Page 174 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

“No?” She looked to him.

“I wasn’t expecting this marriage, either,” Stella said evenly. “I know how it makes me look. I feel like I should apologize to you for it, but I can’t. I don’t regret it.” Even when Atlas seemed to be dismantling her hard-won self-reliance with only the brush of his touch on her shoulder.

Carmel’s mouth tilted into a sugary smile, as though she wanted to make some disparaging comment, but she must have thought better of it because she asked, “How was the party? Was I missed?”

“Always,” Atlas replied. “Everyone asked about you.”

“DidDaddy?”

Silence. There was only a latent buzz of a bee moving from rose to rose nearby.

Carmel made a choking noise and looked away from both of them.

“I don’t think he was speaking to Atlas because of me,” Stella murmured. “We didn’t stay long. We spent the night at a spa Atlas said you like. I had them put together a basket of things you’ve bought in the past. The front desk said they’ll leave it in your room.” After they inspected it.

Carmel rolled her head to look up at Atlas.

“What can I say?” he drawled. “She’snice.”

“Then what the hell is she doing withyou?”

“A fair question.” He extended his hand toward Stella. “We’ll go. Text me if you need anything.”

“What could I possibly need, Atlas? My life is perfect.”

“Good. Mine, too.” He wove his fingers with Stella’s, but she had the sense he was being ironic, which sent a pang into her heart.

Their marriage might not be perfect, but she wanted to know she made his life better on some level. That he didn’tregretmarrying her.

But maybe he did?

CHAPTER NINE

THEY WENT TOGREECE, spending a few nights in Athens, then Atlas flew them to the island of his birth as a mini honeymoon. Stella was curious about it and he discovered a surprising nostalgia in him as he drove her around, pointing out landmarks and the taverna and sharing memories from his childhood. The April weather was warm enough to swim in a cove and Stella seemed to enjoy poking around the shops in the village afterward.

“Life here seems idyllic,” she said as they ambled across a field toward some ruins the next afternoon. “Would you want to raise your family here?”

“Ours.” He caught the disconcerted look on her face at how quickly he’d made the assertion.

“Presumably,” she said, and rolled her lips together.

“I would like to raise our children here,” he decided as he scanned the horizon. The paparazzi had hardly bothered them while they’d been here and the pace of life was slower. “But I’m glad we’re waiting to start making them.”

“Oh?” Her expression sobered. “Why?”

“I wonder what sort of father I’ll make.” So did she. She had started birth control, allowing more spontaneity in their lovemaking, which he loved, but he understood it was her way of protecting herself against being locked into a life with him.

“Because of Oliver?” She frowned.

“Yes.” He felt a tic in his cheek and motioned her to keep walking.

“You’re not like him.”

“I married you with malice aforethought.”

“Not toward me.” They arrived at piles of rocks set in rectangular lines. They could have been the walls of an ancient temple or a bath, a stable or a home. It was impossible to tell. “The way you talk about him, it doesn’t sound like he engages in much forethought ever.”

“True,” he snorted. But he was still using their marriage as leverage with the board.

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