I mean to nod but am unsure I do. He glances at my fingers shaking on my knees. Unable to still them, I wrap my arms around my middle, hands curled out of view.

“Hey,” he says, “c’mere.” He settles at my side and, without pause, places a strong but caring arm around my shoulders.

I detest ever appearing the damsel in distress, with Arie above all, yet I can’t deny the comfort that flows through me in an all-encompassing wave. His velvety tone alone wraps me like a blanket. When I relax my head onto the curve of his collarbone, my heartbeat slows and shaking ebbs.

We sit that way for a good while, even after the rumbling of war fades, our inhales and exhales linking in an old, paired rhythm, like partners reunited in a long-ingrained waltz. The candle’s flame sways over the walls, almost hypnotic.

That’s when a revelation comes to me: how deeply I wish this moment would never end. For after fleeing a home, a state, even countries to protect us both in different ways, I wound up right here beside him, amid unspeakable dangers, unable to recall the last time I felt safer.

“Arie?” I keep my eyes down, not wanting to falter.

“Yeah.”

“Tell me a story…will you? The way you used to.”

Given our ages, let alone our surroundings, the notion must seem absurd. But his breath drifts out, suggestive of a warm laugh. “About pirates, you mean?”

I shake my head no against his shoulder, and I imagine he’s scouring his memory.

“Knights and dragons?”

“A story about us.”

His arm on me tenses, indicating I should stop there. Instead, with little left to lose, I close my eyes and describe the scene rolling through my mind, vivid as a film flickering on a screen. “A story,” I tell him, “of the morning I’m about to walk out. How you come home early and refuse to let me leave, not without explaining. And because you’re there with me, I find the courage to tell you why. Then you take me into your arms, and that overwhelming fear of mine, it all falls away.”

I hear my voice splintering yet continue to push through. “When your parents get home, we burst out with the news because we can’t possibly wait till supper. And the very next day, we dash off to the courthouse, just the four of us. It’s nothing big or fancy as we exchange our vows. But everything about the day is beautiful and perfect, and we live happily ever after, together.” Tears pool in my eyes as the vision fades. Still, I dare to lift my head and meet Arie’s gaze. His eyes too are glossed, which only adds to the emotion thickening my throat.