Back at Aurion’s place, I prepared a small table with the food. Arranged it carefully. Carried it to the bedroom where Wen was still sleeping peacefully.
I woke her with gentle kisses. Forehead, cheeks, nose. The tip of her chin.
She blinked awake slowly and smiled at me. “Hi.”
“Hi, little mate. I brought you breakfast.”
She sat up carefully and looked at the spread I had arranged. Her eyes widened. “You didn’t have to do all this.”
“I wanted to. I cannot cook without causing fires but I can purchase food and present it nicely.”
She laughed and reached for the soup. Took a tentative sip, then another. Her whole face lit up. “Oh my god, this is amazing. I can actually eat it without wanting to throw up.”
I felt absurdly proud considering I had done nothing except buy soup from a store. “I am glad it pleases you.”
***
I convinced her to wait an entire day before returning to her apartment. I had sneaked out the previous night to check on Luis’s progress. The man was a miracle worker. The kitchen was almost completely finished when I arrived. Beautiful and modern and nothing like the disaster I had created.
I had tried to give him more money but he refused. Said the amount I had provided was more than fair and he did not take advantage of people.
Now it was noon and Wen was insisting we go check on the damage.
“The smoke has probably cleared out by now,” she said as we walked. “We should assess how bad the damage really is. Figure out what needs to be replaced.”
“Perhaps we should wait another day. Give it more time to air out.”
“Mal, it’s been over twenty-four hours. It’s fine.”
I unlocked the door with the key Luis had left under the mat as promised. Let her walk in first while my heart pounded…
She took three steps inside and screeched. Actually screeched loud enough that I worried about her vocal cords. “What the hell!”
She ran into the kitchen and spun around in a complete circle with her mouth hanging open.
Top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances gleaming under new lighting. Expensive machines I had paid extra for. Granite countertops. New cabinets in a warm wood tone. Fresh paint on the walls with absolutely zero smoke scent remaining. Luis had performed an actual miracle.
She turned to me with eyes so wide I could see white all around. “What did you do?”
“I bought you a new kitchen. I apologize for burning down the previous one.”
She laughed. The sound was slightly hysterical but genuine. “You bought me a new kitchen.”
“Yes.”
“Just like that. In less than two days.”
“Just like that. I paid a man named Luis a substantial amount of money to work very quickly.”
She started crying. Not sad tears this time but the happy overwhelmed kind that still made my chest tight. She crossed the space between us and hugged me as tightly as her pregnant belly would allow.
I pulled her close and held her carefully. “I am in love with you, Gwendolyn Woods. Even though I make catastrophic mistakes and fuck things up thoroughly and spectacularly, my love for you has never wavered or dimmed even slightly. I still love you exactly as hard and as much as I did the first time I saw you bleeding in my arms in your bookstore. And I will love you the same way, even more intensely, when it is finally time for me to die centuries from now. You are my everything. My reason for existing. The best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I would burn down a thousand kitchens if it meant I could hold you like this.”
She was crying harder now. “I love you too. So much it scares me. So much I don’t know what to do with it.”
I cupped her face in my bandaged hands and kissed her softly and carefully. “Marry me.” I begged, “I cannot imagine my life without you. I want everyone in both our worlds to know you chose me. To bind us together in the way your people recognize as permanent and sacred. It will also help you be safer, little mate.”
She looked up at me with those beautiful eyes full of tears and love and cautious hope. “I’ll think about it.”
