Page 83 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

EPILOGUE

L YDIA SPIED ON her father, making sure he didn’t put the whole bottle of vodka into the vat of punch. Noticing her, he winked, tipped a little more in and then screwed the lid back on. Standing behind him, egging him on, was her father-in-law.

Grinning, she weaved her way through all the guests into the huge kitchen, where her mother was supervising the caterers unloading all the party food. The plentiful surfaces were practically groaning under the weight of it all.

‘Come on,’ she said, sliding her arm into her mother’s elbow. ‘This is a party. You’re supposed to be enjoying yourself, not working.’

‘But I don’t want you having to do anything, baba —it’s your celebration.’

‘That’s why we have the caterers here, and, as Alexis owns the company, they’re going to do an extra specially good job for us, so please, let them get on with it and come and enjoy yourself.’

‘It really is a beautiful house,’ her mother said as they wandered through to the main reception room.

‘You’re just saying that because we’re only two minutes away from you now,’ Lydia laughed.

When she’d been in hospital giving birth to their second son, their oldest son, Matthaios, had stayed with her parents.

When they’d collected him the next morning and found him playing football with his grandfather and uncle in the sprawling garden, they’d both known the time had come for them to buy a family home with a garden for their children to play in.

Six months later, they were finally settled in and throwing their housewarming party for it, both families coming together in another celebration.

It had been amazing how magically babies worked at dissolving family feuds, and while Lydia’s mother would never make a friend of any Tsaliki apart from her son-in-law, she politely tolerated the others and pretended not to notice the rekindling of her husband’s friendship with Georgios.

Lucie, too, who had more reason than anyone to hate her stepfamily, had found motherhood softening her attitude to them and had recently rekindled her relationship with her own mother.

This all made Lydia very happy. Family was everything to her and as far as she was concerned, the more in it, the merrier.

Once all her guests were settled in and enjoying themselves freely, she went back into the kitchen and helped herself to an enormous plate of chips, then sneaked out through the back door into the garden and into the balmy summer air.

There, she followed the path to the tree to the left of the swimming pool.

Waiting for her beneath it was the person who made her the happiest of everyone.

Alexis saw her and grinned, and raised the bottle of tequila he’d sneaked out and the two shot glasses.

Let their guests entertain themselves. They were going to have their favourite kind of party—a private party for two.