Xandros and Ally

Chapter 19 (Ally): A Gift

When we stopped in front of Xandros's grandfather, after he introduced the two of us, the old man studied me with a frown on his face. Then he lifted a hand toward me, pointing a finger at my face.

"You caused much trouble in two families."

Cocking my head at him, I met his eyes. "You're blaming the wrong person."

His lower lip  jutted out, and his finger swung to Xandros. "No, I hold my grandson responsible, too."

"I'm talking about you, Mr. Nikolaou," I said. "You tried to force, guilt trip, coerce -- whatever you want to call it -- Xandros into doing what was right for the company all his life. You didn't care about what he wanted, as long as the company was safe."

"And now, because of you two, we will lose the company."

Oh, the drama.

"I would say if you lose the company because Xandros decided not to marry Cressie, your company wasn't all that stable to begin with."

"You talk back too much."

Xandros crossed his arms over his chest. "It's one of her traits I admire most, Papous."

His grandfather made some sort of grunt to express his displeasure with Xandros's statement. "You will come to regret marrying this woman."

"I would come to regret not marrying Ally."

That finger came up again. "Name your price to step out of the picture."

"I already am out of the picture, " I told him.

"You come to me and I will pay you handsomely to leave Xandros."

Xandros was about to start snapping, so I cut him off. "Mr. Nikolaou, I wouldn't come to you if I was starving and you were holding the last loaf of bread."

His grandfather frowned again.

"Papous, she's not like that. Money isn't her motivation."

"Everyone's motivated by money."

"Not Ally. She likes to help people. She loves her music."

"Hmmph."

"We'll go get you a plate of food," Xandros said to his grandfather, and he took me by the arm and steered me toward the food table. Along the way, we were stopped by at least ten other relatives and Xandros introduced me to them all.

"He liked you," Xandros said of his grandfather.

"That was like? What does he do with people he doesn't like?"

With a dark laugh, Xandros started filling a plate. "You'll never find out."

Filling a plate for myself, Xandros told me to make sure I grabbed some carrot cake he'd had his mother bring with the rest of the food. The no-nut variety. Score!

"Took you long enough," the old man grumbled when we returned and Xandros handed him his plate of food. "You had to talk to everyone between here and the food table."

"You're welcome," I said back to him cheerily.

"You sit," he ordered me, indicating the chair next to him. However, I had noticed his mouth twitch at my subtle rebuke about his lack of manners.

From across the room, someone called for Xandros.

"You OK here with him for a minute, fos mou?"

"We'll be braiding each other's hair by the time you get back."

As Xandros walked away, I sat next to the old man and we ate silently for a minute.