Excerpts from the novel

PROLOGUE

Zoe woke with a start. Sunlight streamed in through lace curtains, playing across the mantel and glimmering off gilded frames of photos onto her wrinkled hands that lay across her lap. She sighed, tilting her head against the back of the recliner, and stretched her thin legs out from under the Afghan that covered her. She was surprised that she had slept so soundly. At ninety, sleep was elusive, rather like a darting butterfly. She closed her eyes, listened to the ticking of the clock on the mantel, and was immediately drawn back into the dream.

She wondered why she’d dreamed of the orphanage after all these years. Then she recalled last night’s television news: scenes of a wrecking ball demolishing the old orphanage to make way for a high-rise. She had long ago left behind her experiences there, but destroying the abandoned buildings seemed to loosen her memories. She smiled to herself, realizing what a long way she had come. She’d skillfully managed some events even if some seemed out of her control. Was it all fate?

The ancient Greeks believed that man was powerless to control his life, that one’s life was determined by three goddesses of fate. Had fate played a role in her life as it had in her father’s … so family legend had it.

Was it fate that influenced her father’s reckless behavior and caused him to flee Greece, ultimately seeking refuge in America? She closed her eyes and recalled the story of her father’s journey and how she had come to be.

………………………

Her father and stepmother were sympathetic to her loss; but urged her to move in with them. “Being a woman, you can’t possibly take care of yourself and little Theodora. Besides it is not proper for a woman to live alone. You must come and live with Demetra and me,” her father urged.

Zoe refused to accept the idea that she had no control over her own life. The last thing she wanted to do was to move in with her father and again be under his thumb. “ I don’t believe in fate,” she said. “ It’s up to us to determine how our life evolves.”

………………………

She now had to be honest. If she continued to see Adam, it would be purely on a personal basis rather than business. Where would it end? Perhaps she’d be hurt.

Still, she said, “I would very much like to see you again.”

………………………

Zoe was browsing Through Theodora’s high school yearbook when she saw a picture of Theodora at her high school prom. Tears welled in her eyes. There had been so much hope, so much promise. And now there was none.