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Page 399

| trace of her anywhere since the day she left Tobias behind to become someone else's child. |

| "And when do we leave for Melbourne to sign the papers that will make Tobias legally ours?" Ashton said, as though he had read Sasha's troubled thoughts about Bianca. "When he calls me Da-da, I would feel much better if I knew that it was official." |

| "You sent Crispin ahead to meet with the attorney for us," Sasha said, placing Paulette back in her crib. "When he returns and tells us that it has all been arranged, then I think that we should go immediately to Melbourne and finalize the procedure. We've done everything within our power to find Bianca, to give her one last chance to claim her son. I think we've earned the right to claim him as ours now. Morally, and otherwise." |

| Ashton set Tobias down and laughed throatily when the tot went immediately for the floor on his hands and knees and began crawling away toward a large pile of birthday toys. "Well, so much for walking today," he said, shrugging. |

| He placed an arm around Sasha's waist and walked her to a window where together they looked out at their thriving empire. "Just look at it," he said proudly, gesturing with his free hand toward the sheep grazing in the distance, along the horizon splashed with the golden rays of the sun. "A year ago, who would have thought that any of this would have been possible?" |

| "It's not only the money that bought this all for us," Sasha said, sidling closer to Ashton and hugging him to her side. "Mother Nature has finally cooperated. We've had a good year, without the |

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