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- romantic of dates… but there was always a way to add these small, intimate moments if you took the opportunities and made the most of them.

- “So… we’ve danced in your kitchen, but I don’t think anyone has danced in this room.” I slipped my fingers between hers and ran my other hand from her hips to her waist. “May I have this dance before dinner?” Already moving slightly to the soft beat. Dinner with your parents wasn’t the most -

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Mom still hadn’t called us for dinner, so I took out my phone and picked a song, then set it on the desk below the drawings.

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- you, and all those dreams were finally filled in. Those unseen spaces that felt filled had a shape, a face. It was always for us.” I leaned in and kissed her softly. “And when we’re ready, we’ll finish it together. We can revisit the spices issue when we have cupboards to fuss over.” I grinned. -

- my fingers against her cheek. “They never showed me the face of the person I would share it with, but there was this…” I paused, searching for a word as my eyes locked on hers. “Knowing… there was someone. Just this perfect acceptance and…” I was speechless for a moment once more. “Then I saw -

- real things. Without taking my hands away from her, I nodded in the direction of the pages pinned to the board. Anytime things got bad… the ancestors showed me this, maybe it was my wolf. Never letting me forget I had a future.” I moved my hands to her hips and turned her to face me. I brushed -

- few weeks ago, this revelation would have had me scared she’d run from the suddenness of such a commitment. “I always knew I wanted to build things, from a little kid with Legos until a sick kid in a hospital bed with nothing but a pad and a pencil, to finally making the pictures in my head into -

- against her cheek. Revelling in how she fits with me so perfectly. “If you say so, sweetheart,” I whispered in her ear… teasing… but if spending my life with her meant storing my spices alphabetically. It was done. No questions asked.

I felt the change when the penny dropped. I smiled… only a -

I felt the way her body changed at my closeness… the alert, analytical side as she’d examined the room with her keen mind, softened even though her heart rate rose… it should be a contradiction, but my own patchwork heart was doing exactly the same thing. I chuckled and turned to brush my nose -

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her. “Dr-Arranges-Her-Spices-Alphabetically-Instead-Of-The-Most-Used.” I wrapped my arms all the way around her now… resting my chin on her shoulder that was at just the most perfect height. “It was never going to be finished, not without you.”

- personal heating services anymore.” I chuckled. “Close enough to the water to smell the ocean, but not so close that the winter winds batter the house.” I smiled big… “And the kitchen… the kitchen was never something I could even picture the same way twice… I think it's clear why.” I tickled -

- here don’t normally have garages… but I wanted one because I didn’t want my soul mate getting out of the warm car into the cold and rain right after work.” Then to the porch. “To sit outside at night and listen to the owls with blankets and chocolate to stay warm… at least after I can’t provide -

- something missing…” Okay, this was probably way too much, way too early. “This is my dream home… but I know why I couldn’t ever finish it now.” I kissed her hair and inhaled her scent. “Because it was never just about my dreams.” I pointed to the garage on one side of the house. “Houses around -

but different. Or… at least the things that my thirteen and up self thought made a home.

Of course, now I knew a house was a building. But a home… that was the place you felt safe and loved. But it was still important… because it hit me now. Why I couldn’t ever finish it. “There was always -

- incredible. “This one… I could never finish. I worked on it for years…” I reached out to pull up one corner, flipping the pages, tacked up behind it; containing floor plans, doorways, window sashes… all the small things that made a house a home, multiple sketches all of the same house… -

- begged. I didn’t need to be told that twice. I crossed the small room to where she stood examining the image of the house. I made sure to let my feet fall a little heavier than normal, so she knew I was coming. I rested my hands on her waist, leaning in so my cheek brushed her hair. She smelled -

- when she complimented the dream catcher, to let her know my cousin made it. I would fill her in on everything when she was finished with her study of my room.

Then she found it, and my heart began to pound so wildly that I thought that even her human ears would hear it. “𝓖𝓸 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓻.” My wolf -

- order in her mind, piecing together the puzzle the Brady rearranged anytime he entered this room.

The chuckle she made as she deciphered my shelving system might have made me blush and feel awkward, but with Harper… it made me feel proud… seen. Understood.

I didn’t interrupt her exploration -

I watched as she moved slowly around my room, her beautiful dress swishing around her with each slow spin as her attention moved with clear intent. Like she was cataloguing my life from the evidence around her. If I had paid attention enough, I’d bet she was organising the details in chronological -

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Say (All I Need) YouTube video by OneRepublic - Topic

"The moment you realise everything was waiting for her...."

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- for a little extra privacy while we waited. I lifted her hand and kissed her before letting go to let her explore freely.

Brady would just move them any chance he had to try and break me out of my rigid habits. Books were stacked on shelves, organised by topic and alphabetically by author.

“All my nerdiness is on full display for your viewing pleasure, Dr Jenkins.” I kissed her cheek and closed the door behind us -

- an inch. My math competition trophy sat on a shelf next to a few student awards and my graduation photo. There were photos stuck to the wall randomly all over the room…. This was only because I got tired of reorganising them neatly. After all, Brady with move them any chance he had to try and -

- with the Black family totem and the other with the Littleseatotem. They were carved by my uncle and turned into lamps by Quil Ateara IV. Right now they sat on either side og my bed at my own place. There was a corkboard with dozens of stair plans and ideas with measurements noted to an eighth of -

- worked on and changed for years and years, it was a vision of the home I wanted to become my forever home… No matter how long I worked on it or planned it… It never felt finished.

Above my bed, a dreamcatcher Jacob had made for me, there used to be two table lamps in the bedside tables, one -

- small windows. “I used to have bunk beds in here for Brady, and my cousin stayed over so much… but after my 𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓌𝓉𝒽 𝓈𝓅𝓊𝓇𝓉 I needed something bigger.” There was a desk in one corner that was more like a drafting desk than a writing desk, but I had used it as both. Above it was a sketch, one I had -

- room.” I opened the door, still not releasing her hand as I led her inside.

The room was tidy… and pretty much the same as I had left it when I moved out, only it was clear.
Mom came in here to dust regularly because it was spotless. There was a large double bed in the middle between two .