The war ended.

Matthew and everyone was fine,

VE Day was celebrated as well as it could be.

When VJ Day came, Amelia found herself meekly celebrating with everyone else.

She headed back home to the US when Matthew decided to go back.

"Hey, if you want to go see them, this is Lew's parents home address. I bet they'd love to meet you."

She paused. The ship was going to stop in New York, her planned stop, and then go on to Canada.

"I think I might."

Jason and Anne Baudin met their daughter in law with smiles.

They loved their grandchildren right away. Amelia didn't have the heart to tell them that they weren't Lewis's.

But she supposed her saving grace was that Lewis had been nearly as pale haired as Ivan, so they just assumed that Anna Victory took after her father Lewis.

She helped the family out wherever she could, and decided that this was where she wanted to live. The land felt right, somehow. They helped her build her own little house, and she worked where she could. A few men seemed interested in her, but she turned them down.

One day, when the twins were about four, she heard Alex's voice from through the window.

"Momma, there's a man here to see you."

She shrugged. Probably Matthew, or Arthur. She'd heard rumors that he was pretty wealthy even during the war.

But when she stepped outside, the man at the end of the walk was neither of those individuals.

He stood tall, and she could see the difference.

She walked to the gate, and then slowly opened it.

He looked at her, years of sadness on his face.

"How...?" She asked, stunned.

His silver hair blew softly on the wind, and his violet eyes were the same ones she remembered.

"I was shot. I was back to England before they brought you out to Normandy. I earned money for a passage to the US, and then spent a while there earning money for the train north."

His accent was fainter than it had been all those years ago, and his English seemed better overall.

She finally asked. "Would you like to come in?"

"Da."

The twins stared at him. The only men they'd ever seen their mother let into the house before were Grandpa Jason and Uncle Matthew.

Ivan looked at them back, studying them as much as they were studying him.

"I have tea or coffee if you want a hot drink, or there's lemonade in the fridge..."

Ivan turns back to her. "Just water. I don't want to trouble you."

She gets him a glass of water, and finds that he and the children are locked in a staring contest again.

"Alex, Anna, if you keep making that face, your faces will freeze."

"But mom..."

"No if, ands, or buts, young man."

Alex sighs, and then loudly states "I'm going outside to play with the puppy."

Anna follows.

Once they're absolutely certain that the children are gone, Ivan speaks. "Are they..."

"Yours. But don't tell them that. I brought them up and told them that their father was the man I married."

"You're married?"

"Was married. He didn't make it back from Europe. His parents are good people. They gave me this land that was meant to be his. I rent it out to other farmers to stay afloat."

Ivan nods.

"Why didn't you write me, or try to find me? I was in England for almost two years."

"I was on the run. After the hospital discharged me, the motherland wanted me back. I went into hiding, until I was forgotten. Only then could I come to America. And then I find out you are no longer in America, but in Canada, and I had to earn money to come north and meet you again."

She nods, and takes a sip at her own glass of water.

"The children... What are their names?"

"Alexander Lewis and Anna Victory. I let their father...I let Lewis name them."

"It is alright to call him their father. I will not mind."

"I... I wanted to marry you, but you were gone... I thought you'd died, Ivan. And Lewis... at first he was just a convenience, but he actually loved them, even though they weren't his, and I loved him back for that. But then he got slaughtered in Germany..."

"You don't need to say anymore, Sunflower."

Amelia stood, and moved back into her itty-bitty kitchen, looking for something.

She finally found it. The photos of the children.

She returned to the table, and Ivan watched her lay them out.

He saw the first picture, of the week old infants, up to the last picture of the terrible two's fourth birthday party.

Then when Amelia went to put the pictures back in the box, Ivan heard a familiar clink.

"May I look at them?"

Amelia pauses, and then hands him the dog tags.

Lewis K. Baudin

Private, First Class

Protestant

Ivan set them back in the box, and Amelia put the photos back, carefully replacing the lid on the box.

As the night settles down around them, Ivan stands. "I'll head back to my hotel room."

"How long are you going to stay?"

"As long as I can, unless you wish me to leave."

"No. Just... please come back tomorrow afternoon."

Amelia works part time as a maid during the mornings. A wealthy businessman lives here. She got the job because his son and Lewis had went to school together, and were the best of friends.

She's a little higher up the food chain than some of the other girls, so she mainly just tells them the chores they have, and keeps the kitchen clean. Most of them seem to like her, and a few don't even mind watching her kids upon occasion.

When she returns home with sore feet, her mother in law is fixing lunch for the kids.

"Do you want me to make you a sandwich as well?"

"Yes please, Anne. You're a life saver."

Once lunch is over, the kids go a few houses down the street to play with their friends, and Amelia and Anne are left alone.

"So the kids told me you had a man over here."

"Yeah. Just someone I knew from before Normandy. He's moved out west, and stopped by. He's staying in town for a while."

"So he's the father, huh?"

Amelia lifted her head up, confused. "What?"

Anne sipped her tea. "Lewis wrote to us about you and the situation you were in. We knew the twins were never his. But he told us how much he loved you, and how much he was going to enjoy raising the kids, and we couldn't help it. We fell in love with them too. So when you showed up, we were so surprised. We'd thought you were going to go home to America and never introduce yourself to us."

"So, all these years, you've known?"

"Yes."

Amelia rubbed her head. "I thought you didn't, and I didn't want to tell you otherwise."

Anne shook her head. "No, we knew. But what we saw when you showed up was a beautiful woman who'd been through a lot, and we fell not only in love with Alex and Anna, but you as well."

There's a long silence.

"So, this young man you're seeing, is he the father?"

"I've only seen him once since he got here, but yes, he is the father."

"What's he look like?"

"Silver hair, violet eyes. Very tall."

The two women chat for a while longer, and then eventually, Anne leaves.

Less than fifteen minutes after her departure, Ivan arrives.

He holds a record. "Do you have a player?"

She nods, and he puts the record on to play.

She recognizes the song instantly.

"Do you remember that night?" He asks, taking her hand.

She nods, and then, standing in the middle of the living room, the pair begin to dance.

It seems to me I've heard that song before

It's from an old familiar score

I know it well, that melody

It's funny how a theme recalls a favorite dream

A dream that brought you so close to me

I know each word because I've heard that song before

The lyrics said "Forever more"

Forever more's a memory

Please have them play it again

And I'll remember just when

I heard that lovely song before

She leans in close, hearing Ivan's heartbeat as she sets her head on his chest. She feels one of his arms wrapped around her back, keeping her close. Not in a possessive way, but one that seems to say You can never understand how long I've waited for this and in truth, she can't.

They dance again and again, until it's time for him to go.

She follows him down to the end of the path. In the distance, she can see the shadows of the twins walking back from their friends.

"Ivan?"

"Da?"

She leans in and gives him a small kiss. "Please come back tomorrow."

He smiles. "I will."

They marry in October.

The harvest is over, and Amelia's parents manage to make it to the wedding.

Upon Amelia's request, her parents are left to believe that Lewis is the father of her children, though Amelia suspects they see that Ivan and Alex's eyes are the same color.

The children are more unsure than Amelia is, and a few people seem surprised to find that the American is getting married to a Russian.

But eventually the children grow to love Ivan, and he smiles.

One day, Amelia will pull out the dog tags and tell them the truth, that Ivan is their true father, and that Lewis wasn't.

But she'll also tell them how Lewis loved them, and wanted to raise them. How Lewis lied for her, a girl he barely knew, and how they grew to love each other, although they didn't have very much time together on this earth.

And when Amelia welcomes another little baby, a girl named Isabel Sonja, into the world, everyone rejoices.

The world somehow manages to keep on spinning.

And love always finds its way back.