Page 185 of The New Place

Abbot just stares down at Ned, who wipes his palms on his thighs.

“Abbot,” Ned says, his name more of a statement this time. “Okay, I’ve got this. I did practice, alright? So if any of our new neighbors think Claire and I are engaged, it’s because she was out here with me for like an hour, playing your part.”

“My part,” Abbot repeats softly.

“Henry Abbot,” Ned says in a different tone than Abbot’s used to. More solemn, this moment suddenly more weighty. “You are the partner I never knew I needed, and my best fit, and I hope I’m yours too.”

“Ned—”

“No, let me.” Ned holds up a hand and after a deep breath, he goes on. “I have been over-the-moon happy with you for a year and a half now, and I hope you’ve had all of that happiness and more, too, with me. I want, more than nearly anything in this world, for you to keep being happy, and I want to be part of the reason you are. I want to spend all day making you smile, and hearing your laugh, and I want to build with you a home and a family where you feel safe and secure, because that’s how you make me feel when I’m with you.”

“Ned,” Abbot whispers.

“I want you to be part of my family, and I want to be yours,” Ned says, his voice growing stronger, gaining momentum. “I am so incredibly honored that you’re taking on the role of Peggy’s stepdad. As she grows up, and we have our own kids, and we get to build our lives together, year after year, I can’t imagine a better partner in all of this than you. You deserve everything, and at the very least, a real proposal.”

Abbot looks at the note in his hand, and then at Ned down on one knee in front of him. An energy thrums through him, bubbling up, ready to spill out and as if in answer, a smile splits Ned’s face.

“Charles Henry Abbot, my beautiful, wonderful husband, will you stay married to me?” Ned looks so very hopeful, and yes, nervous too, his face tipped up, his eyes raised, and his chest rising on his breath that’s coming quickly.

Abbot’s face is warm, taking in the sight. He notices a bucket with ice in it next to Ned, the neck of a bottle of champagne sticking out of it. Two glasses, and a blanket on the grass, and a rectangular box wrapped in white paper with a gold ribbon on it.

Ned was planning this? To surprise him? This, their first day in their house together, everything packed up and moved from Portland, the very last drive behind them?

“I—yes,” Abbot says, because hasn’t that always been his answer to Ned? Yes, yes, and yes again? “Of course, Ned, of course.”

Ned laughs and jumps up.

Abbot meets him in a kiss. Ned’s shaking. Or maybe he is. Abbot holds him tight, so they can brace against each other, Ned’s lips warm, his hands in Abbot’s own grounding, holding him down to this moment, right here and right now.

“Really?” Abbot asks when they finally part.

“Yeah.” Ned’s smiling so very wide. “I didn’t do that part with Claire.”

“I would marry you all over again, Ned. All of it, everything it took to get here. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Ned ducks forward for another kiss. “You gotta answer Baxter.”

“Yes, I will be your dog dad,” Abbot says, turning to look for him. Baxter’s found something to sniff in the grass, unimpressed with the moment going on around him, and Abbot can’t help but smile at the sight of his tail gently wagging, head down as he explores the yard.

Abbot has a dog. And a husband, and a stepdaughter, and a house. How very much all of that is, when he’s used to having so little. “And Peggy,” Abbot says, turning back to Ned. “I couldn’t be happier to be one of her parents, too.”

Ned grips him, his smile even wider. “Careful what you wish for. The cape club at school has added a specific pair of socks to their mandatory wardrobe. I could only find one pair of them to order, and no, she won’t take them off for laundry day.”

“If that’s the biggest problem we’re currently facing, I think we’re doing alright.” Abbot squeezes him. “Ned, this is—thank you. I never expected this.”

“We’re not done,” Ned says. “I made reservations for tonight. I’m taking you out.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. I’m good for it, cause I married really, really well.” He laughs then, that slightly self-conscious one Abbot heard more than once while they were looking at costs for the house, the flights they bought together. And then Ned smiles again, more genuinely, more comfortably, and his hand slips lower on Abbot’s waist, brushing his lower back. “In more ways than one.”

“Do we have time to explore each and every aspect before we leave for dinner?”

“Oh yeah. We can do an entire regression analysis.”

“A Wilcoxon signed-rank test?”

“Only if it’s nonparametric,” Ned says, his voice lowered.