Chapter 26 Aristides
Fifteen minutes. That’s the limit I set before facing them. It gave us just enough room to dress, compose ourselves, and prepare for the conversation I’d anticipated.
I straightened my shirt collar as Dede smoothed her dress over her belly.
“Ready?” I asked.
She nodded, though the pallor of her face betrayed her anxiety. I wanted to shield her from everything that might cause her stress, but we were well beyond that luxury now.
I placed my hand at the small of her back as we descended the stairs. The house was unnaturally quiet. No television, no music, just the faint sound of hushed voices from the living room.
When we entered, the conversation halted abruptly. Chrysanthos and Tia sat on the sofa, their postures rigid, hands clasped between them. My son’s face was unreadable, something he’d inherited from me. Tia’s eyes were red-rimmed, her jaw set in a way that reminded me of her mother.
Dede sat on the loveseat, and I claimed the space next to her. It felt satisfying to sit beside her without pretense.
Beside me, Dede trembled. Her discomfort compelled me to act.
“I am the father of Deanna’s babies,” I stated, my voice firm.
Shock registered on our children’s faces. Tia opened and closed her mouth before whispering, “What? Isn’t Daddy the father?”
“Kevin is not the father of my children, Tia.”
Tia’s breath came out in a shuddering exhale. “Oh, thank God. But... I saw you kissing?” Her voice broke. “I thought… When you said you were pregnant, I thought you were taking daddy back.”
“What kiss?” I turned to Dede. “When was this?”
Dede explained that during Thanksgiving, her ex had cornered her in her office, pleading for reconciliation. She rejected him, but he kissed her just as Tia entered.
“You never explained.”
“I tried to,” Dede said, her voice breaking. “You walked away and left for Greece before I could.”
Tia’s face crumpled. “I couldn’t hear it, Mom. I couldn’t listen to you make excuses for him. I thought—” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I thought you were going to tell me you were giving him another chance, and I just... I couldn’t hear it.”
“I didn’t know, sweetheart. I thought you were just upset about the pregnancy.” Her voice softened. “I should have tried harder to talk to you. There is no universe in which I would take your father back. Not after what he did to you.”
“Oh.”
“Has Kevin attempted to touch you again?” I asked.
“I made it perfectly clear that we’re over. He hasn’t tried anything since.”
“Father is really the father of your twins?” Chrysanthos asked, his eyes narrowing.
“These babies are Aris’s. Only his.”
“We understand this is unexpected news for both of you, and you have every right to your feelings, yes. However, I need to be clear. Dede’s pregnancy, it is high risk, and I will not tolerate any disrespect or emotional outbursts that might further endanger her health or that of our children.
While we would appreciate your support, we are not asking for permission to be together or to raise our children as we wish. ”
“What Aris means is,” Dede interjected, “we hope you’ll be supportive, but we understand if you need time.”
The room remained silent for several seconds, but I was a businessman accustomed to waiting out uncomfortable silences, often using them to my advantage.
Tia wet her lips before asking, “How long have you two been... together?”
“Since last summer,” Dede answered.
“Oh...” Tia murmured, fidgeting with her wedding ring.
“Sweetheart, when Aris and I met, we didn’t know you and Santo knew each other. Our meeting was pure coincidence. I was being robbed in Athens—”
Tia’s head snapped up. “Wait, what? You were robbed? Did they hurt you?”
“It was frightening, but I wasn’t hurt. Aris arrived just in time. He took care of me.”
Tia’s eyes narrowed. “When did this happen?”
“In June,” Dede answered. “Sweetheart, by the time I came to the estate in August, I’d been in Greece for several weeks. After Aris helped me, we began a… relationship.”
“She’s the woman you were spending time with last summer,” my son stated.
“Yes, this is correct,” I confirmed.
“Mom, you followed me to Greece, even after I told you not to!”
“I couldn’t stay home while you were there without a passport or money. Trust me, I’ve learned my lesson.” She gestured to her stomach.
“I knew something was off at that breakfast,” Chrysanthos said, snapping his fingers. “The way you two looked at each other. It was obvious there was history.”
Dede nodded. “And as soon as we found out who you were to each other, we ended our relationship, but when I came home, I discovered I was pregnant.” Dede squeezed my hand before addressing her daughter. “I’m very sorry, Tia. I never meant to hurt you.”
Chrysanthos snorted. “All those lectures about safe sex were for show? Or did those rules not apply to you, Father?”
Before I could respond, Tia muttered, “You didn’t learn anything from them either.” Then, realizing what she’d revealed, she clapped her hand over her mouth.
I bit back a smirk.
“When are you marrying her?” Chrysanthos demanded, suddenly serious. “I expect you to do right by Mom.”
“We will marry as soon as Dede agrees to this, yes.”
Tia abruptly stood. “I’m going to bed,” she announced quietly.
“Tia, sit down.” Dede’s voice was quiet but carried authority. “I need to address something you said earlier.”
“Mom, I don’t want to—”
“Sit. Down.”
Tia sat. Reluctantly, arms still crossed, her posture rigid.
Chrysanthos’s arm came around Tia’s shoulders as he shifted closer on the sofa.
“You know about my childhood. About how I was bounced around foster care after my father left and how I didn’t have any family until your grandmother took me in.”
Tia nodded.
“When I was sixteen, I saw my father at a store.”
My hands, which had been resting on my knees, went still. She had never told me this.
“I followed him,” Dede said. Her gaze stayed fixed on Tia.
“I followed him to a house in the suburbs. Through a window, I watched him playing with his new children. His wife was setting the table for dinner. They were laughing.” Her voice dropped.
“He looked happy. I realized that day that I’d been replaceable to him.
He’d found better children and didn’t love me anymore.
He hadn’t failed at being a parent. He’d just failed at being mine. ”
Tia’s hand moved to cover her mouth.
The image of Dede at sixteen—already carrying the accumulated weight of eight years in the system—standing outside a window and watching her father love other children presented itself with excruciating clarity.
She hadn’t been raised to fear love. She’d been trained, systematically and repeatedly, to expect its withdrawal.
Dede continued, quieter now. “I left. Went back to my foster placement and got into a fight that night bad enough to land me in juvenile detention for a month.” She looked down at her hands.
“I was so angry. Not at the other kid. At every year I’d spent waiting for a man who never planned on coming back. ”
“Mom…”
“I never wanted you to feel what I felt that day, baby. The idea that you think these babies are replacing you—” Her voice cracked.
She pressed her palm flat against her thigh.
“You are irreplaceable to me. Always have been, always will be. These twins aren’t your replacement.
They’re your siblings. And you’re still my first baby.
The one who made me a mother. The one I’d move heaven and earth for. ”
Tia’s composure shattered. “I didn’t know.”
“Because I didn’t want to burden you with it. I never wanted you to question whether you were wanted.” Dede shifted forward on the loveseat, and I stood immediately, offering my hand.
She took it, gripping firmly as she pushed herself up. Once steady, she crossed the small distance to Tia and pulled her daughter into her arms with fierce tenderness. “But I’m telling you now so you understand nothing will ever change my love for you.”
Tia broke. The sound she made was small and choked, muffled against her mother’s shoulder, and her arms came up to wrap around Dede.
Chrysanthos rose from the sofa but remained a step back as he watched his wife seek comfort from her mother.
When they finally separated, both wiped their faces with the backs of their hands in an identical gesture. The hostility was gone.
“It’s a lot to process,” Tia said quietly. “I’m going to lie down.”
She left without looking back. Chrysanthos made a move to follow Tia, but I stopped him with a gesture. “A word in private, son?”
“I’ll give you two some space,” Dede said, and left before either of us could respond.
Once the sound of Dede’s footsteps faded, I switched to Greek. “Are we alright?”
Chrysanthos ran his fingers through his hair and whistled low. “Honestly? I thought you had stopped having sex at your age.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m forty-four, not eighty-four. The Greeks invented sex, you know. We don’t retire from it at forty.”
The notion that my son considered me too aged for physical intimacy was both amusing and vaguely insulting. Though at his age, I’d held similar misconceptions about my parents until an unfortunate incident in the study.
He huffed a reluctant laugh, then sobered. “Tia thought Kevin had gotten her mom pregnant. She’s been a wreck for months, thinking her parents were back together.” He met my eyes. “Though I don’t know if you being the father is better or worse for Tia.”
I considered this for a moment. “Better, I would think. At least I have no intention of disappointing Dede or abandoning my children.” I fixed him with a direct look. “I understand this situation is unconventional, but I love Dede and she will become my wife.”
“I never thought I’d see you like this. Talking about love so openly.”
“Since your mother, I haven’t been in love.” I paused. “Dede changed that.”