Stay With Me (26 page)

With a pout, I slipped off his lap and sat next to him as Thano chuckled. Reaching into his wallet he pulled out money. When the taxi pulled up to what I was guessing was Thano’s parents’ house I stared out the window.

Holy. Shit. The house was amazing. It was beautiful.

“Thanks so much,” Thano said to the driver as he slipped out quickly and reached for my hand.

“Do I look okay?” I asked.

Thano laughed. “They’ve seen you before up at the cabin.”

Tilting my head, I narrowed my eyes at him. “Well, up at the cabin we hadn’t been sucking face and your hands weren’t all up in my stuff.”

“Your stuff?”

I hit him on the chest and dragged in a deep breath. Thank goodness I wore dress slacks today. Checking to make sure everything was in place, I looked up at him and nodded.

“I’m ready.”

“You say that now.”

Thano placed his hand on my lower back and began guiding me to the front door. Stopping. I frantically looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing, ladybug. Let’s get this over with.”

My heart began beating harder and I felt like I had just run in a marathon. I started sweating, my breath was labored, and my legs felt like jelly.

This was such a bad idea.

Was that my pulse I felt in my throat? Oh, Christ.

By the time we got to the top step, the massive wood door flew open.

Katerina stood there with a smile on her face. And behind her were all the women from the day they came to the Onion Creek Gardens.

“Are your parents having a party?” I asked in a hushed voice.

Thano chuckled and pushed me in front of him. He was feeding me to the lions.

Walking up, I dragged in a deep breath and smiled. Katerina looked me over and stepped to the side along with everyone else.

Thano followed closely behind me as we walked into a massive foyer. I didn’t dare look around . . . what if that was rude in the Greek culture?

Damn it! Why didn’t I buy that other book? Why didn’t I finish reading the one I bought?

Thano’s mother shut the door and walked up to me. No one said a word.

“She isn’t Greek,” someone whispered as Thano clasped his hand in mine.

When my eyes met Katerina’s, something happened. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew it was good.

Placing her hands on my arms, her face grew into a wide smile.

“Thank the heavens above it’s you he brought home!”

My eyes widened with a dazed look. A rush of adrenaline tingled through my body as I turned to look at Thano. He wore the same expression I was positive I had. Looking back at Katerina, I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

“Are you feeling okay, Katerina?” someone asked from behind her.

“I am feeling wonderful! My Athanasios is in love and with the beautiful Irish Kilyn!”

I cringed and waited for the spitting to happen but it didn’t. The rest of the room was in total shock. Too stunned to commence with the spitting.

Grabbing my hand, Katerina pulled me into the house as we made our way into a huge dining room. My eyes about popped out of my head when I saw all the food.

“Jesus, Mama. When did you cook all of this?”

Katerina shot Thano a dirty look before turning back to me. “Kilyn, you sit here with Yiayia. Athanasios, you sit on her other side.”

Thano and I did as his mother said. When I sat down, I turned to Thano’s grandmother. She gave me a polite smile, but then said, “You’re not Greek.”

I smiled nervously, as I replied, “No ma’am, I’m not.”

“You’re the Irish girl.”

Deep breaths. Deep. Breaths.

“Yes, Yiayia, this is Kilyn.”

“Oh! Yiayia is grandmother!” I blurted out. Why was that now just hitting me?

Everyone turned and looked at me.

Katerina leaned over to, whom if I remembered right, was her cousin Maria and said, “The Irish always were a little slow.”

Maria nodded her head. “It’s all that beer they drink. Does something to the brain cells.”

I turned to Thano and leaned closer to him. “They do know I can hear them, right?”

He smiled. “Oh, they know.”

With a nod, I replied, “Just making sure.”

The next thing I knew, every kind of Greek dish was pushed my way. Even if I tried to pass over it, Yiayia was spooning some onto my plate.

“You’re too skinny. Now, Katerina, she could stand to drop a few pounds, but we need to get some meat on you for the babies.”

I glanced down at my already overflowing plate and swallowed hard.

My head popped up.

Wait. What? Babies?

Good Lord what was all of this food? I picked up a skewer that had the most delicious looking food on it.

“Souvlaki,” Thano said. “It’s pork tenderloin and veggies.”

My mouth began to water when I realized I hadn’t eaten since morning and I was starving. Using my fork to slip the food off the skewer, I took a bite and was instantly in heaven.

“Ohmygawd,” I whispered.

Thano wiggled his eyebrows and took a huge bite of something that looked like a pastry-filled delight!

He pointed to it and said, “It’s basically chicken in a patty.”

I dug into that next dish. It was better than the pork.

Shit. I’m going to gain twenty pounds just from this dinner.

Katerina handed me a dish and said, “Moussaka. Get a good helping of that. It’s Athanasios’ favorite.”

Doing as she said, I took a generous helping and then took a bite. Holy crap. It was like lasagna but ten times better.

“Have you ever had Greek food before, Kilyn?” Dimitris asked.

Shaking my head, I replied, “No. I mean I’ve had a Gyro before and what Katerina cooked at cooking class that day, but that’s about all.”

He gave me a warm smile. “My Katerina is a good cook. She can teach you.”

Thano grabbed my thigh and squeezed it under the table causing my entire body to enflame.

I turned to Katerina only to see her watching me intensely. “I’d love that very much.”

Her face turned up in a full-fledged smile. I was instantly reminded of my own mother and all the times I helped her in the kitchen.

More food was passed around as Thad and Nicholaus showed up. The look on their faces when they saw me sitting at their parents’ table was priceless. There was so much chatter and everyone talking at once that I had a hard time keeping up with everything.

When Katerina stood, she announced she was clearing the table for dessert.

“Oh, no,” I whispered. There was no way I could put anything else in my mouth.

I glanced around and realized I had been thrown in with the family and no one was really introduced.

“So, should you introduce me to everyone?” I asked Thano in a hushed voice.

“Um . . . if we could get them all to shut up I would. I’ll give you a run down on who is who. Over there next to my father is my cousin Maria. Next to her is her husband Nick. Their daughter Maria is next to him. Then we have cousin Sophia, cousin Angie and her twin sister Maria.”

I lifted my eyebrows. Wait. Was that three Maria’s?

“Then you’ve got my mother’s sister Agnes and her daughter Sophia and her son Thanos.”

“Like your name?”

Thano shook his head. “No, his name is just Thanos. There is an s on the end.”

“Oh,” I mumbled. Just when I thought I was getting it.

“You’ve got my cousin Angelo and his wife Christine and their little girl Marianna.”

My head was spinning. Looking at Thano, I asked, “Why are there so many duplicate names?”

He shrugged. “I guess Greeks like to name their kids after one another.”

Katerina and one of the Marias came walking out each carrying a dish.

Thano’s mother looked at me and said, “We’ve got baklava, galaktoboureko, loukoumades, and chocolate cake!”

Chocolate cake! That I knew!

When it was all placed on the table, my mouth watered but my pants forbid me to eat another bite. That was until Yiayia started putting it all on another plate for me, declaring I hadn’t eaten enough.

“Are all Irish girls so small?” Sophia asked as she pushed the chocolate cake my way.

“Well, um . . . I’m not really sure.”

Everyone stopped and looked at me. Dimitris moaned and mumbled, “Here we go.”

Katerina placed her hands on her hips and wore a serious look on her face.

“Does your family not get together for holidays? Like Saint Patrick’s day?”

I couldn’t help it; I giggled as I looked around at all of them. When I saw they were serious I looked at Thano who was currently shoving what I think was the loukoumades into his mouth.

“Oh, well, um . . . my parents died when I was fourteen and I had no other family. I moved in with my best friend’s family and they are a . . . well, an um . . . a blended family of I think Italian, German, and something else.”

I honestly had no clue what Claire’s heritage was and I totally made that shit up on the fly.

Tears filled Katerina’s eyes as she asked, “You lost your parents at fourteen?”

With a slow nod, I was almost afraid to open my mouth to speak again.

The next thing I knew I was being hugged by every female that was in the house and walked outside to take a tour of Katerina’s garden. Looking over my shoulder, Thano stood there with a huge grin on his face and powdered sugar on his cheek.

Thad and Nicholaus stood on either side of him. When all three of them lifted their hand and waved I wanted to scream out for help.

Those bastards!

I was being led away by a Greek mob and I wasn’t sure I would survive.

“D
UDE, YOU’RE REALLY
going to let them whisk her away like that?” Nicholaus asked.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the horrified look on Kilyn’s face. “She’ll be fine. Better to let her see what she is getting into now.”

My father walked up and stood next to me and sighed. “You do know Yiayia is currently assessing your girlfriend’s stomach. She’s probably trying to see if her Irish vessel is capable of carrying a Greek child.”

Letting out a roar of laughter, I popped another loukoumades into my mouth. Walking up to the window, I watched as Kilyn smiled and laughed while she and my mother walked toward the gardens. “What do you think of her, Dad?”

“I think she is a lovely girl and I can see how much you care for her by the way you look at her. And she you.”

Feeling a warmth spread through my chest, I looked at him and then back to Kilyn. “I do. I love her.”

My father remained silent next me. “You think it’s too soon, don’t you?” I asked.

“Who am I to think anything. The heart feels what the heart wants to feel. I am glad to see you have put the past where it belongs and you have moved on. The bigger question is . . . does this girl love you enough to put up with this family?”

Thad and Nicolaus both laughed behind us. “Aunt Maria is already saying Kilyn is out for Bampas’ money.”

My father huffed next to me. “Nonsense. I’m sure Kilyn’s parents left her a comfortable inheritance. He was a very successful man.”

Pinching my eyebrows together, I turned and faced my father. “How would you know that?”

He continued to look out at Kilyn and my mother.