Kintsugi

Chapter 8

The air was inundated with the sounds of clanging buoys, the shouts of fisherman, and the laughter of Brady and Belle as they chased each other along the pier towards the pub. Marlena and John walked behind them, the fingers of their hands casually linked. John marveled at the sound of Marlena's laughter over the children's antics, and he watched her face with rapt attention. Every smile, every sparkle in her eye, the rosy color in her cheeks from the wind rushing up off the river...all of it served to remind him that she was alive, and she was his.

Marlena watched as Brady pretended to trip to make Belle laugh, causing the toddler to fall over. Her brother clumsily grabbed her hand pulling her up, and Marlena was overcome with a love so deep that she thought it would consume her. Glancing up at John, Marlena told him softly, "I'd like to adopt Brady."

John was momentarily surprised, not because she loved his son that much, because Marlena's love for Brady was obvious, but rather, because she wanted to make it official. While both of them had admitted their love for one another over and over again during the last month and a half, neither of them had mentioned what would come after John received his final dispensation. John looked at her seriously for a moment, and said softly, "I'd like to marry you."

A smile lit up her face, as she whispered back to him, "I think that could be arranged."

"Hold that thought, Doc," John said as he turned towards Belle and Brady. "Brady! Let your sister out of that headlock right now!" John watched as his son released his sister.

Belle immediately turned to Brady, and smacked his forehead, shouting, "No Brady! No! My body!"

John turned to Marlena with a smirk, and an arched eyebrow. Marlena laughed out loud again, saying, "She's right. Her body, her space."

Grabbing up her hand again, he chuckled, telling her, "It was more about the forehead smack."

"She saw Caroline smack Shawn on the forehead the other day at the pub, after he said something Caroline found ridiculous. I can't even remember what it was, but Belle was watching," Marlena told him. Brady seemed no worse off for it, since he'd already scurried ahead. "I'll talk to her about it later."

John swung their hands casually as they continued walking, and said in a nonchalant way, "So, Lady, marriage...to me. What do you think?" He turned his head to look at her smiling.

"Absolutely. And Brady?" she asked him.

"Mama! I see Unca Bo! Can I go?" Brady asked her running up, and pulling at her pant leg excitedly.

Marlena bent down, scooping up her little boy, who looked so much like his father, and told him teasingly, "Unca Bo? Where?" Even though she'd already spotted him.

Brady pointed further down the pier, where Bo sat with Shawn D, "There!"

"Oh, I see them now," she said with a smile. "Yes, little man, you can go see your Uncle Bo." Marlena placed Brady back down on the pier, and his legs were churning to get away before he even touched the wooden planks.

"Doc?" John said softly.

The sight of Belle cuddled in her daddy's arms made her heart flutter. His deep indigo eyes were staring into her soul, and she stumbled over her response, "Y-yes?"

"I think you got your answer."

"My answer?"

"About being Brady's mother. He just gave you his answer," John told her, touching her cheeks softly.

Marlena felt a piece of her broken soul fall back into place. Kintsugi, she thought. She stepped forward into John's waiting arms, soft tears in her eyes, as she whispered, "I guess he did."