Page 93 of Memories of Santorini

She met Carter’s gaze, looked deep into his eyes, into his soul. She knew what he would do, what he would want her to do, what he would feel was the best thing for her.

“Mom, did you say I couldn’t go to the prom with Dylan Becker?”

Her mother’s eyes widened as if she’d thought Sienna had lost her mind. Maybe she had. But she still needed to know.

“Was that when you were sixteen?”

Sienna nodded. “He was a senior.”

Her mother drew in a deep breath, let it out. “I don’t think so. Actually, now that I really think about it, I was excited to take you out to buy your first prom dress.”

Sienna sighed. “That would have been really fun.” Reaching for her mother’s hand, she held it in both of hers and said what was in her heart. “I was always angry with you. I blamed you. But today, when he said I wasn’t even a relative—” She couldn’t say his name, certainly couldn’t call him Dad. “I saw all the small cruelties he dealt. Death by a thousand scratches. What were you supposed to do?” She shrugged, putting herself in her mother’s place, feeling the helplessness. “Could you have said when I was eight or ten or thirteen, ‘Hey, guess what, he’s not really your dad, so don’t worry about what he says?’”

Her mother flinched. Sienna couldn’t help that. “But once you married him, I don’t think you had any other choice but to keep that secret.”

“I should never have married him in the first place.”

Her mother looked at Xandros, and it wrecked Sienna to see the love in his eyes. He adored her mother. And Mom loved him. Everyone had suffered for that decision. But would Sienna herself have done anything differently in her mother’s situation? She knew Nonni. Her grandmother meant well and had such a big heart, but she could be so opinionated and stubborn, telling you what she thought you should do, angry if you didn’t take her advice.

Then her mother added, “But if I hadn’t married him, you and I wouldn’t have Matthew.”

“No, we wouldn’t have Matthew,” Sienna echoed. Finally, she squeezed her mother’s hand. “Let’s start over without all the petty cruelties your ex-husband perpetrated.” She gave him the name he deserved, an ex. Then she looked at Xandros. “Let’s all start over.” She felt Carter’s warmth, his support, his love.

Her mother cried, and Xandros was there only a moment later, his big hand on her back, soothing her tears. Tears of joy.

She wondered what it was going to be like to have a Greek father, to be half Greek, to have half siblings she’d never known.

And what it would be like to have an amazing man like Carter by her side, talking her through it all?

Aunt Teresa clapped her hands, beaming with a huge smile. “Let’s all eat, drink, and be merry.”

It sounded like an excellent plan, especially when she stood and Carter wrapped his arm around her shoulder, holding her close.

There was no place she’d rather be.