“Hello?” she said through the phone.
“Hello?” a heavily accented voice replied. “Is this Ms. Helen Miller?”
“Yes,” Helen said, sitting up in the bed and immediately sensing that this wouldn’t be a pleasant phone call. “Who is this?”
“This is the Athens Hospital. I’m sorry to tell you this news over the phone but the distance….” The stranger started to say.
Helen’s whole body tensed. “Athens? What’s wrong? Is my father okay?”
The stranger hesitated. “Is your father Petros Alexander?” she asked carefully.
“Yes, Yes. What’s wrong?” Helen asked, terrified now. “What’s happened?”
“Your father has had a heart attack, ma’am. He’s stable at the moment but is asking to see you.”
A sob tore from her throat. “No!” she cried out. “Please tell me you’ve made a mistake. It can’t be my father!”
The woman’s voice became more firm in an attempt to break through Helen’s panic. “Mr. Alexander is stable but he is asking to see you. Can I tell him you will arrive?”
“Yes!” Helen gasped. “Yes, please. I’ll call back as soon as possible with the flight information. Please tell him I’m on my way and that I love him. Tell him I’m coming!” she cried out, her mind frantically trying to figure out all the arrangements she’d need to make. She took down the hospital’s contact information, promising to call the nurse back as soon as she’d booked a flight.
Helen hung up the phone immediately and logged onto her computer. With fingers that fumbled over almost every key, she searched for the earliest flight she could get out of London to Athens. She didn’t care about money in this circumstance. She had a credit card her father had given her for emergencies and this definitely qualified as one. She’d never used it for anything else, but right now, this wasn’t about her being independent and finding her way in the world on her own skills and resources. This was about getting to her father as soon as possible. After several minutes, she finally found a flight that would leave in an hour.
She called the hospital while shoving clothes into her suitcase, uncaring if they were folded or not. She didn’t carry much, knowing she’d left a whole closet full of clothes at her father’s house. They were a different sort, her father not liking her gypsy style very much and when she was with him, she tried to make him happy by wearing clothes that were a little more conservative and to his liking. So she only needed underwear and the basics until she arrived at his house and the hospital.
She quickly showered and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, slipping her feet into the first thing she could find but grateful that they were comfortable shoes for the long flight. Grabbing her suitcase, purse and passport, she rushed out the door.
After a grueling five hour flight and a chaotic taxi ride to the hospital, Helen finally arrived at the hospital and found out from the nurse’s station that her father was still in the intensive care unit. She was emotionally and physically exhausted after a night of very little sleep, and a plane ride ridden with guilt over her father’s health, sure that she’d brought this on by her behavior of the previous night with Alec.
With trepidation, she walked down the hallway the nurse indicated and pushed open the door. When she saw her father, with all the tubes and monitors coming out of his arms, the breathing tube in his nose and something else down his throat, she could no longer hold back the tears that had been held at bay during the horrible trip.
Slowly moving towards the bed, she watched her father, terrified that if she moved too quickly, she might startle him and create another heart attack.
“Oh, papa!” she whispered, unaware of the tears rolling down her cheeks and dropping onto the white bed sheets. She took his cold hand and sat down in the only chair in the room. Careful not to touch any of the tubes or monitors, she took his hand gently in hers, terrified at the lack of strength. He looked gray and his lips were almost completely white. She couldn’t believe the expression on his face. It was as if he was fighting but couldn’t come out of his sleep to put up a good battle front.
“I’m so sorry,” she wept, bringing his hand to her cheek as she watched his chest rise and fall. “I’ve let you down. I broke my promise to you and I’m so sorry,” she whispered, wishing he was awake so he could hear her apology. “I’ve let you down and I’ve shamed the family name and I promise I’ll never see him again. I’m so sorry you had to find out about it but I promise, papa, I’ll never speak to him, never see him again.”
She squeezed his fingers, wishing she could give him some of her strength. “Papa, please don’t die on me. I promise from now on I’ll be the epitome of a good Greek daughter. Just like you always wanted! I’ll meet all the men you’d like, I’ll seriously consider whichever man you think is best for me, just please don’t leave me. I need you so much! I need your guidance and I’m so confused but I promise I’ll never see him again. Just fight this, papa!”
The nurses rushed into the room, speaking rapidly in Greek but Helen, fluent in the language herself since she’d grown up speaking it whenever she was with her father, understood what they were telling her. Thankfully it was only vital signs they wanted to monitor but she listened, trying to hear anything that might tell her what was going on. And then she looked up…
Chapter 9
Alec was just about to leave the hospital room when the door started opening. He knew he had no right to be here. He wasn’t family but he had the power to overcome the hospital rules. Since it was Alec’s actions which had put the man into the hospital, he guessed it was only right that he see if there was anything he could do to help. He’d flown out here this morning after hearing about the man’s heart attack. When Alec had started the strategy that would eventually take the man’s ships out of his control, Alec hadn’t known that the man would be so angry that a heart attack would result.
When the black, curly head of hair appeared in his line of vision through the doorway, Alec thought he was seeing things simply because Helen had been on his mind so much lately. He’d deeply regretted the necessity of leaving her this morning and had set in motion plans that would expedite his current trip, wanting to get back to her as quickly as possible. Something hadn’t been right when he’d left but he couldn’t think what had gone wrong. Except him leaving. No woman liked to feel rushed after a night of sex. Especially after last night’s incredible sex, he acknowledged. Helen deserved better, he thought. It had been her first time and she deserved, needed, to be treated better. She’d given him a gift and in return, he’d left her the morning after, rushing out without an explanation.