Page 54 of Odin
Thank god that tea is way too hot to even consider drinking. I would have spit it out like a fountain. “Uh, what’s the timeline on that?”
She crosses her legs and her arms, swaying her foot to a beat only she can hear. “Tonight, and whenever we’re ready. I know that we’re on a tight timeline for scans and doctor appointments, but I could put it off for a few weeks. It’s still very early. I feel fine. If something goes wrong at this stage…” Her throat works hard past a swallow and her eyes mist over. “There’s nothing anyone could do.” Her breath hitches as my heart pretty much stops dead. “Even if something did happen, Odin, I wouldn’t just… I wouldn’t take off out of here. I know that life doesn’t always give you the happy ending with big scoops of ice cream and a cherry on top.”
“No. It doesn’t.” I need to say something, and that’s hardly it, but with my stomach dropped out and my heart knocking my ribs to dust, my mouth dry and metallic tasting, that’s about all I can mutter.
She sets her hand on my knee. I don’t know if she’s trembling, or if that’s me, or both of us. “How about we start with staying the night. We can make plans for a wedding any day after that feels right. The most important part of all of this is you and me.Us. I want that to be a thing. In dreams and in the reality we’re going to create.”
I don’t mention the timeline. I don’t mention society and the weight of its crushing expectations. I don’t mention ourcircumstances. Willow is well aware of all of that. That’s why she said in the world we dream of, or in our current one. She’s bold. She’s brave. I wonder if she ever knew she was a dreamer, or if she would have stated she’s too realistic, just like she said she’s not a romantic.
She clearly is.
Romance doesn’t have to be chocolates, flowers, and poetry. It can be someone coming into your life and fighting for you, while all the while they bring peace to what seems like chaos to everyone else. It’s her,seeingme andknowingme already. It’s her faith in me. It’s her kindness and her steadfast loyalty.
Me staying the night isn’t us saying that all our shit is solved, that the problems in the world aren’t still out there, that the hurts in the past aren’t real, and the future isn’t uncertain.
It’s us, teaming up against all of that and standing in each other’s corners.
I set my hand down on top of hers. Her fingers bite into my thigh reassuringly. “I’d be honored.”
“To stay the night or get married when we get the logistics and timeline figured out?”
“Both.”
Her smile lights up the whole darned kitchen. That light creeps inside of me, banishing the few dark places left that I never could have reached on my own. “Imagine having a first official date be a wedding.”
I lean forward and cup her face. “This is our first official date. I’m going to stay the night, but I don’t plan on sleeping.We’ve made love twice, but there’s always been too many clothes in the way. I plan on rectifying the situation.”
“Ooh, to the tune ofI won’t be able to walk in the morning?”
“I can’t promise that, but I can promise that you’ll be wonderfully satisfied. I won’t stand for anything less.”
She turns her hand over in mine and threads our fingers together. “You will be too. We’ll shake on it.”
We don’t really have to, and that’s what makes it extra special and has me grinning like a total fool. Do I mind? Not one bit.
Chapter 18
Willow
Of all the times to get morning sickness, it just has to be the evening of our wedding.
There’s more than a slight chance it’s nerves. Probably more like a ninety percent chance. I’m one hundred percent sure that I want to do this, but I’m also sure that you can be one hundred percent certain and still be one hundred percent nervous. Even conventional couples who have been engaged for years and do everything by the freaking book still get nervy the day of their wedding.
“You okay, babe?”
My hair is already swept up in a pile of curls pinned artfully from every direction, though they are digging into my skull not so artfully, so Tarynn has nothing to sweep back. Her hands hover near my face and shoulders as I sink back onto my heels.
She hands me a wet washcloth and someone steps into the room and passes her a bottle of water, but through my misty eyes, I can’t see who it is.
“That was gross, but I’ll survive. At least it was pre-makeup. I’m a horrible puker and I would have cried off even the toughest mascara with all that water pouring out of my eyes.”
Lark sticks her head around the corner of the ensuite bathroom as I mop my face. “Are you going to make itout there, or should I let Gray know that we’re going to need some more time?” She clears her throat. “Tyrant. Sorry.”
“No worries. I figured it out.” I swallow the bitter taste in my mouth before I reach for the water bottle and chug back a few hard swigs. I wipe my mouth last with the cloth and set it down on the floor beside me. “I’m going to make it.” My eyes are still swimming, so I blink hard to look at least half convincing. “That was a one and done. I hate that nervous nastiness, but I’m feeling better already. There’s no round two. I forbid my stomach to rebel again. I’ll just heavy breathe my way through it.”
“I could rustle up a trash can.”
“Oh. Goodness no.”
