Page 97 of Wateredge

Seren swallowed, gulped really and placed her lips gently on Lark’s forehead for a quick second.

“I’ve loved you from the first glance. From the first touch. From the very first scolding you gave me. From the moment you told me you researched the clitoris and its proper stimulation.”

Lark smiled, and Seren kissed the corner of her mouth.

“I will give you everything. My home. My heart. My life. We never talked about it, and I never asked you, and honestly, we don’t have to; I’m not attached to the idea one way or another, and I know that you cannot bear them, but I can, and if it’s an adventure you want to go on, I’ll gladly make it happen. I will give you as many children as you want, if you want them. Just know that we Crowharts are especially unruly as babies, toddlers, and teens.”

The tears Lark had been trying to hold back spilled out.

“I never thought about children, Seren. Children were never in my plans, not after…” Lark trailed off.

“We don’t have to have any, if you don’t want them. I love you. And you will always be all I need,” Seren whispered.

Lark smiled through tears, her heart aching in her chest, trying to keep up with what was going on.

Children, gosh, there could be children…

“I saw your baby pictures, Seren. Adorable doesn’t even begin to cover it. My heart ached just looking at that baby. So, no, I never planned, but with you? I don’t care about plans. I only care about going on this adventure with you.”

“Then that’s what we will do, my love. I was going to propose on the cliffs. I was going to go for a grand gesture, something huge and romantic and significant. And then I came home, and here you were, bringing my mother flowers and asking her opinion about proposing to me.” Seren’s eyes filled as well. Lark did not dare wipe the tears away. Not yet. Not while Seren was still speaking.

“She would have loved you, Lark Thibodeaux. She’d have sat and watched you cook—since she wasn’t particularly good at it herself—and she’d have told you a million stories. And then she’d make you laugh. She only made those she loved laugh as merrily as she did.”

Seren bit her lip, clearly trying to calm her emotions, but her cheeks were wet, and Lark kissed one then the other, tasting salt and love. Seren lay her forehead on Lark’s, and they stood in silence; the wind and the ocean close by the only sounds around them. That is, until a loud and insistent “meow” resounded from under their feet.

“Oh, and Bubbles thinks you’re a much better caretaker than I could ever be. So you have to say yes, you see.” Seren winked at the cat.

Lark chewed on the inside of her cheek to try and hide her happiness, her laughter.

“I have to?”

“You absolutely have to.” Seren nodded solemnly. “You can’t let the kitten you personally named down.”

“Well, you haven’t let me tell you the main reason why I have to accept. Not that I didn’t beat you to the proposal, if you’ll remember.”

“The main reason?” Seren raised an eyebrow. Lark shook her head.

“Yes, Seren Gwen Crowhart. Had I been allowed to finish my proposal, it would have held the most important reason for why we have to get married.”

Seren took a sheepish step back.

“My deepest apologies for interrupting your proposal. Please go ahead.”

Lark tilted her head, then looked at the tombstone. Then up to the Viridescent Cliff and back to Crow House. Everything around them had become still, as if awaiting her next words. Which… fair enough. Seren had not said them. Lark had not said them herself either. And those words were the only reason they were here to begin with.

“Seren Gwen Crowhart, you have to marry me, because I’m yours. And I’ve been yours since you allowed me the ultimate luxury of my life. You’ve allowed me to be my own first. You’ve shown me what it meant to be Lark Elodie Thibodeaux. Me. Nothing and no one else. And I have discovered that Lark Thibodeaux is worthy of love, and before anyone else’s, my own.”

Lark drew in a shaky breath. Then another.

“You gave me me, Seren. You gave me love for myself. And then you gave me the strength and the courage to love you. So you see, we have to marry. There is simply no other way. Yours is the love that I’ve been waiting for my entire life, and here it is. It’s in everything you do, in every look and touch and sound. You love me.”

There was silence for a long beat, the wind in the trees singing its own song. Lark looked up and smiled then booped Seren’s nose.

“And you make me feel safe. I was hurt and out of it and half frozen and yet I knew I was safe with you. And not just to rest. I was safe to be silly, to work, to find myself. You gave me patience and you gave me safety and above all you gave me love. That’s the main reason.”

Seren wiped her tears, even as new ones kept falling down those chiseled cheeks.

“I really do love you. And you love me.”