Seduced by Passion

Seduced by Passion - Chapter 2

"I often wonder why he didn't live to watch you grow into the wonderful, successful men you've become. But," she continued, glancing over at the bed with tears streaming down her face, "I'm grateful Andris was here. He was a wonderful grandfather to you."

"Yes, he was," Neo said.

"The best," Tele added.

Jordan slowly walked over to the bedside, took Andris' thin wrist in her hands, and stroked it tenderly. "I wished I'd made it in time. If I'd known you only had a few days left, I would have come as soon as we heard you were better. Forgive me." Jordan placed her lips to his forehead. "Thank you for helping me raise our precious boys. I could not have done it without you. Give Xander my love... Tell him.... Tell him..."

As he watched his mother struggle with her grief, the wall of ice around Raph's heart thickened. He had witnessed three members of his family suffer the loss of a spouse––his grandfather, his mother, and his youngest brother––a crippling burden Raph had no desire to carry for the rest of his life.

"Tell him that I miss him every second of every day. I will miss you, too, my dear Baba." She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth.

With a groan erupting from his throat, Raph pulled Neo and Tele over to their mother. They wrapped their arms around each other and wept for the souls who had departed decades ago, and for the one who had joined them tonight.

As their cries waned, Jordan pushed out of her sons' embrace. "Our lives will be very different without him," she said, drying her cheeks on her silk sleeve.

"Our lives changed two years ago when he had his stroke," Raph said. "At least then, we had hope that he would recover. But death is permanent. He's not coming back." He pressed the tears from his eyes with the tips of his fingers.

"Yes," Jordan said. "Andris is gone forever, but he left you behind to continue the Giannopoulos line. The thought of it dying with him brought him so much anxiety," she said, gazing hopefully at her sons. "It was very important to him that it continued."

"It was one of the last things we spoke about before he slipped away," Raph said. "He told me to find the right woman and settle down."

"Did you tell him you would?" his mother asked, the hope in her eyes growing brighter.

"Of course, Mom. I wasn't going to disappoint my dying grandfather."

"I've already done my part. It's yours and Neo's turn," Tele said to Raph.

"I'm pretty sure Pappoús knew he was barking up the wrong tree," Raph stated. "He was just doing his duty."

"It's much more than that, and you know it, Rapheus." Jordan placed a hand on his arm. "Your grandfather was serious about the family lineage." She walked over to the family photos and turned back to her sons. "You know you are named after three brothers in the Giannopoulos lineage, right?"

"We know, Mom." They rolled their eyes at each other.

"When Andris found out I was carrying triplets, he was over-the-moon and insisted on naming you Rapheus, Neopheus, and Telepheus, even though your father and I had already picked out your names."

"What were you going to name us?" Neo asked, clearly to appease their mother who loved to tell the story they had all heard a million times already.

She laughed and tucked a strand of dark hair behind one ear. "Since Raph was the first, he would have been Xander, after your father. You, Neo, would have been Yiannis. And Tele would have been Zeno."

"We were to be the XYZ babies? Really, Mom? Sounds like an algebra equation to me." Tele chuckled.

Neo raised his hand in the air and pretended to write on a whiteboard while drawling in a nasal monotone voice, "Good morning, class. Your challenge today is to solve for X, Y, and Z. You have ten minutes."