Manning Thorsen believes in (othala) wrote in repose,
Re: Home: Iris and Manning
That soft exhalation wasn't shaky, it wasn't unsure, it wasn't anything more than a slightly louder breath out. Her words didn't shake either, and they didn't have to be loud in the space between them. She could have whispered and he would have heard her as close as they were. But like her voice, his hands didn't shake as he edged the ring out of the padding and held it out, hooking it over the tip of her ring finger before he eased it down, careful over her knuckles.
It looked right on her hand, delicate to go with her fine bones, sparkling in the light and he smiled, bent his head so he could kiss her knuckles, then flipped her hand over to kiss her palm. "Thank you," he said quietly and grinned up at her as he rose to his feet.
Their children were -- were somewhere in the house. Sleeping, or perhaps awake, it didn't change much for him. They should know that he loved their mother, and it would not be the first, nor the last, time they saw him pressed to her as he crowded her up against the wall, his hands low on her hips as he bent to kiss her.