Enyoy an original, touching and amusing glimpse of Konstantine and Zorana, Jasha and Ann, Rurik and Tasya, Adrik and Karen, and Firebird and Douglas after the Darkness Chosen series has ended.

Zorana and Konstantine Wilder have just moved into their new home, a fabulous house built to replace the one that burned in the cataclysmic fire. They have four bedrooms upstairs, one for each one of their sons and wives, a master suite downstairs, and a huge attic where someday the grandchildren they have planned for can sleep and play. Most important, Zorana has a big kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a table long enough to feed their family and friends, and a six-burner gas range and two ovens. (“Two ovens? Woman, why do you need two ovens?” “Husband, for the same reason you need a new tractor with a heater in the cab.”)

To celebrate their new home, they plan a party …

“Oh. Wow. Papa. I like the bunny outfit.” Firebird stood in the doorway of the kitchen, dressed like a Cheshire cat and grinning like one, too.

Konstantine touched the fuzzy brown tip of one ear. “Your mother made the costume. I did not wish to frighten the children.”

“I can’t imagine why any child would be frightened by a six-and-a-half foot tall bunny.” Firebird stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Especially a bunny who has a new grandchild on the way.”

“A new grandchild? You … you’re expecting? You will have a boy to join Aleksandr in our family? You make me very happy.” Delight filled his heart, and he wished he could hug his daughter.

But she handed him a tray of shot glasses and a bottle of fine vodka. “Douglas is bursting with pride, and we will all look forward to the spring. Now go put these in the living room before the guests arrive!”

“Firebird?”

She turned to him, glowing with the blessing that carrying a child bestowed. “Yes, Papa?”

“What is your mother wearing to the party?”

“No, Papa. She wouldn’t tell me.”

“Humph.” He placed the platter on the already laden table, poured a shot in each glass, and wondered why Zorana had made such a mystery of this costume, and what was taking Zorana so long. In mere moments, the guests would arrive, and it was not like his woman to be late. He turned at the sound of someone walking carefully down the stairs and saw his daughter-in-law, Ann, dressed in a kangaroo with a joey in her pouch.

“Ah, my darling Ann.” He waved her over. “You know what Zorana is wearing to the party, don’t you?”

“No, Papa, why? Wouldn’t she tell you?” Ann came to his side, taking care not to trip over her big, fuzzy feet.

“No,” he said grumpily. “She said she would wear a costume appropriate to her role in the family.”

Smart-mouthed Ann said, “Then maybe she’ll be a cook or a mechanic or a gardener or a housekeeper or —“

“Here.” He picked up a herring from the platter of appetizers and stuck it under Ann’s nose. “Eat this and be quiet.”

Turning pale, she pushed it away. “No. Please. Papa. It makes me sick.”

“Sick? Why would a herring make you sick? It has never made you sick before.” Leaning down, he peered into her suddenly shy eyes. “You are expecting!”

“Sh!” She covered his mouth with her hand. “Yes, yes, I am, we’ll have a baby in the spring, but Jasha and I were going to tell you and Mama together.”

“Don’t worry. It will be our secret.” He watched proudly as she went to the kitchen to help Firebird spoon sour cream over the varenyky with cherries.

The front door slammed, and Tasya and Karen ran in from the barn, their noses red with cold.

Tasya held a handful of straw, and she stuffed it in her chick costume. “This stuff pokes right through the cloth,” she complained.

“Would you rather be a princess?” Karen asked.

“No.” Because Tasya had truly once been a princess, and she wouldn’t trivialize the grief that honor had brought her. “But you’re a beautiful mermaid.”

“Thank you.” Karen had been raised to be a rough woman, and now she preened, always happy to wear something that glittered with sequins. “Although the costume fit me better when I bought it. Now it’s tight around the middle.”

Tasya laid her hand on Karen’s stomach. “Are you going to have guppies?”

“Guppies? No! I’m only going to have … one … guppy.” Karen put her hand over Tasya's and looked at her sister-in-law. “I hope.”

“You, too?” Tasya exclaimed. She looked first pleased, then horrified. “Oh, no. Rurik and I were going to wait until I was farther along before we said anything.”

“Both of you? With child?” Konstantine held out his arms to the wives of his sons. “Karen and I, we can keep secrets.” They hugged him, then hugged each other, and their cheer brought Firebird and Ann from the kitchen to make known their secrets and rejoice with the others.

“We want to name our baby Antai, after my father,” Tasya confessed.

“Or perhaps Jennica, after your mother,” he said.

The four girls looked at him doubtfully.

“It is true, in a thousand years, we have had only sons born from my family loins. So a daughter would be a miracle.” Konstantine stroked his long, bunny whiskers. “But in this family, we are familiar with miracles.”

The women agreed. Miracles had a way of happening to the Wilders. Their mere survival was a miracle for which Konstantine every day thanked the Good God.

Then Ann started to sniff. Firebird wiped her tears on her tail. Karen and Tasya both held out as long as they could before they both broke down and cried.

Konstantine sighed. He remembered every one of Zorana’s pregnancies, and the months when Firebird grew large with Aleksandr, and those times had been rife with weeping. Now there were four women shedding tears … but if wiping wet eyes and making comforting noises was a small price to pay for his grandchildren.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to pay it by himself. His sons would take most of the load. His sons, who were descending the stairs.

Jasha wore a lamb costume. Rurik was dressed like a mouse. Adrik was a puppy. And Douglas, like his father, was a bunny — but a pink bunny. They came to their father and lined up, and their wives stood looking at them, five giant, strong, dangerous men dressed as the meekest animals they could find.

Although Konstantine couldn’t comprehend why, the women fell on each others’ shoulders, now almost crying with laughter. “Never going to fool …” “Yeah, like that’s going to work …” “The silliest thing I’ve ever …”

Over the female hilarity, he asked his sons, “Where is your mother? What is she wearing? Where is Aleksandr?”

“Mama has Aleksandr, I don’t know what she’s wearing, and she said they were coming right down,” Douglas said.

Konstantine turned his gaze to the top of the stairs, and there she was — the love of his life, the bane of his existence, his wife, Zorana.

She descended the stairs, graceful, serene, dressed in a black, calf-length wool skirt, black heeled boots, and a silver liquid silk charmeuse wrap top. She had a coiled whip hooked to her sash and she’d done something to her eyes, some feminine make-up thing involving smoky lines and dark smudges that made her look savage and mysterious.

She held little Aleksandr in her arms. The boy was dressed like a wolf, and when they reached the bottom, she placed him on his feet and asked, “Aleksandr, what does the wolf say?”

Aleksandr spread his arms wide. He growled and ran at his father.

Douglas screamed like a little girl and hopped away.

Aleksandr growled and chased Jasha and Rurik and Adrik, and when Konstantine tripped over his big bunny feet and tumbled to the floor, Aleksandr put his foot on his grandfather’s chest and roared in triumph.

When the wives had finished giggling, Konstantine spoke sternly to his wife. “Where is your costume, woman?”

Zorana answered promptly, “This is the costume I wear everyday.”

Although he didn’t think he was going to like the answer, he asked, “What costume is that?”

Zorana came and knelt by his side, and brushed his hair off his forehead. “I am the Beastmaster.”

Konstantine pounced as swiftly as a wolf, toppling her on top of him and wrapping her in his arms. “You are insolent and audacious.”

“One must be when one lives with you, Konstantine Wilder.” She smiled into his eyes, and silently promised him a night he would never forget …

“Okay. Enough of that,” Jasha said. “You two are going to give us kids a complex.”

“What? This is a mystery to you? You still believe we found you under a cabbage leaf?” But Konstantine stood, lifting Zorana with him. “I will make a speech.”

The boys groaned.

He paid his rude sons no heed, but gestured toward the krasny ugol, the red corner. There, in this holy place in their home, Zorana had reverently placed the Wilder icon on a red satin cloth. Four different aspects of the Virgin Mary, portrayed in joy, sorrow, pain and glory, looked upon his family. The icon which had been a thousand years ago cut by the devil’s sword, had been re-joined into one holy icon, and that joining had broken the evil pact and freed the Wilder family forever.

Now all was as he and Zorana had foreseen. His sons were married to the loves of their lives, and this year would bring four, or perhaps five or six, new additions to the Wilder clan.

The Wilders were indeed blessed. He looked around at his sons, at their wives, at his own precious Zorana, and his speech was brief and succinct. “No words are worthy of our joy.”

His family solemnly nodded.

The doorbell rang, and Konstantine said, “Come! The food is prepared. The vodka is poured. Let us open the door and welcome our friends into our new home and our new lives.”