Petra was holding my hand firmly in hers. She was listing off things we needed to do before the twins' birthday party at noon, counting them on her fingers and smiling. I loved her smile. I loved the way her eyes widened when she looked at me, I loved the light blush on her cheeks. I could not possibly love her more.

We were sitting shoulder to shoulder, waiting for my doctor to come give us my test results and let us know how the healing process was going. For six months I had been on pelvic rest after they found that my hip had been fractured and that infection had set into the bone. The first three months had been easy, sex had been the last thing on my mind then.

That had changed as I worked with the therapist Petra had found. I started seeing my wife not just as some angel not to be despoiled, but as a woman again. I wanted her. The sway of her hips, the curves she flaunted in her agonizingly tight dresses. I wanted to taste her lips, to feel her skin, to bury myself in her. Every day it was becoming more difficult to live beside her without having her. My thoughts drifted to earlier that morning.

I awoke in a sweat. The air conditioning had gone out the afternoon before, and the room was easily ninety degrees. I turned to look at Petra, the first thing I did each morning. She was wearing a painfully small silk pair of shorts and a matching spaghetti strapped camisole. They had ridden up as she slept, revealing her flat stomach and long legs. Her nipples were taut and visible through the thin fabric. I wanted to touch her, to tease her, to claim her. But I couldn't. We hadn't so much as kissed since I got back. I knew the second I kissed her I would never be able to stop, no matter what the doctor insisted.

We'd had strawberries with cream for breakfast, and I had stared transfixed as her tongue and lips laved the strawberries as she ate them. I watched her gently suck cream off her fingers, her lips pursing as they sensually entered her mouth. I drank coffee so hot it scalded my tongue, desperate to pay attention to something else, anything else. She took a hot shower, filling the bathroom with steam while I took a cold bath and desperately tried not to watch her reflection in the mirror.

Then it was time to get dressed. We went to our room, she disappeared into her closet. A few minutes later I was standing there, knotting my tie, when she emerged wearing a see through bra and panty set. It was pale pink and nearly iridescent, the lace shimmering as she walked towards me. The bottoms were nearly identical, translucent and perched precariously low on her hips.

My groin tightened painfully while my eyes raked hungrily over her flawless form, her creamy skin and tantalizingly visible nipples. Her mouth moved, but I couldn't seem to hear what she was saying.

"Milos? Can you fasten my necklace?" She asked again.

I nodded, having a hard time with speech. My mouth was suddenly painfully dry. She smiled a little and turned around, lifting her hair off her shoulders. My hands brushed her collarbones as I laid the unfastened necklace on her. My normally adept fingers fumbled embarrassingly with the clasp against her warm neck, I couldn't stop staring at the shapely ass mostly exposed by her very revealing panties. Finally by the grace of some deity or sheer luck, it attached. She laid a hand softly on my heart and thanked me before returning to her closet.

I imagined what could have happened if I had kissed her neck instead of fastening the pendant, or what if I had pulled her into my arms, or held that hand on my frantically beating heart and pulled her into the bed. I imagined spending all day making love to her, holding her captive in our marital bed with nothing but room service to sustain us.

Petra came back out wearing a towering pair of heels with a white wrap dress. It was tight around her breasts and flowing at the bottom, showing a hint of leg as she walked. It reminded me of the dress she had worn when we had first slept together in this room over a year ago. I wanted to tear it off her.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked, her head tilted in that way that made her look exceptionally innocent. Guilt swept through me at my thoughts.

"Of course." I had replied.

Petra

"We need to pick up those gluten free cookies, you know Charlotte will leave early if her kids are extraneously exposed to gluten, the balloon animal guy needs his deposit, why he needs us to drop it off when he'll be at the party who knows."

I looked up at Milos, who was clearly somewhere else in his head. His eyes slowly scanned from my lips to my necklace to my breasts, where they lingered for a moment before returning back to my face. That familiar look was there, lust. A soft knock came from the door.

"Milos, Petra." Doctor Lawson said kindly as he entered. "How have you both been?"

"We've been well. Eager to know how he is." I replied, taking Milos' hand and holding it in my lap. He shifted slightly in his seat.

"Well I'm glad to tell you that Milos has finally healed, and he's healed beautifully. One more month of physical therapy would be good, but I'm officially taking him off pelvic rest."

I smiled at the doctor. "That's wonderful news, thank you."

Milos nodded stoically. On the way out he put his hand on my lower back, holding me close. I couldn't help my smile.

Milos was fairly quiet in the car, mostly nodding in agreement while I talked at him about decorations and the guest list. But a hand was always on me, rubbing my leg, on my waist, on my back. Even while picking up the cookies at the bakery he was present, attentive, affectionate.

We arrived at the party venue an hour later, the car full with things for the party, powder pink table cloths and the twins' special birthday dresses, stands for the dessert table and champagne for the adults. Milos and I went to work setting everything up. For someone used to being the boss, he was incredibly helpful. He followed every direction, making sure everything was perfect as he went.

"I still think you should have gone with blue." Milos teased while he hung some fairy lights.

"No Frozen. Not until they're old enough to ask for it." I insisted while I set up the desert table and Mimosa bar.

He grinned. "So I should-"

"Don't you say it!"

"-Let it go?" He was laughing. Really laughing. It was actually nice. Milos' life and work had never really been conducive to bring carefree, not with constant stress, looming danger, and the anger he had carried with him. In the last few months he had really seemed to come into his own.

I rolled my eyes and handed him a banner to hang next. He laughed harder.

After another thirty minutes everything was perfect. The upscale indoor playground had been transformed with pink and silver decor, banners, table cloths, tissue paper lanterns on the ceiling. Milos poured me a glass of champagne as we stood back and admired our work.

"Do you approve?" He asked, catching my appreciative gaze.

"I might hire you to do event set up." I answered seriously.

"Anna and Elsa are going to love it." He said, pouring himself some orange juice in a champagne flute.

"They're not even going to notice." I replied flatly, taking a sip of my champagne. "But I will. And I like it."

Milos put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. "My darling, as long as you're happy."

I smiled briefly. "I really am. Happy."

"So am I." Milos replied. "It's nice, isn't it?"

The doors banged open before I could answer, Milos let his arm slip from my shoulders. In toddled Anna and Elsa, with Rafael behind them. The girls squealed as they saw Milos, then immediately changed paths to see him. He smiled at them, opening his arms as they rushed over to him.

I looked at Rafael just in time to see him huff. He dropped a few gifts onto the table and poured himself a drink. I looked at my watch. Only ten minutes until guests would start arriving. I picked up the twins' dresses and joined Milos and the girls near the ball pit.

"Ball?" Milos asked, holding one up.

"Aw?" Anna parroted.

"Almost! Ball." He tried again.

"Ull." Elsa insisted. "Ull."

"What about Czech? Míč." He tried again.

The twins looked at one another for a long time, then Anna pointed at me. "Ma."

Milos laughed. "Yes, that is Mama. Míč is a ball." He handed each of them a ball from the pit. They immediately shoved them in their mouths. I hoped this facility was as clean as the owners claimed. While they were distracted we changed them into their matching pink silk taffeta dresses. They were adorable, still holding on to the last bit of baby chub.

"I can't believe how big they are." I muttered.

Milos nodded. "I think they get bigger every time we see them."

I wasn't particularly fond of babies. But I couldn't help a tiny feeling of nostalgia that mine were so close to being gone.

Two hours later the party was in full swing, or as 'full swing' as parties for one year olds got. There were about twenty adults and thirty children in attendance, mostly children from the twins' tumbling class. The toddlers ran around everywhere, though Anna and Elsa seemed to prefer crawling through the ball pit while the photographer took pictures. I was standing back, just observing when Rafael came up beside me.

"This is a great party." Rafael said, handing me a glass of champagne.

"Thank you." I replied, taking the flute. "Good call reserving Jellybean Jungle."

He nodded, his gaze fixed on Milos, who was talking with Jane and Michael. I wished I could hear what they were saying. They appeared to be laughing.

"Milos seems different." Rafael said finally.

"He is. He's been working hard with his therapist. She's really helping." I felt suddenly on edge.

Rafael's lawyers had been trying to sue for full custody since Milos' return six months ago. Mine were fighting back hard, but he had the upper hand. Thanks to me, Milos had a record as an international criminal. It didn't look great in a custody trial.

Rafael drained his glass. "I'm dropping my custody suit. For now."

My head whipped around, turning to him. "What?"

He slowly nodded. "I'm not saying I like him being around our kids, or that I approve of your bizarre relationship. But Jane says he's sticking around and he's great with the girls, and that I shouldn't get between you and our daughters. Until I have a reason to."

A niggling irritation struck me, of course Jane had caused his sudden change of heart. She was only married to someone else. But now wasn't the time.

"I appreciate that you're dropping the suit." I said.

"Will you and Milos be?" He raised his eyebrows, looking pointedly at the twins.

I shook my head. "No, not with my history of loss and the hyperemesis gravidarum. He considers the girls his, anyway. The biology isn't important to him."

Rafael frowned a little, like he couldn't quite understand. "Does he have kids?"

I took a sip of champagne. "Other than Anna and Elsa? No."

"Well they're not really-"

"Don't let him hear you say that." I interrupted, slightly irritated. "Those girls are his world."

He changed the subject. "How's that new bride? Clarissa?"

"Corinne. She wants to move up her wedding by six months and get rid of her open bar." I rolled my eyes. "I'm trying to get her wedding planner to convince her that her guests shouldn't get punished with a dry wedding because she's pregnant."

Rafael laughed a little. "I'm assuming you were nicer on the phone."

"Of course. If you'll excuse me." I said, putting down my glass and heading to the ladies' room.

I entered the bathroom, thrilled to find it was empty. I took a deep breath then touched up my hair in the mirror. Of course less than ten seconds later the door swung open again.

"Petra!" Jane exclaimed, rushing in. "Did you know that Milos is funny?"

I turned and gave her a humorless half smile. "As a matter of fact I do."

Jane ignored my attitude. "I guess I've never really talked to him. I mean, we said hi at Thanksgiving a few months ago, but he was-"

"Miserable." I filled in. "He wasn't supposed to be walking then, he was in a lot of pain. He doesn't take pain medication."

Jane laughed. "I was going to say 'quiet'. Anyway, he was telling this crazy story about when he worked in shipping and transportation and he had to move a tiger from Asia to Europe, but then the guy wanted to return it! There's no way that's true."

I couldn't help it, I laughed just a little. "Every word. We were dating when he took that job."

"Has he always been like this?" Jane asked. That was one thing I generally liked about her. She wasn't going to go ferreting for second hand gossip.

"On and off." I answered. "He used to have... Moods. He doesn't anymore."

The woman opposite me looked at me long and hard. The subtext had not been lost on her. "And you're happy?"

I was caught momentarily off guard by her question. "Yes, Jane. I'm happy."

"Good. Anyway, we should probably get back out there." Jane said, turning to go.

I ran a hand over my hair. "Wait. Jane. Thank you."

She turned around, looking honestly confused. "For what?"

I breathed in deeply. "Well let's start with convincing Rafael to drop the custody suit. For making sure I'm okay, over and over again. And for inviting Milos to Thanksgiving. I would have completely understood if you didn't. I did promise to keep him away from Mateo."

Jane shook her head. "It wasn't a problem. People can change, I really believe that. And he's really great with the twins, even Rafael says it. He obviously wouldn't hurt a little kid, so it's not like he would hurt Mateo. If you trust him, then he's part of our family."

"Well thank you." I said stiffly, smiling a little.

Another woman entered the bathroom, ending the conversation. We both exited the bathroom, Jane going find Xiomara for something. I wandered through the venue, eventually bumping into Milos as he filled his flute with more juice.

"There you are. I haven't seen you."

He smiled, but he looked a little tense. "I circulated and talked with the guests."

My brows furrowed in confusion. "But you hate talking to people."

"But I love you. I know your life involves a lot of social events, and I wanted to prove I could handle them." He answered simply, as if it were perfectly obvious.

"Milos, you don't have to change for me." I assured him.

"You've made a lot of sacrifices for me in the last six months. I'm better physically. I'm improving psychologically. It's time for us to share a life, instead of me dominating yours." He spoke quietly, his free hand tentatively coming to rest on my cheek.

"Can we gather around for the singing of Happy Birthday?" The photographer shouted from across the room, interrupting us.

Milos' hand slowly returned to his side. He smiled at me, one of his sweet, genuine smiles. "Let's get the girls. We can talk later."

I nodded thankfully, the party was almost over. I went over to the slide area and picked up Anna, bringing her to her special toddler chair. While everyone circled around, and Rafael put Elsa in her chair, Milos lit the candles. Everyone started to sing.

Happy birthday to you,

I looked around the room. The familiar faces, the friends, the acquaintances. People who were part of our lives, people who meant things to us.

Happy birthday to you,

The family. Jane and Michael, Xiomara, Alba, Mateo, Luisa. People who would be in our lives forever. People we could count on, people we could turn to.

Happy birthday Anna and Elsa,

I looked to my left, where Milos was tightly holding my hand, grinning at the twins. My husband. He'd come so far in the last six months. He really was my Prince Charming.

Happy birthday to you.

As the song ended I turned to my right and looked at my babies, now my toddlers. I blew out the candle on Elsa's cupcake while Rafael blew out the candle on Anna's, and the photographer took pictures, proof that Natalia-cum-Petra Andel then Solano then Dvoracek was gloriously, wonderfully happy.

Sorry about the hiatus! I'm expecting my second child and have extreme morning sickness. It makes writing difficult when you literally can't stop vomiting. Karmatic revenge for using Petra's HG as a plot device. Only one more chapter and the epilogue left! -K