CHAPTER 16 #2
Jo slid the ring onto Charlotte's finger. It fit perfectly. Of course it did. Ruth's mother's ring, passed down through generations, finally finding its place on the hand of the woman Jo loved.
"Hi," Jo said, grinning stupidly. Her own eyes were wet now.
"Hi." Charlotte was laughing and crying at the same time. "We're engaged."
"We are."
"I'm going to marry you."
"That's the idea."
Charlotte kissed her again, deeper this time. When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing hard.
"I should call your grandmother," Charlotte said.
"She probably already knows. She has a sixth sense for these things."
"She's going to start planning the chuppah."
"She already started. She showed me sketches last month."
Charlotte laughed harder. "Of course she did. She's been waiting for this almost as long as I have."
"Almost."
"Jo." Charlotte held up her hand, watching the ring catch the light. "This was her mother's ring. And her mother's before that. And now it's mine."
"Grandma said it should go to family," Jo said. "She was very clear about who she meant."
Charlotte's expression crumpled. She pulled Jo into a hug so tight it was hard to breathe.
"I love you," Charlotte said into her shoulder. "I love you so much it terrifies me."
"I know." Jo held her just as tight. "I love you too. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you know it."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
They stood in the little park for a long time, holding each other under the streetlight. Eventually the cold seeped in, and they started walking home.
But they kept stopping. Every few steps, one of them would pull the other in for another kiss. Charlotte couldn't stop looking at her ring. Jo couldn't stop looking at Charlotte.
"Tell me about the wedding," Jo said. "What do you want?"
"I don't care. As long as you're there."
"Come on. You're an architect. You must have opinions."
Charlotte laughed. "I have opinions about everything."
"So what's your opinion on our wedding?"
"Small," Charlotte said after a moment. "Just family. In the restaurant, maybe. Where we met. Where your grandmother fed me soup when I didn't have anywhere else to go."
Jo's heart squeezed. "That's perfect."
"And your grandmother will make too much food. And Lucy will be the flower girl. And your grandfather will cry during the whole ceremony and pretend he isn't."
"Also perfect."
"And afterward..." Charlotte stopped walking. Turned to face Jo. "Afterward, we'll come home. To our apartment, with our mezuzah on the door. And we'll start our life together. Officially."
"We already started."
"I know. But this makes it permanent." Charlotte touched her ring again. "This makes it forever."
"It was already forever," Jo said. "The ring is just jewelry."
"Very meaningful jewelry."
"Very meaningful." Jo pulled her close. "I'm going to love you for the rest of my life. You know that, right? Even when we're old and gray and yelling at each other about whose turn it is to take out the trash."
"I'll take out the trash."
"See? You're already proving my point."
Charlotte laughed and kissed her.
They walked the rest of the way home hand in hand. Up the stairs. Down the hall. Past the mezuzah on the doorpost. Charlotte touched it automatically, a habit picked up from a lifetime of family dinners at Ruth's house.
Inside, their apartment was warm and quiet. Jo's coffee cups on the table. Charlotte's architectural drawings spread across the desk. The bookshelf by the window, full of shared books and photographs and years of memories.
This was home.
"I can't believe this is my life," Charlotte said, looking around like she was seeing it for the first time.
"Believe it."
"I spent so long thinking I'd never have you. And now..."
"Now you're stuck with me forever." Jo kissed her knuckles, her wrist, her palm. "No returns. No exchanges."
"I don't want returns."
"Good. Because you're not getting any."
Charlotte pulled her toward the bedroom. Jo went willingly.
"We should celebrate," Charlotte said, her hands already working Jo's buttons.
"We just ate dinner."
"That's not what I meant."
"Oh." Jo grinned as Charlotte backed her against the wall. "That kind of celebration."
"The best kind."
Much later, Charlotte lay half on top of Jo, one bare leg thrown over hers, both of them sweaty enough that the sheets were definitely going in the wash.
"Fiancée," Charlotte said, testing the word.
"Fiancée," Jo agreed.
"That's weird."
"Good weird or bad weird?"
"Good." Charlotte lifted her left hand between them again. The ring caught the bedside light. "Very, very good."
Jo reached up, tucked a strand of hair behind Charlotte's ear.
"You know what I keep thinking about?" Jo said.
"What?"
"That night at the restaurant," Jo said. "I thought I was losing you before I understood I wanted a life where I got to keep choosing you."
"I know." Charlotte brushed her thumb over Jo's lower lip. "But I like this version better."
Jo kissed her thumb. "Me too."
"You were worth the risk."
"So were you." Jo pulled Charlotte down until the ring pressed cool against her ribs.
Outside, the city continued on. Sirens in the distance. Traffic below. Somewhere out there, Bianca and Sara were eating cold takeout and bickering and slowly, inevitably, falling in love.
Charlotte tucked her face into Jo's neck, and Jo turned her hand just to watch the ring catch the light one more time.
"You're staring," Charlotte murmured.
"I'm appreciating."
Charlotte laughed, sleepy and satisfied, and Jo kissed her knuckles.
She had spent years missing what was right in front of her. She wasn't going to miss this.