True to her word, the moment we reached cruising altitude she unbuckled herself, rose, and headed to the back of the plane with Andreos.

The urge to follow, to demand answers to the teeming questions ricocheting in my brain, was so strong I clenched my gut against the power of it.

I stayed put, forcing rationality over impulse. I had business to take care of, conference calls to make. And yet somewhere on that endless to-do list the looming issue of our agreement ticked louder.

An agreement I’d lately found myself re-examining with growing dissatisfaction.

Restlessness drove me to my feet. At the bar, I poured myself a cognac and tossed it back, hoping the bracing heat would knock some sense into me. All it did was emphasise the expanding hollow inside me and quicken this alien need demanding satisfaction.

Setting the glass down, I started to walk back to my seat—and then, unsurprised, I found myself moving towards the back of the plane.

After my soft knock elicited no response I turned the door handle. Lamps were dimmed, the window shades drawn, but still I saw them. Both asleep.

One with small, chubby arms thrown above his head in innocent abandon.

My son. My world.

The other curled on her side with one arm braced protectively over Andreos and the other draped over her belly.

My wife.

But not for much longer. Unless I took steps to do something about it.

Resolution slid home like a key in a lock I didn’t even realise needed opening. Now I did—now the possibility of more beckoned with a promise I didn’t want to deny.

Shaking out a light throw, I tucked it over both of them, then stepped back.

Calypso made a distressed sound in her sleep, an anxious twitch marring her brow for a second before it smoothed out and her breathing grew steady.

Was her stomach still bothering her? I frowned as that niggling returned.

My hand clenched over the door handle.

Were her secrets disturbing her sleep? Could that be the last stumbling block I needed to overcome to make this marriage real? If so, could I live with it?

The breath locked in my lungs was released, along with the bracing realisation that, regardless of what the secret was, it needn’t get in our way. If she was prepared not to let it.

Very much aware that several things hung in the balance, I stepped out, shut the door behind me and returned to the living room. But through all my strategising and counter-strategising my resolution simply deepened.

My grandfather had sacrificed and nearly lost everything in his dealings with one Petras.

But perhaps it was time to draw a line underneath all that, let acrimony stay in the past where it belonged.

Perhaps it was time to strike yet another bargain.

A more permanent one.

Thailand was magical.

Or as magical as a place could be when I knew that dark shadows crept ever closer. Knew that my stolen time was rapidly dwindling away.