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Austen had stopped laughing. Indira gave me a small nod. Seb’s hand was still waiting for mine. I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come.
Then Seb said, very quietly, “Take your time, sweetheart.”
And I found I could. “I’m not doing a speech,” I said. “Everybody in this room knows I can’t.”
Somebody laughed. It helped.
“Last time you all saw me in here, I didn’t get a say in what you saw.” I made myself keep going. “That’s all I’m going to say about that. But I wasn’t going to let that be the last thing that happened to me in this room.”
The room was very quiet.
“Right.” I turned to him. “Sebastian.”
He got to his feet. “Yeah?”
“When you came to Kettlewell, I didn’t know if I’d ever trust you again.” My voice caught. “You gave me time. You showed up for Sparrow, and you kept showing up for me, even when I couldn’t tell you what I wanted from you.”
He took a step toward me, then stopped. I could see him trying to work out whether I wanted him closer. I did. I just needed to get the words out first.
“I won’t forget what happened in this room. But I know what our life is like now, too. I love waking up with you. I love watching you make Sparrow laugh. I want the rest of it, Seb. The hard days as well as the good ones.”
His hands were shaking. Mine were too. I reached for him, and this time I took his hand. “I choose you. I want to be your wife. Marry me?”
Seb went down on his knees in front of me. He wrapped both hands around my hips and pressed his face to my stomach.
“Sweetheart, yes.” He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face. “Fuck, yes.”
I got down beside him and kissed him. Handful started clapping. Colt slapped the nearest table with both hands, and cheers rose all around us. When I pulled back, Seb was grinning through his tears. He wouldn’t let go of my hand.
“I was going to ask you to be my old lady,” he said.
“You were?”
“We never made a thing of it before. We were just Seb and Wren.” He ran his thumb over my knuckles. “I wanted to ask you this time. Properly.”
“Then ask.”
“Wren, will you be my old lady?”
“Yes, Seb.” I grinned at him.
“Good girl,” he said, and pulled me in for another kiss.
“Another soft cock!” Colt called. “Handful, tell him where you got that Property of Austen patch. He’ll want one next.”
Austen whooped. Handful gave Colt the finger, and Seb laughed and shook his head.
Indira opened the back-room door. The children spilled out, but Sparrow was the one who spotted us first.
“Dada! Dada!”
She came straight for Seb on those quick, unsteady legs of hers. He rose from the floor and scooped her up before she could topple into him. A long aw went through the room, followed by another round of cheers.
Seb went still with her in his arms. His eyes had caught the green letters on the front of her shirt: Sparrow Cross above Property of Glitch. He read them twice, then looked at me, his mouth open. I couldn’t stop smiling.
Sparrow twisted to see the cheering room, putting her back toward him. Between her shoulders was a little Venom patch. Seb gave a startled laugh, then drew her close, tears running down his face. He reached for me with his free arm and pulled me against them.
“I love you, Wren,” he said into my hair.
