Voices pressed in from every direction, names spoken, hands extended, people stepping forward with congratulations that overlapped one another. Temperance found herself pulled into it.
At some point, she became aware that Harper had not stepped away. He remained beside her, answering when addressed, allowing her to move as she wished, and when the press of people became too insistent, his hand found the small of her back.
As the ceremony drew to a close and goodbyes were said, the couple made their way to the carriage. Once inside, finally they had the privacy that they had been lacking all evening.
”Well,” she said, after a pause that was not quite hesitation, “I believe we have finally escaped.”
“It would appear so,” Harper replied, his tone even, though not distant, his attention resting on her in a way that felt far less guarded than it had in the presence of others.
“And you have nothing at all to say about it?” she asked, tilting her head just slightly, her gaze narrowing with quiet curiosity rather than accusation. “No observation, no conclusion, no perfectly reasonable remark about how efficiently the day was conducted?”
“I thought it best,” he said, “not to reduce it to efficiency.”
“That is very unlike you.”
“I am capable of variation.”
Temperance leaned back slightly against the carriage seat, considering him with a look that was no longer teasing, but thoughtful.
“You are full of surprises today.”
“I suspect,” he said, “that you will find that to be the case more often than not.”
“I shall hold you to that.”
A small silence followed then, almost as if the thought had been waiting for its moment, he said:
“There is something else. I find that I am not anticipating what comes next with any degree of apprehension.”
It was Temperance who moved first, though she did not seem to have decided to do so until she had already begun. Harper met her without hesitation, his hand lifting to her cheek as though the gesture required no thought at all. Their kiss was brief.
“I love you.”
How freeing it felt to be able to say it out loud.
“I have been considering,” Harper continued after a moment, “that it would be rather unreasonable to leave matters as they are, when there is no particular advantage in doing so, especially when the circumstances have altered as significantly as they have.”
Temperance glanced at him, her curiosity returning. “You may as well say it plainly.”
“I intend to,” he said, “though I find that I would prefer to say it properly, rather than abruptly.”
“And what would be the proper way of saying it?”
He did not look away from her as he answered.
“That I would like for us to begin a family,” he said.
Temperance did not react with surprise, though she did not answer at once either, her expression thoughtful rather thanuncertain, as though she had already turned the idea over in her own mind before.
“And you have given this more than a passing thought?”
“I would not have raised it otherwise,” Harper replied. “It is not something I would consider lightly, nor something I would introduce merely because it is expected, but rather because I believe it would be… right.”
She studied him for a moment.
“And you believe that it would suit us?” she asked.
“I do,” he said. “I see no reason why it would not, and several why it would.”
