a while, I plan to have an early night.”

“So do I. Demi will be needing another bottle before sleeping through the night.”

They reached the door. “Leandros will cover for me until he’s ready for bed. It’s what he’s good at. You might as well know we haven’t slept together for the last month.”

Fran understood her pain. She hadn’t slept with Rob for the three months leading up to their separation. It had been the beginning of the end.

The day was winding down. Nik’s mother and sisters-in-law spoke together while he talked with the men. But they all stopped long enough to admire the two American beauties who’d just stepped out onto the patio.

At the first sight of Fran, Nik felt an unwanted quickening in his body. The same thing had happened at the hospital when they’d been removing their masks and gowns. In a very short time she’d grown on him despite the pain he was in.

Most of the Greek women he’d known and dated were more chatty and conscious of themselves, famous for drama on occasion. His sisters-in-law were like that. Fiery at times—beautiful—and they knew it. Melina hadn’t been quite so theatrical. That’s probably why she’d appealed to the quietly spoken Stavros.

Fran was an entirely different kind of woman. She seemed comfortable in her attractive skin, reminding Nik of still waters that ran deep. Did her calm aura hide unknown fires within? He felt in his gut this woman could become of vital importance to him.

After some soul-searching, he recognized his motivation to keep Fran in Athens wasn’t driven exclusively by Demi’s best interests. Already he was trying to find a way to persuade her to stay on for his own personal reasons. But he feared that if he lowered the bars to let her inside his soul and she couldn’t take what he would be forced to tell her, blackness would envelop his world. He faced a dilemma he’d never experienced before.

Should he run from what he feared most? Or did he reach out for the one thing that might bring him the greatest joy?

On impulse he turned to the others. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to Kyria Myers.”

By now Kellie had joined her husband, leaving Fran alone. He watched her wander to the wall at the edge of the patio and look out over the water. Her violet-blue eyes flicked to his when she saw him approach. “I can’t imagine gazing out on this idyllic view every night of your life. All the stories about the Greek Islands are true. You live in a paradise, especially here on Mykonos.”

“I agree there’s no place on earth quite like it. On the weekends, I look forward to leaving the office in Athens and coming home. The temperature of the air and the sea turns us into water babies around here.”

She smiled. “There’s an American artist who has done some serigraphs of Mykonos. He’s captured the white cubic style of a villa like your family’s to perfection.”

“I know the artist you mean. I’m fond of his artwork, too, particularly several of his Italian masterpieces.”

“Aren’t they wonderful?”

He nodded, enjoying their conversation, but was impatient to get down to business. “How long did it take Demi to finally fall asleep?”

“Um, maybe ten songs,” she quipped. Her gentle laugh found its way beneath his skin.

“Let’s go for a walk along the beach.” He took off his shoes. “Be sure to remove your sandals. You can leave them here by mine.”

“All right.” Together they walked down the steps to the sand. From there it was only a few yards to the water. “Oh. Lovely. It warms my toes.”

Nik chuckled. “Twilight is my favorite time to swim. If you wait a while, the moon will come up. Then everything is magical.”

“It already is.”

They walked in companionable silence for a long time. Unlike most women he knew, she felt no need to fill it in with conversation. That was a quality he liked very much, except for tonight. At the moment he had the perverse wish she would speak her mind. Fran knew he was waiting to hear she’d changed her mind.

Taking the initiative, he said, “Are you and Kellie still intent on leaving tomorrow?”

She slowed to a stop. In the dying light, she looked straight at him. “Yes. Much as I’d like to help you out, I’m afraid I can’t. But I’ll have you know it has been my privilege to take care of Demi over the last few days. If it’s your wish, I’ll stay with her until the funeral services are over. Then I’ll fly back to Athens with Kellie and Leandros.”

His heart clapped to a stop. She’d turned him down flat. Over his years in business, he’d made a study of people to find out what made them tick. Before Kellie Petralia had spent time alone with her in the bedroom, he could have sworn Fran was considering his proposition. He rubbed the back of his neck. Leandros’s wife had a definite agenda and Nik’s appeal to Fran had gotten in the way.

Trying a different tack he said, “Could you possibly wait another day? With the funeral tomorrow, I won’t be able to do anything about Demi’s care until the next day. What I’d like to do is interview some nannies for the position. It would be a big help if you were there, too.

“Your hospital work makes you somewhat of an expert in reading people. If we both come up with our own questions, I’m sure we’ll be able to pick the right nanny for her.”

“I’m sorry, Nik, but I promised Kellie we’d leave as soon as you all came back from the interment. Surely your own mother and sisters-in-law would be the perfect ones to help out?”

Disappointed by her noncapitulation, he bit down hard on his teeth. “They would if Demi would let them hold her. I’m afraid a hysterical baby could put off a potential nanny.”

“If that’s the case, then you need to keep looking for one who can handle the situation, no matter how difficult.”

Damn if beneath that ultra-feminine exterior she didn’t think like a man… .

He felt a grudging respect for her, but this battle was far from over and he was determined to win. “What if I offered you the job of permanent nanny? It’s what I’d been thinking about all along after I saw how you cared for her in the hospital. No one could have been more like a mother. That’s why she responded to you.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but I already have a career,” she came back without blinking an eye. “As much as I love that little girl—and who wouldn’t?—it’s a job, and the last one I’d want.”

Nik was dumbfounded. “Are you so enamored of your hospital work, you can’t imagine yourself leaving it for a position that could pay you an income to set you up for life in surroundings like this?”

“Actually, I can’t, and I don’t want that kind of money.”

Then she belonged to a dying breed.

“Let me ask you the same question, Nik. Do you love what you do to make a living?”

His eyes narrowed on her appealing features, particularly her generous mouth. “What does one have to do with the other?”

“I was just thinking of a way to solve your problem. In the hospital, you treated Demi like a father would. Maybe you ought to become her nanny and give your brothers more responsibility for running the Angelis Corporation. Your sister Melina and Stavros would look down from heaven and love you forever for making such a great sacrifice.”

Fran didn’t know he’d agreed to be Demi’s guardian if anything happened to them. Her comment found his vulnerable spot and pierced the jugular. He could feel his blood pressure climbing.

“Then again,” she said softly, “you could find a wife who would love Demi and make a beautiful home for the three of you. That would take care of every problem. Your parents must be worried sick you haven’t settled down yet.”

Adrenaline pushed his anger through the roof. “Now we come to the crunch. After reading the tabloids on the plane, is it possible you’re offering to become my bride and bring an end to my wicked ways? Is that what this verbal exercise has all been about?”

Her gentle laughter rang out in the night air. “Heavens, no. You’re no more wicked than the next man.”

While he digested that surprising comment she said, “I’ve been through marriage once and have no desire to be locked in that unhappy prison again. I was only teasing you, Nik, but it was wrong of me to try to lighten your mood on the eve of the funeral. Forgive me for that. I can see why you’re such a powerhouse in business. You make it impossible to say no.”

“Yet you’ve just said no to me.” The nerve at his temple throbbed. This woman was twisting him in knots.

She eyed him critically. “You’ve told me you value what I’ve learned from my hospital work. If that’s true, then listen to me. Demi’s going to be all right. I promise. For a while we know she’ll grieve for her parents, but in time she’ll respond to your loving family.

“They’re wonderful and they’re all here willing to do anything. Let them help. Don’t take it all on by yourself or you’ll burn out.”

“What are you talking about?” he growled with impatience.

“I’m talking about you. Leandros sings your praises as the new brains and power behind the Angelis Corporation. But you can’t be everything to everyone every minute of the day and night the way you’ve been doing since you heard about the tornado. You remind me of Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders.”

Atlas?

“I’ve seen it happen in families once a patient goes home from the hospital. There’s always one person like you who carries the whole load, whether because of a greater capacity to feel compassion or a stronger need to give service. Who knows all the reasons? But the point is, this develops into a habit, and you’re too young for this to happen to you.”

Without question Fran Myers was the most unique individual he’d ever met. No woman had ever confounded him so much before.

He sucked in his breath. “Let’s go back, shall we? On the way, I want to hear about the reason why your marriage failed you to the point that you no longer believe in it.”

Slowly they retraced their footsteps. “In a couple of sentences, I can tell you why it didn’t work. He was the live wire at his law firm trying to make it to the top. Furthermore, he didn’t feel he had the time to be a family man. He was too consumed by his work.”

“What vital ingredient have you left out?”

When Fran almost stumbled, he knew he’d hit a nerve. “I’m afraid we both fell out of love. It happens all the time to millions of people.”

“But not to someone like you. If he didn’t have an affair, then what’s the real reason it failed?”

“I’d rather not discuss it.”

“Since you pretty well laid me out to the bare bones a little while ago, how about some honesty from you in return?”

“I suppose that would only be fair.” She tossed her head back, causing the dark blond mass of gleaming hair to resettle on her shoulders. “You could say that when he didn’t live up to the bargain we’d made before we married, there was nothing to hold us together any longer.”

“Then he lied to you.”

“I wouldn’t say it was a lie…More of a human failing. When faced with the reality of what he’d committed to while we were dating, he couldn’t go through with it. I didn’t blame him for it, but my disappointment was so profound, my heart shut down.”

“I’m sorry. How long were you married?”

“Three years.”

And no children.

He wanted to know more. “Was he your first love?”

“No. Over the years I met and dated several men I thought might be the one. I’m sure the same experiences have happened to you.”

“It’s true I’ve enjoyed my share of women and still do. All of them have traits I admire.”

“But so far none of them has delivered the whole package. At least that’s what the tabloids infer,” she added in a playful tone. “It was the same for me until Rob came along. He had everything that appealed to me and I didn’t hesitate when he asked me to marry him.”

Nik’s dark brows lifted. “And once you’d each said I do, the one essential element to make your marriage work wasn’t there after all, and it drove you apart.”

“Precisely.”

She was good at maintaining her cool, but every so often when their arms or legs brushed while they were walking, he could feel her trembling because she was holding back critical information. Her friend Kellie could enlighten him, but he knew deep down that wasn’t the route to go. He’d find Leandros.

As if thinking about him conjured him up, they discovered him taking a swim. Like Nik, he’d been born on an island in the Aegean and found the water the ideal place to wind down at the end of the day. But Nik had to admit surprise his wife hadn’t joined him.

“Hey, Leandros—” Fran called to him. “Where’s Kellie?”

When he saw them, Leandros swam to shore. After picking up a towel he walked toward them while he dried himself off. “She had a headache and went to bed.”

“After the horror of the last few days, I’m not surprised,” she said in a quiet tone. “I’m ready to turn in myself.” She glanced at Nik. “Thank you for your hospitality and the privilege of taking care of Demi one more night. I’ll see you and your family in the morning before the funeral. Goodnight.”

She gave Leandros a hug before she started for the steps leading up to the patio. Once at the top, she waved to them before disappearing inside the villa.

“Would you mind leveling with me about something?”

Leandros’s gaze switched to Nik. “Not at all.”

“I asked Fran if she’d be willing to stay on for another week to help while our family tries to find the right nanny. Because she looked after Demi from the moment she found her, I thought she might be willing. But when I asked her this evening, she indicated she’s planning to travel with your wife and can’t change her plans.”

A grimace broke out on his face. “My wife’s mind is made up.”

There was a lot Leandros wasn’t saying, but it was none of Nik’s business until his friend chose to tell him.

“Then that relieves my fear. I thought maybe she’d said no to me as an excuse because of something I may have said or done to offend her. In my attempt to compliment her for the way she took care of Demi by asking her to stay on for a while longer, I may have accomplished the opposite result.

“As you saw earlier, my little niece clings to her and is unhappy with anyone else. When I told Fran she’d be well paid for her sacrifice, I think she took it as the final insult, which was the last thing I meant to do.”

Leandros shook his head. “Not Fran. She stayed with your niece at the hospital because she wanted to. I’m sure she would have agreed to help you if Kellie weren’t so insistent on their taking this trip.”

“Where are they going?”

“On a driving trip to see other parts of Greece and do some hiking.”

“I see.”

“Fran’s first marriage didn’t work and Kellie has worried about her ever since. Just between us, my wife is determined to find Fran a husband.”

That was an interesting piece of news. “Does she have someone particular in mind?”

“I doubt it. I think she’s hoping they’ll meet some unattached American over here on holiday with the right credentials who will sweep Fran off her feet. In the meantime, rest assured Fran’s decision has nothing to do with you or the baby. I happen to know she’s as crazy about kids as Kellie is.”

Finally Nik had his answer though he already had proof how much she loved children by her attachment to Demi.

He patted Leandros’s shoulder. “Thanks for the talk. You’ve relieved my mind in more ways than you know. See you in the morning. If I haven’t told you yet, my family and I are honored that you’ll be here for us.”

“It’s the least I can do for a good friend,” Leandros’s voice grated. “I plan to attend the services for the other family this weekend.”

But Leandros’s wife wouldn’t be with him. Something was wrong and it gave him an idea.

“Leandros? Before you go to bed, there’s something else I’d like to talk to you about it if you don’t mind. I’ve been trying to think of a way to reward Fran for all she’s done and would like to run it by you.”

“Go ahead. I’m not ready for bed yet.”