Thanks for all the follows and great reviews! :-) Now the big question is whether or not he will... ;-)
They were lying next to each other on a picnic blanket, under the shadow of a tree. Grisha grunted. "This is what the turkey must feel like at Thanksgiving."
Dee turned her head to him. "Like what?"
"Completely stuffed."
She snickered. "That's a really bad joke."
"I got you to laugh anyway."
"Yeah…" She closed her eyes, letting out a contented sigh. "Have I mentioned this is the best birthday ever?"
"Already?"
"Mmm. A walk through the book market, searching for vintage cookbooks with someone who at least pretends not to be bored out of his mind, then a picnic with food from an Ottolenghi deli… You know how to spoil a girl."
He grinned. "And you haven't seen your present yet."
"There's more?"
"Only if you want it."
Her eyes stayed closed. "Later. I like laying here with you."
He did too. He'd used one of Hetty's contacts to get them into a fancy restaurant he knew Dee wanted to go to, and surprise her with her family. Dee wasn't big on birthdays but he wanted to do something special, particularly since they were in London. The past two weeks had gone by fast, and he was glad he had come. He'd met her grandmother, her aunt and uncle, and the rest of her extended English side of the family. And he fit. He fit with them because he fit with her.
On some level it felt as if they were getting reacquainted with each other. Maybe it was because he was seeing a side of her he hadn't seen yet. She radiated English culture; showing him places from her childhood and going sightseeing with him, using words and expressions he hadn't heard of yet, in an accent he found both adorable and incredibly sexy.
"Dee?"
"Mmm?"
It was a question that had been swimming in his mind for a few days. "Have you decided what you're going to do when we get back home?"
It stayed quiet next to him for a little while. "Sort of. It depends on a few things."
"Like what?"
She opened her eyes and rolled on her side. "Future stuff. It's an awfully serious conversation to have on my birthday."
He nodded, his eyes not leaving hers. "No better day to plan your future than your birthday, right?" He wasn't backing down. Grisha wanted to know.
"Okay." She propped her head up on her hand and he copied her posture so that he could look at her. "This thing we have together, it's serious, correct?"
"It is," he confirmed.
"Okay. Are we going to have a big wedding?"
"If it were completely up to me, no, not really. But if you want to, yeah, sure. Anything you want."
The corners of her mouth pulled up. "Nah, let's do something small. Courthouse wedding, a few days away, just the two of us to get married. We'll send everyone a card afterwards or so."
"You sure you don't want your parents there?" Grisha knew that as long as she was there, he'd be fine. But since her family ties were much stronger than his own, he could imagine that she'd want her parents there.
"Don't think so. I did the whole over-the-top-thing the first time; it would be bliss to just elope and have something tiny with the two of us."
"No dress?"
"Oh yes, a dress. And a suit. And flowers and photos. But just the two of us. Unless you'd like Hetty to be there, of course, which I would completely understand."
He was quick to decline. "No, I'm good with the two of us."
She repositioned her head. "Where are we going to live?"
"That depends on what house we fall in love with. I don't know… Something with a big, light kitchen, and an extra bedroom."
"Just one?"
He raised an eyebrow. "How many kids do you plan on having?"
"One, maybe two. Why?"
"Only making sure."
"You don't want a complete football team?"
His brow furrowed. "I don't know… Until early last year I wouldn't have thought kids were ever going to happen for me, and part of me still thinks that, I guess." His eyes drifted away from hers.
Dee sensed his hesitation. "You never dreamed of kids? Not even deep down?"
Grisha shrugged. "Maybe. But it was never in the cards for me, either relationship wise or because I had, have, still so many issues to work through. Never thought I would ever be father material."
"You still don't?" Dee wanted to know.
"Not really." He smiled. "I once told someone in a conversation that teaching little league would be idyllic. To which he said that it we do what we do so that other people can have that life."
"A colleague?"
"Something like that."
Dee bit the inside of her lip. "Don't feel pressured by me saying that I would like to have a kid. We're having a conversation about our ideal of the future, we don't have to make any drastic decisions now."
Finally, he looked back at her. "You know what? I'm actually looking forward to it. I think I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this time, it might be in the cards for me. For us."
Her eyes sparkled with affection. "Fingers crossed."
"Have you decided on what to do with the café?"
Dee lifted her head from her hand and turned on her back again. "I am not completely sure yet. On one hand, I'd like to reopen Indulge, but at the same time my brain seems to worry about the kids we don't have yet. I'd like to read bedtime stories and do bath time, you know. If I rebuild Indulge the way it was, that is not going to happen."
Grisha reached over and brushed hair away from her face. "Then what are you going to do?"
She turned her head to him. "The way I see it, there are two options. I rebuild Indulge as a decadent bistro style café, which means that opening hours are until six at the latest because you don't serve dinner. Or, I decide not to rebuild at all, and start something new altogether."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Do a high end catering from home or something. That way I can be around and work from home. We just have to find a home with a yard big enough to build a professional kitchen."
"And there goes the 'we'll-look-for-something-with-just-an-extra-bedroom' plan." He grinned. "Both of them sound good. I'll support you no matter what you decide to do."
"What would you prefer? You know, thinking of everything that we hope will happen for us in the next few years?"
He weighed both options in his head for a few moments. "Considering the whole marriage and kids thing? Maybe I'd prefer the catering option, but mostly because I know I have insane hours on the job and I would love to know that you're around. But I also know how much joy that café gave you, and how hard you worked for it. And you know, even Jamie Oliver grew up in a café, and he turned out all right. So I think we can do that too. Especially when I decide that I'm done being an agent."
Dee's eyes narrowed. "Are you? Going to be done?"
He nodded. "I am. At some point I'm going to be done. I've been in federal service in one form or another for twenty years and counting, Dee, and if we start this family, I want that to be important. I don't want to have to make the choices my parents had to make because of what they did. I'd rather not protect my kids by never seeing them again."
"What are you going to do when you're not an agent anymore?"
Again, he shrugged. "Find something with less insane hours and a mortality rate that isn't as high. If all else fails, I can teach Russian."
"Or you could become my sous-chef."
"See? The world would be at my feet again." Grisha winked. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let find a new house first and do the other things on that list, too. Then the kid might be old enough to be taught baseball and I just go and coach little league."
"Okay." She closed her eyes again. "What time is dinner again?"
"Seven thirty."
"Tell me again where you're taking me?"
"I haven't told you yet."
"That was it." She smiled, scooting a bit closer to him. "I'll let myself be surprised."
Grisha leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "I love you."