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A Trip to the Greek Ruins
The day after the wedding in Spetses…
DOMINIC
“Are we there yet?” Eleni asked, yawning. She’d kept nodding off beside him.
“Almost.” Dominic looked at the rearview mirror for Kostas’ reaction. They weren’t where she had expected to be, but they were almost where he wanted to be.
He wondered when she would suspect that they weren’t on the way back to Athens, but were instead going to Cape Sounion.
They’d stayed in bed for most of the morning, or rather, he’d woken up early, worked for a few hours, before joining Eleni in bed. They had hours to kill, and time in bed was always the best way.
Famished, they’d later had a late lunch in one of the beautiful little restaurants tavernas overlooking the Old Harbor before visiting Eleni’s mother.
“Didn’t you want to get back early?” she asked, her head resting on his shoulder. Miranda’s wedding had been a reminder of all that Eleni had come to mean to him, of how a year with her had enriched his life and how he had tough choices to make. How he could not live without her.
But Miranda’s wedding had also got him thinking, even more than he had been already. It had sped up the decisions about his future that he had been formulating.
His return to the US had kicked things into motion, and this had been inevitable all along. Having created a consortium of shipping companies, he’d made his father happy. He’d proven himself, because a deal without Galatis had worked out to be the best solution in the end. He’d also found a great replacement for Nikolaos; Linus hadn’t been too happy about it, but the man didn’t have the necessary leadership traits and experience to step into the role.
Eleni jolted up and stared out of the window. “Christé mou!” It was a phrase he had come to know well, like her ‘Óh Theé mou,’ which signaled her excitement, and at times, her exasperation.
He’d ordered Kostas to take the scenic route along the Athens Riviera. Views of the Aegean stretched out before them, the magnificent ocean laced with sandy beaches. Maybe one day soon they could return and spend a day here, instead of fitting a trip in at the end of an already hectic few days.
“Why have we come here so late? We should have earlier in the morning. I’m sure there are plenty of hidden coves and private little beaches for us to discover. It’s so pretty!” She stared out of the window, but placed a hand on his knee as if needing his attention. Did she not know that she always had it?
“We’ll come one day, maybe next weekend,” he offered. “Maybe have a picnic, if you want …”
She spun around. “A picnic, did you say? Dominic Steele, the man who hates small talk, and people, and mingling, is suggesting a picnic?”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tugged her close to him, forcing her to scoot nearer to him on the car seat. “You are not people, and talking to you is not small talk. With you, it’s not mingling. It has never been just mingling.”
She lifted her face up at him, forcing him to drop a kiss on her lips. How could he stare at that beautiful face, those full lips and those rich velvety eyes, and not want her?
“It wasn’t always like that. In the beginning you had to suffer me,” she giggled. “I was insufferable that day, and you weren’t any better, with your paperwork and your mood and your sarcastic comments.”
They had dissected that first day many times. “I was insufferable. It’s no surprise you threw that juice over me.” He dropped another kiss on her lips.
“Look at that sunset, Dominic.” She gazed out of the car window on his side. “So beautiful.”
“And that’s exactly why I wanted us to come here now. There are some ruins here which I’ve heard are spectacular by sunset—”
“The Temple of Poseidon? That’s the only thing that’s over by this way.”
“That’s the one. I thought it would be nice to catch it at sunset. Apparently, it’s one of the most beautiful ancient sites in Greece.”
“Hmmm.” She was busy staring at the view. The sky had turned orangey golden.
“It’s dedicated to the god Poseidon, who was considered by the Greeks to be a master of the sea.”
She threw him a curious glance. “Listen to you.”
He felt proud of himself, for getting up to speed.
“You romantic.” She stretched up and kissed him. Her until-a-moment-ago-sleepy eyes were suddenly very big and wide. “I love you for trying so hard.”
Wanting to prove a point to her from the first time they’d met, he’d made it a point to visit the various Greek temples and places of interest. With her the visits to the Acropolis and Temple of Hephaestus—which he could pronounce perfectly without tripping up—and the ruins he’d had to suffer with Hector Galatis, now made for a completely different experience when going with the woman he loved.
Eleni didn’t need big gestures, no diamonds, or expensive meals at the top restaurants, or trips in the private jet.
Nothing. She had been uneasy the first time he’d taken her in the jet. But he’d soon put her at ease in the bedroom…
This woman was so easy to love, and he could not imagine his life without her. But a return to the US beckoned, and he was at a crossroads. He dropped an absentminded kiss on the top of her head as they stared silently at the view.
They got out of the car and walked towards the Temple which was still in the distance a way off, perched at the top of a cliff, like an iconic statue.
“It’s a good thing you’ve perked up now. I didn’t realize the way up would be like this.”
“I was falling asleep in the car because someone didn’t let me sleep last night.”
“Someone shouldn’t have looked so sexy if she wanted to get some sleep.”
“Ooooh,” she squealed, almost losing her balance were it not for his steadying grip.
“Careful.” The last thing he wanted was for her to go and injure herself again.
“I would have worn my walking boots if I’d known we were climbing a hill. When did you decide we’d come and see this?”
“It was a spontaneous decision”, he lied. She’d wanted to talk yesterday, and he sensed what she wanted to gauge from him.
“Is that how you know of it?” she asked, tugging at his hand extra firmly as he helped her up a rocky path.
“What?”
“This temple, with Poseidon being the master of the sea. Did your father visit here for good luck, for your shipping business?”
“I doubt my father even knows about this.”
They walked on in silence, climbing up the hill slowly.
“Be careful here,” he cautioned as they crested the final part of the hill. The way up was strewn with thickets and long grasses, and stony paths. In the distance, the sun was slowly sinking into the sea, the glittering Aegean waters now turning a deeper blue under the waning light. “Are you happy?” He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand.
“I’m so happy, Dominic. Look.” She stopped, which made him stop, and they stared up. The pillars of the Temple stood tall and majestic, the sky behind it a cornucopia of the deepest oranges, spliced with slivers of gold and sprinkled with showers of lilac blue sky that was slowly being covered over. A shiver rolled down his spine.
It was breathtaking. Amongst this backdrop the Temple looked almost surreal, as it stood silently on the clifftop, regal and all knowing, watching thousands of years of mankind roll by.
“Christé mou,” Eleni clasped a hand to her chest in awe. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Yes,” he agreed, staring at her.
She was.
Beautiful.
Not just because of her looks, but in so many million other ways, with her heart, and her words, and her softness. The way she loved him. The way she had shown him how love could be.
He sucked in a long breath.
She continued walking, eager to get to the top. “You never stop surprising me, Dominic.”
That made him happy. That he made her happy. That’s what he wanted to do, always. It was what he’d wanted to do from the moment he’d found out who she was. It was why he’d wanted to take away her pain. “If I gave you a bowl full of kalamata olives you’d be happy.”
“Kalamata olives are as necessary as the air. They’re addictive, too,” she countered, amusement in her eyes.
He chuckled to himself. “But it’s true. It doesn’t take much to make you happy.” He loved doing all he could to make every day a happy one. Eleni only had to look at him and his heart filled with a completeness he had never before known.
After Miranda’s wedding, he had detected a hint of somberness about her. He sensed she was feeling out of sorts, because her friends, the people she loved, were getting married, and having babies, and finding love.
He only had to look at her face to know that she had questions, and fears. He could almost see the uncertainty swirling in those dark irises.
He didn’t want to prolong it anymore, not for her, or for himself. For too long, ever since his father had announced that it was time for him to return, he’d been torn.
There were other things he worried about, too, about Eleni, and him being older.
But, this, this moment seemed right.
“Dominic, we need to take a selfie—” She turned to find him on the floor. “Did you fall?” She rushed to crouch down beside him, worry lining her face.
And that was when he did it. His hand slipped into his pocket and he pulled out the ring box. His heartbeat boomed as if it were playing through a boombox. He wondered if she could hear.
Eleni blinked, then blinked again, then stood up, almost jumping back as a gasp fluttered from her lips. “Dominic,” she said, her voice wobbly, her hands flying to her chest, first one then the other, as if both were needed to contain the beating of her heart.
Tears welled in her eyes. He was still on the ground, kneeling, looking up at her, trying to capture this moment and tuck it away forever in a precious memory he would relive in the years to come.
Of how she had looked when he’d asked her.
“Eleni Trakas…” he groaned. He could easily address thousands of people in a hall and yet he was struggling to find the words now, for one woman. He’d practiced this, knew what he wanted to say, but in this moment, his mind emptied.
A tear rolled down Eleni’s cheek and he fought the urge to jump up and wipe it. “I racked my brain trying to think of a way to do this, I wanted it to be spectacular, but you don’t want spectacular, you don’t want big gestures …”
She’d pressed her lips together, whether to hold back a burst of tears or joyous shrieks, he couldn’t tell, but it was a face that looked ready to crumble.
“I’ll make this quick. Eleni Trakas, the love of my life, will you please marry me?”
She pressed her palms against her cheeks, then fanned her face, and then he heard it, a yelp, or squeal or scream erupting from her. She blabbered, incoherent words he couldn’t make out.
“Eleni, an answer, please? Now, before my ancient knees give out.”
She laughed out loud, it was more like a roar, happiness bursting from her lungs. “Yes!! Christé mou, Dominic, yes, I will marry you!”
He got up then, feeling shaky, maybe because he’d been kneeling so long, because the stones and the ground were so hard and stony, maybe because this woman had said ‘Yes,’ and agreed to marry him.
She’d made him the happiest man on the planet. It was a cheesy way to think about it, and he didn’t do cheesy, or hadn’t in the past, but life now, with Eleni, was full of all those platitudes people tossed around in their conversations as freely as salt and pepper.
He pulled her towards him, slid the pale pink two carat flawless diamond ring along her finger—he’d have bought her a much bigger one but he knew she wouldn’t have liked it. Together they giggled and gasped, admiring it. She held her hand up towards the satsuma-colored sky, wriggling her fingers, the diamond throwing rainbow colored sparkles of light everywhere.
Her arms flew around his neck and he, filled with a surge of adrenaline that coursed through his veins, felt invincible enough to lift her.
“You’ll marry me?” he asked again, wanting to make sure.
“Yes, Dominic. I will marry you. I want to marry you.” Her legs wrapped around his waist and he buried his face in her neck. They held one another tightly, needing a few moments to let the significance of this life changing moment sink in.
He kissed her then, deep and long, under the sunset drenched evening with the pillars of the Temple as their witness.
No matter what the logistics of their future would be, whether their life would be in Greece or America, or a mixture of the two countries, one thing was for certain, they would always be together, and that was all that mattered.
