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TWO men approached, bearing delicious cooking. One was loud and outgoing, the other more earnest and reserved.
Sophie greeted the earnest one first. “Mr. Scrumptious!”
His eyes caught on hers and softened into a smile. “Hello, Ms. Sophie. Congratulations.”
Sophie trotted up to meet them, Kurt trailing behind.
Despite being a guest, the earnest man, Scrumptious, wore a pristine white chef’s coat, amplifying his clean-cut, polished look. He’d written back, If it’s not a bother, I’d like to help out in the kitchen. I only know how to cook, after all, and so it’d been decided he would help Raymond on this important day. There was something brighter about him, tanner too, like he’d been standing in the sun grinning for days, which only made Sophie think something good had happened.
“Has your father…?” Sophie began.
“He’s finally let me work the food cart,” Scrumptious said, his smile growing. “We’ve been getting a lot of young female customers lately, too. I’m not quite sure why.”
“Well, I can venture a guess or two.” Sophie giggled. The food had always been irresistible. Of that, she had no doubt. But now, with a certain handsome young man working the counter, foot traffic was probably through the roof.
Said handsome young man dipped his head politely to Kurt.
Kurt returned the gesture, then stuck out his hand. “Kurt Ozhorn. Sophie’s husband.”
Scrumptious took it. “Scrumptious. I’m a cook. Congratulations, Mr. Ozhorn.”
A pause. Then: “Ow,” Scrumptious winced.
Sophie jumped in alarm. “Darling, what are you doing to Mr. Scrumptious’s hand! That’s a cook’s hand!”
“We’re just shaking hands,” Kurt said coolly.
“Shaking hands? The poor man’s about to lose his livelihood!”
Sophie hurried in and pried the two apart.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Scrumptious. Is your hand all right?”
“Oh, yes,” Scrumptious said, shaking his arm like he was snapping out of a trance. “I’m fine. It’s just I felt something…sinister. It made all the hairs on my arm stand on end.”
Sophie turned to Kurt, arching an eyebrow. “Sinister? What funny ideas have you gotten in your head?”
“Nothing,” Kurt said. “Like I said. We were just shaking hands.”
“Oh, don’t give me that. You felt something, didn’t you?”
Sophie scolded him as Scrumptious watched her with a soft, bemused squint.
“Hey, my turn now.”
The louder, outgoing man finally cut in. Raymond, the Olzon family cook, turned to Kurt with a broad grin and a hand thrust out.
Expression calm, almost indifferent, Kurt regarded him a moment before taking his hand.
Grk, grk, grk, grk, grk… It sounded like two leather-bound beasts locking horns, even if Raymond’s grin stayed easy and Kurt’s expression stayed blank.
“Congratulations. Name’s Raymond. I’m the Olzon family cook. Been with the household for four years. Always. Constantly. Right by milady’s side.”
“Kurt Ozhorn. Ms. Sophie’s husband. I find it’s the quality of time that matters, not the quantity.”
Grk, grk, grk, grk, grk… The strange, stubborn contest rumbled on, their clasped hands unmoving except for the strain beneath.
“You’ll make her happy, won’t you?”
“I’ll do nothing less.”
“She’s the boss’s little girl. Don’t forget it.”
“She’s everything to me. I won’t forget a thing.”
“That so?”
Raymond finally loosened his grip.
The two parted.
Raymond gave Kurt a polite smile, a small nod, and then he was off, hauling Scrumptious and all their cooking along with him.
Sophie lightly punched Kurt’s arm. “What was that just now? Why were you fighting with him?”
“That wasn’t a fight. Just a handshake,” Kurt said, glancing down at his hand.
She followed his gaze. “…Does it hurt?”
“No. He…was holding back.” There was a rare edge of frustration in his voice.
After a moment, he looked up at her—there was something tender in his gaze.
He took her hand in both of his, enclosing it in his warm, comforting hold.
“After today,” he said quietly, “I’ve realized just how many people feel affection for you.”
“Affection? You’re overthinking it,” Sophie immediately said. “I’m sorry. I’ve overwhelmed you with too much, too fast today, haven’t I?”
“Not at all. I’m glad to know you better. To see how many people care for you…” His voice softened. “It’s made me fall in love with you all the more.”
“I’m glad,” Sophie replied bashfully.
“But at the same time, it makes me anxious. Say. How can I make sure the girl I love will always keep loving me? That her feelings for me won’t ever change?”
His eyes wavered. There was genuine fear in his voice.
And to the man she’d once thought unshakeable—shaken now only by the thought of losing her—Sophie said only this: “Trust her. Continue to love her.”
She wove all the truth she had into her voice, her gaze steady as it met Kurt’s obsidian eyes.
A quiet moment passed.
“That’s it?” Kurt asked.
“That’s it,” Sophie responded.
She nodded once, firm and sure.
And with that, the tension in Kurt’s chest seemed to break and scatter, and a broad, boyish smile spread across his face.
“If that’s all, then…I can do that.”
Still holding each other’s hands, they gave one more firm squeeze, feeling the warmth and the weight of everything they shared.