"I'm sorry that I couldn't get home earlier," Henrik said as he crossed over to where Roxanna was sitting on the sofa, leaning down to kiss her cheek before settling down next to her. "There was an emergency surgery, and Graham pulled me in to assist. How was your day?"
"It was good. I got some more planning done on the wedding, and everything is coming together nicely. I've booked our venue for the ceremony and the reception, and tomorrow, I'm going to see about posting the banns, so that we can be all official." She smiled at him before patting his chest. "May I?"
He nodded, and then she was reclining against him, letting her head come to rest above his heart. "And have you given thought about our honeymoon?" he asked as he started to drag his fingers through her hair slowly.
"I still want to visit the Scottish borders. If we're to stay with our plan of having a home of our own, we can't be extravagant about our spending. And I'm still hoping that Freddy will join us for the wedding and afterwards. I mean, it's not like we have to worry about consummating things, do we?"
He chuckled as he shook his head. "You do have a good point there. And I'm certain we could ask if there was a nanny available at our hotel if we want to share an intimate moment." Roxanna let out a small, pleased, breath as her hand spread out on his stomach. "So, what do we have left to do?"
"Dress shopping for me, perhaps a new suit for you, ordering flowers, contacting musicians, and finding a caterer and a cake. I know, it sounds like a lot, but given everything I've already done, this is the very end of things. And to think I still have four months left to plan!" He leaned down and pressed his lips against the top of her head. "Oh, and invitations. I ordered them today, and I'd like your help addressing them, if you don't mind."
"That will be fine. I take it there are no more tweaks to the guest list?"
Roxanna cleared her throat guiltily as she snaked her arm around his torso in order to spread her hand out on his back and hold him close. "Well, I did want to make one addition. Seeing as how John was so thoughtful to attend my father's funeral, I thought that we could extend the olive branch to him. It doesn't mean that we have to welcome him into our lives, but I would like to share this moment with him. After all, we can't harbor ill will towards him forever. That will hurt our hearts more than hurt him."
Roxanna did have a point, there wasn't the need to hold on to petty bitterness, and he finally nodded before wrapping his arm low around her waist, breathing in the delicate scent of her perfume. "Once more, you appear to have a larger heart than I do," he said lowly before allowing a peaceful silence to envelope the room. They sat like that for a while before Roxanna stirred and pushed away from him, getting up from the sofa and smiling down on him.
"I'm going to start supper. Is there anything that you particularly want?"
Shaking his head, he leaned forward and picked up the mail, looking through it to see if there was anything good. "I'll be fine with whatever you make, darling. Just make certain you wake me up if I fall asleep before it's ready." She giggled a little as she left the room, and he let out a chuffed little breath as he settled back in the sofa with the newspaper and an envelope with his name on it. Opening the envelope first, he gasped to find tickets to the symphony inside. Tossing the newspaper back onto the coffee table, he got to his feet and hurried into the kitchen, where Roxanna was just pulling a cake out of the fridge to set on the table.
"I take it you opened the envelope," she said, a mischievous grin on her lips. "I wouldn't forget your birthday, Henrik, and I knew that you wanted to go hear this show when it was announced at the beginning of the season. Thankfully, I was able to still get us a pretty decent place to sit and watch it."
That was the first time he thought to look at that, and breathed in sharply. "These are amazing seats, Roxanna. How did you manage to get these?"
"Luck and perseverance. I'm not too knowledgeable about classical music concerts, given my taste in music, but I was talking with Guy Self, and he told me to ask for seats in the middle of the row, and towards the middle of the hall. And then I called the hall for tickets, mentioning my requests, and this is what they sold me. Happy birthday, darling."
He set the tickets on the table as he crossed over to her, taking the cake and putting it on the counter before hugging her tightly and giving her a deep kiss, trying to pour out all his love and devotion for her thoughtful gift in that embrace. "Normally, we don't celebrate my birthday, what brought this about?" he asked as he took a seat at the table and watched Roxanna start to pull out two plates of food from the fridge as well.
"Let me just pop these into the oven to warm up," she said as he reached out and pulled open the door, feeling the warmth of it roll out and wash over him. "I was hoping you didn't have anything special in mind when I asked, since I had already made this today." She closed the door and turned the timer on for ten minutes before she turned and looked at him once more. "And it felt right to celebrate this year. We've had so many bobbles in the road, that a spot of joy is always most welcome."
He nodded as she stepped forward, settling onto the table as she watched him closely. "That is true, too. I hope that you know how much you mean to me. You're always thinking about ways that you can make me happy, and I feel like I don't do my due diligence to reciprocate that."
"You don't need to be quite as extravagant as I am, I know that that's not you. But I also didn't fall in love with grand gestures from you. I fell in love with your quiet, serious, self. The person who will always be there to catch me when I stumble." Roxanna reached out and caressed his face, tapping her thumb against his lips as she smiled at him. "Let me be the effusive one, as long as you promise to remain my faithful Henrik."
"I will promise to always be your faithful Henrik, dearest Roxanna," he said before kissing her thumb. She tilted her head to one side before letting out a soft hum. Leaning in towards each other at the same time, their lips met in a tender kiss, and Henrik thought, briefly, that if there was a God in heaven, He would surely never add any more strife between him and Roxanna, not when they had already fought through so much to be together.