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 Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:28 am
Toby didn't necessarily feel healthy. When your stomach wanted to jump into your throat and your heart started spinning, those were bad things, right? Even if they were just figurative. Against his nerves, though, he calmly got up and retrieved the telescope. He set it in the dirt and went through the process Dari had walked him through three times, just to be sure.
The sky was luckily cloudless, and the moon was only one day from full. It was perfect.
He did have to fiddle with the equipment a little to even find the moon, though.
"There," he said softly, more to himself.
Dari had helped him print "will you marry me?" in tiny text on a bit of film that he had then carefully laid across the internal lens. Thus, when Toby focused the telescope on the moon, the words stood out black against shining white.
"There," he said. "Try that."
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:36 am
Maia looked through the telescope, paused, looked at the moon without it, and then looked back into the telescope. She wasn't sure she believed what she was reading.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:38 am
Toby was just waiting. He had quietly pulled the ring box from its hiding place in the telescope bag while setting it up and slipped it into his pocket. Now he was on one knee behind the selkie, not so close she might fall over, with the ring box open in the palm of his hand.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:43 am
Once Maia had read the words a third time, she seemed to process the meaning. She took a breath and turned to face Toby. He was really--? She'd never expected this. Not after all the warnings Dari had given her; not after learning what'd happened to Toby's family.
Her eyes widened and started to fill.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:45 am
"Maia, I've come to love you more than I ever thought I could," Toby began, "I didn't know if I'd ever be ready, but when we go dancing I can't help but feel that I want this. I want you. Forever. You made your pledge long ago. Now it's my turn. My love, will you marry me?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:53 am
Filled and were overflowing. She bent and wrapped her arms around him, ring and all. "Yes," she said. Yes, yes, yes a dozen times.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:55 am
Toby threw his arms around Maia and held her close. He could feel his own eyes welling as they embraced and he kissed her ear. he forced the hug to end only so he could see that ring on her finger, and he pulled it out of the box and held it for her to slip her finger in. Nothing could stop the grin on his face.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:04 pm
Maia slipped her finger into the ring and wrapped her arms around Toby again. She still couldn't believe this. She'd never expected it. Never thought Toby would want it.
She kissed his cheek. "I love you."
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:04 pm
Maia slipped her finger into the ring and wrapped her arms around Toby again. She still couldn't believe this. She'd never expected it. Never thought Toby would want it.
She kissed his cheek. "I love you."
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:08 pm
"I love you too." He kissed Maia properly and then pulled her into his arms again. There was always that fear of loss. He wasn't sure it would ever go away, but it was well worth it to have his love forever. He knew too how much it would mean to her, considering all she had been told and presumed about his feelings on marriage, yet here they were. He was grinning when the hug broke and he kissed her again. Yes, yes, this had gone wonderfully.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 4:13 pm
Maia didn't know if she could ever express how happy she was. She kissed Toby, letting it linger. She wiped at her eyes with a hand. So happy, some of it was escaping. She looked down a the ring on her finger. It was beautiful. When had he planned all this? When had he had the time? She smiled up at Toby then and stole another kiss.
She leaned against Toby. "Do you still like firsts?" She asked.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:16 pm
Toby accepted the kiss and enjoyed the linger, chuckled when they pulled away to see her crying, kissed a tear streak away even after she had wiped it, and fell into another kiss.
When he spoke, his voice was deep with emotion. "Of course I do." He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her hair.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:35 pm
"You're my first everything." She smiled at him. The first she'd fallen for, her first boyfriend, the first person to make her feel at home somewhere. "But here's a first for you, too," she kissed his cheek.
First night watching a meteor shower together. And engaged!
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:40 pm
"I know," Toby said, kissing Maia's shoulder. "And you'll be my first wedding, my first spouse, my first honeymoon..." Carolyn would approve, he thought. Maia was a good egg. Besides, Carolyn would always be his first love. The best part was that Maia was, somehow, totally fine with that. That was how he knew she was a good egg.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:48 pm
A bigger first, then. How many half-selkies had married an agent? She smiled at him. "I'll have to recruit people to help me find a dress," she mused. She didn't have any female relatives or friends. Maybe Dari?
"How did you get the telescope to do that?" she asked.
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