A/N: Jonathon Swift wrote an essay called A Modest Proposal. Thought I'd put a spin on his title, as I like wordplay.
By the way, spoilers ahead for Blind Betrayal. Sorry, but it's just a disclosure.
27. A Modest Proposal
Beth POV
A Thousand Years by Christina Perri
Duncan is shocked when we pull the boat up to an island instead of the mainland. "You don't live in the city?" He looks toward the Boston skyline.
His dad picks him up and sets him on the dock. "Nope. This is it, buddy." When Robert and I are loaded down with all our bags and whatnot, the three of us step out of the boathouse. Duncan finally gets a good look at Spectacle Island. Since he wasn't expecting this to be it, he didn't really look at it before. Robert says, "As long as you stay out of the water, you can go look around while we put our stuff away." Duncan gets an excited look in his eye, grins, and takes off like a bat out of hell. "Just be back to the house before dinner!" he yells after him. Laughing, Robert and I make our way to the house, glad to be back—and now with a plus one. It's not just us anymore, I think merrily.
As I'm putting up the two bottles of water we didn't drink on the way back from DC, I hear small footsteps run through the front door, followed by a drawled, "Wow!" I peek around the corner and see Duncan standing on the far end of the hallway and laugh to myself. "This place is huge!" He wonders throughout the house, looking through every nook and cranny, not leaving a single rock unturned.
Robert sees me tailing him from the next room, sees the smile on my face. He comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. "He's not used to such a big house," he says as he puts his chin on my shoulder. "It's gonna take a while to adjust—like I did." He kisses me just below the ear. "You sure like to live big, Beth." He chuckles. I turn around and put my arms around his neck.
"Nah. I just like big in general." He sneers at me as I lean forward and bite his lower lip. Duncan comes through the door and sees us. I'm afraid of his response, and almost let Robert go until I see the boy grinning. He just walks past us to the next room. So calm? I can't help the question-like "tone" to my thought.
Robert's eyes follow him. "Should we show him his room?"
I grin at him. "I think so."
"Hey, Duncan?" The boy turns around, his face curious. "Want to see your room?"
"My room? Aren't we sharing like normal?" He seems surprised, yet at the same time, he looks like he's trying not to be too excited in case of disappointment.
"Nope." Robert goes up the stairs, Duncan and I behind him.
As we walk through the hall upstairs, Duncan still has a face of bewilderment, like he just can't wrap his head around the concept of such a big house. When we reach the doorway to his room, Robert steps aside to let the boy pass him. Duncan's eyes go round immediately. He slowly walks to the center of the room and does a three-sixty.
He looks at his bed, his desk, his dresser, his reading nook—everything, his. He gazes back to us, standing in the doorway, staring at him with smiles on our faces. He can't believe his eyes.
"It's all yours," I tell him. "If you don't like it, we can certainly change it around, get you some new stuff—" I'm cut off by him running directly to me and wrapping his arms around my legs. Not his father's—mine.
"Thank you," Duncan says to me, his voice distorted from his face being pressed against my leg. I look to Robert, confused.
"He knows it was you that did this for him—he just knows. He has Lucy's adept senses," he says with a grin. I kneel and hug Duncan back.
He leans back and looks at me. "I never had a room to myself," he tells me. He quickly wipes the single tear from the corner of his eye. "Dad and I always shared a room, cause we only had one mattress." He looks to Robert. "Where do you sleep now?"
Robert waves him across the hall, to the doorway of our room. "Right here. This is where we sleep," he says, signifying both of us. To my surprise, Duncan just nods. I was half expecting him to be grossed out, or maybe even a little mad. He's old enough by now to know that his mom and dad should be sharing a bed, not his dad and some random woman he'd met a few days prior. But he doesn't seem bothered in the slightest by it. He turns and walks back to his room. When Robert passes me to follow him, he kisses me on the cheek and gives me an encouraging smile.
When I follow the two of them back across the hallway, I see Duncan looking at his bookshelf. He plucks a book from it and sits on the easy chair, opening it and looking through its contents. Once he's pleased with his pick, he leans back and starts to read it from the beginning.
Robert's watching him from the doorway like I am, and when he sees my shocked expression, he explains. "Lucy used to read to him all the time. Even though it was just from medical textbooks. I know he was very young, but it still stuck with him. So, he's used to reading. Kate also told me that she read to both Ellis and Duncan every night. She only reads advanced material, so you can understand that he knows a lot, and can read quite well for his age."
I notice the author of the work in Duncan's hands. "He's reading a work by Jonathan Swift." Robert smiles and nods. "He's not even six."
"He will be on August twenty-fourth."
I think of today's date. "That's not for another almost… four months." He nods again. I look back to Duncan, seeming quite pleased with his book choice. "In all honesty, I didn't even think he'd even pick it up for another like, four years. I definitely was not expecting him to after only an hour of getting here." Robert chuckles.
"C'mon." He tugs on my arm. "Let's go start dinner."
"I'll go let him know it's ready," Robert tells me as I'm setting the table up. I'm not sure why I picked out such a large table to begin with. When we were on the furniture hunt, we weren't really talking about having Duncan here. It had been mentioned, but not set in stone yet. Plus, the chances of having company were small, so we didn't exactly need the room for dining.
When I set my and Robert's plates out, I think, Does Duncan even use plates, or is he still at that plastic plates and utensils stage? When do kids even outgrow that? Especially in today's time? With the lack of actually raising a child, my knowledge on them are extremely limited. I decide to just set out a regular plate for him, until I learn what he needs.
I sit on one of the chairs and wait for my boys to come down. Been a while since I've thought those terms. I think back to when I had Nate and Shaun to wait on and smile. Nice to have that again… What is taking them so long? I haven't even heard them talking… As I think this, I finally hear movement upstairs—small steps walking from Duncan's room to the hallway, to the stairs. I also note that there's bigger steps moving from Duncan's room to across the hallway, to our room.
As Duncan rounds the corner, he sniffs the air approvingly. "What's for dinner?"
"Your dad and I made a yao guai roast. Thought we'd splurge a little as a welcome home meal." He sees the pan sitting on the kitchen island and smiles. And as I'm cutting us all some of the roast, Robert walks in, and without realizing it, copies his son by smelling the air. Like father, like son. I chuckle.
"Sorry," he apologizes. "I had to go get something." He doesn't elaborate further, leaving me curious. I just leave it alone with a shake of my head as we sit down and dig in. After a few minutes of silent eating—from us all being so hungry—Robert asks, "So, Duncan—how do you like this place so far?"
Duncan drops his fork onto his plate and gestures with his arms as he says, "It's so big! Like, this big!" He holds his arms out even further. "I like it!" He picks his fork back up and takes a bite as he continues, "I met a lady earlier." Must've been Curie. "She's nice."
"You met Curie?" Robert asks as the boy nods. "Did you like her, too?"
"Yeah." He swallows. "She talks funny, but she's nice. She showed me her house. It's really small compared to this one."
"She wanted a cozy place to live," I tell him. "And she's the only one living there, so her house doesn't need to be as big as ours."
"Oh." He takes another bite then asks, "What's that empty room for? The one next to mine?"
Robert and I share a look. He says, "When we built this house, we planned for Beth's son to live with us…" I look down at my plate and realize I'm not hungry anymore.
Duncan doesn't freak out in the mentioning of my having a son, so I assume Robert had told him at some point. Instead, he asks, "Why can't he live here? I didn't make him not want to live here, did I?" He looks worried.
His dad is quick to answer. "No, no. Of course not… It's… There's another reason. You don't need to worry about it, buddy." He stands up. "That room's just gonna be empty for a little while, okay?" Duncan nods. "You two done?" I hand him my plate as Duncan takes another bite then hands it to Robert, who takes the plates to the rest of the roast and dumps what we didn't eat into the pan with it. Normally, the Pre-War me would cringe, but in this world, you have to save every last morsel.
I see Duncan nod in my peripheral vision, then he stands and walks up to my side. "Beth?" This shocks me since he's never directly addressed me by name. I look at him curiously, and try to leave the shock out of my expression. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Duncan." I turn toward him in my chair.
He looks at his hands as he asks, "Would it be okay if I called you Mom? I mean, I know you're not, and I really wish I could remember my real mom more, but… it'd be nice to have someone to call Mom… And I think you're going to be a good mom for me." He looks up at me and smiles shyly.
I'm beyond words, so I just nod. He leans in and gives me a hug. I tell him, "I'd love to be your mom," and kiss the top of his head, making him blush a little bit.
From behind me, I hear, "Want to make it official?"
I'm still looking at Duncan as I say, "I think we just did." I smile at the boy, who smiles back.
"Well, you two did. What about me?" Robert asks. "I want to make it official," he adds in a hammy childish tone. Duncan—still smiling—points behind me, to where his dad is. I look over my shoulder and nearly fall out of my chair.
Robert is maybe three feet from me, kneeling on one knee, and holding his fist closed. Duncan grabs my hands and tries his best to pull me onto my feet. Once I'm standing, he leads me toward his father, whose face now shows his amusement. "Can I call you Mom, too?" He teases, winking at Duncan, making him giggle.
I'm close enough for him to touch, so he grabs my hand and holds it in his own. "Before I get to the punchline, I need to make this at least a little cheesy." He chuckles than clears his throat.
"Beth. I feel like when I met you, I was lost. I was still feeling guilty over Lucy's death, and I definitely felt guilty that Duncan was sick. The fact that I'd left him in DC while I was wallowing in Goodneighbor made me feel worthless. But everything changed when I met you.
"You were so timid when you first came into the Third Rail. But you still left an imprint on my mind, and even though it was a month until you came back, I never forgot you—you'd pass through my mind more than I'm willing to admit.
"But when you came back, and you were so different—so strong—I didn't know I would've fallen this hard for you. But it happened, and I'll forever be curious as to how you felt the same about me.
"But, all that aside… I know I can't live without you. You've brought a light into my life that I didn't know I needed. You saved my son, and you saved me… from myself. I want to spend the rest of my life making that up to you." He opens his fist to show me a simple wedding band—silver, and inscribed with the word Eius on the inside. I feel my face fall into a more than surprised expression. "Will you marry me, Beth? Make me the happiest man in the world?"
I nod wildly. "Yes!"
He gets to his feet and hugs me tightly. I realize I'm crying as he leans back and takes my left hand in his, slipping the ring onto my ring finger and glances over at Duncan, silently inviting him to join the celebration. He picks him up and the three of us share an intimate hug in the middle of the kitchen.
That night, after Duncan had gone to bed, Robert and I lay in our own, talking.
"It already had that word inscribed," he says. "Sorry if you don't like it."
I raise my hand up, looking at the ring for the millionth time. "No, I love it," I assure with a smile. "I've always preferred silver over gold. And as for the inscription…" I look to him. "I couldn't agree more." He looks at it, then at me, confused. I laugh. "It means 'his' in Latin. I couldn't agree more," I repeat, leaning over to give him a kiss.
"Then what does this mean?" He produces a second ring out of his pocket and hands it to me. In the same spot as mine, it reads Illius. I laugh again. "What?" he asks.
"You got lucky with giving me the one you did," I say. "This one," I indicate the one he handed me, "says 'hers' in Latin." I hand it back him, and he looks at the word inscribed there.
"I need to thank Danse, then." Now I'm the one looking confused. He chuckles. "Danse was the one that found these. He said he wasn't even sure why he kept them. But when I mentioned I wanted to marry you, he offered them to me, said he wanted to see them get used. He handed me that one," he points to my hand, "and said that one is yours. So, I just trusted him with it. Guess since the Brotherhood's motto is in Latin, it shouldn't surprise me he knew what they said."
"You got them from Danse?" He nods. It finally clicks for me. "Oh! So, that's where you went that one night, a little while back? When he 'needed help with his report?'" He nods again, a bit sheepishly this time. I smack his arm. "You lied to me?"
"Had to!" he counters, rubbing his "sore" arm. "Would've spoiled the whole thing if I hadn't."
I think of Danse's involvement the following morning. "So, he was in on it…"
"Of course he was," Robert chuckles. "He had to be. Shoot—he gave the rings to me in the first place." He puts the ring back in his pocket before settling down again. "Man, it's gonna be weird to wear that."
"You didn't when you and Lucy were married?" I ask.
"No. Neither of us did. Rings are kinda hard to come by, for one. And two, we didn't feel the need. We were young and just didn't care about that sort of stuff."
"Well, don't wear one for me," I tell him. "I'm used to it so it won't bother me, but if it does you…"
"No, I'm going to. Just because I didn't before, doesn't mean I'm not going to now. I want to partly for you," he says, "because everyone wore wedding rings before the War, I want to do that for you. But also, I want to for me. I'm going to be so proud to call you my wife, that I'm going to want to show it off. You'll be lucky if I don't walk around, shoving my hand in people's faces and bragging about it." He laughs.
"Beth?" I wake up to Robert sitting on my side of the bed. "Beth, there's a Brotherhood dude here. He said you're needed on the Prydwen ASAP." I lean onto my elbow and check the time.
"…It's not even five yet."
"Sounded urgent," he says. I sigh and get to my feet. As I'm getting dressed, he continues, "He said you can ride with them. I'm going to stay here with Duncan for now. If you need my help, send for me, please."
"I will," I promise.
Twenty minutes after being woken up, I'm on my way to the airship, where I'm greeted, and whisked onto the observation deck to meet with Elder Maxson. He's facing away from me, gazing down into the city.
"Elder," I salute. He turns toward me, and I instantly wonder if my tone was disrespectful, from the way he looks at me.
"Knight," he spits. "I have word that Paladin Danse has gone AWOL. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"No, sir. It's been a while since I've seen Danse. I just got back from DC—the Capital Wasteland—yesterday. I've been gone for almost two weeks, sir. Last time I saw him was before I shipped out."
"Oh." His response is rigid. "Well, then perhaps he told you something important before you left?"
"He told me that Dr. Li had arrived, but that I was on leave until further notice—about a month, he presumed." My brows scrunch together. "Sir, what are you trying to get at?"
"Nothing of imminent importance." His already bitter expression turns into even more of an angry scowl. "Just the fact that Danse is a synth!"
