Can Curses Be Broken?

Guess you could call me superstitious. Cuz, well, I am. Broken mirrors are seven years bad luck. Walkin' under ladders? Not a good idea. Black cats I could handle. But drinkin' Blackburne's green water was outta the question. I wouldn't even touch it, let alone drink the stuff. And marriage? Considerin' I'd lost Chris Barnett, Aeon Voom and Tdstraitjacket Manamiko to engagement or marriage, I'd come to the conclusion I was cursed. Newest superstitions? Touchin' the plaque on the wall in the briefin' room of the Elindor and wearin' my lucky drawers and the bracelet Duncan'd given me the night of the Ants in the 'Verse ball whenever I got in the cockpit of my stryker to fly her. Call me silly for all of it, but it's how I am.

So, poor Duncan's gotta deal with all my crazy superstitious crap, and I gotta say, he's been a champ 'bout it. I don't even reckon he snickers when I change my stride to miss cracks in the floorin'. But he's made it more'n clear to me that he'd like to marry me, despite my track record and fervent belief't gettin' engaged's the quickest way to end a relationship with me. Don't get me wrong, he said he's perfectly content just havin' me in his life, and I'm inclined to believe him. Neither one of us expected to end up together, and it was sorta miraculous that we did, given everything that'd been goin' on at the time, and given the situations both of us'd been in.

Call me crazy, but've you ever just known when somethin' was right? I mean real right? Like, so right that the entire 'verse seems to've gone way outta its way to line up so somethin' could happen? It's how I feel with Duncan. I ain't got a doubt in my mind 'bout him, and honestly, it's been that way from the beginnin'. I almost feel like my curse, the one where every time I got engaged or married, it'd fall apart and I'd end up losin' the person, was sorta God's or destiny's way of intervenin' on my behalf so't when Duncan and I crossed paths, we'd both be in positions to be together.

And now, I keep thinkin' 'bout what's fair and right. Ain't fair for him to not get to marry the woman he loves just cuz she's superstitious as all hell. I feel like I'd be deprivin' him of somethin' hugely important, and also myself, by denyin' him my hand in marriage. Maybe the curse still scares the hell outta me, but it's cuz I can't imagine a world without him in it anymore, and I couldn't bear the thought of losin' him... but somethin' tells me this time'll be different, cuz this time it's right.

And then there's this war. One of us may die tomorrow, or both of us. And I can't let that happen, 'least not without givin' him my eternal commitment. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe I'm bein' silly. But it's what I believe.

So, given all that, I got a wild hair up my ass and decided one night that I was gonna propose to him. We were out on this little island in the middle of God's nowhere, deserted but for a couple little beach houses and docks and a millionbillion birds, standin' on a rise above the harbor entrance watchin' the sun go down. I got down on one knee, takin' his hands in mine, and I asked him if he'd do me the real great honor of marryin' me. Funnily enough, or maybe not, given that it happens to us all the time, he'd had the same notion in his head at 'zactly the same moment I did, and his response was to propose right back to me. 'Course I said yes.

We've kept it on the downlow since it happened, mainly outta respect for certain other peoples' feelin's, but there comes a time when you either make it public or walk away from it entirely. Me, I've wanted to shout it from the mountaintops since the second it happened. I'm done feelin' ashamed for feelin' the way I do 'bout him cuz it didn't suit someone else's feelings, and I'm ready to lift my head with pride knowin' that I'm with the most wonderful, most amazin' man I ever have met, that I love him entirely, and that I'm blessed to have him love me entirely back.

And I believe my curse's been broken. And one day soon, once we figure out how we're gonna do things, I'll have the honor of marrying the man who's become so close to me that I ain't rightly sure where I end and he begins, who's become my best friend, my confidante, my lover, my ally, my comrade in arms, my voice of reason, my rock of stability, my better half. He'll be my husband.

Now, the only question is whether or not we'll have kids.
Just kiddin'.
Sorta.

And just for the record... I AIN'T PREGNANT!