Chapter 44
James
James reviews the notes in his device for a final time. He’s counting on tonight going perfectly.
Instead of baby-themed particle panes, James has arranged for three of the four walls to display varying images; falling rose petals, a beachfront gazebo, an ocean with swaying palm trees, and something the party planner called sparkle effect.
Even the floor itself is a particle pane that is programmed to resemble sand.
Kate gasps as she takes in the atmosphere before turning in question to James. Right as their eyes meet, James drops to a knee. Behind him, on the fourth particle pane, a message is displayed.
James stares up at the woman who’s stolen his heart.
Who’s given him a reason to be something more.
Who he’d move mountains to please. Who he’s worked every single day for to prove that he is worth her time, attention, and affection.
Who accepts him for exactly who he is, imperfections and all.
He doesn’t have a flowery speech planned.
Words aren’t his thing. He’ll show her every day what she means to him.
Now there is only one thing left to say.
“Kate, will you marry me?”
Kate’s hand flies to her mouth as her gaze flicks between James, on his knees, extending the ring Oro1 helped him procure, and the image behind him.
Then her brow wrinkles and, for a moment, terror hits him.
He knows legal marriages aren’t a thing anymore, but he thought she would appreciate the symbolic gesture.
He thought they would have a ceremony and everything.
People of this time love to find every excuse to celebrate, after all.
And even if it isn’t a governmental transaction, it means something to him. Maybe he’s misjudged.
Kate clears her throat. “James, you know I spell my name K-8, right?”
“What?” he asks, a little dumbfounded. At the table in his periphery, Jett and Lessa are sharing a snicker, as if they knew this is how Kate would react and that the joke is on him. He shoots them a glare. Oro1, for his part, is only smirking as if he finds the whole thing amusing.
“K-8,” she repeats. “How can I possibly fake marry you if you can’t spell my name right?!” The corner of her lip quirks up, and it’s enough to send a flood of relief through him. Then it occurs to him that one of their friends couldn’t keep a secret. Lessa, most likely.
James chuckles, rolling his eyes at the strange but perfect life he’s built. “This whole time I’ve had it wrong. Well, in that case, marry me, K. 8.?”
K. 8. shakes her head.
“No?” he asks, raising a brow.
“No. No, not no. No, that’s not it. It is still pronounced the same.
But you don’t spell it like that.” The smile splitting her face makes his chest want to explode.
“Ask me again,” she says. “But get it right this time.” She tips her chin to the pane behind him.
Her name has changed from Kate to K8. Like from K8lyn in her identification number.
It’s so obvious now. He should have realized this a long time ago.
His thirty-five-year-old knees are getting stiff. There’s probably a treatment for that he needs to look into. James lets out a playful groan. “Please stop torturing me and say you’ll marry me, K8.”
Now she’s nodding and crying. But instead of kissing him as he rises, her gimmie hands are out, reaching for the ring, and he can’t help but laugh at her antics. She’s perfect.
He holds it back. “You didn’t actually answer the question.”
A cute smirk plays on her lips and her eyes glaze for a moment as if she’s remembering something. “If I say yes, will you give it to me? Promise?”
“Promise,” he replies, recalling that those were the same words she used to coax promises out of him in the private Bubble before they had sex for the first time.
“Yes,” she says, but she moves past the ring, momentarily wrapping her arms around his neck. He can taste the salt of her tears as she repeats into his lips, “Yes.”
The moment he releases her, her hands find his.
She’s snatched the ring from his grip and is attempting to put it on her fingers, moving between them, trying to figure out where it’s meant to fit.
Apparently, this is another dead custom.
James takes the ring from her, holding her hand as he slips it onto the correct finger. It fits perfectly.
“There,” he says, and she beams. His K8 glances between him and Lessa, and he understands she’s dying to show it off. “Go on,” he says.
With that, K8 dances away, and James can only watch with love threatening to burst his chest. Grateful for the unbelievable second chance that has made him something more, better than what he was before. Now and finally, James is real.