Page 47 of Will You (Not) Marry Me

“Because you always want to play with her feet. And it’s the only thing that properly wakes her up, so don’t do it.”

He bent down and kissed Eva on the forehead, stepping back to lean against the doorframe and look down at them both.

“Later, after she wakes up, will you come on a walk with me before it gets dark?”

He said it oh so casually, leaning there against the doorframe without a care in the world. Already Eva had her suspicions that whatever plan he’d been crafting, this was the start of it.

She just smiled innocently, as if she had no clue at all.

“Of course. That’s what we came here for.”

Finn swooped forward and kissed her firmly on the mouth this time, unable to smother a triumphant grin, and he held Eva’s hands away from squeezing their daughter’s tiny, ticklish feet.

* * *

They went out an hour later with plenty of afternoon light still left for them to wander around in. The snow was crisp under their boots, crunching pleasantly like biting into a fresh apple. They’d fought over who was going to wear Sofia in her carrier, settling the decision with a game of rock-paper-scissors which Eva had won. So now she walked alongside Finn, Sofia strapped to her chest, her little feet bouncing this way and that.

Sofia was having the time of her life. Her big eyes were roaming everywhere, taking in all the new shapes and colors, her breath puffing out in tiny clouds. Finn nearly fell over several times paying attention to his daughter instead of where he was putting his feet. Eva had no doubt she was going to have to dig him out of a snow bank at least once on this trip.

After a little while, they came into a clearing, the trees tall and stark around them, the sky bright above. There was no wind, which let the sun warm them up just the tiniest fraction.

Finn stopped and looked about as if this had been his destination all along. The same little clearing in which she had taught him how to use a camera all those months ago. It felt like yesterday and a lifetime ago, all at once.

“This looks familiar,” said Eva with a wry grin, her cheeks pink in the cold.

Finn shrugged, his poker face continuing to unravel as a little smile crept onto the corner of his mouth. “Good memories here,” he said.

“What? Like me trying to explain what an f-stop and an aperture are?”

“Yep. Not that I understand what those are still. I’ll stick to my sketchbooks.”

Eva smiled down at Abbigail’s head, closing her eyes as she breathed in the scent of her. Now that she was awake, Eva was free to play with her feet all she wanted. Sofia cooed at her surroundings, ignoring Eva in favor of the much more interesting trees.

It took a few seconds to register that Finn had gone quiet, and only then did Eva open her eyes and pull her face away from Sofia. Finn was in front of her still, but now he was down on one knee, seemingly oblivious to the cold seeping into his trouser leg, that smug little smile still firmly on his face.

Eva grinned like an idiot, not caring that her smile was so wide she must look like a loon.

“I knew you were up to something,” she said.

“Oh, did you now?”

“Yes.”

“Was it that obvious I was going to propose?”

“I didn’t actually suspect aproposal,” Eva said honestly. “I just knewsomethingwas going on. Outside of politics, your poker face is terrible.”

“Then I shall have to practice,” said Finn as he pulled a small ring box out from his coat pocket. He opened it with a snap and presented the ring inside to Eva, whose eyes were already fogging up despite herself.

The ring was beautiful and understated. White gold, like she preferred, with an emerald in the center surrounded by a ring of pinkish stones that she didn’t know the name of, but they looked like bottled sunsets, and she loved it immediately.

“You’ve never been one for tradition,” said Finn. “Not in anything. So I didn’t think a diamond would be appropriate.” He shrugged but was obviously very pleased with himself and his selection. Eva couldn’t blame him. It was perfect.

“Are you going to keep kneeling in the snow or are you going to put it on my finger?” she said, laughing, Sofia mimicking the sound like a tiny echo.

Finn got up, his trouser leg soaked, and hastily pulled the glove off of Eva’s hand, making her laugh again. He slipped the ring onto her finger, and already it looked like it belonged there. Finn brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed her hand like a true prince.

They didn’t have much else to say at that point; they knew each other too well by now. But Eva was sure she’d be awake into the early hours of the morning, thinking over yet another twist and turn her life had taken that her past self never would have believed. The marriage she had, at first, so desperately tried to run away from was now practically bringing her to her knees with joy.

---