Chapter 5
The middle of December brought a massive snowstorm,
and the city was completely shut down under two feet of snow.
The schools were closed,
and the roads were impassable,
which meant they were officially snowed in at the apartment.
Lily was absolutely ecstatic about this development,
and she spent the morning pressing her face against the cold window,
watching the white flakes fall from the heavy sky.
Adrian built a fire in the living room fireplace,
and the logs crackled and popped,
throwing a warm,
orange light across the hardwood floor.
Naomi made a large pot of hot chocolate,
and she added an excessive amount of marshmallows,
which earned her a standing ovation from their daughter.
They spent the afternoon building a blanket fort,
using every single chair and cushion they could find,
and draping heavy quilts over the makeshift structure.
Adrian engineered the roof for maximum stability,
and Lily declared him the official chief architect of the fort,
which was a title he accepted with great pride.
They crawled inside the dark,
cozy space,
and they brought flashlights and a stack of picture books,
and they lay on the floor reading stories out loud.
Lily fell asleep eventually,
her small breaths rhythmic and peaceful,
tucked safely between her parents in a fortress of blankets.
Adrian watched her sleep for a long time,
and then he looked at Naomi,
who was reading a book by the light of her phone.
Her face was relaxed,
and a stray lock of hair fell across her forehead,
and he felt an overwhelming surge of absolute clarity.
He wanted to marry her again,
but this time he wanted to do it with his eyes wide open,
and without the heavy shadows of his father's expectations.
He wanted to give her a promise that he would actually keep,
and he wanted to stand in front of their daughter,
and vow to protect the life they had fought so hard to build.
He reached out,
and he gently touched her cheek,
and she looked up from her book with a questioning smile.
He didn't say the words out loud just yet,
because he wanted the moment to be perfectly planned,
but his eyes communicated the depth of his devotion.
She leaned into his touch,
and she closed her eyes,
and she whispered that she loved him.
The wind howled outside the thick glass windows,
and the snow continued to bury the city streets,
but inside their small fort,
the world was incredibly safe.
They spent the rest of the weekend in a state of suspended reality,
eating leftover soup,
and playing endless board games,
and ignoring the demands of the outside world entirely.
It was a rare gift of uninterrupted time,
and Adrian cherished every single hour of it,
knowing that these quiet moments were the true substance of life.
When the snowplows finally cleared the roads on Monday,
and the city began to wake up from its frozen slumber,
he felt a strange sense of reluctance to leave the apartment.
He stood by the door in his winter coat,
and he kissed Naomi goodbye,
and he promised to come home exactly at five.
He walked out into the freezing air,
and his mind was already racing with plans,
May you like
because he had a very important question to ask,
and he needed to find the perfect ring to match the perfect woman.
