Epilogue

Ten Years Later

Drake laughs as our toddler Micah leaps up for a playful wrestle. Drake named Micah, and it's like Micah knew it since he was a baby. Valentin and Natalia are on the trampoline. Natalia, or Lia Number Two as we sometimes jokingly call her, is doing a flip.

"Good job!" I yell over.

"Daddy!" Micah yells. "Look!"

Drake grins over at me. He's a fine young man, tall and wide, strong and tough, the head of the Petrovs. When I hear the door behind me, I hurry to my woman, taking the tray from her hands.

"It's okay," she says.

I lean over and kiss her on the cheek. "You need to keep off your feet."

"It's the first month. Don't worry. This ain't my first rodeo."

I lay the tray on the table, then wrap my arm around my woman, my wife, the love of my life, the only one I'll ever need. "I love you," I tell her, holding her close as we turn and watch our children, the sun kissing the garden and making my glasses glisten where they sit next to my laptop. The screen shows the ideas page for mine and Mila's next game.

It'll be our third one together. I'm the luckiest man alive. I get my woman all day, every day, and the love never stops. The need never stops. It never will.

THE END