She loops her arms around my shoulders, smiling up at me. She’s so much more beautiful every single day, her eyes getting more emotional, and her love easier to read.
“The tattoo’s starting to fade,” she murmurs.
“Wait, the tattoo?”
I kneel down and she raises her foot, letting me hold her ankle as I study the bird.
It’s the bird I first inked into her skin.
It’s the bird that showed my claim on her, a mark on her flesh that screamed mine.
She belonged to me, always, after I inked her flesh.
“You’re right.”
“I want you to redo it,” she whispers. “It will be like last time. Like the first time. It will show us how far we’ve come.”
I stand, leaning down and kissing her on the lips.
She returns the kiss, moaning softly as our mouths open and our tongues find each other.
“Okay, ew,” Emily says from the door.
Lena and I break apart, laughing.
Emily tosses her head and glares at us, but there’s love in the gesture, love marking every single part of all of us. We live a blessed life with so much warmth.
“Aunt Izzy says you better hurry your butts up, or she’s going to have to take over in the kitchen. And she said you don’t want her to take over because it will be a complete disaster. Oh, and she also said she’s happy to try anyway.”
Lena giggles, looking over at me.
I shrug, smiling. “It sounds like Izzy.”
“We better get going.”
I take her hand, meeting her eye.
I love you, we both say, wordlessly, silently.
Together, we leave the room, walking hand in hand.
It’s like the tattoo. It’s like we’re flying away.
But there’s nowhere to go.
We’re right where we belong.