Alfred thought her characterization of her father might be slightly unfair — though only because she'd said he would hold a grudge until Zelda died and not until Alfred died. If something were to remove him from the picture, Alfred thought Brannon would be quite happy to welcome his recently widowed daughter back — not that Alfred was planning on dying any time soon, or letting Zelda do so. No, once he actually had her, Alfred planned to hold on to her for a good long while. The rest of their very long lives.

He let out a contented breath and let his eyes drift, watching the moonlight on the water. He could have echoed her sentiment and told her that she made him happy, too, but it hardly needed saying.

"If it takes too long, we could always nudge them in the right direction," he eventually said, mostly teasing (but also entirely not teasing; he would have eloped with her tomorrow if that was what she wanted to do). "If you think they'd ever get over it."