The Greek's Marriage Bargain ✔️ (Completed)

Three

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It was disorientating being back in the house where Dimitris had once carried her giggling over the threshold. Natalia stood in the high-ceilinged hallway of the beautiful nineteenth century building and felt little beads of sweat pricking at her forehead. She knew Dimitris was watching her, just as he'd been watching her during the drive from his office to his home in the classical terrace overlooking Gerber's Park. She wondered if he had a clue how weird she found it being here again, after all this time. Did he realize that, behind the smile she'd managed to produce from nowhere, her heart was thudding with pain?

    Glancing around the hall, she tried to concentrate on the practical -- telling herself that it was only bricks and mortar. But it seemed so much than that. The air was scented with cinnamon and the wall were hung with beautiful paintings, many of them depicting Greece. There was one with the famous view of the St Nicholas Bay, which could be seen from the terrace of the Valerianos estate in Rhodes. She'd always loved that one.

    Silken rugs from the East were strewn over the polished floors and the overriding impression was one of solid wealth and stability. But the décor was as masculine as she remembered and little seemed to have changed since last she'd been there.

    Natalia gave a wry smile. This had been their home but it had never really felt like her home. Her sometimes brash and streetwise persona had deserted her when it came to soft furnishings and the truth was that she'd been intimidated by what to put in the Grade I listed building. She'd been terrified that her lack of historical knowledge would cause her to make some basic error of taste, which would have everyone laughing at her. That was why she'd never dared put her mark on the house. Why she hadn't bought so much as a single vase when she'd lied here.
    "It looks exactly the same," she observed as she brought her gaze back to rest on his face. "You haven't done much to it."

    "No." His expression suddenly became closed.

    "Why not?"

    "Well, masterminding the Valerianos empire takes up most of my time. You know how it is, Nat."

    "Of course. How could I ever forget something as fundamental as that?" She kept her words as flippant as his. "My mother was an alcoholic and I married a workaholic. Must be something in me that brings out the obsessive in a person."

    He stiffened as if her words had shocked him -- and maybe they had. "Why are you saying something like that?"

    "Because it's the truth and neither of us have to pretend any more. We both know I was the world's most unsuitable wife for you. I'm just reminding us of one the reasons why."

    He saw the sudden sharp anxiety on her face and something inside him wanted to wipe it away. "Stop winding yourself up for no reason," he said gently. "Try taking a deep breath and calm down."

    "You think that being back here is contributing to my levels of serenity?"

    "I don't think anything could do that when you're so uptight. Come on, let's go and sit down and you can relax."

    Having little choice but to obey, she followed him into the garden room at the back of the house, the one which had always been her favorite. She wondered if he'd done that on purpose -- to remind her of all the things she'd lost?

    Two green velvet sofas overlooked a garden filled with white flowers. White roses scrambled up a far stone wall and tall white daises stood behind neat hedges of white lavender. She walked over to the French windows and unlocked them, and a mixture of scents and the sound of birdsong filtered into the room.
    It felt unbearably poignant. She used to sit here during her second pregnancy, making plans and knitting minuscule little bootees -- even though nobody else she knew ever knitted. While Dimitris was away on business she would dream about what it would be like when their baby was born. When, magically, he would let go of his heavy workload and the three of them would go walking in the nearby park, just like a proper family.