‘We’ll fly over and visit your mother and set a wedding date if it’s possible.’ Aristide was back on target and laying down the law, his attack of humility short-lived.
‘We’ll see,’ Tabby sighed, wondering if he would ever learn patience.
‘You’re always going to call me out when I get too big for my boots, aren’t you?’
‘Probably,’ she agreed sleepily. ‘But it’s good for you to be challenged.’
Epilogue
Five years later
IT WAS Adivine dress. A slinky red sheath that flattered her curvier shape since her pregnancies. Of course, it would never surpass her old favourite that she had worn at Violet’s first summer ball in Italy. Aristide had persuaded her to wear it again the previous year and it had enjoyed various other fashionable outings but this year Tabby had decided to be different and wear something a little more daring, now that she wasn’t pregnant any more.
Every year they attended Violet and Tore’s charity ball. They were able to bring the children with them since Tore had extended the house into former outbuildings at the rear. And the kids had a lot of fun as well when they were in Italy. It was a blessing that their children were all so close in age. Tabby’s twins, Elias and Eleni, were four, just like Violet’s twins, Sofia and Enzo. And little Xander, their two-year-old toddler, followed the others around like a faithful puppy. Belle, Violet’s adopted daughter, was incredibly sensible even at the age of six and she watched over them all, preventing the worst excesses.
Tabby had been grateful when she had had her twins, because she had found the pregnancy tough, and Aristide had persuaded her into Xander, a pregnancy that had been a breeze in comparison to her first. Three children were enough, she had told him, although she knew he still had hopes that she might change her mind and Violet being pregnant again would probably make him a little envious.
Tabby, however, was perfectly happy with the family they already had. Elias was dark-haired like his father, inclined to be bossy and serious. Eleni was a blonde dreamer, never more content than when she was reading picture books to her dolls with a made-up storyline. Xander, with his rampantly curly black hair, was just an ever moving splash of liveliness and endless chuckles.
They had held their wedding in Greece at the village church. For the first time their giant house on Anthos had been filled to the gills. Her mother’s cancer was in remission, but it had taken considerable encouragement to get her out to Greece because she hated travel and rarely left her home outside London, which she had inherited after their grandfather died, along with a comfortable income. Both Violet and Tabby were regular visitors to the UK and still saw their mother often.
The mansion on Anthos was now their home base. Tabby had found the island an amazingly relaxing place to raise young children. Demetrius and Andy were very much involved with their grandchildren and the kids had much more freedom to run wild on Anthos, much the same as Violet’s kids did on the Villa Renzetti estate in Tuscany. And when the sisters wanted to get together, Tore had come up with a solution. He had gifted Tabby and Aristide a piece of land nearby where they had built a modern, comfortable holiday home. They often used it at weekends, but for big occasions like the summer ball they stayed at the villa itself because it was more fun for the kids to be with their cousins and there was constant supervision there.
Tabby had done without hiring a nanny. She wanted to enjoy her children while they were young, spend time with them, appreciating that it wasn’t time she would get back and there was never a shortage of babysitters around her. Not least Violet, who adored her nephews and niece almost as much as she adored her own children. After the ball, Aristide and Tabby were flying off for a week of precious alone time on the yacht and leaving their children with their aunt and uncle.
Aristide, long since dressed ahead of her, strode into the bedroom and stopped dead.‘Thee mou,’he husked. ‘That’s a killer dress.’
Tabby pirouetted in front of him. ‘You like?’
Aristide grinned down at her, the warmth of his gaze heating her down deep inside. ‘I will like taking it off onSeaBreezeeven more…’
‘One-track-mind male,’ Tabby quipped as he tugged her back against him and dropped a careful kiss on an exposed shoulder.
‘No, a very happy male. I love having you all to myself,’ he confided. ‘Is that selfish?’
‘No. Tore and Violet do the same. We’re not only parents, we’re a couple and we mustn’t lose that in family life. We need a break now and again.’
‘Well, you do all the heavy lifting,’ he conceded, turning her round, pressing a kiss to her brow, careful to steer clear of her make-up and her hairdo. ‘I want to rip your dress off you,angelos mou. It’s incredibly sexy and it will be torture looking at you in that all evening and not being able to touch you. Maybe I am a male with a one-track mind…’
‘Whatever you are, I love you,’ she murmured, suddenly frustrated that she couldn’t kiss him and risk messing her make-up.
‘I’m absolutely crazy about you. You rock my world,’ Aristide groaned. ‘It only took me almost twenty-nine years to find a woman who could teach me how to be happy.’
‘I didn’t know real happiness either until I met you,’ she confessed softly.
