Asked questions.
Decided on supervised calls.
Serafina stayed outside those decisions.
One night Amara asked her:
“Are you scared I’ll like my mom more?”
Serafina stared.
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Then corrected:
“I might feel scared sometimes.”
“But that isn’t your responsibility.”
Amara looked toward her.
“You’re good at answers.”
“I pay lawyers.”
Amara laughed.
Their family became more complicated.
Better.
Not because anyone replaced anyone.
Because room expanded.
Two years after the rainstorm, Kellen and Serafina bought a house together.
Not a mansion.
Serafina owned several.
She sold two.
Kept one apartment for work.
The house they chose sat on twelve wooded acres outside Columbus.
Four bedrooms.
Big kitchen.
Workshop.
Amara chose the smallest bedroom because it had a window seat.
Kellen protested.
She said:
“I don’t need floor.”
Fair.
Serafina wanted a marble kitchen island.
Kellen looked at the price.
“No.”
“I’m paying.”
“Still no.”
“Why?”
“That much money for rock is immoral.”
“It is stone.”
“Rich-person vocabulary.”
They compromised.
Quartz.
Serafina complained for months.
Then admitted quartz was easier to maintain.
Kellen never let her forget.
He proposed in the workshop.
Not on a yacht.
Not at a gala.
Not on the mountain road.
He was rebuilding an old motorcycle.
Serafina walked in.
Found him holding a ring with grease on his knuckles.
She stared.
“You planned this?”
“Yes.”
“Like this?”
“I cleaned the floor.”
She laughed until she cried.
Then he said:
“I don’t want our story to be the broken car.”
Her expression changed.
“I don’t want you to be the woman who saved my career.”
“I don’t want to be the man who taught you your company was broken.”
“I want Tuesday dinner.”
“Fights about countertops.”
“Amara stealing your shoes.”
“She returns them.”
“She does not.”
Serafina smiled through tears.
Kellen continued:
“I want the boring parts long enough that we stop needing a plot twist.”
She laughed.
Then:
“Yes.”
He blinked.
“I had more.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You interrupted.”
“I’m a CEO.”
“You’re impossible.”
She kissed him.
They married six months later.
Small ceremony.
Amara stood beside Kellen.
David Chen officiated after getting licensed online.
He took the role far too seriously.
Marcus cried openly and denied it.
Serafina’s mother wore red.
Kellen’s sister got drunk before dessert.
Normal.
Good.
No helicopters.
No press.
No Vale logo.
At the reception, Amara gave a speech despite being thirteen.
She said:
“My dad met Serafina because he can’t mind his business.”
Everyone laughed.