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"Miss Claire?"
I looked up from my latest sewing project, a pillowcase with a picture of Ralaire on it for the girls. My lovely wife had an unusual expression on her face, somewhere between wistfulness and curiosity. "What is it, Rae?"
Rae hesitated for a moment, scratching the back of her neck. "Do you ever think about what it would have been like if, well..." She frowned. "If you never met me, and there hadn't been a revolution, and everything, like, went according to plan?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Rae? Are you feeling alright?" Casting aside my needle and thread for the moment, I stood up and put my hand on Rae's shoulder, caressing her cheek with the other. "You aren't still stressing over not being able to give me a noble lifestyle?" Pulling her into an embrace, I gave her a peck on her forehead and another on the tip of her nose, and she giggled like she always does when I do that. "My sweet idiot, do you honestly think we'd be coming up on our fifth anniversary if I weren't blissfully happy with you and our girls?"
Rae laughed. "Nah, I know. Just kind of curious what it would have been like for you, y'know?"
I chuckled and kissed her chastely on the lips. "Ah. You know, I haven't thought about that, but it's an interesting question.” I sat back down on the sofa, placed my project on the floor, and patted a spot next to me. Rae obliged, and I draped my arm around her, enjoying her warmth. She wore her usual easy smile, and her eyes twinkled with impish energy. I took a moment to admire her and kissed her several more times, as is a loving wife's prerogative.
"So," said Rae eventually, still licking her lips, "my question?"
"Goodness me," I said. "That was so long ago. It's hard to remember who I was before you crashed into my life."
"Heh, yeah, for me too." She rested her head on my shoulder, and I stroked her pretty hair. "We were such different people back then."
"We were. Me more than you, I think." I took a measured breath and exhaled slowly, considering that now-alien iteration of myself. "Sad is the first word that springs to mind. I was very sad, and very angry, and very lonely, and unwilling to admit any of those things." I twitched one of my shoulders in a lazy imitation of a shrug. "You remember."
"Mm." Rae snuggled up against me and giggled softly. "You were adorable."
I gave her shoulder a swat as lazy as my shrug. "And you're incorrigible."
She flashed the mischief-making grin I could never resist. "Little bit."
I shook my head, smiling. "But yes, I suppose I would have eventually married some nobleman or another, just to avoid spinster accusations and continue the Francois line. Continuing the line was, after all, the chief occupation of a noble girl."
Rae shook her head. "'Spinster accusations.' Unbelievable."
"Indeed, yet the mere possibility haunted me at the time. I'd never have admitted this to you back then, but my selection of suitors was rather threadbare, especially relative to the high status of House Francois. None impressed me in the least, nor were they especially advantageous for our house."
"What about Thane? You could have been Queen Claire. That'd be an upgrade, right?"
That made me chuckle. "Absolutely not. King Thane is a good man and a good friend, and undoubtedly handsome. But we're not particularly compatible. Had he asked for my hand back then, perhaps I would have said yes. He was by far my best option. I doubt it would have been a happy union, though. Looking back, I just had a teenage crush." I smile softly. "He's no Rae Taylor."
Rae blushed, and I hummed and ruffled her hair. I do so love to fluster her, those few times I can manage it. "So," she said, "that's the best-case scenario. What about the other losers I totally annihilated with my off-kilter charms and smokin' hot bod?"
I barked a laugh. "Gloating, are we?"
"Why, Miss Claire, I would never," said Rae, as smug as I'd ever seen her. "It's not my fault there was a canyon-sized skill gap between a stone cold fox like me and your other suitors."
I giggled. "I shouldn't have told you how grim my prospects were. It's giving you a big head."
"You're the ideal woman, Claire." Rae pecked me on the cheek. "'Course I'm gloating."
My cheeks felt hot as I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Save this energy for bedtime, you fool."
"Yes'm!" she said, saluting. "But yeah, what about the rest of 'em?"
"There were none I loved, nor could I have learned to love them. Even deluding myself into feelings of affection would have been impossible."
Rae smirked. "I thought marriage wasn't about love?"
"Hush, you." I smacked her shoulder, which made her snicker. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
"Nope!"
Ugh, this girl. So wonderful, so infuriating. "You'll recall I was objectively correct by the standards of—” I could see the irritating yeah-but-I-was-right grin starting to form. "Incorrigible."
"Hee hee, you love it."
I pouted. My idiot knew me too well. "Anyway," I said, "it may surprise you to learn that I wasn't particularly popular with noble boys. I had a reputation, you see. My voice was too shrill, and I was too fussy and outspoken and mean, and my standards were much too high."
"Buncha pompous little shits," murmurs Rae, to my reluctant amusement. "They hated the best parts! 'Ewwww, she's rude!' No, you're a coward! Gonna go back in time, bury all those losers in a hole—"
"Rae."
"Ugh, right, butterfly flaps its wings, causal chain, et cetera..."
"What?" I asked, blinking.
"Nothin', go on."
"I probably would have settled for one of those boys eventually, assuming Thane's refusal and a continued paucity of suitors." I sighed – this flight of fancy was starting to dampen my mood. "I'd have borne children for them, some of whom I might have loved. But I would have been lonely and terribly bored." Goodness, Rae really did save me, didn't she? "And then I imagine I'd have grown old and crotchety and full of petty resentments, and eventually, I would have died, utterly unaware of the joy of honest work, or—"
"Oof, enough already," says Rae, frowning. "What a huge bummer. I'm sorry I brought it up."
I smile at her. "So yes, I'm quite happy you burst into my life and ruined all my plans." I kiss the top of her head. "They weren't very good ones."
"Mama Claire! Mother Rae!" shouted Aleah from downstairs. "May splashed me with her water magic on my new shirt you made for me 'cause she's a big jerk!"
We smiled at each other. "Guess break time's over," said Rae, planting a quick kiss on my lips and standing up. "Love you, Claire. Glad you're not a sad old biddy."
"Only because you rescued me." I stood up as well and kissed my beautiful wife. "I love you too, my sweet Rae. Always."