A few weeks later, a package arrived. "It's my dress for the wedding," Liza said, unwrapping the layers of tissue-papered garments on their bed. "And a matching tie and accessories for you. "
"So she made us get outfits with the colors she wanted? This is too much," Charles remarked, shaking his head.
"You might not know what it is like to have a wedding when you are pregnant, but I do. You just want to look pretty and have everything go your way. So let's give that to Pauline. We can laugh about her fussiness later."
"I'm sorry. I was forgetting about that, you've been where she is. On the bright side, I got you something to go with your dress. It even matches the color by coincidence. See, I'm trying without even trying," he chuckled.
Charles opened a box with a beautiful diamond and sapphire necklace and earring set with nearly the same accents of blue in her dress.
"This is just perfect!" she screamed. "Whoops, I should keep my voice down, I forgot the girls are at virtual summer camp."
He stood up, closed and locked the bedroom door. She looked at him expectantly, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And one more thing, but it doesn't go with your dress," he added. "I ordered this a while ago, it finally got here today." Charles reached into his dresser to retrieve it.
It was a gold cuff bracelet, similar to the one she usually wore, with coordinates engraved on them.
"I love it! Are these the coordinates of the city?" Liza asked.
"It's the coordinates of where we met, the street address of the building. You know, where we spent nearly every day working together the past five years. You're so important to me, you've been such a driving force in my life, that I wanted to honor that." He was getting choked up on his words. "And that's all I wanted to say."
"I feel the same way about meeting you, about our relationship, and now running the company together with your support. This means a lot to me. So, thank you."
After thanking him for longer than expected, they dashed to their desks in the study and logged in to their work meeting. They were fifteen minutes late, and Diana demanded an explanation. "I'm so sorry," he said shyly, "I had to take care of something. " She had her camera off for now, otherwise her blushing would give them away.
One afternoon as Liza was finishing up editing a long awaited sequel to one of their bestselling detective series, Josh called her.
"I have great news. I have an apartment for you in my new building. We rented most of them but I have a space for you. I'll even drop the rent a little, " he said.
"Oh." She was at a loss for words. "Thanks for thinking of me. But I'm good where I'm staying now. "
"So you're really happy now. With him, " he sighed.
"I am. But I'll pass it on to our two new editors working remotely. They'll be moving into the city when we go back in person to work, " she said cheerfully. She hung up as Charles walked in the room.
"Who was that?" Charles asked.
"Oh, it was -" She started to say 'nobody' and her instinct was to make up a story so he wouldn't know what happened. But she caught herself, realizing there was no logical reason to do this.
"It was Josh. He offered me an apartment in his building. But I told him I'm staying where I am, and I'm happy," she announced proudly.
"Staying indefinitely?" he asked optimistically. "I hope so."
"I thought I could stay permanently. If you'll have me?" she inquired.
"You know I will. This is amazing," Charles looked at her lovingly. She dreaded what she had to say next.
"I have a confession. I almost invented a story to avoid telling you who called. I'm trying to catch myself. It's this little panic thing that comes over me, and I start to think like that. I've trained myself, and I have to unlearn. If that makes sense, " Liza rambled.
He thought for a minute, turning away. She tried to deduce if he was angry with her.
He said thoughtfully, "It's like those old war novels. That's what we do to ourselves. We develop ways of protecting ourselves whether that's from poverty, hunger, and in our cases, hurt."
"And the irony is, what the protagonist thinks is protective, ends up hurting them. That's the real struggle," she responded.
"Right."
"In my case, I'm so worried I'll be found out that I keep thinking I need to hide and cover up, when I really don't," Liza said, realizing she had been doing this for years.
"We don't really need to do any of those things we trained ourselves to do," Charles added. "Both of us have our defenses."
"So I was reading about this technique, where if you have a bad habit, you wear a rubber band around your wrist. You snap it every time you mess up," she offered.
"I think we'd have permanently red arms if we did that." He joked. "We just have to realize we are safe with each other. Admit if we mess up and try to get better. And just be patient," he reassured her.
Excited about making the decision to move, she contacted Maggie, and got the rest of her belongings brought in that week. It was mostly books and clothes, but she had missed having a place for everything. He made an effort to give her some much needed closet space, and with Bianca's organizing skills, she was officially a member of the household.