Love, Kindness, and Other Useless Things

Eighteen

Late August, 1816.

Emma had watched them enter his office together, nervously holding onto each other's hand–she could very nearly hear David's fingers break in Mary Margaret's grasp. She had taken up a seat on the stairs, patiently waiting for her friends to come back outside once the door closed. Ruby had joined her not long after, a dusting of flour on her red cheeks and dough still clinging to her fingers said she was finished making tomorrow's bread.

With many servants slowly retiring to bed, offering a smile–and a curious glance at Killian's office door–as they passed by, the mansion had fallen eerily silent. Throughout the day, all servants had quietly come to wish Mary Margaret luck, all of them knowing tonight would be the night they would go to Killian with their request. No one had specifically told them, but after living in this household for the better part of a year, Emma knew gossip spread quickly here. In these past few days, she often worried about being the subject of such gossip, but Ruby–who had, more than once, seen them in compromising situations–assured her that she was not.

It had been a few days since Emma had asked Killian to kiss her, when Emma finally managed to catch Ruby alone. Ruby had only smiled and nodded as Emma so desperately tried to explain herself, and afterwards asked but one question. Are you happy? A laugh had escaped Emma then, tears immediately coming to her eyes as she nodded. It was all she said, though, when Ruby had seen Killian steal a quick kiss before bed a few days later, she had gently warned them to be a bit more careful.

Now, Ruby sat with her head leaning against Emma's shoulder, her knee bouncing up and down as she waited for Mary Margaret and David to emerge back from Killian's office. She huffed and sighed, tapped her fingers on her knee, but never spoke. Emma found it quite the entertaining sight.

When the office door opened, they rose from their spot on the stairs so quickly it made Emma a bit light in her head. Mary Margaret ran towards them quickly, pulling them both into a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you so much," She whispered to Emma, kissing her cheek and pulling her even closer. Emma smiled, entirely unsure what her part in this was, but her friend had already started saying all the things she desired for her wedding, somewhere along the line mentioning that Mr Jones had given her permission to use the garden if she wished.

Looking over at Killian, she found him already looking at her with that smug grin playing on his lips. Beside him, David stood looking somewhat bewildered as though he had expected their day to end quite differently. After they shook hands, David joined the three women and made their way back to the kitchen. Emma found that David and Mary Margaret were a bit more affectionate now–holding hands, a kiss pressed against her knuckles as they sat down next to each other. A weight had fallen off their shoulders, and the tension that almost permanently furrowed their brow made place for the bright and wide smiles everyone knew so well.

"So, what did he say exactly?" Ruby asked as she poured out tea into the four cups she had set before them.

"He agreed," Mary Margaret stated as though it hadn't been obvious already.

"I gathered as much. I mean, you have been in there for so long, surely you must have conversed more than merely 'may we get married and both remain in your service' to which Killian answered 'yes' and then you sat there in silence for an hour?"

David chuckled at that, putting a spoonful of sugar in his tea. "He asked how we would go about certain things."

"Such as?" Ruby inquired, her eyes wide with anticipation, that teasing grin she often wore playing on her lips.

"Where we would get married, sleeping arrangements, whether or not we would have a child."

"I believe she requires answers to all of those," Emma chuckled when David didn't continue and Ruby practically imploded in her seat.