As Harper guessed he might, he refused her help, and she went back beyond the screen after laying his clothes on a chair for him next to the mirror.
Tough customer, she thought with amusement, but underneath it, there was a thrum of excitement as well. Had she given him what he wanted? Had she done a good job?
She was just nibbling on her thumbnail and wondering if it had been a while since she had heard Mr. Mercks moving in the dressing area when the shop door opened, and Morgan walked in.
For just a moment, it felt as if she had been sent back in time by five months to the day Morgan first appeared in her life. She remembered with an almost aching clarity the cagey look on his face and how thin he had been.
Then Harper's vision sharpened, and instead she saw Morgan as he was now, more weight on him, his face easy and more apt to smile. The pain from his old injury wasn't gone and perhaps it never would be, but regular flights high up in the mountains and over the local lakes at night were getting easier. He was gaining his strength back in leaps and bounds, and more importantly, he was happy.
“Hello sweetheart,” he said. “I brought you lunch.”
“I love lunch,” she said, and from the way he grinned at her, she knew he understood she meant I love you.
They spread the meal on the counter between them, sushi today, and she popped one of the pieces of salmon sashimi in her mouth.
“I'm going to miss Ryoko's when we leave town,” she said mournfully, and Morgan smiled at her, piling the ginger from his meal onto her container. He always remembered that she liked the ginger best.
“I'll take you to the best sushi place I've ever been,” he promised her. “It's got amazing sashimi.”
“In Japan?”
“No. Detroit. Detroit is Japan's travel hub in the United States, and there's a lot of good sushi there because of it.”
He paused.
“Would you…that is, would you like to go to Japan? I've never been.”
She stifled a laugh at how shy Morgan was sometimes. The man could turn into a fire-breathing war machine, and he still got shy about what they had.
“I dunno,” she said. “We're already planning a trip to Germany and France so you can do some treasure hunting…Should we be trying to fit Japan in too?”
“Well, not so much as fit Japan in...”
There was something about Morgan's voice that made her look up.
“What're you talking about, sweetheart? You can just say.”
“How would you feel about seeing the world?”
Harper blinked.
“Which parts of it?”
“Whatever you want to see. I'm easy-going. Germany and France first for a few months so I can bulk up my hoard a bit. Japan. China. Australia. Anywhere. I've missed out on a lot over the last eighty years or so, and I think you wouldn't mind.”
She bit her lip, one hand stealing up to her wrist. It was good today, had been for a while, but she knew that it wasn't going to heal like Morgan's. She had been steeling herself for the flight to Europe, but more than that might see her wrist an aching misery for weeks.
“Er…the airplanes...”
He gave her a quizzical look.
“There are ships and ferries. I've been driving since cars were available. Buses. Trains. We never have to set foot on a plane unless you want to.”
Harper felt her throat close up, and she realized, standing in her mostlypacked-up shop, eating sushi with the love of her life, how much the world had changed, how much bigger it was and how much more was possible.
“Harper?”
“Mm, just give me a minute...”
She wiped hastily at her tears, and Morgan came around the counter towards her, making a worried sound.
“We don't have to go anywhere,” he said. “Not unless you want to. I want to be with you, I love you, nothing else matters -”
“Oh sweetheart, I want to go everywhere with you,” she said, laughing, and she threw her arms around him, planting a kiss on his lips. One kiss never just stayed one kiss with them, and they just barely managed to split apart when Mr. Mercks appeared in the doorway, neat as a pin in his new suit.
“Mr. Mercks!” Harper said, aware of how red she was. “How does it feel? How is it fitting?”
He beamed at her, the pleasure on his face a joy to see.
“Very handsome, just as I asked,” he said. “You have done exceptional work. It will be perfect for my birthday next month. It is a very good suit, and I see it will be good for many things.”
Harper started to thank him for his compliments, but then Mr. Mercks got a sly look on his face.
“Yes, it will be good for a birthday party, a reunion, a graduation…perhaps even a wedding?”
Harper laughed, but Morgan nodded seriously.
“Would you honor us with your presence at our wedding, Mr. Mercks?” asked Morgan. “Harper was working on your suit the day we met. It would mean a lot to us.”
“Hey!” Harper said with a laugh. “You can't go asking people to a wedding when you haven't even asked me to marry you.”
“Oh, right,” Morgan said, and then he pulled a small box out of his pocket.
Harper stared.
“You're kidding me.”
“I mean, I think you knew this was coming, and I have a real proposal planned soon. But this has been burning a hole in my pocket.”
He hesitated, and then to Harper's shock, he dropped to his knee in the middle of the shop, Mr. Mercks filming the whole thing on his phone and a delighted expression on his face.
“Harper, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
The diamond was flawless, a deep gold surrounded by smaller clear stones. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, but all Harper could see was Morgan's eyes, bright and copper and longing and loving.
She said yes. She was sure she said yes, and then she was in his arms as he
