chain.
‘Hannah—’
‘There’s an inscription. Read it,’ she encouraged, watching as he removed the watch and turned it over to read what had been engraved on the back.
Miguel, my heart, my soul. Hannah.
‘Dios,’ he breathed, momentarily speechless.
‘There’s a place inside for a photo,’ she relayed softly. One that would change from year to year as they added to their family.
‘Gracias, amada.’ He rose to his feet and crossed round to kiss her.
Very thoroughly, Hannah mused long seconds later.
Together they left the table and made their way back to their suite.
A long flight lay ahead, and there was little time to spare.
‘One lifetime won’t be enough,’ Miguel said gently as he drew her into his arms.
‘Not nearly enough,’ Hannah whispered an instant before she pulled his head down to hers.
The insistent peal of the telephone caused them to reluctantly draw apart, and Miguel picked up the handset, listened, then added a brief few words.
‘The porter is on his way up, and the cab is waiting downstairs,’ he relayed with something akin to regret, and her mouth curved into a warm smile.
‘We’ll be home tomorrow.’
His answering smile held a certain musing wryness.
‘That’s no help at all.’
A soft laugh emerged from her lips. ‘Patience, querido, is good for the soul.’
He bent his head and kissed her with such gentle evocativeness, she wanted to cry. ‘I’ll remind you of that, later.’
They had the rest of their lives, and together they would make each day count. For ever.
ALEXINA KATHLYN SANTANAS was born eleven months, three weeks and four days later. A joy to her mother, and cherished with idolatry awe by her father.
Family and close friends attended the christening and returned to Miguel and Hannah’s Toorak home to offer congratulations and toast the blonde-haired angel’s health and future happiness.
The sun shone brightly that day, and there was much laughter as everyone celebrated the event.
The guests departed early evening, and it was almost nine when Hannah retreated to the nursery to feed her daughter.
It had been a magical day, Hannah reflected as she changed Alexina and prepared to put her to the breast. She was a placid child, except at moments when she required sustenance or needed changing. Now, she was hungry, and her tiny fists beat an agitated dance before she latched on to suckle strongly.
Hannah looked at the perfect tiny features, the fine textured skin, and felt her heart swell with maternal pride. She really was the sweetest little thing. A precious gift.
What a difference a year made, she decided dreamily. Together she and Miguel had travelled to Rome, toured Italy and spent time in Andalusia. Cindy now ran the Toorak boutique with Elaine’s help.
Life, she decided, was very sweet.
‘How is she?’
Hannah had been so rapt in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed Miguel had quietly entered the room. She lifted her head and gave him the sort of smile that took hold of his heart and made it beat a whole lot faster.
Did she know how much he loved her? Couldn’t fail to, he mused silently as he crossed to her side and stood watching while she disengaged their daughter and handed her to him to burp.
Minutes later he laid Alexina down carefully in her cot, drew the covers, then enfolded Hannah close to his side as they stood watching their daughter sleep.
‘She’s beautiful,’ Miguel said softly. ‘Just like her mother.’ He turned as Hannah leant her head against his chest, and brushed his lips to her forehead. ‘Time for us, querida.’
‘Mmm,’ she responded witchingly. ‘Sounds interesting.’ She lifted her head to look at him. ‘What do you have in mind?’
He adjusted the baby monitor, then led her into their bedroom. ‘Pleasuring you.’
‘Isn’t that a bit one-sided?’
He slowly undid the buttons on her top, and freed the rest of her clothes. His mouth slanted down to capture hers, and she kissed him back, swept away by the tide of passion as he gently pressed her down onto the bed.
‘Later,’ Miguel murmured. ‘You get to have your turn.’
She did, although not for long. A thin reedy cry came through the baby monitor, and she stilled, waiting for another to follow it. When it did, she pressed a light kiss to her husband’s thigh, then slid from the bed.
‘Our daughter has no sense of timing,’ Miguel groaned huskily as Hannah pulled on a robe.
‘I’ll be back,’ she promised, and she was, several minutes later after soothing Alexina to sleep.
‘Wind,’ she enlightened succinctly as she slipped into bed and reached for him. ‘Now, where were we?’
‘I would say,’ Miguel evinced huskily, ‘just about there.’ His breath caught, then hissed between his teeth as she caressed an acutely sensitive part of his male appendage.
It didn’t take long for him to break, and Hannah exulted in the way he took control, entering her in one long thrust that soon settled into a rhythm as old as time.
A shimmering sensual feast shared by two people who loved to the depths of their souls. Without reason, other than they were twin halves of a whole. Beyond mortal life, for all eternity.
Helen Bianchin
KATRINA felt her breath hitch a little as her voice rose in disbelief. ‘You’re not serious?’
It was a joke. A tasteless, sick joke. Except lawyers didn’t sink to this level of facetiousness during a professional consultation. ‘Dear God,’ she said irreverently. ‘You are serious.’
The man seated behind the imposing mahogany desk shifted his shoulders, and eased into a well-rehearsed platitude. ‘Your late father expressed
