The Prodigal Daughter-Chapter 14

 

The day was bright and pleasant. It was certainly a little hard to believe that it was still fall. She placed her sunglasses down over her eyes and looked around. Where to go first was the first question that came to her mind. This was going to be fun, she thought.

"Excuse me," a woman from behind her said in English.

Keesha smiled and turned around. She guessed it was pretty easy to tell she wasn’t exactly a native. "Yes, can I help you?"

"I don’t know," the woman said. Keesha studied her. She looked like she could be no more than forty, and she was dressed in a white suit and seemed very business-like. "You just seem so familiar. You remind me of someone I used to know, that’s all. I’m sorry, you must think me very strange to approach you in this manner outside of a restaurant."

She shook her head and smiled. "No, that’s fine." This peeked her curiosity. Who could she possibly remind this woman of? "If you don’t mind me asking, who exactly do I remind you of?"

"A woman I knew a long time ago. You are from the United States, right?"

"Yes, I’m here on vacation. I’ve always wanted to come to Greece. It really is beautiful here."

She looked around and nodded. "That it is. This friend of mine is from the United States, too," she said looking back at her. Staring again, she noted, "You look so much like her. The resemblance is uncanny." She shook her head and laughed, "I’m sorry, I didn’t even introduce myself." She extended her hand, "I’m Athena Pelas."

Shaking her hand, she responded, "I’m Keesha Ward. It’s nice to meet you."

"You said your last name is Ward. That was the last name of the woman you remind me of. That’s really odd."

Keesha’s eyes lit up. Could this woman have known her mother while she was in Greece? No, she couldn’t have, that would be just too much good luck. "Was her name Cynthia Ward?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, that was her name. I take it you know her."

"Yes, she was my mother. I can’t believe that you knew her while she was here." She looked over and noticed that Jax was approaching them. "Jax," she called out standing up. "You won’t believe this. She knew my mother when she was here."

"Athena?" Jax said turning to face the woman. "It’s been a while."

"You know each other?" Keesha said looking at him.

"Yes," Athena said. "We had some business together a while back. It’s really good to see you again, Jax. Yes, I was telling Keesha that I knew her mother. How is she, by-the-way?"

"Um," Keesha began. It was still a little difficult for her to talk about her mother’s death. "She died last year. Everyone has always told me how much I looked like her, especially when she was younger."

"And they are certainly very right. She was a wonderful woman, and I’m sorry to hear about her passing. I would have loved to get in touch with her before now, but she disappeared without a trace."

Jax wrapped an arm around Keesha. He knew that she was strong enough to deal with all of this, but now he wasn’t so sure. "I’m fine," she said to him. "Athena, could I get in touch with you later. I really would like to talk to you about her, maybe that would help me."

"Of course," she said pulling an organizer out of her purse. "Here is my address and my number," she said writing the information on a piece of paper. "I will be in town for the next few days. I would love to talk to you. She was a wonderful friend to me."

"Thank you," Keesha said taking the piece of paper. "I really want to thank you for this."

She smiled, "It’s not a problem. As always, it was a pleasure to see you again, Jax."

"Yes, always, Athena. I’ll see you around," he said giving her a smile.

"That’s what you always say," she said before leaving.

She moved away from him and sat down at their table. "I’m sorry," she said quickly wiping her eyes. "You think that I would be able to deal with it by now, wouldn’t you."

"It’s perfectly understandable, Keesha. It hasn’t been a year yet since you lost your mother; I know it still must be hard for you. I can’t possibly imagine how it must feel to loose a parent, but when Brenda died, it took me a while to come to terms with it. And, that is nothing compared to this."

She smiled. "Thank you for being understanding. I just can’t believe our luck running into her today," she said changing the subject.

"Yes, that was quite a stroke of luck. How did you two begin talking?"

"She said that I reminded her of someone she once knew. Well, that someone was my mother. I guess they knew each other when she was here. It would seem that you know her as well, Jax," she noted.

Jax knew the moment definitely needed to be lightened-up a bit. "It almost sounds as if you’re a little jealous."

"I assure you, Jax, I am not jealous. If I’m not jealous of all those women’s attentions that you are definitley attracting, then why would I be jealous of Athena. And, don’t get me started on Chloe."

He laughed, "I beg you, please don’t get started on Chloe. The less I think about her, the better."

She nodded, "Really. You never really talk about your relationship with her. Why is that, Jax?" she said happy to be off the topic of her mother. She needed to remain strong for this.

"There’s not much to tell," he shrugged as he looked at the menu.

"Maybe why you broke up with her. I’m kind of interested in why the two of you are not together now. She seems so," she paused looking for the right word, "perfect."

Jax put the menu down and sighed. "She does seem perfect, doesn’t she? Maybe that was the problem. In the beginning, that was kind of endearing, but it just wasn’t enough. She was never real with me. She wanted to be what she thought I wanted her to be." He smiled now and leaned closer to the table. He took her hand, "But you, my dear, do not try to be what I want. You are you; you are real. Perhaps that is why you are so endearing to me."

"Jax, I told you that we couldn’t do this," she warned him. "How does everything seem to turn around to this?" she asked.

"I don’t know. Fate, I guess. So, when do you plan to talk with Athena?"

"As soon as possible. Maybe she could help us out a lot. I want to know everything she knows about my mother and if she knows anything about her relationship with Stefan."

"Good, you will want to talk her soon. She is a very busy woman, and I doubt that she will be here for long," Jax informed her.

"So, it seems that you do know a lot about her. Well, now that’s interesting. But, I will not pry. What looks good for breakfast?" she asked picking up her menu.