The end of the month saw Sora unburdening her nephew Dhiren of the shopping bags he'd toted into her house.

"What's all this for?"

"Can't tell you. It's all part of The Plan." The capital letters were implied.

"Oh, right. The Plan." Sora winked conspiratorially. "Where should I put this precious cargo?"

"Um...the kitchen sounds good."

"So I can expect food?"

Dhiren beamed a mischievous beam. He gets that from his dad. The Misra men are plotting.

"Maybe I'm just having you put that stuff in there to get you out of the way." Very canny, my nephew.

"Could be. Guess we'll see who's got who figured out, huh?"

"Guess so."

Sora left her nephew and his father to their machinations to leave the bags he'd brought in on the kitchen counter. The second-long peek she'd granted herself had revealed an assemblage of baking ingredients. They're going to try to bake. My kitchen may not survive the night. She hid the largest of her knifes in the back of the pantry, beside the honey. Boys, knives, fire. I have to limit the damage where I can.

She returned to the foyer to find her nephew messing with his phone. Still no Ravi.

"I should go help your dad."

Dhiren jumped in front of the door. "You can't! Dad said that birthday girls have to sit. It's in the rules."

"Oh, the rules. I'd hate to break one of those." Sora folded a leg under her and made herself comfortable on the couch. Those rules of his...and those lips. She'd thought of that almost-kiss often this month. Yelena's imprecation, Hana's warning, and Ravi's vows to her warred in her thoughts. If this isn't revenge, what could it be? Wary of the dangerous turn her thoughts had taken, Sora decided to distract herself.

"So, what'd you do for your mom for Mother's Day?"

"Me and Dad made her pancakes with strawberries for breakfast."

"You're gonna make me jealous. I love pancakes and strawberries, especially with chocolate sauce."

"Mom liked 'em, too. She started crying."

Out of both eyes? Sora immediately berated herself. It's not Hana's fault that melodramatic is her default setting. That's Hana.

"I bet those were happy tears."

"That's what she said." Dhiren shrugged. "But Dad didn't seem that happy."

"Your dad can pretty hard to read. I bet he was happy on the inside."

Ravi graced them with his presence at last, kneeing the cracked door open to enter, arms laden, a tied pastry box in one hand and another couple of shopping bags weighing down the other.

"She stayed here the whole time, Dad. Just like you said."

"Way to go, kiddo. Tell her the next rule."

"Birthday girls wear the crown." Dhiren rummaged around in one of the bags hanging off his father's arm to produce of pink and silver foil tiara. It's not diamonds and platinum, but I think it will do.

"Is that for me?"

"Yup. Need help putting it on?"

"I think I've got it." Sora carefully slid the comb end pieces into her hair to anchor the crown to her head. "How do I look?" Sora posed dramatically.

"Like a queen."

"And me without my scepter."

"Sit down and put your feet up. This is your night, we're gonna take care of you."

"Should I order pizza?"

"I ordered for us."

"Did you?" She raised a sardonic brow. Sora liked to be wooed; she also liked to be consulted about things.

"Maybe I should have run that by you first."

"Might have been nice."

"Next time." How many next times is he expecting? Sora tried to maintain a stern mien. His smug grin said she was failing spectacularly.

"You get one pass. Don't screw it up."

"Yes, ma'am."

A sound from the baby monitor alerted Sora that Tommy had risen from his afternoon nap. She left the Misra men to sort themselves out and went to retrieve her son from the nursery.

She picked him up from his crib and carried him to the changing table to clean him up.

"We have visitors. Ravi and Dhiren are here and it looks we're going to have some yummy, yummy cake tonight."

Tommy shook one of his toys, quietly gleeful.

"We're gonna have a good time for Mommy's birthday. It's going to be the best birthday ever." She blew a raspberry on his belly and laughed herself when he squealed.

"That's my baby. Let's go have some fun. "

Tommy noticed her crown on the journey downstairs and tried to yank it from her head.

"Not the crown, Tommy. That's attached to Mommy's hair. Ouch!"

"And here I thought he was all Gallegos." Ravi and Dhiren were watching the goings-on with equal amusement.

Sora glared at Ravi but kept trying to detach her son from the tiara these very troublemakers had given her. She managed to distract Tommy by shaking his toy in the other direction, then quickly setting him on the floor.

"Now that the entertainment portion of the evening is done, the best part begins." Ravi stroked her arm. It was bolts of lightning all over again.

"Don't worry about the kitchen. I'll clean up the mess." He lowered his voice a little. "I asked Nyna to bake us a spare in case we set your stove on fire."

"Can we skip the four-alarm fire and eat that?"

Ravi affected a hangdog air.

"Am I supposed to give you permission to wreck my kitchen because I think you're cute?"

"You think I'm cute?"

Sora refused to get into just what she thought of him.

"Get out of my sight, Misra, and take Junior with you." She grinned over Dhiren's offended exclamation.

"We gotta take Tommy along. A man's not a man till he learns how to bake."

Sora fanned her face in mild apprehension, nodding. "Whatever you want, just don't traumatize my kid."

Ravi settled Tommy on his hip. "You say trauma, I say childhood memories."

How does anybody in this family make the distinction?

The trio trooped toward the kitchen like men on a mission.

Sora needed a diversion. She sorted through the mail to kill a couple of minutes before she insisted on taking over in the kitchen lest her cake come out chockfull of sugar and chocolate chips. Lest it doesn't!

There were a couple of bills. A letter from her attorney, which she made a note to read after she'd put Tommy to bed and had copious glasses of wine. There was a funding leaflet for a local animal shelter. Sora was a lifelong sucker for puppy dog eyes. My taste in men in a nutshell.

Sora was contemplating her recent change of fortune in that regard when she heard a knock at her front door. She'd spoken to each of her sisters already—both had other plans but took the time to wish her well on her special day. Hana had even seemed sincere. Imogen had texted, as had Sam. She couldn't think of anybody besides the men currently decimating her stores of flour and eggs that might go to the trouble.

She opened the door and had to take a step back to hide her shock.

"I didn't expect to see you today."

Anthony rocked on his heels, glancing, amused, at her tiara.

"It's your birthday. I figured I should make an appearance since I missed Mother's Day."

"Okay. Thanks."

She didn't step aside to invite him in. Somehow, she didn't think the house could withstand Ravi Misra and Anthony Himura under its roof simultaneously.

"How was Mother's Day? Did you do anything nice?"

"Yeah. Imogen and Aiko took me out for lunch. I had dinner with a friend."

His brows rose. "A man...friend?"

Sora crossed her arms, defensive yet unsure why she ought to be.

"Yes, a man friend." Are we twelve? "Anthony, what's this about?" Their divorce had become final in the latter days of February. Sora had mourned on that day, to be sure, though not more than she'd sighed in relief.

"Nothing." Anthony settled his hands in his trouser pockets. "I've been hearing things. You know how it is, this whole town's a bunch of gossips. They love a hint of scandal."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I've been hearing you and Misra might be mixing it up. I wanted to hear it from you."

"My relationship with Ravi isn't something I feel comfortable discussing with you."

"So long as you have my son, you don't have much of a choice."

Sora braced herself against the door frame. Don't get mad. You're the reasonable one. "Voice your concerns. I'll try to answer them."

"I don't like Misra and I don't like him around Tommy."

"It's a good thing you don't have primary physical custody of Tommy, then, since he adores Ravi."

"Sora," he countered in a warning tone.

"Don't Sora me, Anthony. I don't need your permission to spend time with a man who has been a part of my life for decades. Ravi isn't going anywhere."

"That's what he's told Hana, how many times now? Hana's got me to catch her when he fails. Who've you got?"

"Nobody. You made sure of that."

"You're still pissed." He had the audacity to sound surprised.

"I was angry until very recently. You blew up the family we built, that you claimed to care about—not once but twice! Then, you had the unmitigated gall to come crawling back to me. You used me, and then you tried to use me again to curry favor with my sister."

"It wasn't like that!"

"So you didn't go running to Hana the minute your plan to magnanimously put our family back together after all those months failed to come together?"

Anthony cleared his throat and refused to look at her.

"No need to be shy, tell me what's on your mind. You and Hana didn't hesitate to tell me I was keeping you from starting your life together; don't hold back now that you want to tell me how it ended."

"It's not over yet, I'll get her back."

"Last I heard, Hana was launching her umpteenth campaign to 'win' Ravi's heart. Between repeated, failed attempts at seduction and ear-shattering declarations of destiny, I'm just not sure when she's going to be free to watch you plead your case."

"I didn't come here to fight with you. I have perfectly valid reservations about you letting that certified loser flounce around our son."

Sora hummed. "I'm not going to touch that one. Why are you really here?"

"Misra is bad news. Hana hasn't figured that out, but I thought you were smart enough to know better."

It just keeps getting better. "My god, Anthony. You expected me to take you back after you tricked me into giving you everything you wanted. I know you thought of me as a princess, but I didn't realize you thought I was an idiot."

"You're one of the smartest women I've ever met. Don't give me reason to doubt that by hooking up with the fancy dressmaker."

"Spending time with a man who cherishes me doesn't strike me as a stupid thing to do."

"He's cherished every woman he's ever loved. Ask Hana. What about Jasmin? What about Baani?"

"What about Evelyn? Diana? Aiko? Should I call them and ask how chivalrous you were when you were seducing them?'

"If things had never gone down the way they did, you'd be as against Ravi and Hana getting back together as I am."

"You got one thing right: I am against the two of them trying again. They don't work. They haven't worked yet and that means something. Having said that, I think they have the right to figure that out for themselves. They're capable of coming to that conclusion on their own."

"Maybe they're not."

"Then, they're not."

"He's stringing you along."

"I'm not the one pining after somebody who doesn't give me the time of day. That would be you."

"She'll come back to me, I know she loves me."

"Does the strength of your convictions keep you warm at night? I know Hana isn't around to do the job, though maybe if you whistled..."

Anthony leaned in close over the threshold. "This bitterness isn't a good look for you."

Sora leaned in till she could see the deep dark brown of his eyes. "I'm done being bitter; I've got too much to celebrate. It was nice of you to visit, Anthony. I assume you don't want to see our son at the moment."

"Not today. Just wanted to make my feelings known."

"You've certainly done that. Congratulations. Enjoy sleeping alone."

Sora shut the door in his face.