"I do respect you enough to trust your judgement," I assured him, managing a watery smile and tipping our heads together, my nose brushing his cheek. "And you've chosen me twice." Wryly, I added, "That we know of."

The possibility that this might've happened before, without our knowledge, was somehow both frightening and comforting. No matter what, we would always end up here, one way or another.

"The proposal, the wedding. They're daunting. But being married to you? That's all I want. I want a life, our life. I want kids, and I want them to be yours. Making those plans, when it was all ripped away from us, feels so foolish, but I think we need to be. We need to be foolish. There's nothing else to do."