Page 161 of Through the Storm

He nods once. “You’re already doing what you love. You don’t need a certificate from anyone to keep doing it.”

I lean into him a little, exhaling, the warmth of the room settling into my bones. “So, you’re really okay with that?”

His hand tightens around mine, his thumb still tracing slow, like he’s not letting me drift too far.

“Katy, I’m proud of you for knowing what you want,” he says. “You don’t need anyone’s permission to choose that. Not mine. Not yourparents’. Not anyone else’s.”

I smile.

“And if someday you wake up and want to go back to school, we’ll figure that out too. But I don’t need you to be anything other than happy.”

“You make everything sound so simple.”

“Because it is,” he says.

I huff a quiet laugh. “It’s really not.”

He smiles, steady.

“You and Ben are my home.” His voice is quiet but certain. “Wherever we end up, or whatever our new goals are, we’ll make it work.”

Something in my chest settles. I smile then. A real one.

“Okay,” I breathe.

Ben leans in and presses a kiss to my temple, his hand still wrapped around mine, his thumb finally stilling like everything else just fell into place.

Now the future doesn’t feel like it’s predetermined. Like ithasto be a certain way.

It feels like something we’re building to our liking.

As a family.

BEN

Declan is sitting in the kitchen counter when I find him. Grandma Patty’s house is mostly quiet. I stand there for a second longer than I need to.

“I need to talk to you.”

Declan looks up once, already reading something in my face. He sets the mug down.

“Okay.”

I don’t sit. “I’m going to ask Katy to marry me. This weekend.”

Declan studies me. “Bit late to ask for permission, don’t you think?”

I let out a short breath, something between a laugh and a wince. “Yeah. I figured that might come up.”

There’s a pause.

I glance toward the hallway. “Is Grandma Patty home?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get her,” Declan says as he stands.

“No need, I’m already here,” her voice calls back from the hallway. She appears a second later, her eyes sharp like she’s been waiting for something interesting to happen all night.

“What are we discussing?”