The Writerly Valentine Tag

I know it's not Friday, but I had this written up for Valentine's Day (perhaps the first time I have EVER written a post on a whim, lol), and thought I would post it. Because it's a Valentine tag, and it's Valentine's Day, after all. So, here I am. (Actually, in my family we usually refer to today, tongue-in-cheek, as Cyril & Methodias Day, because those are the two saints who actually have their feast day today. So, happy Cyril & Methodias. :))

When the Nutmeg came up with this fantastic tag idea, I was all in, until I realized...my main WIPs host a total of two (2) couples, and only one of those sets of couples actually had more than, like, three interactions. 

Good grief, Sam. 

(This is funny, given that Grim, a self-labelled non-romantic, has...twelve? fourteen? romantic couples in her oeuvre, given her response to the same tag. Whereas I, who am not a non-romantic, have ventured almost no romantic couples. Irony, folks.)

So, for the sake of making this post a little longer, I decided to include couples from flash fiction--both Quirks (which have already been posted, so you can go read the context, if you want) and one unposted short story that I'm very partial to. 

Which still only brings the grand total to seven. *dies*

Also, this is embarrassing because I just...don't name my POV characters hardly ever? And sometimes not their significant others, either, I guess? (This is mostly okay, because generally my stories are just for me, but in cases like this...of the fourteen characters involved, four of them have real names. For those who are counting, that is only 29%.) So. Please don't judge me--naming characters is an elaborate process in my brain, and if I don't have the energy to do it for every single character...I'm sure you can understand. 

Anywho. On to the tag!

Praecepta:
1. Pick any number of couples from your writing project(s). (You may limit them to a specific WIP or snatch them right and left from across your oeuvre.)
2. For each couple that you choose, share: 
            a) a snippet featuring them
            b) a song that sums up their relationship (and why you think it’s perfect for them)
3. Tag as many people as you like (0 is an acceptable number).

(And 0 is the number I will be tagging, because I don't have brainpower for that today.)

"Mom" and "Dad" (no, they don't have their own names) from Into The Dark

The MC's parents don't get a lot of page time, but when they do, I think they're a pretty cute married couple, if I do say so myself. (And *cough* no, of course they're not incredibly based on my own parents, why do you ask?)

Snippet:

I’m putting away the cards when Mom shouts from above, “Dad’s home!” 

There’s a mad dash for the stairs. Ben gets there first, wooden sword in hand, and blocks the stairs as he clumps up them. Beckie and Charlie are in hot pursuit, and Sarah is only a few steps behind them. Em and I bring out the rear. 

...

When we emerge at the top of the stairs, Dad is covered in kids—Sarah around his leg, Beckie and Charlie around his waist, and Ben around his chest. 

“Hey love! And Em!” he calls, trying to extricate himself.  

Mom, standing at the stove, is laughing. He finally pulls free of the mass of children and grabs me in a side hug.  

“How was work?” I ask, my face squished against his lapel. 

“It was good! How was your day?” 

“Interesting. I’m sure Mom will tell you all about it. But I don’t want to talk about it right now.”  

He gives me a squeeze and releases me to bend over the stove. 

“What’s for dinner, my love?” he asks Mom. 

“Vegetable soup with shrimp.” 

He kisses her temple, and she smiles. “My favorite,” he tells her. 

Song:

I had to include "Dancing in the Minefields" by Andrew Peterson for at least one of my married couples. I considered it for the next couple, but since they haven't been married for very long, and these two have been married at least fifteen years, I thought it fit them better. Because their lives haven't been easy, but they have five kids and love each other, so life is good. ("Ca C'est Bon" would also work for them, and so might "Lies" by Stan Rogers.)

[Unnamed] and James from an untitled novella

I LOVE these two SO MUCH. Definitely my favorite couple on the list. They were (and pretty much still are) my only attempt at writing a married couple as MCs of a (significant) story, which is a bit of a milestone. And I think it turned out really well, although it definitely needs to be edited still (and maybe to have an actual married person read it). Also: did I shamelessly make James Practically Perfect In Every Way? ...maybe. Do I regret it? Not at all.

Snippet:

“Annemarie just threw up.”

And that’s the moment that James choses to walk in the door. I’m at the end of my rope, and instead of telling him with excitement over dinner like I did for Martin, telling him when we were lying side by side in bed at night, like I did with Annemarie, or breaking it to him gently over dessert as I did for Adrian, when he asks me, “Are you okay?” 

–No, James, I am most certainly not okay, I have been working all day, just realized that there will be no hot dinner, and can smell the vomit scent wafting gently this direction from the dining room—I yell, “No, I’m not okay! You got me pregnant again, dangit!” and collapse against his chest, the tears welling up.

He steps back, catching my weight, and hugs me close. 

“What was that, my love?” 

Held tight to his strong chest, I sob, and Adrian, on my back, catching on that something has upset his mama, begins to wail. That just makes it worse. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I choke out. “It wasn’t your fault! It was my stupid lack of self-control. And Annemarie just threw up.”

He leaves one arm around me, and strokes my hair with the other, holding my head tighter to himself. He doesn’t ask any questions, despite what must have been an extraordinarily confusing narrative. Inhaling his smell, and held in his arms, I gradually stop crying. 

“Are you okay now?” he asks, holding me at an arm’s length. Adrian’s wails haven’t stopped yet, and James unbuckles the shoulder straps, pulls him out of the backpack, and starts to bounce him, shushing quietly. His crying subsides, too.

“I’m not sure,” I say honestly. 

“Can you try telling me again, what you were trying to say when I came in?”

“I took a pregnancy test today. It was positive. But it’s not your fault—it’s mine. I was the one…anyway. And Annemarie just threw up. And there’s only nachos for dinner.”

“Okay,” he tells me, surprisingly calm. “You take Adrian and go nurse him. I’ll clean Annemarie up, and start dinner. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it.”

Song:

There are SO many songs I'd like to give these two..."Dancing in the Minefields", "Ca C'est Bon", "Beauty & the Beast", and also, probably "Tightrope", just because of how hard their married life has been so far. But to be fair, James will really never let go. It would be my POV character who would, if anyone. (But I don't think she will, either.)

[Unnamed] and [Unnamed] from a one-page flash fiction called The Puzzle Ring

The origin story of this couple is that I found out about puzzle rings, and wanted to invent an alternate universe in which puzzle rings were literal metaphors for marriages.
That's all.

Buuuuut I still think they're really cute. (Also, newlyweds. I like newlyweds.)

Snippet:

He was awakened by fingers brushing down his cheek. Reflexively, his hand reached for her slender fingers. “I’m sorry, my love,” were the first words out of his mouth. “I didn’t mean to—”
“I overreacted,” she said, cutting him off.
He looked up into her face. The sun was shining through her hair. “I know you worked hard to make dinner,” he said. “And it was boorish of me to insult it.”
She shook her head. “And I should have asked what you wanted.”
He shook his own head. “Will you forgive me, dear heart?”
She smiled. “Of course. Will you forgive me?”
“Of course.” He bent his head and kissed the fingers he held.

She smiled, and turned her head to look at the mantle. A slight something twisted in the corner of her mouth. Oh no. She saw he’d broken it. “My love, I—”
She pulled her hand out of his, and his hand fell back to the couch, his heart seeming to fall with it. Forgiveness, short-lived.
He had broken her grandmother’s wedding present, after all.

She stepped to the mantle and picked up the rings. “Hmm,” was all she said, as she slotted the silver ring back into place, her movement too quick for him to see how she did it.

And then she turned back to the couch. 

Song:
It took me FOREVER to think of a song for these two (maybe because I don't know much about them at all), but I think I've hit on it with "A Girl in the Valley" from The Secret Garden. I don't know much about their romance, but based on the slightly-fantastical-ness of the AU they're in, and how *cough* sappy they're being...it's perfect. (Just. GUYS. This song.)

[Unnamed] and [Unnamed] from Quirk #7

I love the calm settled-ness of this couple. He knows she's going to bring home junk; she knows he'll be there to help her wash it. I dunno. They're sweet. 

Snippet:

"And don't bring home too much junk, okay? I know how you and that sister of mine are about antique shops."

"Bring home junk? Me? Never."

I chuckle. "Okay. Well, see you this evening."

"Sounds good! I love you."

"Love you, too."

She turns and heads out the door. The house suddenly feels quieter, even though she's not very loud. Oh well, I'll be powering up the drill in not too long to work on the table she wants, so it won't be quiet for long. But first, dishes. My wife takes antiques very seriously, so seriously that she left the sink full of dirty plates on her way out to meet my sister for a day of antiquing. And, of course, the plates are, you guessed it, antique, and, from the way she talks about them, priceless. So I have to wash with care. I roll up my sleeves, squeeze some soap onto the sponge, and dive in.

Song:

I needed something...settled for these two, that sort of conveys the stability of their relationship, and how comfortable they are with each other. And so, I decided to go with "When You Say Nothing At All" by Alison Krauss.

Him and Her from Quirk #10

I think this is the only unmarried couple on this list? (And I love that about my writing. I'm not nearly so interested in couples who are still in 'dating limbo' as I am in couples who're married, for whatever reason. Not to say I'll never write any dating couples in the future buuuuut that's certainly not the trend at the moment.) These two are a little bit swoony, but I think that's accurate for their implied age and relationship stage...

Snippet:

I shake my head, trying to dislodge him

The way his nose crinkles when he works

His masterful hands

Please get out of my head, I tell him

I'm trying to sleep

Song:

Because both of these two are trying to resist falling in love with each other to one degree or another, I'm going to say "Rhythm of Love/Can't Help Falling In Love" by Straight No Chaser. (Honorable mention: "A Heart Full of Love from Les Miserables.)

Jack and [Unnamed] from Quirk #11

I love these two. They're just so wholesome. (So, of course, they get the most situational angst of all the couples on this list.)

Snippet:

I check the news. Nothing that I haven't seen since the last time I checked it an hour ago.

I sigh, close the laptop, stand, and move to one of the soft, comfy chairs in the living room, letting out another sigh as I sit. Gracie hops up beside me and curls herself up next to my leg, purring. I scratch between her ears absentmindedly. The baby kicks again, this time a barrage, hands-and-feet, hands-and-feet. 

And suddenly tears are rolling down my face. If Jack were here, I would tell him to come over, put his hand over my stomach, and let him feel the kicks, watching the smile spread across his face. And then he would wrap me in an ecstatic hug, and everything would be right with the world.

I miss that feeling, the one that said that nothing bad was going to happen, because we were together.

Song: 

"The Waltz of Saint Cecilia" by L'Angelus 

Yes, I went there. I HAD to do it! They HAD to get the song about the couple who're about to be separated by war! 
Besides that, the couple in the song also seems wholesome and...stable, if that makes sense? Just like these two.
Does that make my narrator's name Annie? Maybe. I think it would fit her... and there we go. Character named.
(Runners up: "Song For A Winter's Night" by Audrey Assad and "My Love Has Gone Across The Sea" by Andrew & Skye Peterson.)

 

Sarah and Matt from Quirk #15

Honestly, the thing that makes this couple for me is not necessarily the couple themselves, but the actual narration of the Quirk. I mean, they're cute, and good on Sarah for marrying into a family like Matt's, because that takes courage, but just try to tell me the last two sentences of the snippet don't make you laugh. (I thought they were hilarious, because I had forgotten writing any such thing. XD)

Snippet:

He takes the statue in his arms and kisses it right where the lips would be behind the veil that covers the face. And, slowly, as he holds the pale statue, color creeps across it, turning the hard stone into living flesh again, and my sister-in-law, still regrettably alive, melts into his arms, sweeps the veil off of her face with one hand, and enthusiastically returns his kiss. Disgusting.

Song:

The mischievous part of me suggests "Fix You" (the Straight No Chaser cover, that is) because he's literally making her not-a-statue-anymore. Or maybe "Beauty & the Beast" for the same reason. But I think a better choice would be "I Choose You", specifically the Whim 'n Rhythm cover. It conveys how Matt is choosing Sarah over his family, and also has some elements that hint at some of the problems they've faced/are facing. Plus, it's just a sweet song with a weirdly Catholic view of marriage, for a secular piece of music.

So, tell me about couples you've written! Also, which of these couples would like to hear more about? Do you have any other song suggestions? Do you mostly write married couples, or just-in-love couples?