Page 320 of Night's Fall
She beamed up at him.
He returned her smile, feeling her pride settle into his bones.
She disliked that part of their lives, but she was in this to win it, because she was in love with him.
She wouldn’t run.
She was here to stay.
He allowed himself a moment to fully feel that feeling, then returned to dressing.
They were eating breakfast at the table in the sunny turret alcove of the solar off their bedroom atSpikeback, where they found they both preferred to breakfast, whenLaura’sPalmvibrated.
She took the comm and smiled at the display.
“Hello,Maman,” she greeted.
Aleksei felt something shift, watching his mate’s face light up when she saw his mother, and hearing the form of address.
He heard his mother’s voice come from herPalm. “Dearest, yesterday was atriumph.”
“That’s whatAlekseisaid,”Laurareplied.
“Well, he was correct.Yourratings are stratospheric.Germaineis beside herself.Now, obviously, you can’t be visiting every school inNight’sFall.You’llneed to…”
Aleksei tuned his mother out and his breakfast in.
He didn’t do this because he wasn’t interested.Hedid it because he knew his fiancée was in hands he could trust, and he’d heard his mother drone on about these things since he could remember.
When they disconnected, he was scrolling through social tapes, seeing proof that he and his mother were right.Theirvisit yesterday, particularlyLaura’s, was a triumph.
He put hisPalmdown, took a sip of his coffee and noted, “So, fittings withMardeltoday?”
“Yes.Ihave him for two hours,” she replied, spearing some scrambled eggs.
Aleksei preferred cooking breakfast with her, or for her, rather than havingCooksend up what they ordered the night before.
But things had changed for them atSpikeback.
And when they wanted to reminisce their beginnings, they could spend a few days at the penthouse or her loft.
“SoIhopeIcan get it all in,” she continued. “ThenI’llprogram any alterations into theSeam-Stitch.Afterthat,Ihave the interviews with the applicants for the costume assistants.Directlyafter those are done,NataandIhave a meeting with the curator ofMdV.ButNatawill keep all of this on target, andIshould be home around five or six.”
“I’ll aim to be home then too,” he murmured.
“And your day?”
He already knew her schedule before he asked, as she knew his.
There was something that tugged at his heart that she asked anyway, even if, for him, it wasn’t nearly as diverse and exciting as her day always turned out to be.
Nevertheless, she made a point to draw him out, and he knew it was because she worried she didn’t see to him and his interests well enough.
He knew he couldn’t simply tell her to relax and let it go.
He had to let her have time doing these things so he could use them as examples when he eventually told her to relax and let it go.
He was going to give it two weeks.
