“Probably.” Arch chuckles.
She thinks about it for another beat, then drops Jeffrey on the kitchen floor and runs out of the room screaming, “LUKE. LUKE. YOU HAVE TO WEAR A TIE. AUNTIE SYD AND DADDY ARE GETTING MARRIED!”
Archer presses his forehead against mine. “That went well.”
“She buried the lede.”
“She did.”
“She’s so your daughter.”
“Yeah.” He kisses me—slow, warm, his hand at the back of my neck. “She’s also yours, Syd. You know that, right?”
I turn my face into his shoulder so he can’t see me cry.
Luke arrives in the doorway in his pajamas, holding a book against his chest. “Lily says you and Daddy are getting married.”
“We are.”
“Lily says I have to wear a tie.”
“We can figure that out later, buddy.”
He thinks about this. Looks at the ceiling, then at the floor, then at me. “Will you still read the octopus book at bedtime?”
“Every night.”
“Even after the wedding?”
“Especially after the wedding,” I tell him.
“Okay.” He nods, satisfied.
He walks back out before I can answer.
Archer kisses my head and then picks Jeffrey up off the floor and sets him on the counter like he’s a guest at this whole thing.
“I’m going to get the ring,” he says.
“Okay.”
“Don’t move.” He kisses me one more time and goes upstairs. I hear his footsteps and Lily’s voice still going at full volume down the hallway, and Luke saying something measured back to her. I press both hands flat on the counter and breathe.
His footsteps come back down the stairs slower than they went up. I can hear him in the hallway, hear Lily ambushing him with what sounds like a question about flower girls, hear his low,yeah, bug, we’ll figure it out.
Then he’s in the doorway.
He’s got both hands behind his back like he’s nine years old and hiding something from his mother, and the look on his face—sheepish, a little stunned, his mouth doing the thing it does when he’s trying not to smile and losing—makes my eyes fill up before he’s even crossed the room.
“Don’t cry yet.”
“Too late.”
“Syd.” He laughs, low, and walks over to me. One hand comes out from behind his back. Then the other. He’s holding a small navy box, soft velvet.
He opens it.
Oh.
