Page 57 of Greek's Temporary Cinderella

Leandros was walking towards them.

‘Right, then, young man,’ he said, and swung Miki back up to the top of the slide, copying Eliana’s safety precautions as Miki glided gleefully to the bottom.

It took a while for him to get bored, but he did eventually, and progressed on to the roundabout, and then an infant swing with an encased seat to stop him falling off. Finally, the sandpit beckoned, and Eliana extracted a small plastic bucket and spade from under the buggy, settling him down with them in the sand. He got stuck in happily, fully absorbed.

Benches surrounded the sandpit, most filled with mothers watching their children in the sandpit, but one was unoccupied. She sat down on it, Leandros beside her.

He turned towards her.

‘What do I say to you?’ he said.

‘What do I say to you?’

The words—as inane as they were inadequate—echoed in his head.

When she had so shockingly revealed her virginity he hadn’t known what to say to her. Nor did he know what to say now—with this even more shocking revelation.

That the ‘someone else’ she had gone to was Miki...

And that her marriage was a farce—a lie from the very start. A lie both she and Damian agreed to. And now she has taken responsibility for a child that is not hers. A child she will not abandon and is determined to care for—whatever it costs her. Even it costs her me...costs her what we found again in Paris.

His gaze went to the small boy, playing happily in the sand. He was a nice little lad—cheerful and sunny—and Leandros watched him happily and assiduously fill his bucket with sand, then chortle as he emptied it all out again, only to repeat the process industriously.

A thought came to him, poignant and powerful.

What if he’d been ours—Eliana’s and mine?

They might easily have had a child that age by now...possibly another baby as well. His eyes went to Eliana, emotion snaking through him at what he had just thought. A sense of waste smote him.

How different our lives might have been from what they are.

She spoke now. ‘There isn’t really anything to say.’

Her voice was even, but he could hear a note of resignation in it. Or was it rather acceptance? Or both?

‘It’s just how things have panned out. We make our decisions in life, Leandros—and live with the consequences.’

She dropped her eyes, letting them go to where the little boy for whom she had shouldered a responsibility she should not have had to take on was innocently playing. A callous fate had imposed it on her.

‘I can’t abandon him,’ she said again. ‘Financially it’s hard, but I’m just about managing.’ She paused, glanced back at Leandros, then away again. ‘The...the reason I left Paris so abruptly...’ he could hear a sense of strain in her voice ‘...was that Maria’s mother, Agnetha, had phoned me in a panic. She’d had a letter from her landlord, raising her rent or threatening her with eviction. She was so upset and scared because it was beyond her means to find the extra money, and I knew I had to get back and help out.’

She drew breath and ploughed on.

‘I was already completely stretched financially, and I had to raid my savings, such as they are, to find the extra rent due. I made the decision that I could only stay afloat if I gave up my own apartment and moved in with Agnetha. It’s risky—because, as I said, I don’t want there ever to be any association between the widow of Damian Makris and a small child. It might start gossip, questions, speculation...and that might filter back to Jonas.’

She gave a wan smile. ‘Ironically, if he jumps to the same conclusion you did, it would keep Miki safer. Jonas would just think I’d cheated on Damian and had an affair with someone else and a secret baby. Of course he’d cut off my widow’s allowance instantly, but at least he wouldn’t get any suspicions about Miki’s true parentage.’

She fell silent again. Then spoke once more.

‘I’ve stopped sending him to the childminder, to save some money, and cut my own working hours down, so it’s only mornings. My income is less, but it was only going on the childminder anyway. This way I can bring in a little more money, and Agnetha can manage half a day looking after Miki—at least for now. I take over at lunchtime. As I say, we’re...we’re just about managing...even with the rent hike.’

Frustration bit in Leandros. ‘Eliana, you can’t go on like this! It just isn’t—’

A dozen terms for what it wasn’t rang in his head, but he only picked one of them.

‘Sustainable,’ he said heavily. ‘You can’t live like this.’

She gave a little shrug. ‘It’s the best I can manage,’ she said.

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