It was always so easy to lose himself in Melpomene, to imagine that when he was inside of her they were the only two things that existed. God, he sometimes wished that. A desert island where nothing else existed. He would never leave his brothers, but sometimes there would be such peace in the idea of being alone.
When Alan had spent himself and had nothing left to give, he settled back down beside her, wrapping his arms around her from behind, one resting just below her breasts and the other across her still growing belly.
"I love you," he told her (again and again and again).