Chapter 16 - WHAT HE FINALLY ASKEDGabriel waited another month.
Partly because he was furious with Sophia.
Mostly because Norah enjoyed watching him suffer.
One Sunday morning, she found him in the kitchen.
No suit.
Barefoot.
Cereal.
Exactly where so many important conversations had happened.
“You’re staring,” he said.
“I’m remembering.”
“What?”
“A broken wrist.”
His face darkened.
“A terrible bowl of oatmeal.”
“Chef made it.”
“Still terrible.”
“A terrifying man who believed helping people meant deciding everything for them.”
Gabriel looked offended.
“I have improved.”
“Marginally.”
Norah sat opposite him.
Her wrist rested on the table.
The bone had healed slightly crooked.
Not enough to affect function.
Enough to remain visible if you knew where to look.
Gabriel reached toward it.
Stopped.
Norah turned her hand over.
Inviting.
His fingers settled into hers.
Then he placed a small box on the table.
Norah stared.
“No speech?”
“I prepared one.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“I forgot it.”
She smiled.
Gabriel looked nervous.
Actually nervous.
That was worth everything.
Years earlier, he had told her he was the thing monsters checked beneath their beds for.
Now he sat barefoot in a kitchen afraid of one woman saying no.
Good.
Healthy.
He opened the box.
A simple ring.
No massive diamond.
No Rossi family stone.
Nothing that could be mistaken for a transaction.
“I don’t want you to belong to my house,” Gabriel said.
Norah became still.
“I don’t want you to belong to my name.”
His thumb moved across her knuckles.
“I don’t want gratitude.”
Her eyes filled.
“I want mornings. Arguments. Bad coffee. Your documents covered in comments. You telling me when I am wrong, which happens with offensive frequency.”
Norah laughed through tears.
Gabriel took a breath.
“And I want you to be able to leave every day.”
He looked directly at her.
“And choose to come back.”
Norah’s throat tightened.
“Gabriel Rossi.”
“Yes?”
“That was almost romantic.”
“Norah.”
She laughed.
Then he finally asked.
“Will you marry me?”
Norah looked at the man who had once mistaken protection for possession.
Then at the healed wrist that had brought him into her life.
“No cages?”
“No.”
“No debts?”
“No.”
“No deciding for me?”
His mouth twitched.
“I reserve the right to complain.”
“Complaining is allowed.”
“And when you say no?”
Norah waited.
Gabriel answered:
“I listen.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
For several seconds, Gabriel didn’t move.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“You look confused.”
“I prepared for resistance.”
“That sounds like a personal problem.”
He laughed.
Then kissed her.
Years earlier, Norah Hayes had believed safety meant finding a monster stronger than the one chasing her.
She had been wrong.
Safety was not a stronger cage.
It was a door you could open from the inside.
Ray had taken choice from her.
Fear had taken choice from her.
Even Gabriel, at first, had tried to protect her by making choices on her behalf.
But he learned.
So did she.
Outside, Chicago disappeared beneath the first snow of winter.
Norah’s wrist ached slightly.
Gabriel noticed.
He always noticed.
But this time he did not decide what she needed.
He simply asked:
“Does it hurt?”
“A little.”
“Want ice?”
Norah smiled.
“Yes.”
Gabriel stood.
May you like
And went to get it.
THE END
