"Come on my little birthday girl, it's time for bed, eh?" Philomena said in a coaxing voice as she closed the door behind the last of the party guests and surveyed the listing decorations and torn giftwrap strewn haphazardly around the living room with a sigh.

Robin gazed up at her mother in wide-eyed appeal. "Do I have to, Mommy?"

Anna nodded even as she fought back a smile. "Yes, darling. It's a very long way past your bedtime."

"But I'm nine years old now," Robin protested. "So I can stay up later, can't I, Daddy?"

Robert smiled at his daughter's logic but held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "I think we'd best let your Mum be the judge of that," he replied with a sidelong glance at Anna.

"And I think we'll talk about it later," she hedged. "Go on, bedtime now. But give me a kiss first."

Robin exchanged an enthusiastic round of kisses and hugs with both her parents before Philomena finally caught hold of her hand and began to lead her in the direction of her bedroom. But they had only traveled a few steps before she turned back to them and threw her arms out wide, exclaiming with a wide grin, "This has been the best birthday ever!"

Robert and Anna caught each other's gaze and shared a smile, a glint of laughter in their eyes, savoring her joy.

"Goodnight, darling," Anna called as Philomena finally managed to shepherd Robin out of the room.

Robert watched the duo disappear out of sight before turning and settling down on the living room couch. "I hope all the excitement doesn't keep her up half the night."

Anna shook her head as she curled up in her usual place beside him. "She'll be asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow," she responded with a knowing smile. "It never fails."

He smiled, his face relaxed, their shoulders nearly touching. "I hope you're right."

Anna found herself surreptitiously studying him out of the corner of one eye. Sometimes at odd moments like this it struck her anew just how handsome he was, with his straw-colored hair and his leading man good looks and those celestial blue eyes that seemed be windows into the soul of the best man she'd ever known. She swallowed hard as her eyes drank in his visage. She was hopelessly in love with this man, and right now she wanted him more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone.

"So," she said brightly, trying to distract herself, trying to ignore how strongly his nearness was affecting her and how difficult it was to restrain herself from touching him as was so instinctive for her to do. "What did you think of the first birthday that you and your daughter celebrated together?"

Robert sat for a moment in contemplation before shifting to meet her questioning gaze. A slow smile spread over his face, making him look for a moment breathtakingly young, almost boyish. "I think this has been one of the happiest days of my life."

Anna felt her heart swell. "Oh, Robert. I know that's true for Robin as well. And for me," she added with quiet feeling, not looking away, wanting him to see in her eyes how much having him there meant to her. She had never stopped wanting him in her life, never stopped wanting to be near him, and having this time together with him and their daughter was worth more to her than any treasure the world had to offer. He and Robin were the family she'd never had.

"I don't ever want to miss another one, Anna," he said with grim intent. "Not ever again."

"I know," Anna nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry this is the first one you've spent together. You should…you should have spent every birthday with her."

"Yeah," Robert sighed, the word laden with a whole world of sadness and regret. There was so much of his daughter's life that he'd missed, so much time that had been wasted. Sean's words from the hospital suddenly rang in his head:

If it wasn't for my obsessive attention to duty, you two would've spent your lives together.

Damn Sean, he thought with sudden savagery. If only he and Anna had had the chance to stay together – to raise their beautiful daughter together. Their daughter conceived out of love…

A love that once burned brighter than anything he'd ever known.

A far-away look stole over his face as an unexpected flood of memories swept him back in time. Back nearly ten years… His lips curled upward and he nudged Anna's shoulder with his own. "Do you remember how we washed up on the coast of San Remo that afternoon?"

"I remember," she whispered. The memory of the two of them lying together on the beach, soaked and exhausted, kissing in the surf, was so brightly, so vividly etched in her heart that she would remember it with her dying breath.

"We'd stumbled out of the sea, with hardly a stitch on, and suddenly there was this little old lady beckoning us out of the water –"

"And taking us to that café, finding us clothes –"

"All the while chattering away in Italian –" Robert added with a grin, chuckling at the memory.

Anna went on breathlessly, "We went up to the old square, through the beautiful garden with the fountains, and all the couples gathered together –"

"With Philomena there like a fairy godmother showing us the way."

"We said our vows – oh, and it was so magical –"

Robert breathed out a quiet sigh. "One of the best days of my life."

Anna nodded as she tried to blink back the sudden blur of tears. After all they had been though since then, after all the pain and heartbreak they had suffered, to hear him say that meant more to her than he would ever know.

As for herself, well – she'd never imagined she could love a man the way she loved Robert. The day they married was the happiest day of her life, and the memory of those brief, glorious weeks they'd shared as husband and wife still burned like a fairy tale in her mind. "Mine too," she breathed, dashing a hand under her eyes to wipe away the wetness on her cheeks at the reminder of all they had lost.

Feeling a tug in his heart at the sight of her tears, Robert reached out and laid a comforting hand over hers where it rested on her thigh.

His palm was warm and Anna felt her eyes slide closed at the gentle contact, unable to suppress a shiver of delight at his touch. She leaned back against the sofa and slowly, without opening her eyes, rotated her hand beneath his until their palms met, then threaded her fingers through his.

This was how they were meant to be, she thought. Entwined together. Always.

She heard Robert exhale a long, low sigh beside her. His fingers tightened over hers, and when she opened her eyes at last she found him gazing directly at her. She could drown in that gaze, she thought, and die content.

He stared at her for a long moment, his pale blue eyes intense and electric. "Anna," he said at last, his voice low and vibrating with sincerity, "all I want is for you to be happy."

Anna caught her breath. "That's all I want for you," she murmured.

He continued in a deliberate, measured tone, "And if that means you want Duke –"

"Oh, Robert, I do love Duke. But he isn't you." She shook her head and continued, almost to herself, "I've loved you for so long – I couldn't stop even if I wanted to."

And it wasn't just how long she'd loved him. It was how much she loved him.

It almost scared her, sometimes, how much she loved him. That when she said she would do anything for him, it wasn't exaggeration or hyperbole – it was a simple statement of fact.

"You really still love me after all this time?" he asked, thinking of what Felicia had told him.

Anna nodded. "Yes," she said simply. She shifted her hand to cup his cheek with a tenderness that made his heart ache. "I've always loved you, Robert. Always."

"And – what about Lavery?"

Anna blew out a sigh. "Oh, god, after you went back to Australia I wanted so much for things to work out between Duke and me. Even though he kept those terrible secrets from me, and lied to me over and over again. But I kept letting him back into my life, because I know what it's like –" she stopped, not wanting to continue the thought aloud, not wanting Robert to feel she was about to criticize him, even implicitly.

But he seemed to sense where her thoughts had gone. "You know what it's like not to be forgiven."

Anna froze for a moment, braced for a justifiably angry reaction, but there was no rancor in his tone, nothing but a gentle understanding and compassion. She nodded, adding quietly, "And I know what it's like when the only thing you want in the world is to have a second chance with someone."

The memory of her words to him the other night flashed through Robert's mind:

There is one man I wouldn't hesitate to marry…

"Is that still what you want?" he asked, very softly.

Anna's eyes slid closed for a moment as the very thought of it sent longing flooding through her body. "Yes. More than anything."

Robert nodded, accepting the truth that shone in her words, in her tone, in her exquisitely beautiful face. Accepting that she loved him enough to save his life – and to die for him, the way he would for her and Robin. But if she were to die for him, if she had died for him the other night…

He shook his head, the lines of his mouth tightening as he remembered what it was like to lose her all those years ago in Paris…what it was like to lose Holly… The pain of it was a suffocating vise in his chest.

Beside him Anna felt herself holding her breath. She could sense the conflict within him, unseen but as tangible as the raging of a midwinter wind. She sat perfectly still, holding his hand in hers, waiting, praying, that he would be able to come to some sort of peace with himself. That above all he would not turn away from her. She could bear to wait, for however long he needed, but she couldn't bear to lose him now.

It took sheer force of will for Robert to draw himself out from the stranglehold of the past and back into the present day. Returning his attention to the woman sitting beside him, as familiar to him as his own reflection. The waning light from the front window was falling on her from the side, making her eyes look as if they were afire, and putting fire, too, into the gloss of her raven hair. She glowed with radiance and in that moment he knew he loved her as much now as he ever had before.

And as if a door suddenly opened, everything that Sean said at the hospital flooded once more through his mind:

You two were really meant to be together.

No matter what went on there is nothing that could break you two apart. Nothing.

You two really had something special…something that only comes along once in a lifetime.

How many opportunities did a man get to recapture a once in a lifetime love? What if this chance never came again? They had been so happy together…

"I don't…I don't know how many chances you get in life to be happy," he murmured finally. Wasn't that chance worth the risk of another heartbreak?

Anna's face registered momentary confusion, followed swiftly by surprise, shock and finally the dawning of a raw, painful hope. She nodded her head fractionally, her eyes sliding closed for a second, unable to speak as her throat closed with emotion.

Robert…

How much she loved him. How much she loved being with him.

Together. They had always been stronger together.

She tightened her grip on his hand, swallowing thickly as she waited for him to continue, suddenly feeling in that timeless instant as if her entire life was hanging in the balance.

He gazed at her for a long moment, almost suffocated by the intensity of his feelings. By how much he loved this woman. She was part of him in a way that even Holly had never been. He went on slowly, his voice tight with barely controlled emotion, "What we had, what we have – this bond between us – it's…it's so important to me. More important than anything else in my life."

Anna nodded and blinked hard, finding herself once more on the edge of tears. "I feel the same way."

For a long instant their gazes held, and so much emotion was saturated in that single moment that when he looked away she found herself almost bereft. She held herself still, wanting him more than her next breath.

But before she could move or speak he met her gaze again, his blue eyes dark with the depth of his feelings. He couldn't risk this chance not coming again. And he couldn't – he wouldn't – let the pain of the past keep them from happiness today. He knew in the marrow of his bones that if he were offered the chance to change history he would still have married Anna nine years ago, despite all the heartbreak that followed. Their time together, fleeting as it was, had been worth it. It would be worth it again now.

If it wasn't for my obsessive attention to duty, you two would've spent your lives together.

They could still spend the rest of their lives together. It wasn't too late. But only if they seized the moment before it passed them by.

Robert took a deep breath as realization crystalized into resolve. "Then I'd like to give this –" he waved a hand between the two of them, groping for words, for any words, praying for the right ones, "us –" His voice dropped low and hoarse as the enormity of what he was about to say settled over him. "I'd like to give us another try."

Anna sucked in a sharp gasp, her heart seeming to stop before suddenly soaring. She bit her lip as an overwhelming sensation of joy swept through her with such intensity that she could feel it like a freight train rushing through her veins. Her heart leapt like it would burst from her chest and it was only after a moment of sheer euphoria stole her breath that she managed to whisper, "I've been waiting to hear those words for almost ten years."

His lips quirked wryly. "Better late then never, I guess."

She nodded, reaching up to brush her fingers lightly through the short hairs at his temple and down over the shell of his ear. Her too-bright eyes met his and she exhaled the ghost of a sigh. "I love you, Robert. I'll never love another man the way I love you. Being with you is all I've ever wanted."

"Oh, Anna," he murmured with a groan as he leaned towards her.

And then finally, finally, his lips touched hers. Brushing, lightly caressing her own, and the feel of them instantly dissolved the last of the walls she had so painstakingly built to seal away the reality of her feelings for him. With an all but frantic moan she surged forward, leaning into the kiss, eagerly sealing her mouth over his with single-minded purpose.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed herself as close to him as she could. His lips parted beneath hers and she plunged her tongue into his mouth, teasing and tasting, pouring all the love and need and desire that had burned within her for so long into the kiss. Savoring the feel of his mouth on hers, as warm and gentle as a summer rain and oh so very loving. Aching at the never-forgotten familiarity of his touch.

His hands came up strong and firm around her biceps as he met her passion with his own. Her head swam with pleasure and her pulse pounded in her ears as her heart began to flutter wildly in her chest. Oh, kissing Robert was everything she remembered and more and she never, ever wanted it to end –

"Ah, now there is something I wait almost ten year to see."

Philomena's voice behind them, colored bright with delight, woke them as if from a dream.

They broke apart and leaned their foreheads together, smiling shyly.

"Mmm," Robert murmured, his attention still focused on the woman beside him, seeing the slightly dazed look of happiness shining in her eyes, feeling her quivering beneath his touch. Gathering her small hands in his own he gave them a reassuring squeeze. Then his lips curled upward and he said over his shoulder to Philomena, "Anna just said the same thing."

Anna smiled into his crystal blue gaze. "It was worth waiting for," she said, meaning every word from the bottom of her heart. She leaned in, eager to kiss him again, but realized that Philomena was still hovering over them with a slightly anxious look in her eyes. With the greatest reluctance she dragged her attention away from recapturing Robert's lips with hers. "What is it, Philomena?"

The older woman loosed a sigh. "I sorry. Roberto, Robin asks you come tell her a good night story for her birthday. It is ok?"

"Sure," Robert nodded, then quirked an eyebrow at Anna. "So much for 'she'll be asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow'," he said with a wry grin as he rose from the couch.

Anna rose as well. "I guess she really is growing up," she said, a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

"Seems so," he agreed. He lifted a hand to touch the tips of his fingers tenderly to the soft skin of her cheek, and then strode towards Robin's room.

Philomena turned wordlessly to follow him but Anna stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Philomena. You think I'm doing the right thing, don't you?"

Philomena's wise blue eyes were kind as she regarded her. "Anna. Such a handsome man, that Duke. And so romantic. He is a special one, eh?"

Anna nodded. She'd always felt that way.

"But Roberto, he is..." the older woman paused as she carefully searched for the right words, "singolare. One of a kind. He is the man of your heart, no?"

"Yes," Anna agreed, knowing with every fiber of her being that it was true. "Yes."

Philomena nodded her assent. "And you and he are perfect together. Perfetto," she pronounced, kissing the tips of her steepled fingers and thumb and then opening them outward in the ancient Italian gesture indicating perfection.

Anna laughed, feeling more blissfully happy than she had in nine long years.