Page 162 of Pretender

When I step into the hallway of the home I love so much, I immediately sense something is different. There’s a new smell, but I can’t place it.

“Linnea?” I call out.

“Up here!” she responds from the first floor, but her voice is faint, and I make my way up the stairs. “One minute, don’t come in yet!” she singsongs from behind the closed library door.

I do as she says and wait outside while I hear her shuffling around in there. What is that new scent? It’s something sweet … beeswax?

The doorknob turns and Linnea’s face appears in the crack.

“Come in,” she says, grinning widely, her cheeks lightly flushed. She opens the door fully, revealing what she’d been shuffling around with.

The first thing I notice is the dark green velvet four-seater, plush and inviting. The single reading chair she had here before is gone. The room is lit with dozens of LED candles, flickering in the darkening space as dusk settles quickly outside.

What is she…? I look at her. She’s still grinning next to me.

“Do you like it?” she asks. “It’s the same style as your favourite chair in the Diamond Lounge. I saw it a couple of months ago at an antique market and had it reupholstered and polished. It just arrived today.”

Furniture polish. That’s the beeswax smell.

“It’s perfect,” I say.

“It’s family-sized.”

My eyes cut back to hers. What?

She laughs. “I’m not pregnant, but maybe one day we’ll read here together, all of us, if we end up having little ones.”

My smile breaks free and I close the distance between us, wrapping her in my arms, but before I can kiss her she says, “And there’s a surprise there for you. Umm, I’m a bit nervous about it.”

“Where?”

She unwraps my arms from her waist and steps to the couch, where there’s a small box sitting on the cushion. I didn’t see that before. Adrenaline hits my gut and propels me forward to her as she perches on the edge of the couch.

“I was thinking that maybe you’d be careful, because⁠—”

I’m on my knees in front of her before she can finish her sentence.

“Linnea.”

“Aiden, I don’t have a fancy speech, it’s not my forte… Just please tell me you will marry me.”

I laugh and bury my face in her lap, and she threads her fingers into my hair.

“I want to marry the hell out of you,” I say, my voice muffled in the skirt of her dress.

“That’s beautiful,” she laughs.

I pull back and cup her face. “I have something for you too. You’re right, I was being careful. I’ve been ready to put a ring on your finger since last year but thought I’d make sure you were here with me.”

“I very much am,” Linnea says, picking up the box from the couch, placing it on her lap in front of me.

“Wait, let’s do it together,” I say, retrieving the small box from my inner pocket.

“Aiden,” she breathes.

We open the lids towards each other at the same time, and I keep my eyes on her face. I took a chance that she’d not want something massive and showy, so I had one made in rose gold with intricate leaf patterns hand-carved around the band, with a flush-set round diamond in the middle.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, picking the ring out of the box, looking at it. “This is … like if I was a ring.” I grin at her, proud of myself for making the right choice. She allows me to slide it onto her slender finger, and finally I turn my attention to the larger ring on its velvet pillow on Linnea’s lap. It’s a black matte band.