Chapter 101 Saint
Saint
Idon’t plan it like a mission.
There’s no checklist.
No backup location.
No contingencies.
That’s how I know it matters.
I just… wait for the right quiet.
It comes in the afternoon, when the house is full of soft sounds. Laney is on the floor with Emmy, making ridiculous faces that should not work but somehow do. Emmy squeals like she’s discovered the secret of the universe.
Laney looks up at me and smiles.
And that’s it.
That’s the moment.
I clear my throat.
Laney glances up. “What?”
“Come here,” I say.
Her smile turns curious. She stands, shifts Emmy onto her hip, and walks over.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“Nothing,” I say. “Everything.”
I take Emmy from her and set her gently in the playpen. She immediately objects.
“This will only take a second,” I tell her seriously.
She does not agree.
Laney laughs. “Saint, you’re scaring me a little.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Me too.”
I take Laney’s hands.
Really take them.
Not like I’m steadying her.
Like I’m steadying myself.
“I’m not good with speeches,” I say. “You know that.”
Her smile softens. “I know.”
“I’m good at standing between things and what I love. I’m good at surviving. I’m good at getting people home.”
My voice tightens.
“But I don’t want to just survive with you.”
She stops breathing.
“I want to build something that doesn’t need defending all the time.”
Her eyes fill.
“I don’t want to be the man who visits your life. I want to be the man who lives in it.”
I reach into my pocket.
She sees the box and makes a small sound.
The kind that goes straight through my chest.
“I don’t know what tomorrow looks like,” I say. “But I know what I want it to be.”
I open the box.
The ring is simple. Strong. Quietly beautiful.
Like her.
“Laney,” I say. “Marry me.”
For one terrifying second, she just stares at me.
Then she starts crying.
Then laughing.
Then both.
“Yes,” she says. “Yes. Of course, yes.”
I don’t remember standing up.
I just remember holding her.
And the way her hands are shaking as much as mine.
She pulls back just enough to look at me.
“You’re sure?” she whispers.
I don’t hesitate.
“I have never been more sure of anything in my life.”
I slide the ring onto her finger.
It fits.
Of course it does.
Emmy chooses that moment to let out an indignant wail.
Laney laughs through tears. “She thinks she should’ve been included.”
“She was,” I say, going to pick her up. “She’s the reason I’m brave enough to do this.”
Laney rests her head against my shoulder.
Her hand—now with the ring—presses against my chest.
“This is really happening,” she whispers.
“Yes,” I say. “It is.”
And for the first time, the future doesn’t feel like a threat.
It feels like a promise.