Melissa stays silent, but she doesn’t need to speak.

Her smile says everything.

* * *

“Can you come here? I want to show you something.”

“Coming!” Wren calls from the kitchen, where she’s supposedly cooking the best pasta I’ll ever taste. Apparently, I needed to be thanked after this morning’s visit, which exceeded all our expectations.

I’ve eaten some of Wren’s meals in the past, and to say I’m the cook in this couple would be an understatement. I’ll still eat every damn bite off my plate.

At my feet, Woody shifts, slowly spinning three times before lying down in the exact same position as before. With a snort, I scratch his head with one of my feet. Beside him, Maybelle sleeps soundly. The two of them have become the best of friends the moment we brought him home weeks ago. They haven’t slept by themselves once.

Molly, though, is another story.

Every time Woody is playing with a toy, she’ll rush to take it away from him. It’s like a game for her. It annoys him to no end, but thankfully, he isn’t aggressive, so he’ll just huff, go pick up another one, and restart the game with her all over again.

“What’s going on?” Wren asks as she walks into the room, her hair piled in a bun on top of her head, strands falling over her forehead and framing her face.

I tip my head. “Come here.”

She follows my lead and joins me in the makeshift office I created for myself in her bedroom. Sometimes, when I’m not done with work but don’t want to come home too late, I’ll bring my work with me. I very well could’ve gone to work at my place after our visit to her mom, but one thing we realized since we officially got together was that if we have the choice, we’d rather spend the least amount of time apart, hence the desk in the only bedroom of the apartment.

With a gentle movement, Wren sits in my lap and wraps her arms around my neck, watching me. A beautiful smile adorns her lips. Not to sound like a conceited prick, but I’ve never seen her as happy as she’s been these past four weeks.

It’s been the most rewarding and encouraging thing I’ve seen in my life.

Leaning forward, I start pressing kisses all the way from her collarbone to her ear. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

She laughs as I groan before pressing my lips against hers, then whisper, “cariño mio.”

Her head tilts. “You never did tell me what that means.”

“What do you think it means?”

Her shoulders lift then drop.

“It means sweetheart,” I say.

Her eyes narrow before bulging out. “But you’ve been calling me like that for…a long time.”