In his mind, he'd been turning over a few guesses as to what she might ask. That hadn't been one of them.
In the couple of silent seconds where he considered the question, he found his heart feeling both heavier and lighter than it had a moment ago. Heavy because he felt how important this was to her. Lighter because... well, because he'd enjoyed the fantasy of it, too. The thought of having a family with her. And because he'd felt that moment of terror when he thought he might be sharing a family with anyone else.
All right. No bullshit. He'd promised.
"Yeah, well, Denis as a name is already taken," he said, his voice low, a little solemn. He looked down to where her fingers met his palm, tracing out those little patterns. "His mum and I, we stayed together for the wrong reasons. Which seemed like the right ones at the time. Hindsight bein' twenty-twenty, and all that."
There was always the chance he would screw it up for completely new and interesting reasons, which was why: "It's not somethin' I've been eager to try again, with anyone. But." He made himself lift his eyes, look her in the face again. "I might, if I was with 'ya. A strong maybe's as close as I've got to it in decades."
And they had only been seeing one another for a little over six months. But if he was feeling 'maybe' at this stage of things, that had to mean something, right?
"And I know the way you feel about yourself sometimes." He readjusted the arm that was around her shoulders, let it settle over her a bit further. "You're right that almost everyone here is bloody gorgeous... but if you could see yourself the way I do. You've got this light that comes out from the inside of 'ya, somewhere. It's always there when you smile. It's the loveliest thing I've ever seen."
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In the couple of silent seconds where he considered the question, he found his heart feeling both heavier and lighter than it had a moment ago. Heavy because he felt how important this was to her. Lighter because... well, because he'd enjoyed the fantasy of it, too. The thought of having a family with her. And because he'd felt that moment of terror when he thought he might be sharing a family with anyone else.
All right. No bullshit. He'd promised.
"Yeah, well, Denis as a name is already taken," he said, his voice low, a little solemn. He looked down to where her fingers met his palm, tracing out those little patterns. "His mum and I, we stayed together for the wrong reasons. Which seemed like the right ones at the time. Hindsight bein' twenty-twenty, and all that."
There was always the chance he would screw it up for completely new and interesting reasons, which was why: "It's not somethin' I've been eager to try again, with anyone. But." He made himself lift his eyes, look her in the face again. "I might, if I was with 'ya. A strong maybe's as close as I've got to it in decades."
And they had only been seeing one another for a little over six months. But if he was feeling 'maybe' at this stage of things, that had to mean something, right?
"And I know the way you feel about yourself sometimes." He readjusted the arm that was around her shoulders, let it settle over her a bit further. "You're right that almost everyone here is bloody gorgeous... but if you could see yourself the way I do. You've got this light that comes out from the inside of 'ya, somewhere. It's always there when you smile. It's the loveliest thing I've ever seen."