Page 110 of Scars and Crowns

"...a marriage I arranged because I was too coward to share my true feelings with you."

His fingers are loosely clasped together, but every now and then one thumb brushes nervously across the other. It's such a small thing. Anyone else would probably miss it.

I don't. I've known this man too long. He only fidgets when something matters. "Yuvaan..."

"I want to ask properly." He doesn't let me interrupt. "I know it's late." He looks a bit shy, "I know it's backwards. I know we're already husband and wife."

A quiet laugh escapes him.

"I know your daughter has adopted my mother."

"And we share a bedroom."

"And none of this makes any practical sense."

He looks at me with such quiet honesty that my chest aches. "But I still want to earn it." My breath catches. He reaches over and gently takes my hand into both of his. His palms are warm. Mine are suddenly not.

"I don't want the best parts of loving you to be things circumstance decided for us." His thumb traces slowly across my knuckles.

"You deserved flowers because I wanted to give them."

"You deserved nervous invitations."

"Awkward first dates."

"You deserved someone wondering all day whether you'd say yes."

A tiny smile tugs at his mouth.

"You deserved the chance to reject me."

I laugh before I can stop myself. "We're married."

"I know."

"We sleep in the same bed."

"I know."

"My daughter practically lives in your lap."

"I've noticed."

"And she calls your mother Dadi."

"I've definitely noticed that one."

I shake my head, smiling helplessly. "I don't think there's much left for you to earn, Pretty Boy."

His eyes soften. "I know." He lifts my hand a little higher. "I don't want to earn your love because I think I don't already have it."

"I want to earn the memories we never got." The words settle quietly between us. No dramatic declaration. No grand gesture. Just honesty.

Simple.

Steady.

"I spent so many years loving you from a distance," he says softly. "I don't want the years we actually have together to begin with all the moments we missed." Something inside me melts completely. I never let myself imagine this. Not once. When I thought about him all those years in Mumbai, I imagined impossible things.