41
Three months later…
Lukas stepped toward the crackling fire within the hearth. The warm glow illuminated the face of his wife, Marya, as she sat in the low chair, staring into the flames. Her eyes glittered with the light, and when he knelt beside her, she turned slowly to look at him. He reached up to cup her cheeks with both hands and drew her toward him for a long, deep kiss. When he pulled away, she grinned.
“I think I’ll start tonight,” he told her.
She took his hands in her own and gave them a gentle squeeze. “Good.”
He looked back for another glimpse of her smiling in perfect contentment before he left the room and moved into his study. The large desk in the center of the room held two thin display screens, angled delicately toward the chair where he had spent so much time s
