All because of the woman sitting across the room, eight months pregnant with our daughter.
Our daughter.
We found out the sex at the twenty-week ultrasound. Emma cried. I might have shed a tear, too. Neither of us will admit it.
We're naming her Marie, after my mother. Emma suggested it, and I couldn't speak for a full minute.
"You good?” Thane asks, appearing beside me again.
"Yeah. Just thinking."
"About?"
I reach into my pocket, feeling the small velvet box I've been carrying for two weeks.
"About how I'm going to propose to Emma without completely fucking it all up."
Thane's eyebrows rise. "You're proposing? Today?"
"I'm planning to. If I can find the right moment."
"At a baby shower?"
"Why not? We're surrounded by people we love. Emma's happy. It feels right."
"It feels insane," Logan says, having apparently been eavesdropping. "But also very you. Go for it."
"I don't even have a plan—"
"Plans are overrated," Thane says. "Just speak from the heart. Emma doesn't need a grand gesture. She needs you."
Before I can respond, I notice Emma's not on thecouch anymore.
"Where did she go?"
Lily looks up from organizing presents. "Bathroom, I think? Or maybe the nursery. She said she needed a minute."
I excuse myself and head down the hallway, past the guest bedroom, toward the nursery.
The door is slightly ajar, and I can hear soft music playing—the mobile above the crib.
I push the door open and find Emma, dark-haired and beautiful standing by the window, one hand on her very pregnant stomach, looking out at the city.
"Hey," I say softly. "You okay?"
She turns, smiling. "Yeah. Just needed a quiet moment. It's a lot of people."
"Too much?"
"No. Perfect, actually." She gestures at the room. "I was just thinking about how different my life is now. Four months ago, I was painting a corner of my studioapartment yellow and convinced I was going to do this alone."
"You're not alone."
"I know." She walks over, wrapping her arms around me as best she can with her belly in the way. "I know. And I'm grateful. For you. For this. For all of it."
I hold her, breathing in the scent of her citrus shampoo, feeling our daughter move between us.
This is it. This is the moment.
