"You're right, it does," she replied with a soft giggle that was absorbed by the material of his shirt. "It's a shame, though."
"What?"
Kaly tilted her head back to stare up at her man - her fiance now - with a small smile on her lips. "I spent money and time on legal paperwork to go back to using my maiden name. Kinda pointless now, when I'm just gonna be changing it again soon enough."
Not that she could muster the ability to truly give a damn about such silly things. Not tonight, not now. She could probably be covered in the most disgusting substance known to humanity, and she'd still be sitting at his side, grinning like there's no tomorrow, happier than she could recall being in so very long.
And it was with a small jolt to her system that she realized it to be absolutely true.
There was no mistaking that the past year and change had been extremely traumatic and life-altering for her, the world tipped upside down and her being shaken out to fall wherever the force of Whatever-Existed-Beyond-Here wanted her to go. She lost a life partner when Conner died, and possibly even before that. She gained a new reason to live in Joshua, her miracle child that sprung from the ashes of a destroyed heart. While she still often reeled from how incredible her son was, and how much her life had fixed itself for his sake alone, she still was beyond repair in other capacities. A broken shell of who she once was, staggering along in the shattered pieces that had at one time been the future she had dreamed about.
David stepping through her front door had shifted the world yet again, only this time, right-side-up, with everything and everyone falling gently to where they were meant to be. He had painstakingly gathered every single broken piece of her that he could find, and reassembled her as best he could, by simply being who he was. By being the one to hold her in the middle of the night, when the nightmares shook her so badly that she couldn't breathe. By taking it upon himself to become the father Joshua needed. By making her remember who she was, who she had always been, and teaching her how to fuse that woman with the one she was becoming and would become in time. By showing her that the future had no reason to be bleak. By simply stepping foot into the house that made her cry for the memories of long ago days, and drying her tears with the new memories they were creating together, as a family.
He brought her to true happiness again, and she'd never be able to thank him properly enough, to show how deep her gratitude ran. Not even if they both lived for eternity.
All she could do was express her heart.
Softly, her lips found his for yet another kiss, this one soft and simple. Nothing showy, not too immensely heated to the point of having the other male occupants of the restaurant drooling and wondering when the show would begin. Despite the restraint, she poured everything coursing through her mind and heart into it.
"I love you, David."
He smiled, lifting a hand to tuck a wayward blonde lock behind her ear, leaving his hand there, his palm pressed to her cheek. Her face turned toward it, leaning into the gentle caress, a smile set to her own mouth. "You know I love you, too. Otherwise, I would've never bothered buying you a real ring. I'd probably would've gone with a twist-tie instead."
Kaly laughed. "I probably would've still said yes if you proposed with that."
"If I'd known that... alright, gimme the ring back. I'll go find you a twist-tie quick."
"Not a chance in hell, sweetie." The blue-eyed woman smiled as she lifted her newly-adorned hand, admiring the jewel set on her finger while finding herself pressing back into his side, her head leaning against his chest. It had amazing clarity, perfectly shaped and cut, and the way it set onto the band could hardly detract from its beauty. "It's wonderful, hon. I love it. Thank you."
David merely nodded, a beaming smile still on his face. He was just as happy as she, it seemed, and her heart soared at the thought that he wanted to make this life with her happen. She had always known he wanted it, always thought about the future in the terms of 'we' and 'us'. And now that she had found herself thinking more and more of the coming years in the same way, she knew she was ready for this. She was ready to start this new chapter, and ready to be the wife he deserved.
In that moment, in the extreme back of her mind, a tiny voice drilled through her brain. It spoke of betrayal, of pain and heartache, of closure not yet found. It oddly spoke in the voice of Odin, which made it all the easier to bury that little nuisance deeper underneath the rest of her emotions, the happier, more amazing ones.
"And for the newly-engaged couple, your scrumptious dinner!" Adam chimed, coming alongside their table with a giant smile. Reluctantly, Kaly sat up straight in order to eat properly as the waiter quickly set their plates down before them, refreshing her water and setting David's fresh beer beside his seafood platter. He tittered beside the table for a few moments longer, asking if they needed anything else, before finally going on his way to check on the rest of his tables.
A slow smile softened her lips as she started cutting into her long-awaited steak, realizing this new step for them was just the tip of the iceberg, as it were. So many things now needed to be properly acknowledged.
"You know," she broached carefully, "we're gonna have to actually stop sidestepping the issues now, and start talking about what we're gonna do. About Joshua, about the house. About where we'll call our home. About all the things we've wanted to talk about, but were too worried about the possible outcomes to try just yet."
