I take Laney’s hands.
Really take them.
Not like I’m steadying her.
Like I’m steadying myself.
“I’m not good with speeches,” I say. “You know that.”
Her smile softens. “I know.”
“I’m good at standing between things and what I love. I’m good at surviving. I’m good at getting people home.”
My voice tightens.
“But I don’t want to just survive with you.”
She stops breathing.
“I want to build something that doesn’t need defending all the time.”
Her eyes fill.
“I don’t want to be the man who visits your life. I want to be the man wholivesin it.”
I reach into my pocket.
She sees the box and makes a small sound.
The kind that goes straight through my chest.
“I don’t know what tomorrow looks like,” I say. “But I know what I want it to be.”
I open the box.
The ring is simple. Strong. Quietly beautiful.
Like her.
“Laney,” I say. “Marry me.”
For one terrifying second, she just stares at me.
Then she starts crying.
Then laughing.
Then both.
“Yes,” she says. “Yes. Of course, yes.”
I don’t remember standing up.
I just remember holding her.
And the way her hands are shaking as much as mine.
She pulls back just enough to look at me.
