When Sora and Tommy arrived at home just after the dark, the lights were on in the den.

Ravi was stretched out on the sofa, an arm thrown over his eyes. There was a spotty wineglass on the table.

Sora opted to put Tommy to bed for the night before she greeted him. This isn't going to be a fun conversation.

Ravi had a second glass of white waiting for her upon her return. She sat her wine aside to cuddle up to him.

"How'd they take the news?"

He shook his head. "They were livid. Evelyn went off on me for leaving them in the dark about something as important as my health. Ishir had to calm her down."

"That must have been..."

Ravi scratched his ear. "Yeah. It was about what I expected. She cried. She didn't want me to see, but I saw anyway. I'm always letting her down. I'm trying to do better, I just keep living down to her low expectations."

Sora smoothed his hair out of his face. He sighed, leaning into the contact.

"Evelyn's strong. She's been through a lot. I put my kids through hell bouncing back and forth between Hana and their mom. Yelena isn't any better off and I'm the only father she's known. That's not a life I want to live anymore. Being conspicuous by my absence shouldn't be my hallmark."

She scraped her nails soothingly down the nape of his neck.

"You know what you have to do. Be different, don't vacillate, choose and stand by your decisions."

"I do."

"Hold that thought. We're not there yet."

"Any day now."

"How did the two of you leave things?"

"She wants to see me at Christmas, meaning it wasn't a complete loss. Jasmin met me at the airfield specifically to read me the Riot Act. My ears are still ringing from that slap. She wanted to know why I hadn't asked her for help, said she could have referred me to people she knew."

"She was hurt that you left her out when you two ended things on a good note."

"I was an idiot who thought he was being brave when I was more scared than anything. I dug a dark hole to die in without letting anybody know."

Sora was reminded of her failing heart and her battle with PPD. She had needed help and been unwilling to face that. Were it not for Jasmin's intervention, however ill-timed in the latter case, Sora was unsure whether she'd be here today.

"But you didn't crawl away to die. You fought back, you lived. That's what's important. You're here with me, with our boys. You have time to tell your children you love them, now. You can make up with Manendra."

"Dad and I are as good as we're gonna be."

"He apologized to me tonight, for what went wrong with you two. He loves you and he wants to make peace. Let's put the rest of this behind us and do that."

"I'm ready if you are. I want to get on with my life with you, not fight over the past. Looking backward isn't an answer."

"There's my wise man."

...

"Sora Gallegos."

"Sa—Sora, that you?"

"Anthony?"

"I wanna come over."

"Where's Hana?"

"Out..som'ere, I donno w're."

Isn't Hana's first ex-husband back in town?

"I just saw her at Manendra's. I was surprised you weren't with her."

"We're...there's nothin' for us to talk about."

"Do you mean you've realized how little you two have in common or do you mean you're fighting?"

"I dunno."

I could be in bed right now, but no, I'm enduring this phone call.

"What do you want?"

"I want to come home. I want my son and my wife."

"You have a wife, that's Hana. You can see Tommy like we agreed—if you're sober. I don't want him getting used to seeing you drunk."

"'s not enough. We were good together."

"We had good moments, years of good moments and bad ones. That's what marriage is. When there are too many bad moments, marriages have to end like ours did." It was as if she was speaking to a child.

He choked, "I don't make her happy. I thought if we just got married and set up house, she'd settle down." Sora drank deeply to give herself time to think.

"She's feeling restless. Hana has terminal 'grass is greener' syndrome. She's incurable. She will always long for what isn't hers—well, what isn't hers yet. My sister has a gift for persuasion; she'd have made a terrifying trial lawyer."

"What do I do? I want us to work, we have to work. She came back to me, she was happy to back."

"Batten down the hatches, or you can leave. Hana wants to be fought over, fight if that's what you want. I'm sure Diana would be happy to give you a hell of a battle. She might even be your match."

"Hana's my match."

Sora swirled the dregs of her chamomile tea in its mug.

"That would make it worthwhile, wouldn't it? If she's the one you've been waiting for all your life, everything we went through has to have been worth it. But what if she isn't, Anthony? What does it say about who you are if Hana isn't the love of your life and the woman you abandoned while she was pregnant with Diego twenty-six years ago is?"

Anthony's breath grew ragged, his agitation as unspoken as it was roaring across the line.

"Every conquest you've ever had wised up and ran away from you. I'm no different from the rest anymore; Hana's married to you now. I ran in the end when the only thing you hadn't taken was my will to live. Maybe the women you choose aren't the problem. The problem just might be you."

"I don't want her to leave. How do I get her to stay?"

My sister has reduced King Anthony Himura to this. Were it not so pathetic, Sora might have been impressed. She has him totally snowed.

"Tell her to stay. Demand it. Question her love, she hates being questioned. Question her integrity, the standup women she thinks she is. She'll stay if she knows you're waiting for her to leave you, but I can't promise she'll be happy.

Sora wanted her sister to be happy; she wanted her sister to leave Sora's family be slightly more.

She set aside her dingy mug to clean it in the morning. Tonight she'd had all the adult responsibility she could take.

"Take a couple of aspirin and drink a glass of water before you go to sleep. You'll wish you were dead in the morning if you don't."

"I'm going to feel like hell anyway."

"You'll feel more human. Trust me."

She shouldn't have cared after the hell he'd put her through, but she did. She cared enough.

Sora found Ravi staring at the stars out of her bedroom window.

"Anthony called me. He needed someone to talk to."

He hummed and didn't reply any further, opting to take the opposite side in helping her turn down the bed.

"You don't have anything to say?"

"If I say anything besides 'that's nice, honey,' we'll fight. I'm emotionally drained, I'm jetlagged; I just want to hold the woman I love and try to get my head on right. Can we save the rest for later?"

Sora felt like this was a talk they needed to have to put an end to any lingering issues regarding Anthony and Hana. She didn't want anything else to go unsaid.

"He told me he wanted to come home."

Ravi smoothed the rumpled folds of the duvet.

"And you said?"

Sora plopped down on the comforter to keep him from fiddling with it any further. It was his face she wanted to see, not his hands.

"I reminded him that he has a home, with Hana. That's the woman he chose."

"It's not that simple if he's changed his mind."

"That doesn't matter. I'm not waiting for him. I'm not in love with him anymore, my home is with you. You say you don't doubt that, but I know you do."

Ravi collapsed on the edge of the bed his back to her and head down.

"I can't fault Himura for choosing tonight to come unglued. Doesn't mean I like it, 's just not worth sleeping on the couch away from you."

She slid her arms around his waist to hug him from behind.

"He isn't a threat to us."

"He's still in love with you, that you don't see that makes him a threat."

"I don't want to fight with you."

"This isn't a fight, Sora. This is our relationship. I won't love you less because I'm not the only one that does. I just need you to see..." He grunted, "Absolutely nothing. I'm out of sorts and overreacting. Let's leave it at that. Forget Anthony, that's what I plan to do."

"I like that plan." She slid her hands under his top, taking comfort in how he seemed to relax at her touch. This was their life together, she was done letting the world outside intrude. "Let's go to bed."

"Thank god."