Several hours later, Anarieveta admitted to herself that she's happy again for the first time in a long time. Genuinely, womanly happy.

He was right there in the kitchen with her when she was making omelets and he found every reason to make her laugh. At first, it was difficult—she doesn't really have a lot to smile about.

But he was always making jokes. And when jokes weren't working much, he told her stories about his children in the past. The stories were so ...