Cornelia turned quickly when she heard running footsteps. For a second, she didn’t recognize the officer standing there, tanned and thin from his travels. Then his face lit with pleasure and he stepped forward to wrap his arms around her. She held him tightly, breathing in the smell of his skin and laughing as he lifted her to the points of her feet.

“It’s been such a long time without you,” he said, his eyes sparkling over her shoulder as he pressed the air out of her. Her ribs ached by the time he let go, but she didn’t care at all.

For a long time, Julius was able to forget everything but the beautiful woman in his arms. At last he put her down and stepped back, holding her hand as if unwilling to let her stray from him again.

“You’re still gorgeous, wife,” he said. “And I hear we have a daughter.”

Cornelia pursed her lips in irritation. “I wanted to tell you myself. Clodia, bring her in now,” she called, and her nurse entered quickly enough to make it obvious that she had been standing outside waiting for them to finish.

The little girl looked around with interest as she was brought to her parents in Clodia’s arms. Her eyes were the same soft brown as her mother’s, but her hair was as dark as Julius’s own. He smiled at the child and she beamed back at him, her cheeks dimpling.

“She’s almost two now and a terror round the house. She knows a lot of words already when she’s not too shy,” Cornelia said proudly, taking her from Clodia.

Julius wrapped his arms around both of them and applied a gentle pressure.

“I used to dream of seeing you again at the worst times. I didn’t even know you were pregnant when I left,” he said as he released them. “Does she walk yet?”

Both Clodia and Cornelia nodded and smiled at each other. Cornelia set her daughter down and they watched as she trotted around the room, stopping to examine everything she came across.

“I called her Julia, after you. I wasn’t sure if you were coming back and . . .” Cornelia’s eyes filled with tears and Julius held her tightly again.

“All right, wife, I made it home. That’s an end to it.”

“Things were . . . difficult for a while. Tubruk had to sell some of the land to pay the ransom.”

She hesitated before telling him everything. Sulla was dead, thank all the merciful gods. It would only hurt Julius to know what she had suffered at his hands. She would warn Tubruk to say nothing.