However, Galloway refused.

We weren’t ready for a car.

We’d walked for the past four years. We would walk for another few more. Besides, the option of swimming all day everyday had been stolen. We weren’t ready to have our feet put out of commission, too.

As we got closer to the apartment, I struggled to hold my curiosity of why he hadn’t put his glasses on.

What is he waiting for?

Entering our home, he stole Coco and asked if he could put her to bed on his own.

I shrugged and left him to it, slightly miffed that he hadn’t put on the glasses that he’d hankered for for so long. He’d complained so much of wanting to see his children and me in full clarity.

Now, he had the chance and didn’t.

Why?

Pouring a glass of water, I padded barefoot to the balcony and stood with my eyes closed, pretending I was somewhere where walls were made of palm trees and the floor was sugar-soft sand.

Eventually, Galloway exited the bedroom where he’d put Coco down. He hadn’t put her in the lounge, which meant he either wanted to talk or...

My nipples tingled at the thought of sex.

The violent hunger in my blood took me by surprise as he came up behind me and rested his chin on my shoulder. “Can you come with me, please?”

I nodded, taking his offered hand and following him to the couch.

“What were you doing? With Coco?” My voice was inquisitive as I sat down.

He smiled. “Seeing her for the first time.”

“You put your glasses on?”

“I did.”

“And?”

He looked at the ceiling, a glistening film over his eyes. “And she’s absolutely goddamn beautiful.”

My heart lurched. “She is. She’s perfect.”

His hand went to the cushion behind him where he’d stowed the glasses case. Taking a deep breath, he cracked it open and pulled out the sexy black frames. “Now, I need to see just how beautiful her mother is.”

I couldn’t breathe as he slipped the glasses on.

He kept his eyes down; adjusting to whatever prescription enabled him to see.

Then...he looked up.

His mouth fell open.

His blue irises burned.

And every molecule of love he had for me magnified.

“You’re...you’re—” His voice cracked.

“I’m?”

“You’re so much more stunning than I ever realised.” His hands shook as he traced my cheekbone with his thumb. “After so long of not seeing clearly. After so long of falling in love with a woman I knew was beautiful inside and out, now I can see her. Truly see her. And I can’t believe how lucky I am.”

I pressed my face into his palm. “Thank you. That means—”

He kissed me, slipping his fingers to my nape and pulling me close. “I can completely and honestly say that I have the most stunning wife in the world.”

Our tongues joined and passion exploded.

His glasses turned askew as I clambered onto his lap—kiss kiss kissing him all over. I didn’t realise how terrified I was of him seeing me. How much I relied on his hazy vision to protect that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t be enough for him.

But now, those fears vanished.

Those fears more than vanished; they detonated in a wash of lust as I unbuttoned his denim shorts and pushed aside the bikini bottoms beneath my white skirt. (I gave up with underwear and bras).

Our lips never left each other as Galloway guided my hips up and slid himself inside me.

Our foreheads bumped as our bodies rocked and loved.

I hugged his shoulders, panting as my orgasm unravelled faster and faster.

And when he pulled back to watch me come undone, his release quaked through him so hard, so vicious, we tumbled off the couch to finish on the tiled floor.

It wasn’t until we came down from our high that I noticed he’d orgasmed inside me.

We’d agreed to stop doing that until I was on contraceptive because now we were back with vitamins and rich food, my cycle would no doubt return.

However...we were no longer on our own.

If I got pregnant this time, it wasn’t a matter of life or death.

A slow smile spread my lips as Galloway spread me on his chest and hugged me. “I know what I just did. And I’m not going to apologise.”

I kissed his throat. “I know.”

He stilled. “Do you mind?”

“About what?”

“You know what?”

“That you might knock me up again? Why would I mind?”

His reply was to squeeze me harder.

That night, after making love and dozing in each other’s arms, I woke up with damp eyes and tears drying on my cheeks.

I cried for happiness found in all corners of the globe.

I cried for the loss of Fiji.

I cried for a future we hadn’t decided on.

I cried for hope.

I cried for sadness.

I cried because, once again, our lives had changed forever.

Chapter Seventy-Nine

...............................................

G A L L O W A Y

......

APRIL

I THOUGHT IT would be easy to slip back into society.

Easy to relax, be grateful, and embrace what we’d lost when we’d crashed.

It wasn’t easy.

We’d been back five weeks.

It’d been five weeks too long.

The only unfettered joy we experienced was when my father flew over and spent a fortnight with us. He rented a short-stay apartment in the same building we’d been placed in but spent every moment in ours.