Page 56 of Footprints in the Sand
Meghan appeared behind Eva, wearing a funny smile. “I didn’t say anything. I just burst into tears!”
Eva, Dimitra, and Jean-Paul laughed.
“What about the marble workshop?” Dimitra asked.
“He’s going to teach a few classes here!” Eva explained. “You know how the visa works. We’re going to do three months here, three months there, and see what happens.”
“Apparently, Americans are very excited to learn how to carve marble,” Jean-Paul said.
Dimitra smiled. Meghan looked mystified but happy for her daughter. She’d come home, after all, even if it was only temporary. She had to learn to let her daughter fly.
After what Finn had done to her, she deserved it.
When Dimitra was sure that Eva and Jean-Paul were safe and comfortable in the space that was to be their home for the next three months, she hugged them and Meghan goodbye and got in the rental with Oriana, who’d come a little later. Oriana was already talking about selling Jean-Paul’s marble wares to wealthy people in Manhattan.
“You change people’s lives,” Dimitra told her.
Oriana adjusted her hands on the steering wheel. “I see beauty in this world. Sometimes I can’t believe that it’s people I know and love who make that beauty.”
“People can surprise you,” Dimitra said.
“You certainly surprised all of us,” Oriana said.
At the harbor, they got out and hugged goodbye. And as Dimitra, Harry, and Cash sailed off into the horizon, Oriana remained on the edge of the dock, waving like a child.
Harry shook his head and scooped Dimitra in a hug. They laughed wildly, then adjusted themselves for the long sail ahead. Dimitra couldn’t believe she was leaving every safe thing she’d ever known, at least for now.
It was true that her visa was nearly up. She needed to fly back to Greece soon.
It was also true that leaving Harry would break her heart.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” she said now. “We did everything we could to avoid breaking our own hearts, but I still feel like mine is on the verge of cracking in half.”
Harry’s eyes glinted with tears. He scooped her in a kiss and said, “Let’s not talk about it. Not yet.”
Dimitra promised she wouldn’t.
They reached South Carolina seven days later during a rainstorm. Dimitra didn’t think she’d ever experienced such humidity. As Harry tied up the boat, she scooped an umbrella over them both and hurried alongside him and Cash, en route to a big red truck. Cash leaped between them in the front seat and panted against the heat. Dimitra cackled, seeing herself in this picture. She looked like the wife of an American cowboy, seated in a big pickup truck.
She was no longer Kostos’s wife. She didn’t know what she was. She had to be okay with that.
To Dimitra’s surprise, Harry’s ex-wife and daughter, Ginny, had put together a beautiful “homecoming” party for Harry and Dimitra, using the decorations they’d already used for Ginny’s homecoming party the previous day. When Harry’s truck dipped into the driveway, Ginny leaped out of the door and into the rain, tearing across the grass to get to her dad. Dimitra couldn’ttake how beautiful it was. Harry touched her hair and asked her, “How was it, Bean? Did you love it?”
Ginny had about a thousand and one stories, but there would be time for him to hear them all because he was there for her. He would always be there for her.
Ginny turned her smile to Dimitra and stuck out her hand. It seemed that she’d forgotten the rain, and Dimitra decided to forget it, too. They shook hands.
“My name is Ginny,” she said. “You are Dimitra.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Dimitra said.
“You’re from Greece,” she said. “I know every single Greek myth. What’s your favorite?”
Dimitra’s lips parted with surprise. She remembered how Harry had initially referenced Greek myths and now understood why. He’d had to learn them with Ginny. That, or he’d taught them to her. Either way, it was beautiful.
“I love the ones about coming home,” Dimitra said softly, eyeing Harry with a smile. “I love the one about Dimitra, fighting for her daughter to come home from Hades.”
“We call her Demeter,” Ginny said.
