In a state of disbelief, Gio found himself in the rare position of being assigned second string within his family as Billie, chattering away to his grandfather as though she had known him for years rather than seconds, walked slowly over to the closest seats available.
‘Forgive me for being so remiss in the courtesies,’ Theon murmured. ‘I am Gio’s grandfather, Theon Letsos.’
‘I’m Billie. It’s not short for anything.’
‘And your son?’
‘Our son,’ Gio corrected with pride. ‘Theon Giorgios, your great-grandson, known as Theo.’
Taken aback by the revelation, the older man studied Theo as he crawled across the floor with all the energy of a toddler kept in restraint for too long. ‘Theo...’ he mused in the crashing silence that had once again engulfed the entire room. ‘And you only married yesterday?’
‘Gio only found out that Theo existed very recently,’ Billie cut in hastily. ‘We hadn’t been in contact for a couple of years—’
Gio gritted his teeth. ‘There is absolutely no need for you to talk about that.’
‘Of course there is. I don’t want anyone thinking that I had an on-going affair with a married man,’ Billie declared without hesitation, marvelling at how slow on the uptake Gio could sometimes be because he was totally indifferent to what other people thought of him. But she didn’t want that stigma within the family circle. She might not have liked Calisto, nonetheless she would not have engaged in a relationship with Gio with or without his wife’s knowledge.
‘A great-grandson named for me...’ Theon was keen to concentrate on the positive and politely ignore Gio’s brooding protective stance beside Billie’s chair. ‘A fine boy...not shy either!’ he remarked with an appreciative laugh as Theo made his way over to another toddler with a small heap of toys in front of him and snatched at the first colourful item he could reach.
‘So, tell me about yourself,’ the older man invited.
‘Billie’s not here for an interview,’ Gio incised coolly.
‘My goodness, I’m so thirsty. I would really love a drink,’ Billie informed Gio, shooting him an expectant look.
Of course, Gio simply snapped his fingers like some desert potentate and a uniformed maid materialised.
Billie met Theon’s amused eyes and her own mouth twitched because her strategy had been lame but she really could have done without Gio standing over her in warrior mode as if she were defenceless in enemy territory. He had never acted that way around her before and the discovery that his reserve was as great within his own family as it had once been with her was a major shock to her expectations. Yet that insight saddened her as well. Gio was such a lone wolf. How had he contrived to become the guarded, unemotional male he was with such a large and, she sensed, loving family?
Theo crawled back and hauled himself up against Billie’s knees and then clutched at his father’s legs until Gio abandoned his rigid stance, smiled with a sudden brilliance that lit up his lean, strong face and swept his son up in his arms to carry him back to the toys.
‘It’s been a long time since I saw Gio smile,’ Theon remarked.
‘I don’t have a fancy background or any money. I owned and ran a shop. I’m just an ordinary working woman,’ Billie volunteered before Gio could return to censor the conversation. ‘You might as well know that upfront.’
‘In recent years, very recent years, I have learned the unimportance of such distinctions.’ Theon gave an emphatic shrug and relaxed back into his armchair. ‘And I’m afraid I must disagree with you on one point. No ordinary woman could handle Gio and the Letsos family with so much tolerance and common sense.’
That was Billie’s last private moment with Theon. One by one she received introductions to Gio’s uncles, aunts and sisters, including, to her surprise, his half-sister, Melissa, who had passed half a lifetime being royally ignored by her father’s family because she was the result of Dmitri Letsos’ illicit teenaged romance.
‘They’re not a bad bunch when you get to know them,’ Melissa, a collected blonde teacher in her forties, pronounced with a wry smile. ‘Oh, there’s the usual sibling rivalry, but they are, one and all—I assure you—devoted to Gio. He brought me into this family and he’s the first port of call for all of us when there’s a crisis. I hope you can handle that. Calisto couldn’t.’
From stray comments made and generally quickly leading to a subject change rather than risk causing offence, Billie began to suspect that Gio’s first wife had not been well liked. She cursed her own curiosity about her predecessor: it was pointless and the gratification of that curiosity was more likely to lead to hurt. Gio had married another woman. Get over it, she urged herself impatiently, determined not to be haunted by the shadows of the past.