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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Well it's that time of the day! I have an ON TIME update… AGAIN! My gosh, I don't think you guys know how proud I am right now. I know that's ridiculous, but I'm like SUPER proud that I've been on time all this month, so far. I hope you like this one cause, not only is it long, it's supposed to be super cute! Let me know in the reviews if it made you go awwww and I'll see you guys next week!
Chapter 427
Steve woke up that morning and was horrified to find that his wife was already out of bed.
That meant the breakfast in bed idea he had had been stolen, or well, she had just beat him downstairs.
"Shit," he muttered, along with a few other choice words, as he rushed to get his board shorts on. He also went for a tee-shirt. Normally he'd want to stun her with his pecks, but Nahele hadn't left for school yet and he didn't want to traumatize him so soon in the morning.
Steve rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Already he could smell pancakes and he was not happy.
It was their first anniversary as a married couple and he had wanted to present her with breakfast in bed. This was something he knew he could do, he already knew he was bad at the romantic things, he tried but no one could out-thoughtful Rowan.
"You cheated!" Steve said when he got downstairs and found her already at the stove. "You used the void, didn't you?"
Rowan turned a playful smirk to him. "Nope, you just slept in."
"Lies," Steve snapped playfully. "You must have drugged me, admit it!"
"Fucking you comatose is not the same as drugging you, Steven. You were a willing participant…"
At the reminder of last night and how she clearly brought out the good moves to tire him out so he wouldn't wake up early he got excited all over again. He reached out for her waist tugging her to his chest. Rowan went willingly, she always did, which meant she came with a smile, already angling for a kiss that he gladly planted on her.
"Ewwwww," Nahele cried, completely interrupting them as he came into the kitchen. "Guys, come on. I know it's your anniversary but please… please… save this shit for after I've left for school."
"Makani's mom is picking you up, right?" Steve asked. It might have seemed a little insensitive to immediately ask him who was picking him up, but it was only because it if it was their turn to carpool, Steve would lose out on time with Rowan.
"No, Kai's mom," he said. "I'm going over to Makani's for dinner and coming home round nine, so please be done whatever disgusting thing you two want to do by then."
"Will do," Steve said.
Rowan turned and put a plate with plain chocolate chip pancakes into Nahele's hand. "Please drink this with milk, you can take a to-go mug of coffee."
"Thanks mom," he said and then glanced to Steve. "Kinda hard to give you breakfast in bed if you're downstairs dad."
"It was supposed to be breakfast in bed for her, but she beat me to it."
Rowan shot him a coy smile over her shoulder. "You can make me breakfast in bed after I'm done with yours."
"Yeah but then my food would be cold," Steve said.
"Well you don't have to wait to eat, Steven."
"So I'm going to cook and eat?" he shot back and Rowan frowned.
"How about you use someone else's stove?" Nahele asked around a mouthful of his own pancake breakfast. "Like Uncle Danno's?"
"Too far," Rowan said. "I could ask Wo."
See that made no sense, because if she was going to void to Wo she could void to Danny, though Steve didn't know if he had his kids and it would probably weird if he just showed up out of the blue. Even if Grace knew Rowan had void powers.
Then before Steve could stop her she was moving away. It would have been a good idea except it was 2 am in Japan, Rowan had thrown him there for a bit of a weekend away a day ago, Wo Fat was probably asleep and Rowan wasn't supposed to be using her powers. That didn't stop her from crossing to the kitchen door, opening a portal and opening the door before Steve could stop her though.
"Rowan," he hissed, but it was too late, Rowan already had a portal open and was calling for her brother.
She didn't even have to call him more than once. She opened the portal, said: "Wo," in the softest voice ever and the man practically jerked away.
There was a bit of a snort, a bit of a yelp and then: "Whhaaa?" from the man.
"Can Steve use your kitchen?"
"Rowan. It's 2 in the morning."
"Yes I know, but can he use your kitchen… he wants to make me breakfast in bed."
"Can't he do that at your house?"
"No, cause I'm making him breakfast in bed."
Wo Fat groaned loudly but it was Jian who said: "Only if you make us matcha pancakes."
Immediately he heard Wo go: "Ooooohhhhh… yes, I like that deal. Matcha pancakes please and then he can use our kitchen."
"Awesome, done, Steve?"
She turned back to him and Steve sighed. "Give me a minute, let me collect everything."
Steve went about the kitchen gathering up supplies sometimes throwing questions at Wo Fat about what he had utensils wise, and when he was done he came back to the door to find Wo Fat standing there in his PJs, which was similar to what Steve wore.
Nothing but sweatpants.
"You spend an awful lot of time in a state of undress around your sister," Steve said and Wo Fat looked down to his bare chest and then up to Steve again.
"You two woke me up in the dead of night. I'm sorry I went to bed without a shirt. My girlfriend happens to like that."
"It's true," Jian called, probably from the bed.
"Just like she likes it when you're shirtless for bed or in general," Wo Fat added and Steve sighed because he was right.
"Fine. Sorry. It's not weird, happy now?"
"It's two am and instead of sleeping I'm going to have to listen to you making god knows what in my kitchen. No I'm not happy."
"You can go back to sleep."
"He's a light sleeper," Rowan said. "There was one night I just sighed, I sighed, and he woke up and was all alright, what is it this time? If you start crying I'm kicking you out."
Steve turned to Rowan, realized that she was telling a story of a time she was in bed with her brother and then turned back to Wo Fat who was frowning.
"I am not that callous. I never kicked you out when you were crying. I just threatened to," he said primly. "And honest, I don't know why you were crying that much. Your relationship with this man—up until that point—had been chaos, disastrous and abusive. The fact that you mourned him and the loss of it so much still baffles me."
"Hey!" Steve cried but Wo Fat just help up his hand to stop him.
"I said up until that point, you can't argue that I'm wrong about that. I didn't include now because you've been much better."
Steve nodded. "Right, well thank you for that."
Before Wo Fat could say thank you Jian appeared beside him. "I've been wondering this for a while but… do you co-sleep with your sister often?"
"Only when I have nightmares and Steve isn't around," Wo said.
"Or if Wo has nightmares."
"Wo has nightmares?" Jian asked and Wo Fat shot a quick scowl at Rowan for bringing that up. "What does he have nightmares about?"
"Mostly me," Rowan said and then turned to him. "Unless you're having new ones."
Wo Fat groaned and already Steve could see that the man was super frustrated. So he stepped in. "How about you two talk after I get your breakfast done, hmm?"
"Yes, and you have to make us matcha pancakes," Jian added seemingly distracted.
Wo Fat gave him a bit of a nod in thanks and Steve officially figured the situation neutralized. He kissed his wife on her cheek before walking through the door. Wo Fat moved to open the bedroom door for him and Rowan finally closed the portal.
Wo Fat let him walk through the door but didn't seem to be following him. As he left their room, though, to go to their sleek silver and white tiled kitchen he heard Jian ask: "Why didn't you tell me you have nightmares?" and Wo's subsequent groan and he stifled his laughter.
After everything he went through with Wo Fat he was kind of glad to see it coming back at him now.
And he would totally revel in that later, first he had to make his wife the best anniversary breakfast EVER.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve finished making the waffles he wanted to make.
He had this waffle marker specially made to look like Ariel's seashells, from her bra. He made special batter, one half dyed a light purple the other a green so he could make them in Ariel's colours. He had even dyed the whip cream red for the hair.
By the time he was done, not only was Rowan done, but Wo Fat and Jian's matcha pancakes were ready to.
When he left the couple were giggling in bed over their own midnight breakfast in bed which, honestly, was kinda super cute.
He then took his tray up to the bedroom where Rowan was waiting with her tray. Once he was sitting down in the bed they switched trays.
She had made him chunky monkey pancakes, which were his favourite and had even used the French Press to make him coffee. She had used all his favourite dishes, from the original set he had before she bought her girly stuff. One of his mugs from Nahele, and the black and silver plates.
Rowan squealed over her Ariel themed pancakes, and the matching Ariel mug he had used for her tea. He had used her girly plates because he knew she liked them. These were the ones with purple flowers along the edges.
She took a million pictures before eating, Steve only took the one. His picture was for his own memories. Rowan's was for her social media but that was alright. She showed him the post when she was done, it was both of their breakfasts. It was a hers and his post, not in a competitive way but in a look how cute we are kind of way. She had hashtaged it: Anniversary and couples goals, and that made him smile.
Together they ate their breakfasts, gave each other compliments on the other's work, and when they were done they lounged back and cuddled.
Well, they cuddled for all but six seconds before turning to more carnal pleasures. Then they got to lay back a sweaty, smirking mess. Steve had his arm around Rowan's waist, Rowan was lounging against him pressing kisses to his chest.
"If you don't stop doing that we won't end up leaving the bed today."
They didn't really have much of a plan for the day. He had gotten the day off so he could spend it with her. The plan was to wing it for the first half before having an anniversary dinner at Azure. They had also talked about not getting each other big gifts for this anniversary as they had done big things for each other's birthdays this year.
Steve had not adhered to that idea because he knew Rowan wouldn't. So he had gotten her something heart felt, something he had made himself and included paper as that was their anniversary gift for a year. He totally keep it for Christmas if it turned out she didn't have a gift for him, but he knew that wouldn't be the case.
So he was sort of hoping they could go shopping together, maybe he'd treat her to something absolutely wonderful that she wanted. He wasn't sure what it was but he knew she'd deserve it.
Rowan pressed one last kiss right to the middle of his chest and then turned that silken smile up to him. "What would you like to do today?"
Steve wanted to tell her that he wanted to everything, anything, just so long as he was with her. He wanted tell her that he wanted to take her shopping, he wanted to take her into a book store and tell her to go wild. His treat, no stingy McGarrett today, she could buy anything she wanted. He wanted to tell her that he'd take her to a movie, any one, she could pick, again, his treat. He wanted to tell her he'd stay home and cuddle with her on the couch if that's what she wanted.
The problem was the second he opened his mouth to tell her that his phone rang.
Right away both of their smiles faded, fear lit up his beautiful wife's face and he hated seeing it.
"Ignore that," he said right away. "I want to do whatever you want to do. So what would you like to do today, Mrs. McGarrett?"
Rowan was quiet until the phone stopped ringing. She then glanced up to him. "I wouldn't mind going to the aquarium actually, Mr. McGarrett."
Normally he didn't like it when someone Mr. McGarretted him, but not when Rowan did it. Already Steve was thinking about buying a little plushie for her, or any matching set of shirts she wanted. He was thinking about taking a picture and picking a frame to put it in, carry on that tradition. He was thinking about what was in that gift shop that Nahele might like that they could bring home for him.
He was sold. They were going to the aquarium. He would wear whatever outfit she wanted to.
He opened his mouth to agree, to say he'd be down to go and the phone was ringing again.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
"I'll tell them off, give me a minute," he said hating the way worry was all over her features again. But when he got his phone and saw the governor's contact on the screen, he knew that this wasn't going to be good.
He quickly picked up, told her to wait a bit, got his boxers on and then left the room. If this was what he thought it was, he didn't want Rowan to hear it.
"What?" he said when he got downstairs. "It's my anniversary today, what?"
"We have a high profile case. Needs to be dealt with quickly and discretely. We need all hands on deck."
Anger bubbled up in Steve's chest. "No. No. it's my anniversary, I booked it off. I'm not leaving it'll kill Ro."
"She knows what she married into, she'll have to suck it up."
Steve bit back the growl that wanted to escape him. "Yeah, I'll be sure to tell the talent that is the crown jewel of your premiere event that she should suck it up."
"That can go on without her and she knows that."
"I'll be sure to tell her that. Lord knows she doesn't wasn't to go to it."
"Enough of this. Report to the Palace within the hour. The quicker you get this done the quicker you can go back to your Anniversary activities. I'll even let you have the following day off, what do you say?"
He was annoyed, that's what he was. He was annoyed and he didn't want to leave but he didn't have a choice.
"Fine," he snapped and the hung up the phone.
He didn't want to go back upstairs. He didn't want to tell her what had happened. He knew she would know, she always did, but he didn't want to face her.
Not for the first time he found that he absolutely hated his job.
Maybe he'd retired when Danny did, start the restaurant as quickly as possible to get out of this.
He got up to their room and found Rowan already dressed, already crying. He came to a complete stand still, staring at her in horror because her crying was so much worse than quiet disappointment.
"It's okay," she said when she saw him. "It is, really. I know I'm crying but it's just cause I'm disappointed and sad and I can't seem to turn it off. I get it, I really do, I'm not mad."
Steve crossed to her right away, he pulled her into his arms and she started to sob into his chest. Fuck, he felt like crying too.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her but words weren't enough.
He wasn't sure how he was going to make this up to her, even if he did have tomorrow off.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steven had been absolutely horrified to find out that the high profile case he had been pulled in for hadn't even been that big of a case.
It wasn't a murder or a down-to-the-wire missing person's case. This was a politician friend of the Governor getting blackmailed with his affair.
She wanted it dealt with as quickly as possible, and as discretely as possible.
Steve thought this was a grave misuse of power and he told her that. None of this would even been happening if her politician friend would stop screwing coeds.
Still, it was a relatively easy case to crack. He screamed in the twenty year old college girl, affair partner's face for five minutes and she cracked. She was mad he dumped her and decided to get even and get some cash out of it.
It was a joint job between her and her brother, they were going to split the blackmail money in half.
There. Done.
Steve personally went to the man's house and informed him of the good news, that his blackmailer had been caught and all should be well now. The man had asked about all the evidence she had, because, of course, the guy liked to make home videos with her. Steve had happily told him he had left them with his wife.
He didn't even care.
Honestly.
He didn't at that point.
Honestly the guy deserved some consequences and it wasn't his job to be the discretion police, saving assholes like him from affairs.
The Governor was furious, of course, but he reminded her that it might have gone differently had she left him at home on his day off and she had hung up on him.
He had a feeling he'd get called in for a meeting later but again, he didn't fucking care at that point.
That meant he could get home for dinner. A rather late dinner, but a dinner nonetheless. He'd be stupid to think that his wife hadn't thought of something romantic to surprise him with while he was gone, so he endeavored to do the same.
He stopped off for flowers and some of her favourite cheesecake and then he rushed the rest of the way home.
As he expected, Rowan had dinner ready for him. She had the lights down low, she had the lanai all lit up with fairy lights, the same ones he had painstakingly put up for their s'mores nights, and she was killing him in her little outfit.
It was literally a dress he had seen on her a million times. Her little house wife frilly black and white polka dotted dress. It had puffy short sleeves, a high collar, and a puffy skirt that fell to her knees. She had her hair braided back, she was wearing her golden seashell locket, looking absolutely stunning for him.
And he was in cargo pants.
He handed off the cheesecake and the flowers, and asked for a couple of minutes to get ready and of course she was fine with that.
Steve practically sprinted up the steps. He had the quickest shower of his life and then changed equally as quick. He got into his black dress pants and the dark blue shirt of his she liked so much. The whole process took like twenty minutes tops, and even then he felt like that was too long.
By the time he got back down stairs, Rowan had the flowers in a vase and sitting in the middle of the table and she had their meals plated and drinks set out. Salmon. One for her and one for him. Good, because he was getting tired of her stealing his seafood dinners.
"Thanks babe," he had said to her, pulling her to him so he could kiss her. "Cheesecake in the fridge?"
"Mhmm," she had said absently, letting him kiss her for way too long. "Our dinners are getting cold, Steve."
"Just one more," he had whispered against her lips.
They kissed for a little while longer before Rowan pushed him away. "Please eat, I want to know if you like it."
"I'm obviously going to like it, Ro," he had said, because it was true, but he indulged her. Sitting down and tucking into that salmon being sure to tell her over and over how good it was.
By the time Nahele had gotten home, they had cleaned up the lanai, and were retiring to the couch for coffee and cheesecake.
"Aw, damn," he had said when he came in. "I was hoping I'd get home before the sex, but she told me you got pulled in… still…"
"Don't worry about it… I get a day off tomorrow to make up for today, we'll get it out of our systems, then. While you're at school."
"Yeah, I didn't need to know that," Nahele said. "Hey uhm… I got something for you guys."
He then dug into his backpack and pulled out a simple envelope to hand to them.
"You didn't have to do that," Steve said as Nahele just shrugged.
Rowan opened up the envelope to reveal a picture. It was similar to the ones she had gotten for Christmas last year of the night sky on the day of their births. IT was just a lot smaller. A typical 4 by 7 inch picture.
"It's for the night you guys got married," he said. "And uhm it goes with her gift."
Steve turned a scowl to her. "You said you weren't going to give me a gift."
"It's for both of us."
Somehow he doubted that, but he also figured this was coming, so he would actually have a proper romantic surprise for her, seeing as he hadn't been able to treat her to the day either her or she had wanted.
Rowan reached under the coffee table where they stashed his Guns and Ammo magazines that he was still getting, because thank you Danny for renewing his subscription as a gag Christmas gift every year, and pulled out a simply wrapped gift. And it was simply done for Rowan, it was brown paper and twine, that was it. Nothing too special or fancy, honestly he was impressed.
He took in that little smile she was wearing, knowing that she was very very excited for him to open this so he made sure to open it quickly.
He peeled away the wrapping and found a navy blue journal beneath his hands. In gold cursive on the front the words Anniversary Journal were printed. He flipped through a few pages and realized that this was literally what it said it was. Four pages dedicated to each year of their marriage.
Already she had written in their names and the date of the wedding.
"Wow babe, this is a really good idea!" he cried and then turned to Nahele. "Thank you… do you uh… do you know…"
She tugged the book out of his grip and flipped over the title page. There he saw that there was a blank page on the back before the index started. Clearly it was meant to go there.
"Well… you kids have fun," Nahele said moving first to hug his mother before moving to hug Steve. "I'm going to play some rounds of COD before bed, I promise to go to bed at reasonable hour if you two do too."
"Yeah yeah," Rowan said waving him off. She was already paying more attention to the journal and he realized it was because she was planning on filling out the first year right at that moment.
Well fine, Steve was fine to do that with his baby, if it made her happy. After the shit day the two of them had had because of his job it was the least he could do. And besides, this was going to put Rowan's scrapbooking skills to the test.
She even had extra pictures she printed for the "photos from our 1st year" page and a little cut out that said "Photos from our 1st year" in pretty cursive script so that when she covered the one printed in the book the title was still there.
On the top of each page it told you what year it was and what gift went with it, which was good, he'd never have to look it up again, it was right there in the Anniversary Journal.
Together they had sat on the couch and had filled out how they celebrated their anniversary, which was a lot shorter than he would have wished it would be. They got through the Favourites section, one half for her one for him. Highlights and Memorable Moments had most been about their birthdays, adopting Nahele, and Christmas with the in laws. New Discoveries was pretty bare at that moment but they were working on it.
Rowan was working on the What Are You Looking Forward to Next Year portion and Steve was just watching her write. She looked so lovely curled up under one of his blankets scrawling away all her hopes and desires.
She had deserved a wonderful anniversary and he was so upset that this was what she had got instead. He wished he could give her more. He wished that he could have been there the whole day.
He got up quickly, took his own gift out of where he had stashed it. He stopped only to reheat her tea before joining her back on the couch. She had thanked him absently but she was mostly focusing on the anniversary journal.
"I was thinking… maybe we buy Nahele one of these," she said, again absently cause she was mostly paying attention to the journal in her lap. "It could become a family tradition."
"We should buy a few then… for any future kids and grandkids too."
"Mmm… smart… maybe we can do that tomorrow on your day off. Clear out the stock of Anniversary Journals."
He was going to do whatever the hell she wanted tomorrow and he was going to do it with a fucking smile but he nodded at her loving the happy smile she shot in his direction. She returned back to the book with vigor, he noted she was making notes on a sticky note he hadn't realized she had, no doubt for him, to help him think of things to add.
God he didn't deserve this woman. He didn't. It still amazed him that he had managed to land her after everything he had originally put her through. And… well… honestly he was worried she had no idea, she had no idea how he felt about her, not really. That was unacceptable, he had told himself during the Year of Deceit, he'd do this better. That he'd tell her how he felt every day, that he'd make sure that she knew how much he loved her, and he had not done that.
"Hey, uh Ro?" he asked softly. And she turned to him with a little hhmm? "Uhm… I just… I know I don't say this enough, and sometimes I worry that you don't know how much… cause it's a lot…"
She just stared at him, patiently waiting for the words to come out of his mouth but he was struggling with even this.
"I just… I love you. I do," he said loving the smile that spread across her lips at that confession. "I do. And I wish I could do these grand gestures right… I really do…"
Rowan leant into him and pressed the softest of kisses to his lips to halt his words. "I know you love me Steven. I know you're not that good at saying it, but you are wonderful at showing it. And that's okay. Our love languages are different and that's fine."
Steve lowered his eyes away from her, he had tried, he had, but once again it hadn't come out right.
"Can you give me a chance to try again?"
Rowan put a hand to his chest. "How about this. How about, I stick to the fancy words. You just say what's on your mind right now. No metaphors, no need for poetry, just your words, plain and simple."
Steve hated that she only wanted the bare minimum from him. She deserved so much more than this, but honestly, it was all he had.
"I love you Rowan. I do. More than anything. I love this family we've made here. I love that this is what I get to come home to. You have made my life better, you've given me the family I've always wanted, and I just… I love you."
Rowan's smile was wide and for a minute Steve could believe that those words, though plain, were enough.
"That was wonderful," she said. "I love you too. And our family. I am very happy with you, and yes maybe we argue, but I think that's our normal. And honestly, it's healthy to fight, all those couples that say that that's not true, yeah, they're not in a secure relationship you know?"
He did know. And yes, their arguments had gotten a bit better, they were no longer relationship ending arguments, they had matured in that sense.
"Okay, yes, I will give you that," he said. "But uhm… I got something for you too."
He then pulled out the bag his gift was in. Rowan frowned at him. "But Steven we agreed no gifts." Steve simply had to gesture to the journal, now resting on the coffee table and she huffed. "That's not fair, this is a gift for the two of us, and as you can see I'm having most of the fun with it."
"Now hold on, I'm enjoying this too," he said. "But the point is, I had a feeling you'd get something so I got you something too. So go on…"
He watched Rowan rifle through the tissue paper to pull out the simple golden frame he had picked. He watched her eyes scan over the words encased inside it and when she turned her confused look to him he elaborated.
"This is what my vows would have been… had I said them to you… cause we didn't get a chance to do that. Before you ask, yes, Danny helped me with it, and Grace got access to a type writer and typed it up all nice and neat for me and… Con picked the frame and… god I wish I could have just thought of all of this myself…"
"Steve," she said, as she clutched that frame to her chest. "This is beautiful and thoughtful, and there is nothing wrong at all with asking for help."
She had a point but honestly he was so self-conscious about all the help he had to ask for when it came to romancing her. "Wo just knows things about you… and I don't…"
"Wo has a file on me," Rowan said with a scoff. "That's not memory, he just takes a lot of notes. You should really ask him for it if you're that worried about it, honestly."
Okay, that made him feel a bit better.
"The fact that you did this," she said gesturing to the frame. "Shows me how much you love me. And I love it."
"Yeah?"
"Do you think it's silly if I ask you to read it to me?"
Steve reached out for it and she handed it back. He had to clear his throat before he started speaking.
"Rowan; I fell for you the very first day I met you and have been in love with you every day since. With you I have found everything every man dreams of. I found a home, a family, a best friend, a soul mate and best of all I found real love. I want nothing more than to be the perfect husband for you, the man you deserve, and if you let me, I will try my hardest to be that man for the rest of our lives. Here's to the start of our forever."
Steve finished and looked up to find that his wife was not only smiling, but crying a bit.
"That was beautiful," she whispered. "Would you like to hear mine?"
"You wrote vows?"
"No, but I know what I would have said."
"Then I'd love to hear it."
Rowan nodded and then reached out for his hand. Steve took it right away and held onto it tight.
"Steven; I am so glad that you chose me, that you felt safe enough with me to let me in, to trust me with your heart. I need you to know that I choose you too. That I trust you, not just with my demons and my dark past—or as Nahele might call it my Villain Origin Story—but I also trust you with my heart. I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with you since you pulled me out of the ocean. From this day forward I promise to love you every day, laugh with you when you're happy, and be there for you when you're sad. I will be there to challenge you to be a better person like you do for me. I'll be your biggest fan and do my very best to be patient with you when you're being stubborn. You're stuck with me now, Steven McGarrett, not just for forever, but for always."
By the end of it Steve was crying too. He pulled her close and to his chest. "It's a good thing you didn't say any of that at our wedding, I'd've been sobbing like a baby."
Rowan chuckled against his chest, he could feel her lips move, could feel the breathy exhales against his shirt. 'If you'd like, and you let me write all of that down before I forget, I can get grace to type it up and you can have your own version of my vows in a frame."
"Actually that frame also comes in black. It's be a good off-matching set what do you think?"
And of course Rowan loved the idea
That night Rowan wrote out the vows she would have said to him and sent them off to Grace with the request to type them up like she had for Steve. Her framed vows sat on her bed table that night and every night after that.
A week later, Rowan and Steve had not only picked up a matching frame for him, but also bought out the craft store's supply of Aniversary Journals. They was now a box of them in the crawlspace under the stairs to pass down to their children and grandchildren once they got old enough, and enough for their family to continue the tradition once they were past.
It was also a week later that Grace had finished typing up the vows Rowan had sent her, they had placed them in the frame Steven had picked and the mounted above their bed side tables, but just below the window sill.
It just added to the room, Steve felt. He got to wake up to a picture of him and his wife, their Ryukyu dolls and now the words she would have said to him as vows, had they had the time to really think about it.
It was a perfect reminder to try even harder to make sure his wife knew how much he loved her and finally, finally, he was starting to think she knew it too.