Crowe had never really thought about this day. Not during the harshness of her rough upbringing, certainly not throughout wars and fighting and destruction. And yet. Here she was, waiting to tie her life together with another's. With a woman who could make Crowe's heart forget how to beat properly. Who could make her laugh and forget any pain. Whose smile lit the sun itself, she often thought.
She wasn't usually sentimental, it wasn't her thing, but, well. Days like this kind of called for it, really, and who was she to resist.
She thought about the conversation her and Cindy had had last night, tangled in bed together, as they'd talked late into the night and the darkness. Crowe remembered Cindy's fingers, trailing lightly up and down the length of her arm. She remembered how Cindy had looked, that easy smile of affection curving her pretty lips, as her eyes had held Crowe's. They'd laid there together, arms and legs and hearts entangled.
She remembered, with a little flush of embarrassment still, how she'd been sentimental last night, too. How she'd blurted out her thoughts without meaning to. How she'd said, “I don't know what I've done to deserve you,” out loud.
Cindy had smiled, though, that smile that always made Crowe's heart flip.
Crowe had tried then to cover for this slip, with humour and faux nonchalance, her usual, bolshy nature. “I mean,” she'd said, “you're getting a great deal out of this.”
Cindy had raised an eyebrow at her, saying, “oh yeah?” Her fingers had continued their light dance down Crowe's arm, and she almost shivered now at the memory.
“Yeah,” Crowe had continued. “You're getting a smoking hot wife, who happens to be great in bed.”
The laugh Cindy had let out then had been sweet and affectionate, and the sound had settled, deep, inside Crowe's heart.
“You know, darlin',” Cindy had drawled, her voice soft, the look in her eyes a teasing glint. “You might have to prove that last part to me. Just to be sure, like. So I know what I'm gettin' myself into here.” Cindy's fingers had trailed across Crowe's collarbone, touch light and easy, and Crowe's skin had fluttered, then, as that touch wandered further down her body. They'd spent the rest of the night laughing and touching, close and intimate.
And here they were. Somehow, after all the darkness and the doubts, the hurt and fear, the recovery and joy, they were here, and they were together. Ready to tell the world just what they meant to each other.
As Cindy turned towards her, that smile on her face, lighting Crowe's heart with its warmth, she thought to herself how this, this right here, she would keep for herself. The world didn't get to have everything, after all. Some things were meant only for them.