5 - Many Ways of Love

As the forecast had predicted, the November afternoon was colder than the morning had been. Maybe we'd have snow for Thanksgiving this year. I lost no time in starting a pot of coffee, leaving Faye to unpack our new accessories. When I brought the coffees through to my room, she had the bullet vibe on charge. She'd brought her own through and had that on charge beside it. When she saw me looking over at them, she said, "Why don't you add yours to the collection? Make sure they're all ready."

"Sure," I said, taking it out of its drawer. "It's probably good, but might as well."

"Oh, that's cute," Faye said, dropping the paper she was reading. "May I see it?"

I chuckled. "Did you suddenly become a sex toy enthusiast?" I asked.

"I just wanted to see what you liked," she said. "It's so small. Does it really, you know...?"

"It works just fine." I turned it on and pressed it against the back of her hand. The soft pink head shook against her. "Powerful, too, and quiet."

"I see that," Faye said as I turned it off again and plugged in the charging cord.

The harness was on the bed. I picked it up, and noticed Faye's eyes running over the straps, almost reverently. She sucked her lower lip.

"Should we toss a coin to see who tries it first?" I asked.

She turned to me, wide-eyed. "No! It's yours! You should be first!"

"Are you saying you're not interested in trying it?" I teased.

Her chest rose. "No... I think I'd like to try, after you..."

I set it down, stepped out of my shoes, and stood before my lover. I ran my fingertips around her neck. "You seemed quite eager, this morning." I brushed my lips over hers, feeling her quiver.

"I wasn't, at first," she said, her voice rasping slightly. "I mean, I wanted... I wanted to feel you inside, like we'd talked about. I hadn't really thought about wearing it. Then when Steph said we both could, I saw you, naked on the bed, and me being able to ride you, like a guy..." She shivered against me. "I wanted to grab one of Steph's vibrators and lock myself away in a closet for thirty seconds, because that's all the time I'd have needed."

Faye was breathing quickly. I brushed my lips over hers again, and she groaned. Then I started to unfasten her top. "You really should take the first turn," I said.

"N-no," she insisted, as she raised her arms for me to remove her top. "I really want you to take me." I unfastened her bra. "I just hadn't realized that it might be something I'd want. Then when Steph said that, I just.... oh God." Her confession mutated into a groan as I dropped her bra to the floor and lowered my head to her breasts.

She tugged my shirt off as I licked her nipples into firmness. Then I took her hands, moving them away from my bra, and stood upright. "Hold that thought," I said. "Let me see if I can get this thing adjusted so it's ready."

I unfastened my skirt, then stepped out of it and dropped it onto a chair. Picking up the harness, I threaded Faye's dildo selection into its ring and fastened it in place. Figuring out where the straps fitted wasn't hard, as I slipped it on over my panties, but I didn't think I'd want to try to learn how while I was distracted by passion.

When it felt suitably snug, I unfastened the waistband and carefully lay the harness over my nightstand, so that it wouldn't tangle. Then I turned back to Faye, who had her arms crossed beneath her breasts, watching what I was doing. "Now," I said, caressing her waist as I drew her close, "where were we?"

In reply, Faye rubbed her chin against my bra, then reached behind me to unhook it. "About here, I think," she said, drawing the straps forward, then lowering her face to my small breasts. Her tongue sent waves of sensation into my groin, and I felt my breathing quicken.

My hands snaked around to the small of her back, holding her tightly against me. The movement of her sex against mine made me wet, as my nipples swelled to the activity of Faye's lips and tongue. As they became erect, their sensitivity increased, and seemed to have a more direct connection to my sex. I felt my clit hardening, too, and moved against her, wanting yet more stimulation.

Faye looked up at me, mischief in her eyes, and slowly stepped back and eased her panties down.

I did the same, my heart speeding up with excitement as Faye sat on the side of the bed, then pushed herself into the center of the mattress and held out her arms to me.

Accepting her invitation, I lay down atop her. My chest settled on hers, my hips slightly to the side, my sex pressed to Faye's left hip. My fingers traced her right thigh, then moved inwards, pressing against the front of her sex and circling as my lips met hers, and she groaned.

Drawing slow circles over her clitoral hood made her thighs tense against me. After a few moments I slid my hand lower, curling two fingers inside her, the base of my hand against her clitoral hood. Faye writhed in pleasure at my touch.

Her movements were making waves of arousal flow out from where my clit pressed against her hip. I moved my right leg slightly so that it pressed against the back of my hand and began to rock against her. Faye groaned loudly into our kiss and responded to my movements with her own, squeezing her sex against my palm.

Suddenly I found I was panting, my hips thrusting hard, mashing my hand into her with each movement. Faye made a strangled cry of need as she bucked against me. I moaned into the kiss, then broke from her lips, gasping. I buried my face in her neck as her hands grasped the small of my back, holding me tightly to her.

This wasn't what I'd intended. I thought we'd want to fool around some before deciding that we were ready for the toy. I didn't realize just how much I'd been wanting Faye all day. Like the flash of lust when she'd unzipped her jacket. That lust had been present, simmering, the whole time

I tried to slow down, to regain some control. Faye must have sensed what I was doing. I felt a sharp pain as her teeth closed on my earlobe, then released it. "Don't stop," she begged, in a rasping voice. "Fuck me, Erin!" After a pause she added, "Fuck me, please!"

I was sure I'd never heard Faye use the F-word in any context; not as an expletive, and not as a term for sex. She wasn't using it casually, now, and that spoke to the intensity of her desire. And more.

My fingers pressed further into her, palm firmly against the top of her sex, and I gave in to my need to slam my body against hers. The bedsprings creaked, fast and loud. I pressed my teeth and lips against her neck, alternately suckling and panting. Faye yelled as if in pain, but immediately followed it with a noisy groan, "Nnnnggg" as her body stiffened beneath me.

I didn't stop moving against her, my own climax hitting home as Faye began to whimper and sink back onto the bed.

 

"Who needs a dildo anyway," I murmured, as we lay together, recovering. I was still on top of her, but had slipped my fingers out and was caressing her waist.

"Mmm. I still want to try," she replied. There was a dreamy quality to her voice and a contented look on her face. "I think I got a little carried away, there."

"Me too," I said, "and I don't regret a moment of it." I kissed her softly, then slid off her and reached over to my nightstand. "Shall we?" I asked, as I lifted the straps.

Faye's mischievous grin transformed her expression from satisfied to eager. "Oh yes," she said, "I think we should."

I stood to buckle myself into the harness, pulling the straps tight, then a little tighter to be sure it was firmly in place. "Do you want me on top of beneath? This will be awkward enough without changing positions."

Her eyes were wide at the sight of me with a large pink penis. She pondered the question for a moment. "I want to ride," she announced. "I've always liked..." Her voice trailed off as she realized she was close to a difficult topic. "Well, I think I would like to be on top."

I nodded agreement, then lay down, handing Faye the lube.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked.

I grinned. "What, am I supposed to say please?"

"No, idiot," she said, with a smirk. "You know. The little vibe."

"Oh, right," I said. "Mmm, I like that," I continued, as she slowly smoothed lube over my artificial member, producing unusual sensations against my sex. "No, I don't want the distraction. Maybe next time."

"Okay," Faye replied, positioning herself over me, facing me, her knees beside my chest. "I get that."

She began to lower herself onto me. "Careful," I said, as she winced. "Do you need more lube?"

Faye lifted up. "Maybe," she said, applying a little more. Then she set the bottle beside us, within easy reach, and slid back onto me, slowly, with better results this time.

Her eyes widened, and she made an "Oh!" of surprise, rather than arousal, it seemed to me. She rested on my thighs until her full weight was on me. "I feel you so deep," she breathed. "It's amazing."

I smiled at her and lifted my hands to caress her waist. Holding her, I flexed my hips experimentally. She sighed. "This feels so good. I almost feel like just staying here."

"If you like," I said, with a short chuckle. I kept up the slow movement, squeezing myself against her, then relaxing. "I like the way this feels."

Faye leaned forward, placing her hands just below my breasts for support. Her hips moved slowly, rolling her body against mine and lifting slightly off me. The sensation for me was very different from my expectations. I thought the device would feel stiff and mechanical, but the straps and base flexed against my sex, and of course her body was against mine. As we moved, the pressure shifted, in turn changing the pressure against my sensitive clit.

Since the dildo was slightly ridged, it quivered as she moved along it, even by a small amount, and the vibrations traveled back through the silicone to the base, and I could feel every ripple against my clit. The longer we moved like this, the more sensitive to the small disturbances I became, and since the feelings were synced to the movement of the dildo within Faye, it seemed that my senses extended with the dildo, so that it truly was part of my body that penetrated her.

The illusion felt so real and so right that I didn't attempt to correct my feelings. Instead, I held her waist as I moved, feeling my body move in and out of her moist sex. My breathing deepened and my arousal grew ever more intense.

Faye's own arousal was clear in her face, but she was keeping the pace slow. She was moving further than she had been, though, and my eyes were mostly on the swaying of her breasts, hard nipples quivering at the tips.

She noticed my gaze and chuckled hoarsely. "You like my boobs."

"I do," I agreed.

"You've taken to ogling me so quickly..." She paused to catch her breath. "Have you always had a thing for women's breasts?"

I moved my hands up from her hips to caress her waist. "Just yours, I think, sweetie," I said. I slid my fingers higher and cupped them. "Do you mind?"

She laughed. "Of course I don't mind." When I pinched her nipple I could swear I felt her sex tighten around me. The shifting forces against my clit gave a jolt, and I suppressed a shiver.

Remembering the lube she'd set aside, I had an idea. I squirmed slightly beneath her until I could reach the bottle, then I dragged it close by its cap. Quickly I squirted lube into my left hand, Faye giving me a puzzled look, lips forming a circle as she breathed.

After re-capping the bottle, I smeared the fingers of both hands liberally with lube, then reached to continue caressing Faye's breasts. Her breathing became heavier as I kneaded, my fingers sliding smoothly over her skin even as I pressed more firmly. Then I circled both nipples with fingers and thumb, rubbing the sides of her firm nipples, tugging them and letting them slide out between my lubed fingers, trying to make my fingers encompass her nipples as lips would.

Faye started to pant. Her fingers gripped their hold on my ribs as her thighs tensed against me, lifting her body further with each movement of her hips. "Oh God," she groaned. "That's..."

I rolled my fingers and thumbs around her nipples again. She started bouncing high in my lap. I felt her sliding against my toy, which had become an extension of myself, the movement inside her warm passage making me writhe with need.

"Oh God, love," she moaned again. "Erin. You're going to make me come."

Her excitement almost pushed me over the edge, but I managed to hold on until she cried out and slammed down onto my sex, pressing herself hard against me, the dildo deep with her. The pulsing of her sex ran straight to my sensitive clit. My thighs tensed, then waves of pleasure flowed from my sex into my belly, my breasts, my arms and legs...

I groaned and grasped Faye's arms, pushing them aside so that she collapsed onto me. I fastened my lips to hers and kissed her hard.

Faye wriggled, freeing her legs to extend them behind her without breaking the kiss, though I almost slipped out of her. When her body was against mine, I squeezed her butt, pressing her to me, trying to drag the exquisite afterglow out in the passionate union of our lips and tongues.

Just seconds later, as my breathing was slowing, Faye drew back. I opened my eyes to see her wide-eyed look of shock, almost panic. She groaned, then stiffened again, and I felt the dildo carry the pulsing echo of another climax.

I wondered if we could prolong the experience even further, so I lifted her from me and bent my head to her chest. Once I'd gotten my lips fastened to her left nipple, I moved my hands to her butt again, squeezing her against me, and rocking my hips to move within her.

After another minute, she tensed again, then collapsed against me, making soft sounds of pleasure. Her face against my neck, she mumbled something, but since her lips were closed, I didn't understand it.

 

"My God," Faye breathed, a few minutes later. "I didn't even know that could happen."

"Are you glad it did?" I asked. I was grinning, but I doubt she even noticed, since her face was buried in my shoulder, her body limp.

"Oh yeah," she said, pleasure in her voice. "Yeah, definitely. But now I'm worn out, and I want my turn with the harness."

"You do, do you?" I replied, with a laugh. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Nuh-uh," she said. "I'll recover. You know it's only about six, right?"

"It is?" I was surprised. The nightstand light was on, it was dark outside, and we were in bed. My mind had converted the setting to late night, but it had been light when we were undressing each other. "I guess it is. We haven't had dinner."

Faye roused herself enough to lift from me, though she made a regretful "Mmfhh" sound as I slipped out of her. It seemed wrong, somehow, that we'd both had explosive climaxes, yet my virtual penis was as hard and ready to go as ever. I shook my head and grinned at the thought.

"I'm going to make coffee while you take care of that thing," Faye said, getting to her feet, and walking slightly unsteadily out of the bedroom. Her voice became fainter. "Maybe I'll make us a late supper." Then I think I heard her add, "If I can still stand."

As instructed, I disengaged from the harness. After I'd disassembled the dildo, I took it to the bathroom, washed it well, then set it on a clean towel for more thorough treatment later. I cleaned the harness with wipes, then wiped it dry and took it through to the kitchen along with my selected dildo. When Faye finished with the coffee, we both sat at the kitchen table, naked, and I assembled the toy and handed it to her.

 

"Was it what you wanted?" I asked Faye. Sitting at the kitchen table, I held my coffee between my hands and studied her. "Having me inside you, I mean?"

Faye looked pensive, but also entirely casual, as though sitting naked at the table with me was a completely normal, everyday activity. "Yeah," she said, then gave me an affectionate smile. "More than. I don't think I'll want to do it too often, though."

"Why's that?"

"There are so many other ways that you make me feel good," she replied. "That's just one, and I don't need for you to be inside every time, or in that way."

My lips quirked into a grin. "You said you wanted me to fuck you," I reminded her.

"I did, didn't I?" Her cheeks turned red. "Did I offend you?"

I laughed. "No, you didn't offend me," I said. "Hearing you say that was exciting, because it told me you really wanted what I was doing. But I think it said something else." I took a sip of coffee as she watched me. "I think it said, this is everything. We're really having sex, not just getting each other off, where real sex needs a guy. We were having real sex. We were making love. We were fucking. Do you know what I mean?"

"I think you're reading a lot into it," she said, thoughtfully, "but I don't think you're wrong. I don't think what you and I do in bed is any less than real sex, but when I said that, I just wanted you to fuck me." Her smile turned a little cheeky. "I still do."

"Yeah, well, I didn't think it was any less, but I guess what you said just drove it home. Like, you and I are complete together. We don't need anything or anyone else."

Faye's brows lowered slightly as her eyes held mine. "No," she said, "we don't, do we?"

 

Faye picked up the harness and followed me back into the bedroom. She wasted no time strapping herself into the harness and adjusting the fit. Then she took the small bullet vibe, tested it, then turned it off and secured it in its pocket. "Now, I want you to..."

"Wait, wait," I interrupted. I pointed to the lube. "First things first. Lie down. You can tell me what to do once you're ready."

She nodded once and lay on the bed, while I picked up the lube. I smeared a small amount along the shaft of the dildo, moving my fingers up and down slowly as if stroking a penis to erection. Faye's eyes were wide as I worked.

They became wider as I lowered my face and began to kiss the tip of the silicone toy. Then I parted my lips and began to suckle the head. Her breath caught. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Ssh," I replied. My fingers explored her skin around the harness as my mouth moved against the head of the dildo. Then I found the vibe, pushed the on switch, and began to give her a genuine blow job.

I don't know what prompted me. The dildo was just a lump of silicone, but then when I'd been inside her, it had felt like something more. I recalled how I could always get Jared off with my mouth, even when he wasn't in any mood to return the favor. And there were a couple of other guys before Jared. I only went all the way with one before him, but I might have traded blow jobs for fingering with a couple of others. Everyone with a penis likes a blow job. And now Faye had one, artificial though it may be.

So I ran my tongue up and down, sucked on the shaft, then suckled the tip while bobbing my head. Faye sucked a breath between her teeth, and I knew it was turning her on.

One thing I couldn't have ever done with Jared and the others was use my teeth, but I wasn't going to hurt the dildo, so I let my teeth grate along the side as I slurped around its shaft. Then I moved back to the head.

Repositioning myself for better access, I moved my hands to Faye's belly, supporting myself with a little weight on them. My thumbs were on the harness, beside the vibe pocket, pressing it against her as I took the dildo deep into my mouth and sucked, drawing my head back, then lowering it. Faye began to writhe beneath me, moaning softly as her hips began to rock.

In just a few minutes her cries were becoming hoarse with need. I regretted that I couldn't really tease her against the edge of her climax the way that I could with my tongue on her clit. Maybe next time I should turn the vibe off before she got to this point, but for now I was committed. I moved my right hand to the base of the shaft, pressing it firmly against her sex as I bobbed my head rapidly.

Faye's back arched, then she squealed and I felt her body shudder as she fell into her orgasm.

I eased her down from her peak by licking the side of the dildo, then took the bottle and reapplied lube as she relaxed on the bed.

"That was mean," Faye said, her eyes dark, as I handed her the bottle, "but oh, so good."

I grinned. "So, you were telling me what you want me to do?"

She nodded. "Mmhmm. I want you on your knees, facing the head of the bed."

My heart skipped. Though it probably would have done for anything she'd wanted. "Oh," was all I said. Then I knelt and grabbed the headboard. "Like this?"

"Mmhmm," she said again.

"One second," I said, then gathered up all the pillows and piled them against the headboard. Then I grabbed the small wooden posts in the headboard, my shoulders and forehead against the pillows.

Faye left the bed for a moment while I was positioning myself, then returned, parted my knees further and knelt behind me. Then she eased herself forward, using her fingers to guide the tip of the dildo into my sex. "Tell me if I'm going too fast or need more lube," she instructed.

I nodded, though she probably couldn't see.

She was very gentle, backing out and reapplying lube, maybe more often than she needed, as wet as I was. Soon she was holding my hips and pressing into me.

I felt her against the front wall of my sex, the pressure uncomfortable but not painful, as she started to move. She slid out, the ridges of the dildo joggling against the sides, moving me, my body reshaping itself like the petals of a flower closing as the shaft moved out, then opening again, stretching even further as she pushed even deeper into me.

It was a comforting sensation, to have someone filling me, after so many years, and an exciting one, given what I knew she wanted to give me. It wasn't - at first - a particularly arousing one. I just felt the discomfort and the opening and closing of the flower.

Before long, though, it was also warmth, and arousal soon followed. My hips moved with her rhythm, and my heart began to race. I turned my head to the left, resting the right side of my face on the pillows, and looked back to see an expression of focus on Faye's features, along with her breasts bouncing with each stroke.

The sight of her was the catalyst that moved me from comfortable arousal to rapidly growing need. No longer did the wall of my sex feel uncomfortable. Now it was thrilling me each time she pushed in, the dildo pressing against my G-spot.

When I began to moan, Faye picked up the pace. My body responded in kind, and my thighs tensed rhythmically as I pushed back against her. God, this was pushing my arousal into overdrive. Even in my arms and my neck, my muscles felt as if they were buzzing with excitement. I took my right hand from its hold, supporting myself by my left hand and the pillows, and moved it to my breast.

Squeezing my breast firmly, I pinched my nipple hard, making me cry out. I could see Faye's breasts quaking as she thrust into me, her own face glowing with lust.

I was losing control. I pinched my nipple again, sending an electric shock to the storm within me, then grasped the headboard again, my shoulders and arms curling forward as my back arched.

"Nnggghhh!" I croaked as my sex stretched around her silicone cock, deep inside me, my muscles tensing in the final moments before exploding into feeling, seismic waves of pleasure flowing from Faye within me.

She held herself to me as I kept pulsing around her. Then I started breathing again, rapid gasps that slowly became sighs.

I loved the feeling of her inside me, and I didn't want to move. I figured she'd pull out, and I was hoping she wouldn't hurry, but I needn't have worried.

A moment later, I heard a buzzing sound and felt a chill squish against my lower belly. The object touching me warmed quickly, sending little pulses of stimulation into me. I realized she must have picked up my vibe at some point, and now it was sliding up my belly as Faye remained firmly planted deep inside me, the dildo pressed against my now-sensitive G-spot.

The vibe moved to my breasts and around. I quivered as it touched my right nipple, making my clit quiver and drawing a moan from me. Then it moved back down my body and directly onto my sex, intense vibrations filling my clit. I groaned, tensed, then came again.

Faye leaned forward, took my left breast in her hand and squeezed, still holding the vibe to my sex. I didn't even move as she rolled my nipple between finger and thumb, but I felt the stimulation build, and came a third time.

"Want..." I croaked, my face partly buried in the pillow. "Want you to come too."

"I did, love," she told me, her voice soft. "Just before you did."

I was so distracted by my own climb to ecstasy that I hadn't noticed. "Good," I said.

Then she pinched my nipple, and my body yielded itself up to one final orgasm before I gently pushed her back and out of me.

 

"When you suggested," Faye began, "that I have a kid and then find a husband, is that the future you see for me?" She was lying on her back, looking up at the ceiling, the sheets pulled up over her breasts. Morning light was beginning to give color to the curtains.

I thought about her words for a while. "It's just a possibility," I said. "If it's what you want - you were talking about how a future husband wouldn't be okay with Doug's baby, and that you'd have to be a single parent. So that's a financial possibility now, or will be soon, but then once you're a parent you may find a guy... 'cause let's face it, if he loves you and he's worth a damn, he'll want to include your son or daughter in a family."

"When would I move out? Six months after the birth? A year? When I'm ready to look for a partner? How long should I stay here?"

I felt myself start to tear up. After all this time, and especially after the last two nights, I couldn't imagine her not being here. It was a struggle to keep my voice neutral, and I wasn't sure I did a great job. "As long as you need, sweetie."

"I don't really need to be here now, Erin," she replied, "but I hope you're not planning to evict me, yet."

Her tone was light, but I sensed well-hidden fear in her words. "Never, Faye," I said immediately. "I won't ever want you to leave, and I already know I'll have a hard time when you do, but I know you have a life to get back to."

"Do I?" she asked. I treated it as rhetorical, and a few seconds later she added, "So much has changed."

She seemed to want to say more, so I didn't speak. The silence stretched for minutes, the sheet slowly rising and falling as she breathed.

Finally, she said, "What if I were to say that there was a life I wanted to live, and that it would include your suggestion, but with some changes..."

"What do you mean, sweetie?" I asked.

She rolled to face me, keeping the sheet pulled up to her shoulder. She gripped it against her in both hands as she looked at me. "I don't want my daughter to be Zoe's friend. I want them to be sisters. Or sister and brother, if it's a boy." She blinked, and I saw a tear roll over the bridge of her nose and drop to the pillow.

It took a moment for her words to register, then I was stunned. "Faye... are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I'm saying I do want to be part of a family, but not with some unknown guy. I want to make a family with the woman I love. I want to be your partner - your wife, if you'll have me - and I want to repay all of the time you've invested in me in love and caring and time as a family, with you, and Zoe, and any other kids we have."

I reached out to caress her face. She still clung to her sheet, but I saw a hopeful smile through the still-gathering tears. "Faye, sweetie, are you sure? This isn't just the after-effects of really good sex?"

She grinned weakly, freeing one hand to wipe her eyes. "In a way, it is... but not how you're meaning. I think... sex is important. Until the last couple of nights, I haven't known for sure that we could be everything a couple can be to each other. I have been fantasizing about how wonderful it would be to be for us to be a family. But could we really function as a complete couple? Now I know there's nothing that would stand in the way of me being as close to you as you will let me." Before I could reply, she added, "You said it yourself, last night. Neither of us needs anyone else to be complete."

I took the fingers she'd used to wipe her tears, and held them in mine. "I realized not long ago how much you are a mother to Zoe," I said. "Not just someone who's fond of her best friend's daughter, but someone who loves her as her own. You're so kind and understanding with her. And with me. And we've grown so close. The idea of losing you, for any reason, it has been tearing at me for a long time. But I thought you'd be wanting to move out when you were back to normal, and I've been trying to hold back my own feelings to keep from hurting, so I think I've been trying to tell myself that I'll be able to live without you."

I laughed. "I was never a good liar, Faye, even to myself. I do love you. I know I do. And I think... I think I need you."

"I need you too, love," she said.

"If we get married, will you adopt Zoe?" I asked.

"I would be proud to, if you both will let me."

"I'm a little bit nervous. It isn't forty-eight hours since we first made love. We've been together for a long time, but it's been less than two days since we became something different. But I don't want to wait to say yes. I do want to marry you. But perhaps we should have a fairly long engagement, to be sure that we know what we're doing."

Faye nodded slowly. "How about - when we're both ready for me to get pregnant? I wouldn't want to do it until we both want to grow our family, and I'm not personally ready to take the step now."

"Yes," I said. "We won't take too long, though."

She drew my fingers to her lips and kissed them. "I don't have a ring. If you don't mind waiting for a while, I can propose to you properly."

"You already proposed!" I objected. "You can't take it back now!"

"And I won't!" she countered. "But I need to ask someone's permission first. And then I want to do it right. On one knee and everything - and before witnesses. One in particular.

"Oh. Oh God, Faye, I love you so much. You want it to be right with Zoe!"

She nodded, and I found my eyes leaking, too. "Let's choose rings together," I said, "after we collect Zoe, but you can keep both, and choose the time and the place."

"Thank you, Erin," she said, softly. She squeezed my fingers. "You've made me the happiest woman alive."

I shook my head. "I don't think so," I said. "Just one of two."