A Remembered Love Ch. 01

"Are you ok? I didn't mean to knock you down but you came out of nowhere" he said to her with a slightly accented delicious voice and his smile... was to die for. She quickly snapped out of her lust filled haze.

"It's alright." She mumbled as she bent to pick up the tote bag and purse she dropped. Thankfully the contents of her purse didn't spill out. The only thing she was able to pick up was the tote before he picked up everything else.

They started to make small talk and they quickly found out they were both attending the college for summer courses. He introduced his self as Alexander Petridis and he was just in the states for the summer so he could take the last few classes to get his M.B.A. They ended up going to a coffee shop and were talking to each other like they were life long friends. He told her that he was twenty-six and was born and raised in Greece but came to the states for college. She told him she was twenty-two and was born and raised in Boston but came to New York for college.

That was the beginning of their three-month whirlwind romance. It took them a month before they became intimate and it was very special for the both of them. It was her first time and he said it was his first time making love. They became inseparable, Alexander would take her sailing, and they would always go to Coney Island where they could just be kids for the day. He took her to see Broadway plays and they went to the movies together. He was always asking her about her life growing up and asked about her family but rarely shared about his own. He was the first one to profess love in the relationship and after that he said it every other sentence.

The night he proposed to her she was so surprised, he had his grandmother's wedding ring expressed mailed from Greece. Alexander asked her after they had made love all night. He had slipped the ring on her finger while they were lying there. Telling her that, she was his heart and that he couldn't live another day without her being his wife. Of course she said yes and they continued making love into the morning. Later that day they went to the Justice of Peace and had small but very touching ceremony. Alexander shared a rare glimpse into his family life and said that the ring was his grandmother's who practically raised him and that it meant more to him than mere words could express. Two days later when they were just packing up to a trip to Boston to see her father and show him off the every one, he got a call from home.

Alexander said that he needed to get back to Greece because his father had become deathly ill and was in the hospital. It shocked Stephanie a little because up until then she had always thought that his parents were dead because he never talked about them or his life back in Greece and when he did rarely talk about it, it was always stories about his little sister or his best friend. She asked him if he wanted her to go with him but he said no he wouldn't be gone that long. And in an instance their little honeymoon was over.

He changed his flight plans and made his way to Greece. She still went to Boston and told her family and friends about Alex and how they were in love and were married. Her family thought it all came about quickly but they were happy for her nonetheless, they knew she would never put herself in foolish situations so they trusted her judgment about this stranger. The only people, who had ever spoken to him on the phone, were her father Carl and her best friend Lizzy. There conversations were brief but they both thought he was a good guy.

Alexander had been gone about a week and they talked every night on the phone. She was excited for him to come back and he couldn't wait to come back either. She would ask how his father was doing and he would tell her that he was okay but, that's as far as it went. Stephanie would ask him if he wanted her to fly out there to be with him and he would always say no. One night she asked him if the reason why he didn't want her to come to him was because she was black and that he was ashamed of her. He got so upset with her that they had their first argument. He told her that she was crazy if she believed those stupid things and that he loved her more than anything in the whole world. She told him that she didn't believe him because he never talked about his life so he must be ashamed of her with that she hung up on him.

He called her ten times over the next hour before she answered. She had been so moody lately and she missed him so much that she was snapping at every one, including him. She answered when he called the next time and he immediately said he wasn't ashamed of her. Alex told her that he would be coming back to the states and that he would tell her about his self and maybe after that they could come to Greece and she could meet his father, little sister, and best friend. Besides her they were the only important people in his life. She agreed and told him that she wasn't feeling well so she was going to let him go. He wished her a good morning because he was seven hours ahead of her and made a joke about the time difference. He told her he loved her and that they would see each other soon. And those were the last that he ever spoke to her.

Two days had gone be and he hadn't called her or answered any of her texts or calls. Not hearing for Alex had worried Stephanie more then words could express. Then she saw his number calling her cell phone and she was excitedly answered but to her surprise it wasn't Alex who answered the phone.

"Hi Alex. Why haven't you called me? Baby I've missed you!" Stephanie said.

"This is not Alex, this is his mother." The woman said somberly in a heavily accented voice. Immediately Stephanie knew something was up. Alex had given her the impression that his mother was dead because he never talked about her, not even when he even after he agreed to bring her to Greece. He had only mentioned three people and she wasn't one of them. The tone of her voice made Stephanie extremely nervous. She first assumed something had happened to his father.

"Oh I'm sorry Ma'am may I speak to Alex." She asked while fidgeting around. The fates must have known that she was going to need someone because she was sitting in her home in the kitchen when all of her loved ones walked to the door. Her father Carl Sr., her brother Carl, her aunt Verna and Uncle Sonny, Lizzy, her brother Johnston, Heath and Zach had come into the house. They moved around the kitchen laughing and talking amongst each other.

"I am sorry he is dead. He got into a horrible car accident on his way to see his father." That was all heard Stephanie, because she dropped the phone, right then in that instant her world came to an end. She broke down and was saved from crashing to the floor by her brother who had been nearest to her. Stephanie cried and screamed until she passed out. And when she woke up in the hospital later on, they told her when she passed out her father had called the ambulance and Lizzy had pick up her phone to see why she was so distraught. The women was still on the phone and told them how Alex was killed in a horrible accident on the way to see his father two days ago and that his mother had just got his cell phone back from the authorities and how he had mentioned her once. So the woman felt like she had to call and tell she would never hear from him again. Her father told her that the lady sounded torn up so they didn't have a long conversation. All she told them that she was having her son cremated in a few days.

They had to call the doctor in for her to be sedated by the time Lizzy finished telling her what happen. They kept her over night and everyone stayed there to give her whatever support they could considering the circumstances. When she was able to leave, they took her home and only then had they given her phone back. With her phone back in her possession she tried calling Alex's number but it was disconnected. Stephanie had so many questions she wanted to ask the woman. She wanted to know if she could come to the funeral. She needed to go the funeral because something in her would not let her believe that he was dead. Stephanie had to see it for herself. Then there were the questions about his father and if he was ok. So many things were going through her head and she had a sinking feeling that they would stay unanswered.

A month passed with her calling the disconnected number on a daily basis hoping against hope that it was all some cruel sick joke but the number never connected. Everything she loved as a woman was gone. She was slipping into depression at the realization that hadn't had her period. She deduced this was because of the stress of losing her husband as a newlywed. On a whim she went out and bought a pregnancy test. Stephanie's emotions were everywhere when she saw to two pink lines. It was bitter sweet for her, on one hand she had lost the love of her life, but on the other God blessed her with his child. She threw herself into researching his family to see if there was any way to contact them. Stephanie wanted his family to know that while he was gone, there was something still on earth that would allow his essence to live on.

She went to a Greek directory to see how many Alexander Petridis' there could be. There were like four thousand or some crazy number like that. But when she put in his age and it dwindle down to like five hundred and two hundred out of the five hundred had listed numbers. She was only going on a hunch but she figured to maybe they still had his number listed and that way he could get in contact with his family. She wished that somebody would have gotten his mother's name and it would have been way easier that way. Nevertheless, she worked her way down the expansive phone number listings.

It was agonizingly painful to here all of the men say they were Alexander Petridis but not one she was looking for. It tore her family up to watch her put herself through that type of self-torture. And about three months into her pregnancy she had to stop because the stress was getting to be too much. So she started to focus on the little life inside of her and ever so slowly began to put her life back together. She moved to Martha's Vineyard where she spent most of her childhood or at least every summer there and had been there ever since. Raising her child and the person she loved most in the world, Angel Alexandra Petridis.

Stephanie was so absorbed into her own thoughts that Angel and Lizzy were both asleep by the time she snapped out of it. She put a blanket over Angel and kissed her on the forehead. They had a couple more hours until they had to switch planes she decided to get some sleep as well. Her lasts thoughts were as they always before sleep were... of Alexander.

~*~

Earlier the same day

Alexandros Christos Petridis Athanasiadis sat at the head of boardroom table and discreetly fingered the long scar behind his right ear that was hidden by his hair. He sat back and watched as the meeting slowly crawled along. This was the fourth meeting that had been scheduled between the two companies and he was getting tired of the hold up. This merger should have been a done deal by now but if it continued like this, he was going to pull the deal off of the table and take his business elsewhere.

He sat there thinking about the woman he had been dating recently, shipping heiress Clara Ramos Del Blanco. For some reason, his mother had been pressing him to settle down with Clara and get married. His mother had her own reasons why she wanted them together. He just hadn't figured them out yet.

That alone gave him plenty to worry about. Maria Petridis Athanasiadis Winston only looked out for herself and his father found out the hard way. Giorgos Petridis Athanasiadis met and fell in love with a young Maria Karamanlis. She was the daughter of one of Giorgos father's business partners. He thought it was love at first sight and they immediately married. Too bad he didn't get to know more about her or he would have realized that she had a selfish nature and her horrendous spending habits before he married her. No, he found that out right after their son Alexandros was born that she was a monstrous bitch. He suspicions were confirmed by the fact she would never wanted to hold her newborn son. He thought more like he hoped that she had postpartum depression, sadly he hopes were futile and he realized he had in fact married a traitorous, heinous bitch with no capacity to love more than her own self and money.

All she wanted to do was drink, party, and go shopping. Still even with the realization Giorgos was in love with her so he stayed with her. But eventually that love slowly turned into dislike and then blossomed into full-blown biblical like hatred after their second child Delfina was born premature because of alcohol poisoning. By this time Alexandros was eight and he couldn't stand his mother either. At that tender age he could tell the way she treated him was not normal. He spent most of his time with his yaya (grandmother) and nanny, or his papa. His mother never had time for him because she was to busy being a socialite and going to parties.

Alexandros got all his motherly love and affection from his yaya. After his sister was born his parents got divorced, Maria went to live in England while his father and yaya nurse little Delfina back to health. Maria eventually remarried a British millionaire twenty years her senior and tried to get him and Delfina to come and stay with her and her new husband in the UK. He flatly refused and Delfina was too young and barely knew the woman.

There relationship became almost none existent after that. It got even worse after her elderly husband died. She took long trips around the world only calling occasionally. It wasn't until four years ago when his father had to have open-heart surgery and him getting into a nearly fatal car accident around the same time that she showed up. The accident left him with memory loss. He couldn't remember the four months before the incident or the week after it.

His thoughts went back to Clara; she was as nice girl and kept her name out of the gossip rags. No, when she was in the news it was because of the business deals she was making. She was his female counterpart in their world. So that had him wondering why her and his mother was so close and whatever the reason was, he didn't like it. But that couldn't persuade him not to like her. Because she was just his type, she was tall, slim, had long blonde hair and she was smart. Clara was as close to a comfortable companion as he had since the near fatal accident but, he did not love her. He thought about his yaya's ring and how he would feel giving it to her. That's if he would have never lost it. Alexandros still couldn't remember why he had it shipped to him when he was in America. The last link he had to the person he considered his mama was forever lost and he didn't even know why.

Alexandros noticed that the meeting was coming to an end. No agreement had been reach and he was disgusted with the whole thing. What he needed to do was go to his villa on Santorini so he could relax. He thought about inviting Clara but quickly dismissed that idea. Alexandros would call the best mate and maybe his little sister to see if they wanted to go. Then he thought about inviting his father too. He told his secretary to make all of the necessary plans to have his clothes packed and the plane ready by the time he was done from seeing his father.

He made his way out of the building and to the car where his driver was waiting. He told him to take him to his father's house the driver expertly maneuvered through the busy streets of Athens and made his way toward the mansion. Once there, Alexandros got out and made his way through the elegantly decorated home to his father's study. As usual the old man was sitting behind his antique desk watching stock markets opens and close around the world from his computer. He and his father were mirroring images with the same build, height, and eye color. The only difference was his papa's hair was gray.

All he did now since he retired and let Alexandros take over P.A. industries, he dabbled in stocks and currency. He and his father's relationship had come a long way since both of their near death experiences. Before those experiences their relationship was kind of strained because neither one of them knew how to really communicate with one another. But after their life altering incidents they became extremely close.

"Hi papa, are finding any good stocks?" Alexandros said loosing his tie as he walked over to his father's bar. He poured himself a scotch and went to sit across from his father.

"No, nothing so far but the Yen is getting stronger and gold prices went up two percent today" he said while still studying his three computer screens.

"Oh, how about you come with me to Santorini for vacation" he said causally while he sipped on his scotch. His father finally looked at him.

"Sure when are you going?" Giorgos asked confusedly. His son never wanted to vacation let alone with him.

"I'm taking my plane there right after I leave here. I was thinking about inviting Robert and calling Delfina to see if she was interested too. I don't plan on doing much other than sailing while I'm there" he commented.

"Sure I would love to come, but if you don't mind me asking why aren't you taking the woman you have been seeing?" he asked his son nonchalantly.

"You mean Clara, I have been thinking about breaking things off with her" he said looking at his father. Even if he still had his yaya's ring he knew that it would feel very wrong giving it to her. He did not love her and did not think he ever would love her, if he learned anything from his parent's marriage was that he would have to love the whomever he married and she would have to extremely special to be worthy of yaya's ring.

"Ok, I'll pack my things and meet you there" he said because he really didn't want to get into his son's love life. It wasn't like he could give him any type of good advice.

They said their goodbyes and he called his best mate Robert who agreed because he didn't have any major deals coming up any time soon and then he called his sister. She was so excited about the trip the she began to pack for it while they were still on the phone. Delfina said she had been bored to tears and this was the pick-up she needed before Uni started back up. It was agreed that she would fly down with Robert from London on his private plane.

By the time he got to the airport his bags were already in the plane and they were waiting on him to take off. He got to Santorini about an hour later. It was getting late into the evening so he just took a long hot shower and lounged out on the deck watching the sun set. His mother called him and he didn't answer then Clara called. She asked him why he didn't answer for his mother he told her he was busy. She asked him if they could spend the night together and he told her he was staying in Athens instead of coming back to London. He knew if he told her where he was, she and his mother would show up there uninvited.

After he got off the phone with her he sat there and thought about his love life or lack there of. Ever since his accident his love life was put on the back burner. It took him five months to recover from his external injuries; he still hadn't gained his memory back yet. And after that he took over his father's place at the head of the family business, being an international playboy wasn't in the cards anymore. And when he did date he was discreet about it. His sexual partners satisfied him on a physical level but left him unsatisfied on other levels so he didn't keep a mistress.

Alexandros went into his room and laid across his king sized bed. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts wonder. All he wanted to do for the next couple of weeks was relax and he planned on doing just that. Maybe he could take the YaYa, his yacht, out once his family got there in the next couple of days. His last thoughts were discombobulated he couldn't keep the feeling that his family wasn't complete but he didn't understand why he thought that way but, it was a feeling he had not been able to shake.