EPILOGUE: In Which She Trades in Her Last Name

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 The man standing before me was a shadow of his former self. He looked sick with worry, his usually olive complexion pallid. I’d noticed the weight loss, the way he constantly looked ready to tear his own hair out – if he had any – but hadn’t said anything until now.

“OK, Petro – what’s her name and does she know you’re in love with her?” I fired at him, placing my hands on my hips and looked him over again.

Petro’s face turned redder than the terracotta floor that made up the balcony. “I don’t know what you mean, Francesca.”

Just then, a girlish laugh rang out from inside the dining area and Petro turned to the open sliding door, a wistful expression on his face. Oh, yeah, Petro had it bad for Yaya’s nurse.

Kon ambled out the door, a bottle of sunscreen in hand. He jerked his head at one of the chaise longues. “You want to fry your ass in that bikini, Frankie?”

I grinned back at him, sitting at the chair he’d gestured at, and within seconds, he was sitting behind me, massaging sunscreen onto my back. Petro was trying to make a quick escape when my words stopped him.

“Petro here has a crush on Diana.”

Konstantin let out a bark of laughter at his best friend’s obvious discomfort, his body vibrating against mine. “A crush, Petro?”

“No,” he said vehemently, “I simply…enjoy her company.”

“Careful there,” warned Kon, his hands rubbing circles on my shoulder blades. “Frankie will be planning your wedding by the time you’re done explaining how much you enjoy her company.”

I rolled my eyes although he couldn’t see them. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I looked up at the man I too considered a close friend. “You’re almost forty, right?” He nodded an affirmative. “Well, Diana told me she’s thirty-five and tired of young men who don’t know what they want. If you want her, ask her out, Petro.”

“Just make sure Yaya doesn’t end up the third wheel on your first date,” Kon advised, on the verge of laughter. “She’s sly like that.”

“I think it’s so cute that you like her but come on, she’s been on the island for over a year now. Make a move.”

“Isn’t that what you advised us once upon a time?”Kon added, running his hands over my legs I shivered.

“Are you two quite finished now?” said Petro, and it was remarkable to notice that his entire head, bald top and all, was completely crimson. “I have work to do. You know, Kon, work that you pay me to do.”

Chuckling, Kon waved him off and Petro all but sprinted back into the house, eager to escape us.

“Do you think he likes her because she’s so gorgeous or because he’s actually talked to her and thinks she’s fun?” I asked Kon, curious. In all the years I’d known his right-hand man, Petro had never once expressed interest in anyone.

 “May I remind you that it wasn’t my remarkable intelligence you fell in love with, Mrs. Kouriakis?” was Kon’s teasing reply.

“Oh? What was it, then?” I leaned back into him and the chaise-longue squeaked under our combined weight.

“We both know what it was.” His lips nipped my earlobe.

“Your ability to change a diaper without making a face or throwing up?” I threw back at him.

 “That reminds me,” he said. “My turn to check on the twins.” He swung a leg over me and got to his feet. “And I do make faces. Happy ones,” he called over his shoulder.

I laughed, watching him slip back into the house. I had a few minutes to myself until I the now-familiar heaviness in my breasts that began to weigh me down. Someone was going to have to empty me. Sighing, I went inside, the sound of crying echoing through the castle. The nursery was on the immediate right of our bedroom. After I’d discovered that I was having twins, I’d decided to paint the entire room a soothing sky-blue with white marshmallows of clouds as the primary artwork. Every time I stepped into the babies’ room, any negativity I had instantly evaporated and joy took its place.

Konstantin already had one baby in his arms, his eyes fixed on the tiny bundle, and Yaya had the other. The screams were easily recognisable as Ella’s. Kristian, her brother, was gurgling softly. Yaya looked like she was about to tear her hair out but her face instantly brightened when she saw me. Most of the time, she grew tired of her great-grandmother duties and fobbed them off on the closest person available. It was at these times that I wished my abuela were still alive but she was long dead. I missed her terribly.

“Here.” Yaya held her granddaughter out and I scooped her up. “This must be from the Spanish side. My Kristian didn’t cry like this. Neither did Christos.”

I rolled my eyes at her, grinning. “Well, he makes up for that now.”

Konstantin was putty in his son’s hands but his head instantly snapped up to look at me. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“I’m an old woman. All this screaming is not good for me,” Yaya complained, and hobbled out the room. Lately, her walk was becoming slower, more taxing. Diana’s only real job was to keep the older woman fit.

“Ssh, baby girl. Mommy’s here,” I cooed, rocking Ella in my arms. She had my eyes, although much lighter. In the stream of sunlight, they looked almost golden.

“Want to know where Petro is?” Konstantin’s deep voice was soft, careful not to startle his son.

“Out?” I replied vaguely. My attention was fixed on Ella. There was still a large part of me that was still childishly fascinated by these two tiny beings that were created by my husband and me. The novelty hadn’t worn off after four months and I didn’t think it ever would. Ella was named after my mother and Kristian after Kon’s father.

“Yes. With Diana.”

I only had a second to feel happy for Kon’s old friend before Ella began to make her familiar sucking sounds that told me that she was hungry – music to my ears. I sat down on the rocking chair between their cribs and undid the knot of my bikini top, bringing her mouth to my swollen breast. Ella’s mouth instantly latched on and her eyes widened with pleasure at the first taste of the milk

I felt eyes on me and looked up. “You know, this shouldn’t arouse you,” I told Konstantin.

He chuckled softly. “It doesn’t.”

“Then what’s that?” My eyes zoned in on the bulge in his suddenly constricted beach shorts.

Ella released my nipple, satisfied. Usually, her brother drank more than she did.

“Absolutely nothing, agapi mou.” But his eyes were darkened with the recognisable look of desire.

Shaking my head, I got to my feet and we exchanged babies. Unlike his sister, Kristian’s eyes were a pale cerulean that would change as he grew older, as Yaya was quick to point out.

Once I was sure Kristian had had his fill, I held him against my chest and stood up, pacing the room and burping him.

“Frankie?”

I looked up.

“Is he asleep?”

I nodded. Kristian had my index finger in a loose grip.  

“Do you think I could steal his mother now?”

I met his eyes. “You can steal his mother anytime.”

***

I shoved him onto the bed, and he propped himself up on his elbows, his eyes trained on me. Discarding my bikini top on the carpet, I got onto the bed and crawled between the V of his long legs, the familiar spurt of rapture coursing through me at the sight of my gorgeous husband being so attracted to me, even after two kids and considerable weight gain.

“I know what you’re thinking, agapi mou,” he said gently, leaning back into the puffy pillows. “S’agapo. More and more each day. You’re even more beautiful now than the day I met you, Frankie Vega.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” I breathed, straddling him. He placed his big hands on my hips and rolled his eyes. “What, is that a no?” I said, leaning down and placing a kiss on his lips.

“The only girls in my life,” Konstantin said gruffly, “are you and my daughter.”

“And Yaya,” I added.

His brow furrowed. “True – but should we really be talking about my grandmother when I’m trying to get into your pants?”

I laughed. “You don’t have to try.”

“Your breasts are jiggling in my face,” he growled, flipping me onto my back. I had to bite back a moan at the hungry look in his eyes. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

“Show me,” I whispered, closing my eyes when his mouth rained sensual kiss after sensual kiss down my body. “Mm, please,” I gasped when he delicately unwrapped the wrapping paper that was my bikini bottom. “The kids could wake up. We’re working on some pretty tight time constraints.”

Konstantin laughed, his unshaven chin tickling the bare skin of my pússy. “We should watch the sun set.”

Without waiting for my response, he picked me up and, clenching my legs around his waist, I allowed myself to be spirited out onto the balcony. Konstantin leaned against the granite balustrade, his forearms beneath my ass.

“Is this what you call watching the sunset?” I asked, cupping the sides of his face in my hands and looking down into his eyes. His back was to the horizon and his erection was already pressing against my opening, hard and ready.

A slow smile spread across his face. “Frankie, you are my sunset. And my sunrise,” he teased, referring to a line from my wedding vows. I’d gone the sappy and corny route, as Yaya had cheerfully pointed out at the wedding dinner.

“Shut up.” I lowered my lips to his, my tongue running along his bottom lip.

He spun me around, setting me on top of the ledge and making us close to eye level. The cold of the stone instantly bit into my bottom. If he let me go, I would fall three floors to my immediate death and smatter into a billion pieces. But he wasn’t going to.

I knew that. I trusted him with my life.

Slowly, with no preamble, Konstantin pushed himself inside me. Gripping my hands on his broad shoulders for support, I let myself open for him, accept every inch of his c0ck. We let out a mutual sigh of satisfaction when he bottomed out and I squeezed my inner muscles around his c0ck, lifting myself off the balcony railing before lowering myself back down again. Konstantin’s breathing was heavy in my ear and I tried to be quiet – I really did – but with pregnancy came the great need to remind myself that my pússy was still as tight as it had been before my babies. My husband never failed to jog my memory and as a result, I could hear my screams and wails echoing over the Aegean. He fúcked me slowly, murmuring how much he loved me, how he would always love me – and I climaxed almost immediately.

“Frankie,” Konstantin groaned, painfully holding me to him as he exploded inside me.

We were frozen that way, darkness setting in, until he picked me up again and we returned to our bedroom. Naked, I lay on my side and he cupped himself behind me, throwing a possessive arm over my midriff.

“I was thinking,” I began, and I felt the vibrations of his laugh against my back.

“Sounds ominous.”

I laughed. “It isn’t.” I turned around to face him, my hand travelling to his jaw. “I was just thinking…I’ve never really thanked Yaya for knocking some sense into my head. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.”

A smile tugged at Kon’s lips. “I love that you love her as much as I do.”

“I want to give her a special gift for her seventy-fifth.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well…you know she’s been hinting that she’s a bit lonely companionship-wise…”

Kon’s brow furrowed. “Oh, hell, no. You’re not hooking her up with someone, Francesca.”

“It wouldn’t be hooking up,sweetheart. Try matchmaking. Alain’s grandfather was an army m-”

The rest of my sentence was silenced by my husband’s lips on mine. “You’re too sweet, agapi mou,” he murmured, his fingers skating down my side.

“So are you OK with it?” I said on an exhale. “Alain and his wife are due for a holiday and maybe they can bring his grandfather with them.” Since remarrying, Alain had yet to introduce me to his new wife, Giselle, and I was keen on meeting the woman who had finally made him fall in love. 

“I’m OK with it. As long as it’s companionship.”

I wrinkled my nose. “God, yes – friendship.”

He smiled. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“All the time.”

“And that because of you and our children, I smile more? Not because I’m grateful to be alive, or because I'm healthy right now. Because of you. Without all of you, there would be no point.”

I took his hand in mine and kissed it. “Why are you trying to make me cry now?”

His brow creased. “I thought I was trying to make you smile.”

“Our children have the most amazing father in the world and I’m looking at him.”

“You flatter me, Mrs. Kouriakis,” he said huskily, and I knew exactly what was coming next. “Do you want to pretend I said I wasn’t OK with your scheme so we can have angry sex?”

I laughed, rolling on top of him. “You’re despicable.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he replied, flipping me over and kneeing my thighs apart.

For the hundredth time that day, I felt like the cat that had gotten all the cream and catnip. All the Kouriakis women must have felt this way because the Kouriakis men sure as hell knew the meaning of the word ‘satisfaction’...

~FIN~