As much as he can handle.

After that, Talia was pretty much insatiable. Rachel was our guest whenever she was in town, and we had Elizabeth and Amy over as much as we could. Sometimes I just watched as my wife played with these women, and sometimes I couldn't resist joining in. We saw more of Stephanie and Corrine, too, though they were more interested in me than I was in them.

Talia got her wish as our family exploded. We moved to a large house out on a farm with plenty of room for the kids, and a barn for Talia's work. She made enormous, larger than life portraits using our friends as her muses.

The next time we all got together was for Talia's big city gallery debut. It was a black tie affair, and all the ladies did their best to look incredible. Elizabeth gave us an encore of her shimmering golden gown, while Corrine opted for a blue cocktail dress that displayed her sizable assets. Stephanie chose a sun dress that hugged her chest, and Amy was a firecracker in a red off-the-shoulder gown. Rachel stuck to her stand-by little black dress. Talia wowed us all in her strapless, silver party dress.

There, among the furor of the crowd admiring the oversized images of the women I loved, brought to life by the woman I loved most, I breathed a contented sigh. What a gift it had been to watch Talia's gifts grow, to see her blossom into motherhood alongside creative fulfillment. Our dearest friends, our bosom buddies, immortalized on canvass. Corrine, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Amy, Talia, my wife, our beautiful children... I couldn't imagine being any happier.