The Light
Perched on the edge of a bar stool, Raph sipped his ginger beer. He looked out the window at hotel guests climbing into a small power boat docked on JBR's pier.
He brushed a lock of hair from his forehead and glanced at his Cartier watch. Why was he still here anyway? He had delivered the letter. There was nothing keeping him from going on to the villa to settle in for the week, figure out where Aetós was, scatter his grandparents' ashes, and get back to his life in San Francisco.
Oh, you know why, his inner voice taunted. She's hot and you want a go at her.
It was clear to see from where Xiomara got her looks and her passion, he thought, remembering her outburst when he'd knocked on her door. Like mother, like daughter—strong and formidable—neither afraid to express her opinion or her anger. They had strong survival instincts, and he felt a strange affection growing inside him for the Davenport women.
Raph took a swig from the bottle as the image of Xiomara's slender, perfectly shaped body meandered across his mind. He loved the way her curves moved subtly beneath her dress. Visions of threading his fingers through her long black hair and trailing his hands slowly up and down her smooth skin made his mouth water.
He shifted on the stool as his shaft hardened. He was still mystified at his reaction when Xiomara's picture had popped on his computer screen a few days ago. So intense was her effect on him that that night he'd dreamed of them walking naked along a white-sand beach. He had no idea where the beach was, but the fact that they were naked didn't seem to bother them. It had felt like the most natural thing in the world. They'd been playing in the water and having so much fun that they hadn't noticed they'd been pushed away from the shore until a huge wave wrapped around them and pulled them farther into the deep. They'd clung to each other, screaming at the top of their lungs. Then the boom of a drum, or a bolt of thunder—he wasn't sure which—rumbled through the air.
Raph had jumped awake to a painfully stiff cock and the warm, sticky evidence that he'd had a wet dream. As he'd climbed out of bed and headed for his bathroom, he'd thought it strange he couldn't remember the name and face of a woman he'd screwed the previous night, when the face of one he'd only seen on his laptop, and hadn't yet met, had made him come in his sleep. It wasn't even a sex dream. They were just fooling around like life was a breeze and they didn't have a care in the world.
He'd dreamed about her again the following night. In that one, they were children, around nine or ten years old. They were gathering seashells and digging for crabs in the wet sand. He remembered her smiling at him while she tugged strands of black wet hair out of her face. She was so pretty, he'd thought, watching her eyes shimmer in the afternoon sunlight. In his dream, he'd felt happy that they were together. And now that he'd met her, Xiomara was even more irresistible than in his dream.
Raph finished off his ginger beer and set the empty bottle on the bar top. Sliding off the stool, he raked his hands through his hair and walked over to the window. People were strolling along the stretch of beach, and relaxing in hammocks suspended between palm trees on the lawn below. Some folks really know how to let go and relax. A part of him wished he was one of them.
You were relaxed in your dreams.
There were two aspects about those dreams that had bothered him, and while in-flight to Akilina, he had called Gwen, a marketing specialist for a tech company in New York, who interpreted dreams on the side for her friends. Occasionally, when he flew to the east coast, they would hookup. She was a no-strings-attached woman. The kind he liked.
Gwen had said that being carried out to sea was a warning that he could be dragged into some kind of crisis and lose control of himself or his values. That had given him pause. With that interpretation alone, had he not been mid-flight, he might have canceled the trip altogether. Their nakedness, Gwen continued, indicated emotional vulnerability. Raph was less concerned about any chance of that happening. His emotions were under tight wraps.
Digging for crabs with someone could be a sign of a problematic relationship, or it could mean that he needed to find some buried truths, she'd said. No shit, he'd thought. His grandfather had told him not to be afraid of the truth. But was Xiomara going to be a friend or foe in his search of that truth, and was he going to like what he found out?
Feeling restless waiting for Xiomara and her mother to come back, Raph slid his hands deep into the pockets of his slacks and began pacing.
Control—his one-word mantra bounced around in his head.
As a child, following his father and grandmother's tragic deaths, Raph had become particularly good at controlling his emotions, no matter what was going on in his small world. He could be so restrained, that at times, his mother had called him unfeeling. As he grew older and began thinking about the man he wanted to become, he'd developed a propensity to focus on what he needed, zero in on what was important, and discard the rest.
That skill served him well professionally and was instrumental in his and his brothers' successful launch of G3. However, it had not been beneficial to his personal life. The only woman Raph had ever loved had fallen in love with someone else. She needed someone more fun, she'd said. He'd tried to be 'more fun', but by then it was too late, and he'd been left with a broken heart.
The women he dated after her called him emotionally void and unavailable once they discovered that they couldn't get inside his head. He bore that label with honor, allowing nothing and no one to affect him to the point of distraction. His short-lived relationships ended the moment a woman began asking or expecting too much from him.
From the moment he'd seen her picture, Raph had known that Xiomara Davenport would be the biggest distraction of his life. When he'd touched her, his mind had exploded with images of them tangled up together in damp white sheets, weak, and satiated. It was sizzling, like nothing he'd ever felt before.
Raph needed to know a little bit more about her, to be certain that they were not related––that she was not his grandfather's child. But once that was out of the way, he wanted to lay her down on the loveseat, pull her dress up to her waist, and take her then and there––quench the lust, stop the burning, for the moment. And if they were good together, he would take Declan's advice to forget about business and enjoy himself in Akilina.
He would have his fill of Xiomara for the week, knowing that his emotions would be safe since he was heading back home after accomplishing the task he'd been sent here to do. But her mother had blown up his plans when she had barged in, questioning Xio's decision to "marry a two-timing bastard—again."
Raph steered clear of women who weren't single beyond the shadow of a doubt. So if Xiomara was engaged to be married, he would have to find someone else to warm his bed for the week, which shouldn't be hard to do. He'd caught the looks women were throwing his way when he'd walked through the lobby on his way to Xiomara's office. There were plenty of fish in the sea.
His pacing brought him to a map of Akilina on the wall near the door. Squinting his eyes, he studied it. The 251-square-mile, mountainous island was bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and by the Caribbean Sea on the west. He counted twelve territories, three west of the long, snaking Caonabo River and the Nacanké Mountain Range. Mt. Cayacáo, with an elevation of 4,821 feet, was the highest of them all.
He trailed a finger against the glass, his eyes narrowing as he searched for Aetós where he was to scatter the ashes. It wasn't a territory, so it might be a village, or a town, but there were so many...
"Raph."
Xiomara's voice calling his name was like lightning zapping through his body. He turned, his breath catching in his throat as she walked toward him, her mother trailing behind her. As they met in the center of the office, the delicate scent of her perfume wrapped around him. He wrinkled his nose. He knew that scent––Diptyque Eau Rose. She had good taste. And he had no doubt she tasted good.
"I'm sorry you had to see that little outburst between my mother and me," she said, giving him an apologetic smile.
"I apologize, also," Claudia echoed. "I thought Xiomara was alone. I feel awful for my behavior. When I get upset, I tend to—well...show it."
"I've seen worse," Raph said, his eyes darting between the two women who looked a lot alike, except for Xiomara's eyes. They were her father's.
"I don't want you to think that my family is—um—" Xio looked at her mother as if for backup. "We just—"
"No need to apologize." Their spat was a Sunday school prayer compared to the ugly arguments between him and his cousins every time he visited Santorini. "As Tolstoy wrote, 'All happy families are alike...'"
"But every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," Xiomara and Claudia said together, then laughed.
"Anna Karenina is one of my all-time favorite books," Xiomara said, folding her arms across her chest, and drawing his eyes to her breasts.
He swallowed his need to rid her of her dress. "See. We're all on the same page," he said. He had no idea what was written on the next page, but the fact that he was on an island he'd never heard about until three weeks ago and delivering a letter to a strange, beautiful woman his grandfather obviously knew, meant they were part of the same story.
"My family has its own share of embarrassments to live down, Ms. Daven—"
She touched his arm. "No more Ms. Davenport. Please. After everything you've heard and seen this morning, you can call me Xio. That's what my friends and family call me."
Raph's heart somersaulted in his chest at the warmth from her touch. "Xio, it is then."
"Xiomara, you're forgetting your manners," her mother said.
"If your entrance hadn't been so grand, Mom, I wouldn't have, would I?"
Damn, she had guts. He liked her.
"Mom, this is Rapheus Giannopoulos. He's staying at The Davenport. Raph, my mother, Claudia."
"Mrs. Davenport, it's a pleasure to meet you." He shook her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, too. You can call me Claudia. I find the Mr., Mrs., and Ms. tiresome," she added, brushing her fingers across her forehead, pretending to swoon.
"Mom, stop being so dramatic." Xio scowled at her mother then raised her eyes to Raph. "I'm sorry, she can be a bit much at times."
Raph loved being in the presence of these two fascinating women. "Claudia, you can call me Raph," he said, giving her one of his charming smiles. "Do I recognize a New York accent?"
"You have good ears, Raph. Harlem, born and bred."
"You're a long way from home."
"Love will take you a long way from home, but you just make another one. If you're lucky, it will be more beautiful than the one you left behind."
Her words made him think of his parents, but before his mind had a chance to wander, Claudia tilted her face upward.
"Giannopoulos. Is that Greek?"
"Yes." Her question reminded him of why he had come here in the first place. He kept his eyes on her face, looking for a small hint that she recognized the name. "My grandfather used to stay at The Davenport when he visited the island. Do you remember him?"
She shook her head. "No. I don't think I've ever met anyone by that name."
"You must know him, Mom. I remember spending time with him when I was really little, and of him telling me bedtime stories in my bedroom. It must have been in Greek because I didn't understand what he was saying, but I liked the sound of his voice."
She might not remember exactly who he was, but the happiness in Xio's voice told Raph that she must have loved him, or at least had deep affection for him. The knowledge that his pappoús was adored by people beyond his immediate family made him feel good.
Xio went to her desk and brought back the letter. "Look." She held it out to her mother. "He asked Raph to bring this to me."
Claudia read the inscription. "Oh my gosh, yes. Yes... I... I remember them, now," she stammered, patting her chest as if to stop her heart from trembling. "Andris and Kerena. They used to come here every year. We spent so much time together." Claudia lifted her eyes from the letter and looked at Xiomara. "Xiomara, Andris and Kerena," she said softly, hoping to jog her daughter's memory. "They were your godparents."
Xio's mouth hung open. "Oh my God, of course," she said after a pause. "But mom, we haven't talked about them for years."
Raph took a step back. Her godparents? They were that close?
"Kerena was my maid of honor," Claudia continued. "My best friend in New York was unable to attend my wedding, so she stood in for her. Oh, my goodness. That was so long ago."
Raph felt a sense of quiet relief that they had remembered his grandparents. "I was beginning to worry that my grandfather had become senile when he told me about Akilina. It's good to know that he wasn't losing his mind."
"Of course. Of course. I could never forget Andris and Kerena Aetós. They were such a sweet couple. Kerena's death hit us very hard."
Aetós?
Raph's short-lived relief evaporated. It had seemed obvious that Claudia knew his grandparents, but even as the puzzle pieces were sliding into place, the overall picture was still a mystery. His grandparents never went by Aetós, not as far as he knew. But then, he was beginning to realize there were a lot of things he didn't know.
He held Claudia's gaze. "Aetós? No, you must have them confused with another couple," he said, massaging the crick in his neck as tension built inside him.
"No Raph, the Aetóses must have been your grandparents," Xio said, unshaken assurance in her eyes. "I remember him writing my name on this envelope." She ran her fingers slowly across her name. "And I remember playing on the beach with him and his wife. She had long white hair that stuck to her face when it got wet. We built sandcastles and collected shells on the beach. We would take the shells back to the house and she would let me brush her hair while she painted them."
Raph's entire body went numb. His dream—walking along the beach with Xio and collecting seashells... You'll know her when you dream of her, his pappoús had told him.
"My parents talked about them all the time when I was growing up. The name Giannopoulos threw me off. But I remember them now." Xio pressed the letter to her chest, as if cherishing the connection she'd had with her godparents.
"Oh my," Claudia touched her cheek with one hand, and placed the other on Raph's arm. "I just remembered that your father died with Kerena. I'm sorry. I can't imagine losing two people you love at the same time."
Claudia's caring touched Raph deeply. He gave a nod of appreciation. "Thank you, Claudia. Even after all these years, that means a lot."
"It will always hurt," she said, knowingly. "But we learn to live with their memories instead of them."
"Your grandparents were always nice to me." Xio broke the silence of grief that had settled over them. "We have pictures of your grandfather and dad smoking cigars on the patio of The Davenport, while your grandmother played with me in the pool."
"Those were good times," Claudia said with a tremor in her voice.
Xio rubbed her palms against her bare arms slowly. "I just wish I could have seen your pappoús again before he died."
Claudia drew her head back quickly and stared at Raph. "Andris died? When?" Alarm siphoned her voice.
"Two weeks ago," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. The information he'd gotten so far was already weighing him down, and he was sure there was more to come.
"Oh..." Claudia placed her hands to her throat. "Oh no..." Her eyes closed and her chest heaved on a deep sigh, and when she opened her eyes again, they were misty with tears.
Raph tightened his jaw and forced composure into his system. He did not break down in front of people. And he wasn't going to start now.
Claudia laid a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry. He was up there in age, but the Andris I knew was so full of life, we thought he would live forever."
"Ninety-three was his forever." Raph cleared his throat. "His passing was a blessing, though. He suffered a stroke two years back and hadn't been able to speak or move much."
"Goodness. Poor Andris to suffer like that in his last years, and then not be able to say goodbye to his family."
"Actually," he said cautiously, "Pappoús was able to speak at the end. It was somewhat of a miracle. For his last week, we were all able to talk with him."
"That was a miracle," Claudia agreed.
"We thought he would make a full recovery, even at his age. I know it sounds crazy, but it seems he came back just to say goodbye... and I guess to tell me about Akilina. He'd never told me about the island until the night he died."
Xio flipped her hair behind her back and her forehead puckered. "Wait a minute, he never told you about us?"
"Why did he wait that long to tell you?" Claudia asked.
"That is the question of the century." Raph said. "Claudia, I would love to hear more about my grandparents' visits to Akilina if you have the time. What they did when they were here. Their relationship with your family. Whatever you can tell me would be deeply appreciated."
"Of course," she said eagerly. "It's nice having someone to share memories of them with."
"We should sit." Xio led them toward the sitting area on the other side of the office.
Once Xio was settled on the club chair and Claudia on one end of the sofa, Raph sat down on the other end. The faint sound of children's laughter drifted up from the playground beneath the window, making him wonder if his pappoús had ever played with Xio on that same playground."
"Remind me, Mom, how did they become my godparents?" Xio asked, examining the envelope on her lap.
"I'm wondering the same thing." Raph leaned toward Claudia.
Claudia's face brightened as she laid back into the cushions. "When I told them I was pregnant with you, it was Andris who asked me if they could be your godparents. Honestly, I was so thrilled. Your father had known them for years before we were married, and I had come to love them, too. We were so close and I wanted them to be part of your life.
"The day she was born," she continued, turning to Raph, "Andris and Kaiah—Xio's great-grandmother on her father's side—came to see her in the hospital and while they stood over her basinet, Kaiah asked if I would name her Xiomara Jewel. She said it was an old family name and that it was fitting for her. I already had a name picked out, but–– well, Xiomara, you know how your botoá is," she said, giving Xio a weary look. "She usually gets what she wants in the end, so there was no use arguing. Besides, Xiomara Jewel sounded so much sweeter."
It was sweet, Raph thought, giving Xio a quick smile.
"Kaiah said Xio was the light that would bring hope and truth to us all," Claudia said.
Follow the light that leads you to truth...
A cold chill crawled through Raph's veins when Claudia echoed the words his pappoús had written to him. His eyes caught Xio's, and she seemed as uneasy and confused as he was. Was she the light Andris had told him to follow to find the truth? And what truth was he talking about? Truth about whom, about what?
Raph felt like he had been dropped in the middle of an episode of the The Twilight Zone with no script or instruction about what to do or expect as the story played out around him. He glanced over at the bar, tempted to go pour himself a strong one. His gaze inevitably searched out Xio's and as their eyes locked, a bewitching feeling sizzled between them. That tug he'd felt before intensified, causing his stomach to tie up in knots.
"I still have no idea what she meant by that," Claudia said, seemingly unaware of the spell coiling between her daughter and him. "He used to call Xio by that name written on the envelope, I miki—"
"I mikrí mou kóri. It means 'my little daughter'," Raph said in a shaky whisper. His body grew colder, even as his skin felt as if it was on fire.
Claudia gave him the same look of concern that he still got from his mother when she knew there was something wrong. "I could imagine this is a lot to take in all at once."
She had no idea. It wasn't the information that had him in jitters. It was the secrecy behind it. There were so many questions, Raph didn't know which one to ask first. But he knew that the best way to solve a problem was to begin at the beginning, so he turned to the only person who could give him answers. "Claudia, you said that your husband was friends with my grandparents before you met him. But do you know how they met, or when my grandparents first visited Akilina?"
"Oh yes, I've heard stories."
Xio leaned forward and stared at her mother with curious anticipation.
***
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