Anna leaned against John, stroking his hand as they sat in the garden. Jack ran around, laughing and giggling as he flew the mechanical aeroplane John helped him build through the air. Occasionally he would grin at his parents before making sounds for the plane again and continuing his pelt across the ground.

"I've missed so much with him." Anna turned to see John, tears in his eyes, watching Jack run. "If I'd fought for you, all those years ago, instead of running away this never would've happened."

"What?"

"Green, the engagement, the worry… none of it. I would've held him as a baby, helped him build his toys, cuddled him when he cried. Instead I left you to do it all alone." John sighed, "I wish I could go back and fight for you like you deserved."

"John, it's in the past."

"Can you ever forgive me?" John shifted to hold her hands in his, staring at her with pleading eyes.

"Forgive you?"

"For missing so much with you." John nodded toward Jack, aeroplane abandoned to investigate something in the fishpond, "For missing so much with him."

Anna put her hands on John's cheeks, "We both missed so much about each other. And we should've been braver, we should've been better, and we should've been a great many things but we weren't. We're who we are now, John. For better or worse that's who we're stuck being since we can't go back, only forward."

"Only forward." John nodded but still seemed a little unsure.

Anna pulled him close, "Promise you want to go forward with me."

"I want nothing else than to go forward with you forever." John said into her neck, his head buried there, "I want nothing more than to marry you like we planned in London."

Anna pulled away, "Then let's get married here."

"Here?" John pointed around them, "In this garden?"

"No, you cheeky beggar," Anna swatted at him, "Here in Bombay. It's where we wanted to run away to and I don't see any better place for us to finally fulfill our dream than here."

John took a moment, thinking, "Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything," Anna held up her left hand, "Except perhaps when I agreed to marry you the first time."

"I can't argue with that." John kissed her and Anna smiled at him.

"So, you'll marry me?"

John smiled, "Of course."

They stood, grinning at one another, as Jack sprinted over to mold himself to John's leg, "Are you leaving?"

"I have to go back to my hotel for the night."

"You do that every night!"

"I know, because I have to sleep in my bed like you sleep in yours." John sunk down, hugging Jack, "But I'll be back first thing tomorrow and-"

"Stay." John looked up at Anna and she shrugged, "Stay the night."

John turned to Jack, "Do you want me to stay too?"

Jack nodded enthusiastically and pulled John toward his room. Anna stayed in the garden a minute more, listening to Jack's chattering as he showed his father his room. She followed slowly, hearing the comforting sounds of John's voice as he read the bedtime story Jack insisted she usually read him.

Anna leaned on the door, listening to the story and smiling to herself as John's dynamic voice echoed in the reactions of their son. She stayed just in the shadows, putting a finger to her lips when the servants moved about the covered walks, and waited outside the room. After a time she heard no more sounds from the room and peeked in, nervous for a moment.

But the sight that met her eyes put all fears aside. John had slid down the bed, his head resting on the pillows, and Jack curled into his side. Anna tiptoed over, pulling the book from John's grasp and extracting the aeroplane from Jack's. Replacing them on their respective shelves, she stared at the sight of the two people she loved most in the world loving one another before easing out of the room.

With a wedding to hurriedly plan, the house was in a bit of a tizzy. Anna's Hindu Lady's Maid insisted Anna abide some of the traditional practices to bring good fortune to the marriage and Gwen prepared the traditional English portions of the ceremony even though both women knew they were only having a small ceremony at the Embassy. John tried to convince Anna that they should have the white wedding she deserved but she refused, insisting that the right man would always mean more than the right wedding and the faster she could marry him, the better. He lost all arguments after that.

They walked to the little office in the Embassy and the officiator smiled at them as Gwen and Mr. Harding helped Jack deliver the rings so his parents could slip them onto the other's finger. He clapped for them and had to be warned, with giggles from Anna and John, to wait a moment for the officiator to finish. Miming closing his lips and locking them closed, Anna and John turned back to the man telling them they were now man and wife.

Anna could count on one hand the moments that made her as happy as the first kiss she shared with her husband. The day Jack was born, the first time John told her he loved her, the day John proposed to her, the time her father said he wanted her to be happy more than he wanted her to marry in her class, and when she realized John would fight for her. If she was honest though, that first kiss was better than all the rest.

When they separated Anna rubbed her hand over the ring on John's hand, whispering to him, "Did you ever fear this day would never come?"

John shook his head, "How could I when I love you perfectly? There is no love in fear for perfect love casteth out all fear."

"What?"

"First John four-eighteen. Just the second part of what I said. The first part was mine." John smiled, "The only thing I could ever fear is being without you. Once we're together I fear nothing for I love you perfectly."

"And I love you too. I don't fear anymore." Anna kissed him again before John scooped Jack into his arms.

Their celebration was a small one. Held at a restaurant John frequented on his first visit, and located conveniently close to both the Harding and Smith houses, it where he met his first teacher. And where he introduced them to the man who taught him many of his early tricks. The man even took Jack aside and finished teaching him the trick to juggling the balls and making them disappear. To Anna's pride, and Jack's excitement, by the end of the night he could make all three balls disappear and reappear.

When Jack's excitement waned, eyes drooped. Gwen and Mr. Harding stepped in at that point, recognizing the signs themselves. Mr. Harding lifted the boy to his shoulder, Jack settling his head there. Anna kissed Jack's forehead, brushing back the hair there, and whispered goodnight. Jack's response was mumbled in Mr. Harding's coat and then repeated in the same muffled tone when John followed Anna's example.

"We'll bring him around noon tomorrow?" Gwen put a hand on Anna's shoulder and Anna nodded.

"That should be fine. We don't want to be too far from him for too long." Anna ran her fingers through Jack's hair and he twitched under her, turning toward Mr. Harding's neck to escape the feeling of someone touching him. They all chuckled at it.

"I think we should get him to bed." Mr. Harding shook Anna's hand, "Congratulations Mrs. Bates."

"Thank you Mr. Harding." Anna turned and hugged Gwen, "And thank you for your help. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"It's a good thing you never have to know your ladyship."

John's hands rested on Anna's shoulders as she watched Gwen and Mr. Harding carry Jack back to their home just short distance away. "We could always just take him home with us. It wouldn't be a bother."

"No, it wouldn't be a bother." Anna turned to feel John wrap his arms around her, "But it might make the morning a little more interesting than I'd like."

"Oh?"

"Well," Anna ran a finger down the buttons of John's shirt to feel his shiver, "I don't think I'd want our son to walk in on us if I happened to be on top of you."

John coughed and Anna took his hand, "Come Mr. Bates, I need you to finish making me Mrs. Bates."

They laughed and practically skipped back to their home. The little bungalow was just big enough for the three of them to make their home as just the day before John had moved his few meager belongings to the house from the hotel. At the front gates John snuck a kiss to the back of Anna's neck while she struggled with the key. Sheer will forced the lock open and they stumbled into the garden.

Once inside the house Anna tried to remind herself to thank their servants for the effort they took so the lights were on but dimmed in the hall. This was not a moment to see clearly but to lose themselves in the dream for a time. Following the path of lights glowing like fairies, Anna led John to her bedroom.

In the three weeks since they'd be reunited in Bombay, John had only ever slept in the guest room… except for the few times he and Jack fell asleep when reading late into the night. Sometimes Anna would join them, taking the rocking chair in the room and dozing off herself to the melodic sound of his voice. Even waking up with a crick in her neck and stiff muscles was worth it to see their son so enamored with his father.

But what Anna wanted most was to bring John to her room. Except, she grinned to herself as she tugged him over the threshold, it was their room now. The large bed in the center, draped with white mosquito covers, was theirs. The dresser, the wardrobe, the washbasin, and the room itself were theirs. They would have all things in common now. What was his was now hers and what was hers was now his. Because he was hers and she was his.

"For I am his and he is mine." Anna whispered as John bent to kiss her, his hands moving gently over her.

Unlike the first time, when the passions and fears of youth drove them to boldness and recklessness. Or when they reunited and anticipation fought with regret to conquer their moment. Or afterward when playfulness and hurry rushed them to get to know one another again. Or in his dressing room where the forbidden mated with risk to drive them to nervous pleasure. Or his visit to her in the middle of the night to promise to be hers forever where their loved bloomed in danger.

This time they were free as they never had been before.

His hands had been careful in those times. He had sought her pleasure with great care. He had pleased her without exception. But now there was no more hiding. No more stolen kisses or shadowed rendezvous. Now it was her right to take the kisses he laid on her on for her own. Now it was his right to let her pull his tie free or his buttons apart.

When he laid her on the bed and peeled her from her clothes it was because a wife wanted her husband to love her completely. When she wrapped her leg over his hip to take him inside her it was because a husband wanted to bring his wife to ultimate pleasure. When they reached their climax together, their names mixing in the air, it was because they were no longer two but one.

In the afterglow, Anna resting close to John again in a position that felt safest to her, she remembered the passage from the Bible. Turning to whisper it in John's ear, she said, "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

John shifted, running his hand over her face before placing another soft kiss on her swollen but well-loved lips, "Let no man tear asunder and none shall."

"I love you." Anna rested her head between his chin and shoulder, wrapping her arm around to hold his neck.

His hand stroked over her arm as he sighed, "I love you Anna."

Anna blinked her eyes open and smiled to herself. Even though she only had this moment once before, she was convinced that waking up next to John was perhaps the best experience a person could hope to have. She lifted her head enough to see he was still asleep and grinned to herself as she pulled the sheets down.

The white mosquito nets wrapped the bed, almost like they still existed only in their shared dream world. With the faint light of dawn glinting through the windows Anna could almost believe it. The way the breeze, from the doors the servants were kind enough to leave open, just tickled her skin left her shivering with excitement.

Taking the initiative of the moment, reminded of very similar circumstances, Anna slid down John's body, admiring feeling it under her fingers again, before straddling his legs. Massaging her way upward she watched for John's reactions as he slowly pulled himself from whatever dreamland held him in sway. When their eyes finally met Anna leaned forward.

With a quick kiss she pulled back to take in the sight of him by morning light, "Good morning."

"Good morning." John tried to move but Anna put her hands to his shoulders. "What are you planning darling?"

"I once did this to you," Anna put her fingers around his base, drawing upward to feel him twitch in her grasp. "But we were so full of emotions I don't think I enjoyed it like I should have."

"I thought we enjoyed it."

"We did," Anna smiled at him, "But last night felt different because we weren't bound by our fears or our grief or our regret. I want to do this again so we can feel what it is to share this without the world weighing on us."

She lowered her mouth, blowing hot air over him. John grunted and clutched the sheets in his hands. His nod was all Anna needed to take him in her mouth.

The weight was familiar, the taste familiar, and the sensations better than she remembered. Anna ran her tongue around him, bobbing her head up and down to suck him as completely as she could manage. He grew in her grasp, pulsing under the tickle of her teeth over his sensitive skin.

Her hands massaged at his hips, working in steady trek on his trembling body to increase the pleasure and soothe the ache. One of her hands wrapped over his base, managing him in tandem with her mouth. When she risked her tongue to slide along his slit her other hand fingered over the weight between his legs. John arched off the bed and Anna kneaded there, pulling him to incoherent moans while her tongue maintained its attack on him.

He quivered in her grip as she slid off him, ready to continue this. Anna sat up, using her knees to climb just over him. His eyes pleaded for her to take him in but Anna only teased her entrance over his twitching erection.

John surged up, hands going to her hips, and thrust into her. Anna shut her eyes at the rush of pleasure. One of her hands went to his shoulder, clinging there for support, as he set their punishing pace.

When she could risk her eyes open she noted John was not waiting to look at her. She followed the tilt of his head and groaned. His focus was entirely on the sight of their joining. It captivated Anna as she witnessed the almost imperceptible swelling of her folds over him, the wet suck that sounded over the room to match the shine left over his arousal, and the sticky slap when their bodies met.

She was so distracted that when John flipped her to lay back on the bed, sliding out of her with something she might call a slurp, it took Anna minute to keen for his return. But John's shoulders forced her legs farther apart and his head buried in her wet heat. Anna threw her head back to the pillows.

Gone was the gentleness between them the night before. The ferocity of his tongue on her was the result of a man unleashed. Regret could not hold him back and sorrow's shackles were long since broken. His teeth worrying her folds and the plunge of tongue to drink her dry were the actions of someone enjoying a gift reserved only for them. Even when her thighs tightened around his head he refused to stop, driving her over the edge with his relentless laves and licks over her.

Anna broke when John used his teeth to tug at her nerves. Riding the peak to its finish she felt John enter her again, pressing as deeply as he possibly could to strike her very core. The nerves, still fizzling and sparking, ignited almost instantly and Anna clawed at John's back for purchase. One of her hands found it below his shoulder while the other slipped over his sweaty skin until she could plant her grip on his ass. John bucked into her, forehead resting on her shoulder in time with his drives, and increased at the pain of her nails leaving indentations on his skin.

With a hand at her hips, John tilted her upward and Anna cried out his name. The angle sent him deeper, drove her higher, and when his other hand caressed at her nerves and folds again she broke sobbing his name. John only needed a few pushes more before Anna could feel his release deep inside her.

They stayed in place a moment. Anna's arms moved back up his body to his shoulders, pulling him to her. The weight of his body forced her into the bed but Anna reveled in the comfort of him around her. The comfort of his embrace.

They shifted to their sides after a moment so they could see one another. Anna leaned forward, kissing her taste off him and then drawing back to lick her lips. John put a hand to the back of her neck and pulled her back toward him, kissing her slowly until the need for air was stronger than their need for one another.

Anna smiled at him, "Good morning."

"A very good morning." John took a deep breath, "Now I'm a little glad Jack wasn't here. I'd hate to explain why his mother was crying out for me."

Anna swatted his shoulder, giggling with him. "How would I explain the sounds his father was making?"

"I don't know but we'll have to find words for it one day." John settled, using his arm to prop his head up. "I told you the telegram I received the other day yes?"

"You said Mr. Carson needed you back in London immediately to save your reputation and career if I remember correctly."

John nodded, "I won't go, if you don't want me to."

"John," Anna put her hand on his face, "You've got to worry about your career. You spent time working to be where you are. I can't ask you to throw that away."

"It'd be worth it to stay with you."

"But I want you to be fulfilled and happy with what you love," Anna put a finger on his lips, "Besides me."

"I can't leave you here."

"You won't." Anna moved closer, snuggling into him, "You'll go and make preparations for Jack and I to join you."

"What kind of preparations?"

"A small house for an illusionist and his family." Anna kissed under John's chin, "Some place close enough to London so you can still perform and far enough away that Jack can run around in the garden and slay dragons if he wants to."

"That sounds wonderful." John ran his fingers up Anna's back, "I'd come home to my family waiting for me."

"Impatiently, I'm sure." Anna sighed against him, holding tight as John moved to his back, shifting them back to their morning's starting position. "Sounds like a dream."

"Sounds like our future." John brought her left hand to his mouth, kissing over her fingers, "It won't be like before. We won't be separated like that again."

"I know." Anna interlaced their fingers, "Because now we're together forever."

"For good and proper." John insisted and Anna smiled at him before placing another kiss on his lips.

"For good and proper."