I stand in the nursery doorway for a long moment, looking at her.
One year old.
Ten months since she showed up on my doorstep and detonated everything.
"Come on," Nora says quietly, taking my hand. "Let's clean up."
We head downstairs, and the backyard is a disaster of decorations, wrapping paper, and half-eaten cake. But instead of starting to clean, I take Nora's hand and lead her to the middle of the yard, where we can see the stars coming out overhead.
She looks up at them, then at me.
"Tyler."
"Just let me say something. Please."
She goes quiet. Watching me.
"You remember the day we met?"
"I remember."
"I was a wreck. I hadn't slept, there was spit-up on my shirt, and I was holding a baby I didn't know how to hold." I take a breath. "And you walked in, looked at me, and said, 'Let mehelp.' Like it was simple. Like it was the easiest thing in the world."
"It was the easiest thing in the world."
"Yeah, well. Not for me. Nothing had been easy in a long time. And then there you were."
She's smiling. There are tears in her eyes already. Mine are starting too. I'm not going to do this dry, apparently.
"I had a whole speech," I say. "Wrote it down. Edited it. Read it to myself in the car a few times so I wouldn't fuck it up."
"Where is it?"
"In my pocket. But I'm not going to use it. It was too neat. You're not a neat thing in my life, Red. You're the messy thing that made everything else make sense."
"Tyler—"
"Hold on."
I reach into my pocket. Pull out the box.
Her hand goes to her mouth.
"I'm not gonna be a guy who can do this fancy. I'm a guy who's been in love with you since you slapped my team captain in front of an entire roster. Since you started color-coding things that didn't need to be color-coded. Since you walked into my kitchen the night Jessica showed up and stood between her and our daughter without thinking about it."
I drop to one knee on the grass.
"You said something in court. You said family is who shows up, who stays. You showed up the morning you walked in my door, and you have not stopped showing up once. Not when it got hard. Not when it got scary. Not when a lawyer told you to step back, you let me argue with her without leaving the room, and then you came home and told me what was going on inside you instead of just doing the leaving thing your way."
She's crying. So am I.
"I want to spend the rest of my life showing up for you the same way you've shown up for us. That's the whole speech, Red. I had more, but it was just dressing on this. Will you marry me?"
"Yes."
She doesn't even wait for me to finish opening the box. She's already saying it, already reaching for me.
"Yes, Tyler. Yes."