Page 43 of Glitter

While she showed me pictures, Henry’s dad, John, had told me as many embarrassing stories as he could before Henry had pulled rank and begged them both to stop. His dad’s eyes glittered in exactly the same way Henry’s did when he was amused, and he roared with laughter.

For a split second, I saw what Henry would look like in twenty or thirty years in the future. I imagined how I would feel about being around him that far into the future, and the warmth of emotion that filled me at the idea gave me my obvious answer.

At that moment, I could see myself living with him for the rest of my life, and it made me indescribably happy.

It took a few more weeks before I met the rest of Henry’s family.

James, his younger brother, and his childhood-sweetheart-turned-wife, Grace, welcomed me with almost as much enthusiasm as Bev and John did. Their two young children ran around the house like I wasn’t even there, which, strangely, made me feel even more at home.

Michael, Henry’s youngest brother, was reserved at first, but he soon relaxed when he discovered my interest in upcycling vintage clothing. Whereas my interest was borne out of necessity, his stemmed from a desire to reduce the impact of waste on the world. We spent many hours chatting about different ways of turning old things new again. I mentioned in passing to Henry later that my gaydar had pinged with Michael, but Henry had simply shrugged. He’d said that Michael hadn’t brought anyone home of any orientation, and no one in the family wanted to ask or put any pressure on him one way or the other.

I’d already fallen for Henry, but that was the moment I knew I loved Henry’s family.

Henry’s twin brother, Daniel, was a little harder to pin down. Considering he was the only family member who lived outside California, coupled with his long days working as a farmer, meant that our first video call was rescheduled several times until Henry put his foot down and threatened to get their mother involved if Daniel didn’t stick to the next booked time. Sure enough, that did the trick, and we spent a good hour or so chatting. Things were a little stilted at first, until Daniel’s daughter, Rose, clipped her dad on the back of the head and told him tostop being such an ass and be nice to her new uncle.

I liked her immediately.

The oven timer shook me from my thoughts, and I busied myself with getting the pie out of the oven and onto a rack to cool. I checked the time and smiled to myself that we were right on schedule, even if there wasn’t a set time that we needed to be there by.

Tonight was going to be awesome.

“Mama Bev! How are you, darling?” I called when we entered Henry’s parents’ house.

“Baby Blue!” Bev was beaming when she bustled into the front room where Henry and I were busy removing our shoes to add to the giant mound already there before we traipsed dirt through her immaculate home. Like always, she barrelled into me for a hug and a quick smooch to my cheek, careful not to mess with my makeup before she pulled back to appraise me. “Oh, don’t you look gorgeous! That magenta looks wonderful on you.”

I preened as she ran her fingers lightly through my hair that I’d updated earlier in the week.

“And you did the back this time as well?” She combed the hair at my nape, a pleasant grin on her face. “Oh, sweetheart, this looks fantastic!”

Henry wound his arm around my waist, hugging me closer. “Hi Mom.”

“Yes, yes. Hi Henry,” she said absently as she fawned over me, basically ignoring her own son. “Oh, look at your earrings!”

I glanced guiltily at Henry, who was silently laughing.

“Told you she loves you more than me,” he said, his eyes glinting with humor.

That was enough for Bev to pull back from me and smack Henry in the chest. “Oh, hush. I have plenty of love to giveeveryone. You know that.” She winked at me before she bustled down the hall to the kitchen, taking the pie I’d baked earlier with her. “Come on, you two. You’re the last to arrive!”

Raising my eyebrow at Henry, I leaned down to whisper to him as we followed her, my hands full of cornbread, “I thought there was no set time?”

He was in the process of taking his jacket off, but shrugged in response. He didn’t seem as concerned about it as I was. “Maybe I got things wrong.”

Frowning slightly, I grumbled quietly at him. He was normally such a stickler for being on time that it had rubbed off on me over the past year. This blasé attitude didn’t feel normal. Maybe he was coming down with something? He’d been working so hard lately. Maybe I needed to talk to Roman about forcing Henry to take some time off.

The sound of many, many voices echoing up the corridor made my heart fill with joy. I could hear James and Grace’s kids squealing above the cacophony before something crashed to the ground. Laughter filled the air when Grace full-name checked them both.

I could clearly visualize John placating his daughter-in-law. I’d seen enough proof over the past year that John and Bev didn’t worry about things breaking. Anything valuable was already locked away so little hands couldn’t get to them, and they both often said that they’d prefer a house full of love and laughter than one of shame and regret.

Turning the corner into the large kitchen, I stumbled to a stop when I spied a banner on the opposite wall high above the crowd that had gone eerily silent.

Blue Atkinson, love of my life.

Will you marry me?

“What?” Completely and utterly shocked, I blinked at the scene in front of me before I turned around to find Henry.

He was already on one knee with a ring in his hand and a slightly nervous look on his face, the coat he’d taken off lying on the ground next to him.

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