Page 78 of The Gathering Storm

The statement rose on a question, as if he weren’t quite sure his grandmother had the right of it. Sigrid sat up slowly, careful of the muzziness filling her head. Had Will somehow broken her curse, by dint of her submission? But when had that—?

She bit the thought off. When she’d decided to exchange her own happiness for his, of course. What else could explain her fainting when she was largely healed and otherwise hale and whole?

Will touched her knee, let his hand fall away. “You scared me.”

“Oh, Will. No. I’m fine.” She sighed and slipped off the bed into his lap, and curled up there like a kitten at naptime. “We’re fine. Aren’t we?”

His arms came around her and he tucked her head under his chin. “Yeah. Mom quit bitching when you passed out.”

“Every cloud has a silver lining,” Sigrid murmured.

He huffed out a short laugh. “If you say so.”

“What happened? My memory is a little fuzzy.”

“The usual. Blustering and fussing, a lot of accusations. Then you scared the ever loving hell out of me.” He pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“I think that’s a one time thing.”

“For any reason,” he amended firmly. “I carried you up here. Mom followed a little later, probably after Dad calmed her down and the shock of seeing a Daughter as strong as you faint had passed. We hashed it out. She’s backing down.”

The finality of his words worried her. There was more there, she was sure, but wheedling it out of him could wait for another day, when things were running a little more smoothly.

And they would run smoothly. Of that she was certain. Now if she could only get him to tell her he loved her, here in this quiet room with no one watching.

Trust was a two way street, one it was past time they trod together.

She closed her eyes, gathered her courage, and finally said, “I love you, Will.”

His arms tightened around her and his breath whooshed out, warming her skin. “Yeah, I figured.”

She waited for him to continue, for him to reciprocate, for something. After a long moment, he laughed softly, lifted her chin, and kissed her, slowly, tenderly. Her hands curled into his shirt and held him close as her heart tripped into a jog and she silently begged him to say it, to just tell her how he felt.

At last, he drew back and met her gaze evenly. “I love you, Sigrid, maybe since the first time I saw you, maybe since that day you and Moira got into an argument for the hundredth time and I lost my temper.”

“And you kissed me. I remember.”

“It’s a helluva cute meet.”

Giddiness rose in her and laughter followed, spilling out of her in a mad rush to share this rare jubilation with the world. Will loved her, and she loved him. Wasn’t that something?

He jiggled her in his arms, a grin slowly growing on his face. “This isn’t a laughing matter, woman.”

“Oh, Will. If you only knew.” Her laughter petered out and she cupped his hand against her cheek. “Where do we go from here?”

“Well, now that you’ve despoiled me—”

She choked on another laugh and her eyes widened. “Will!”

“I figure the least you can do is make an honest man of me.” He leaned down and touched his nose to hers. “What do you say? Do you think we have it in us to master the whole husband and wife gig?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she whispered, and kissed him until he had no doubt whatsoever how much she believed in that very outcome.

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