July 1, 1955, Des Moines, Iowa

Matthew woke up when he felt movement on his bed, well more movement than his wife stirring or getting up. He reached over to the nightstand for his glasses and put them on, blinking his eyes open to find his wife and six children sitting all around him on the bed, smiling at him. A wide smile found its way to his face as he was greeted by a chorus of "Happy Birthday!" from all seven people.

"Thank you all," he said, bringing each of them in for a hug. He kissed each of their foreheads as he hugged them. "You are all the best!" His smiled widened as he reached his wife and kissed her softly. "You're brilliant, Irene!"

"Only the best for you, Matthew," she said with a smile, her silvery-blonde hair framing her face as her blue eyes sparkled with joy.

Irunya had changed her name to Irene when they had gotten married, wanting a more American name. Matthew had objected at first, but eventually gave in when he remembered how happy she was when she had suggested it in the first place. Although she had changed her name, she had insisted on leaving Vlad's name the same, insisting that it was important to who he was. Matthew couldn't argue with that.

Bailey, their third-born, smiled at Matthew. "How old are you now, Papa?" she asked him, crawling into his lap. She was only six and looked like the perfect mixture of Matthew and Irunya, having Matthew's hair and Irunya's eyes.

"Too old," Matthew answered, laughing. He kissed the top of her head and snuggled her. His gaze went to Vlad, who was now twelve, going on thirteen. It almost made him nervous how much they looked alike. Then again, all of his sons looked just like him, minus the glasses. "I'm way too old, Bailey."

Olivia giggled. "Papa, you say that every year!"

"I do, don't I?" Matthew laughed, smiling over at his ten-year-old daughter. She looked just like a young Irunya. That was enough to worry Matthew. She was already getting a lot of attention from the boys her age, and Matthew didn't like that at all.

"Silly Papa!" Matthew and Irene's fourth-born, Warren, giggled. "You're old!" He looked just like Vladyslav did when he was four. His giggling caused his father to smile. "Will I be big and strong like you when I get that old, Papa?"

"Of course you will, Warren," Matthew answered with a smile. He looked to Irene. "It's something that runs in the family. You'll be strong just like me and Uncle Alfred."

"But not a wimp like Uncle Arthur, right?" Warren giggled.

"Warren!" Irene gasped out, trying not to smile.

"Mama, you're the one who said he was a wimp," Warren defended. "I heard you say it to Papa one night. You said that Uncle Arthur was a wimp and needed someone like Uncle Alfred to keep him safe like how Papa kept you safe."

Irene blushed. "Warren, you need to stop listening to conversations that do not concern you," she scolded half-heartedly.

Warren bowed his head. "Yes, Mama."

Irene smiled and kissed her son's cheek before rescuing one of their two-year-old twins, Helen, from falling off the side of the bed. Helen and Emmett, the two youngest looked just like miniature Matthews, only Helen was a little girl. "Careful, Helen," she softly said. "That would hurt." She kissed her daughter's cheek and placed her back toward the middle of the bed near her twin. "Matvey, these kids have been crazy all morning."

"I can imagine," Matthew said. "Do you need any help now that I'm up?"

"Well, Papa, we've been working together to do something special for you," Olivia told him, grinning widely. She had her hands behind her back. "Mama went to a store awhile back and had it ordered specially from Quebec." Her hands came out from behind her back, and in it was a bottle of maple syrup. "We all got you this for your birthday."

Matthew, deeply touched, pulled them all in for a group hug. "You are the greatest family I could ever ask for!" he said, kissing each of them on the top of the head. "I haven't had the real stuff in so long that I forgot what it really tasted like!"

"It was Vlad's idea," Irene told him, smiling. "He heard that you were originally from Canada and that you haven't had real Canadian maple syrup since you were his age, so he wanted to do something special for you for your birthday. Then he told Livvy, Bailey, and Warren about it and they wanted to do it for you as well." She was beaming by the end. "By far, we have the sweetest kids in the entire world."

"We really do," Matthew agreed, grinning at her. He turned the bottle over in his hands. "What do you say I make some pancakes and we have some pancakes and syrup? I don't mind sharing the wealth since it was my amazing family who got it for me." His smile was almost too big to fit on his face. "You all most definitely need to try it anyway."

"Are you sure, Papa?" Bailey asked, looking at the mouth-watering syrup in her father's hands. "It's yours."

"Of course I'm sure," Matthew said, smiling. "It's mine to do what I'd like with, right? So why not share it with my family? That's what I'd like to do with it."

Irene smiled. "Do you see where you all got your kindness from?" she asked. "You all have wonderful, kind hearts like your father here." She turned her loving gaze to Matthew. She breathed a sigh of happiness, knowing that he was still that wonderful man that she had fallen in love with all those years before. That made her happier than anything in the world. Every time she realized that, she fell more and more in love with him than before. "Matvey, what do you say we go start on those pancakes?"

"Right," he said, smiling. "I just have to get this little Bailey off of my lap." He began to tickle the six-year-old, who began to squeal with giggles. "Whenever that will be."

Bailey crawled off of his lap, squealing, "Pancakes, Papa! Pancakes!"

"All right," he laughed. "I'll make them." He smiled and got out of bed. "But don't expect me to change from my pajamas. Pancakes are something that are to be eaten in pajamas, and pajamas alone. So, if any of you are not in pajamas, you had better go and change back into them."

His four oldest kids looked down at their clothes and quickly hurried from the room, taking the two-year-old twins with them so Irene could change back into her pajamas as well and have a moment alone with Matthew.

Irene walked over to Matthew and looped her arms around his shoulders. "Hello there, handsome," she said, smiling. "Happy Birthday. You're how old now? Twenty-five?"

"Wouldn't you just know?" Matthew said with a smirk. He kissed her lips softly as his hands rested firmly on her hips. "I'm actually thirty-three, if you must know," he told her, matter-of-factly. "But who's really counting?"

"Obviously, you are," Irene told him with a slight giggle. She smiled at him and kissed him again. "If you would have asked me, I tried to keep you younger than that."

Matthew smiled. "You're always trying to keep me young, Irene." His hands squeezed her hips as he kissed down her neck. "Now, get changed into your pajamas. It's pancake time, dear."

Irene smiled. "I remember the first time you ever made me pancakes. It was when we first moved here." She giggled. Her eyes seemed far away as her mind went back to a decade before when they had moved to America together. She suddenly kissed Matthew passionately. "Our life together is the best thing that has ever happened to me, the children, the nitpicky fights, the dancing, the love, all of it. I love you, Matthew Williams."

"Speaking of dancing," Matthew said. He walked over to the record player across the room from them and put on a record.

A familiar tune filled the room and instantly brought the two of them into a memory of a shy military captain and a young waitress in a Russian restaurant. Matthew remembered crossing the floor and asking her to dance. He remembered the joy in his heart when she had agreed to dance with him, starting their love story right then and there.

"May I have this dance?" Matthew asked her, walking over to her.

Irene's eyes sparkled with tears of joy as she remembered and took his hand. "Of course you may have this dance, and every dance after, my dear Matvey," she whispered to him. Her hand went to his shoulder as his hand went to her hip. She leaned her head on his other shoulder as they swayed back and forth to the music.

"Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts,

But when I think of you, another shower starts.

Into each life some rain must fall,

But too much is falling in mine."

"Remember the first time we danced to this together?" Matthew asked her softly. "I was only nineteen years old, but I was so unknowingly in love with you at the time." He smiled and kissed her temple. "You were, by far, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and that opinion still hasn't changed."

Irene smiled. "Back then, I was just simply Irunya Chernenko, some waitress at some restaurant in Russia. Now look at me. I'm Irene Williams, mother of six and wife to the most amazing man in the entire world." She laughed to herself. "I wouldn't change it for any amount of money anyone could ever offer me. I love my life the way it is."

"Into each life some rain must fall,

But too much, too much is falling in mine.

Into each heart some tears must fall,

But someday the sun will shine.

Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts,

But when I think of you another shower starts."

Matthew smiled at her. "When we're apart, you're all I ever think about. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I'm so glad that we're going to be growing old together. We'll be the happiest two there ever were."

"Isn't that Alfred and Arthur?" Irene teased, smiling up at Matthew as the song was beginning to reach its end.

"Then we'll be the happiest heterosexual couple there ever was," Matthew corrected, smiling back. He kissed her lips as the song ended. "Now get into you pajamas. We have pancakes to eat."

Irene smiled. "You're so demanding," she teased. "I like that." Her eyes danced and sparkled as she pulled away from him. "I'll change while you make the pancakes, okay?" She kissed his lips again and walked over to the dresser to pick out some pajamas. "I'm honestly quite excited for this."

"You should be," Matthew laughed. "It's not often when you get real Canadian maple syrup in Iowa." He smiled and looked down at the bottle in his hands. "We really do have the greatest family, don't we? Our kids are the best there ever were. They're thoughtful and would rather think of the ones they love before themselves."

Irene smiled at Matthew as she unzipped her dress in the back. "And I wonder where they got that from," she sarcastically said. "It couldn't have been from you, could it?"

"Or you?" Matthew asked, smiling. "You're a very kind woman. I'm sure they could've gotten it from their beautiful and caring mother as well."

"There's a reason why I call you 'God's Gift', Matthew," Irene said. "It's because I believe that you truly are God's gift to me." She smiled at him and blushed a little. "There is no better explanation than that. You have been nothing short of amazing since we've been together. I love you, and I always have. Ever since the day we met, you have held a special place in my heart." She let her dress fall to the floor and pulled her nightgown over her head. "That's why I hope that every day is as wonderful for you as it is for me." She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. "I know that there are times that we may argue and fight, but what couple seriously doesn't?"

Matthew smiled and grabbed her hand as they walked out of their room together. "That's true," he said. "That's very true." He squeezed her hand as they made their way to the kitchen together. "This is what I live for, my life with you and the kids. My family is what I live for. I love you all so much."

"We love you too, Matvey," Irene answered, smiling. "You are our everything. I hope you know that. The kids and I, we wouldn't even be able to function properly without you. You are our world."

"And you are all mine," Matthew told her, getting a bowl from the cupboard and wandering the kitchen, gathering ingredients for pancake batter. He smiled as he got it all and began to mix it. "I remember meeting Vlad for the first time. I didn't even know about him until he was a few months old, but do you remember how proud I was. And I was actually there to witness Olivia being born."

Irene nodded. "And then we moved here and you were there for the births of Bailey, Warren, Emmett, and Helen," she reminded. She sighed out happily as she sat at the table. "We have an amazing family, Matthew. And I think we're going to be the happiest couple in all of America. Notice I said that because your brother lives in England."

Matthew smiled. "We'll be the happiest married couple in the world," he stated. "There, now we beat him out for all of it since he can't get married."

"That's so mean," Irene laughed, but she still smiled either way. "I really do like them, though. Alfred is a very kind man, and his partner Arthur is wonderful. Arthur's son was always really good with Vlad. He's eighteen now, isn't he?"

"Nope," Matthew answered, smiling. "He turned nineteen today. We have the same birthday. I remember that much about that little boy."

"He's not a little boy anymore, is he?" Irene asked, giggling. "Leon is the same age you were when we met. Doesn't he have a partner as well?"

Matthew wracked his brain. "He does, but the man's name escapes me," he answered. "I always forget. All I know is that he's Scandinavian or something like that. Moved to London when he was really young. His older brother was friends with Alfred back during the war, if I remember correctly. Something about his brother dying but not really dying. I don't remember the whole story. I just remember that there was something that had to be kept a secret from anyone not involved."

Irene nodded, confused. "Right," she stated, lost. She shook her head. "Anyway, I hope they're all doing well. When was the last time you heard from Alfred and Arthur anyway?"

"A week or so ago I got a letter," Matthew answered. "They're doing well. My letter should be getting there in about a week or two. I wished Alfred a happy birthday in it."

"When is his again?" Irene asked. "I always forget, is it three days before or three days after yours?" She looked as if she were putting a lot of thought into it. "His is Independence Day, right? I think that's right."

"You're correct," Matthew said, smiling. "I'm three days older." He poured some of the batter into a skillet as the kids all began to filter into the kitchen. "There you all are," he greeted, smiling widely. "I was beginning to wonder where you all were. Get ready for pancakes. The first one is already being made."

Vlad smiled as he and Olivia helped the two youngest into their booster seats at the table. "Papa, you're so nice," he said, patting Emmett on the head. "I'm glad that I take after you."

Matthew nearly dropped the spatula upon hearing his son say that. "Why thank you, Vlad," he said, smiling. "It means a lot to hear you say that. But just remember that your mother is just s kind and caring as I am. I think that you're kind because of both of us."

Irene snorted, laughing. "Learn to take a compliment, Matthew," she said. "He was trying to compliment you on your birthday, but as always, you directed it at me." She shook her head in disbelief. "Unbelievable."

Matthew shrugged sheepishly. "I'm just giving credit where credit is due," he stated, smiling. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Not at all," she stated. "Just learn to properly accept a compliment from you children when they give you one." She winked at him when he glanced over at her. "Otherwise, they'll never learn to accept one either."

Matthew blushed. "Right," he stated. "I'll have to remember that."

"Ten years, and you still have trouble even accepting them from me," she laughed. "You're unbelievable." She smiled. "But I guess that's something I love about you, my darling."

Matthew smiled at her as he flipped the pancake. "I'm sure there's more than just that to love about me." He winked at her, watching her turn a bright shade of red in the cheeks. "The first pancake will be done soon." His smile widened as he heard his kids cheer from the table. It was like music to his ears. He was certain that this kind of joy was what his father felt whenever he made pancakes for his family on Saturday mornings when Matthew was young. "I'll make them all quickly so we can all eat nice, warm pancakes together."

Matthew was true to his word and they were all soon sitting together at the table, maple syrup on their pancakes and taking their first bites. The children all had wide smiles on their faces, making noises of awe as their taste buds exploded in their mouths. Matthew specifically watched Irene's reaction, curious as to how she would react. He was not disappointed as he saw her blue eyes widen as she smiled at him.

"It's amazing," she softly told him, nodding as she smiled. "Thank you for sharing something so special and magical with us, Matvey."

"Thank you, Papa!" all six of the children chimed in.

And right then and there, Matthew felt like the luckiest man in the world.

.

The Actual End.