Page 5 of Her Greek Protector
She hooked her camera up to her laptop and started downloading the pictures. When her cell phone rang, she answered it absently. “Hello?”
“Aimee! Oh, I’m glad I caught you. Is everything going okay?” Gemma asked.
“Gem, you’ve not even been gone twenty-four hours. Of course, everything is fine. Damien’s taking a nap. We spent the morning at the beach and he’s tuckered out.”
Gemma sighed. “I was hoping to talk to him, but maybe this is better. I hate that I had to leave him again, so soon after the wedding and rushed honeymoon….”
“Don’t worry about it,” Aimee assured her. “You know Damien’s fine here.”
“Yes, but I didn’t suggest you stick around for a few months so that you could become Damien’s babysitter.”
Aimee chuckled. “Don’t worry about it.” Aimee and Gemma had been best friends for years and roommates back in the States. Aimee had been there for every step of Damien’s life thus far, often watching him while Gemma worked late or took care of errands.
“But I want you to enjoy Greece and have some fun.”
“Damien and I are having fun, so it’s all good. What are you and Leo up to?”
Gemma sighed, allowing the change of topic. “He’s trying to find a pilot who will take us out to the islands.”
“I thought you guys took Leo’s private jet?” Aimee asked.
“We did, but it needs a certain amount of runway to land and the islands just don’t afford that. At least, that’s what I’m being told. We need a much smaller plane.” She didn’t wait for Aimee to answer, but just continued, “Anyway, the smaller planes don’t usually have a very large travel radius, so it looks like we’re going to have to make several more flight stops.
“Leo suggested just buying a plane, but some of the islands aren’t very friendly to foreigners and he doesn’t want to make any enemies before he has a chance to ask them about Alexi. Many of the islands are still trying to recover from the earthquake and tsunami. He’s trying to find someone local to help speed things up.”
Aimee frowned. “I’m sorry things aren’t going as smoothly as you had both planned. I know Leo is desperate to find his brother. He couldn’t talk about anything else but that at dinner last night.”
“His mom and dad are just as anxious. Aimee, I can’t believe that Alexi is alive.”
Aimee couldn’t believe it either. “I hope you guys find him. How long is Leo thinking you guys will be gone?”
“Well, he was hoping to be on Ranongga Island in about forty-eight hours, but now…I don’t know. He’s talking like it could take us a few weeks to find him if he didn’t stay on the same island.”
“Well, wouldn’t he be easy to find? I mean, he looks just like Leo… Surely someone will recognize him!”
Gemma chuckled. “You mean, we should just go around the island asking if anyone has seen a man looking like my husband? That might take a lot longer than a few weeks. There are quite a few islands in that area and language could be a barrier as well.”
“Isn’t there a common language everyone speaks?” Aimee asked.
“Kind of. Most of the islanders speak some form of Pidgin English, but the native language on Ranongga is Ghanongga.”
“Ghanon…what? I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s not surprising. The only place it’s spoken is Ranongga Island and there’s only about twenty-five hundred people living there. Leo asked around for any translators, but all of them seem to be helping out with the relief effort. He couldn’t find anyone available here in Australia. He’s going to ask again when we get closer to our destination. From what Leo was able to learn, there are lots of different languages spoken on the various islands. Leo speaks five languages, but not Pidgin English. Someone told him he might be able to understand some of the islanders, but there would be difficulties.”
“Sign language,” Aimee suggested. “You know, communicate with your hands and by drawing pictures. You’re an artist…”
“No, I’m an art restoration expert. There’s a big difference.”
“Well, I’m sure you can draw stick people and the like.” Aimee smiled. “Anyway, Leo seems resourceful. You’ll both do fine.”
“Once we get there. Hey, Leo’s telling me we need to go. Kiss and hug Damien for me?”
“You know I will. Be safe and we’ll see you soon.” Aimee ended the call and then glanced at the bed to make sure Damien was still sleeping. He was. She continued downloading pictures from her camera. Now that Gemma’s wedding was over, she’d been hoping to have some time to research a new direction for her life. That hadn’t happened yet, and it didn’t seem likely that it would be happening anytime in the next few weeks either.
She didn’t begrudge Gemma and Leo wanting to rush off to find his twin, nor did she really mind becoming Damien’s surrogate mother for a few weeks. She was just starting to feel antsy about what was next. Sighing, she scrolled through the images she’d just downloaded, smiling as she found several that she really liked.
She tried to be objective about the technique, lighting and focus, but in the end, she was more interested in the emotion the pictures evoked. She wanted tofeelsomething when she looked at a picture she’d taken. She’d always liked photography, but until recently, it had only been a hobby for her.