“Obviously you didn’t. I wanted to be with you from that moment on.”
Andreas wrapped a leg around hers. I’m so proud of my gorgeous wife, who not only has beauty, but brains.”
She hid her face in his neck. “The thing is, if I get pregnant soon, I’ll be able to teach and still have time to relax before the baby comes. If I don’t get pregnant right away, then hopefully they’ll want me to teach another unit. Barring that, I want to learn Greek and need to start lessons. Ari and I can learn together.”
“Zoe—” He covered her with kisses and the world wheeled away until noon when they both awakened hungry.
“Don’t move a muscle. I’ll call for room service,” she offered and reached for the phone on the bedside table. “I want to wait on you.”
He lay back like a pasha against the pillows and waited while she told the kitchen what they wanted. Then she returned to his arms and he held her close. “After we eat, we’ll have all afternoon to please ourselves. Tonight we’ll go out on the boat and I’ll show you more wonders you haven’t begun to see.”
She clasped his handsome face in her hands. “I hope you know you’re the only wonder I want to look at or experience. Nothing else comes close to the Andreas effect. You come once in a millennium, and for some reason I still can’t comprehend, I’m the woman who’s been allowed the privilege to be loved by you.”
EPILOGUE
Hollywood, California, a year later
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, tonight we’re assembled here in the Galaxy Theater to honor Magda Collier and preview her extraordinary film about Lord Byron. Magda? Please come out onstage.”
There was a thunderous ovation from a packed audience. Zoe looked around Andreas to smile at Ginger and Abby, who were sitting by their husbands. It was such an exciting night, the three of them were running on adrenaline.
The famous film director walked out to the podium, a flamboyant, much-loved character. The MC, the president of the screen guild, embraced her before stepping out of the spotlight.
“What a sight. All this distinguished body of talent gathered together. Tonight is a landmark moment in my career. For years I’ve wanted to produce a film on Lord Byron, the great British poet, that shows him in a completely different light than the world has viewed him since the 1800s. I wanted him set apart from the usual clichés and I needed fresh material seen through new eyes. So I went to our great learning institutions to see if I could find these new eyes and discovered three outstanding scholars who came to Los Angeles to work with my screenwriters for a week. After I gave them their assignments, they left in January to begin their quests. As I say their names, will they please stand?”
Zoe moaned and grabbed Andreas’s arm. Neither she nor the girls had any idea this was going to happen.
“The first scholar is Abby Grant Decorvet from San Jose State. She was sent to Switzerland to cover Lord Byron’s travels there.”
Abby got to her feet and had to wait several minutes for the applause to subside. She’d given birth recently to a son. Both she and Raoul were ecstatic.
“The second scholar is Ginger Lawrence Della Scala from Stanford. I sent her to Italy, where the famous poet spent a great deal of time.”
Another explosion of applause sounded as Ginger stood. Her friend was six months along and showing it.
Zoe got ready, because she knew she would be next.
“Our third scholar is Zoe Perkins Gavras from UCLA. She traveled to Greece, where Lord Byron’s life was snuffed out at the age of thirty-six.”
Andreas gave her hand a squeeze before she got to her feet. They’d just found out they were expecting, and her joy knew no bounds. More applause filled the theater. When it subsided, she sat down. It was a good thing since her legs felt like jelly.
“When you view this film, you’ll begin to understand the brilliance of their research, which has been so divinely portrayed by th
e screenwriters and the actors for this film. It is a divine work, because George Byron was a genius. One thrilling side note for these three women is that all of them met the loves of their lives while working on this project. They married last year and now live in France, Italy and Greece, the three areas of Europe Byron loved so well. That was a bonus neither they nor I expected.”
The audience laughed and clapped hard.
“And now...the film.”
A hush fell over the theater as the movie began. Zoe sat there mesmerized, overjoyed, touched, moved to tears, haunted. The acting was superb. She experienced every emotion possible and knew the girls did, too, as they saw the beauty of Byron’s poetry come to life on the big screen using the material they’d supplied.
Pride in her accomplishment brought tears to Zoe’s eyes. Several times she glanced at the girls and noticed their eyes glistening, too. When she looked at Andreas, the love in his eyes melted her to the spot.
When the film ended, there was a roar of applause. Everyone got to their feet and cheered. Magda had to make six curtain calls. Zoe was so happy for the director, and humbled that she and the girls had been chosen to contribute to the making of such an extraordinary presentation. A masterpiece, really, from beginning to end.
As they exited the theater they were swamped by people who wanted to talk, to get an autograph, to take pictures.
A limo waited for them out in front and the six of them climbed in. Magda had booked them at the Kimpton Everly Hotel. When they arrived, they went up to Zoe and Andreas’s suite to talk. No one would sleep for a while. There was so much to talk about they’d be up half the night.