Noble squeezed Daffy's hands. Of course she noticed; she knew him better than most of his siblings did, and now-Noble was different than he'd been a year ago.

"I know," he admitted, "It's just - my sisters, probably, they sometimes make me go a little mad." But it was his sisters, and his mother, and the family's finances. It was everyone under one roof and the marriage time crunch and the knowledge that maybe, possibly, probably - his ability to provide for her, to marry her, was up in the air.

They might not even have the option anymore.

Noble couldn't verbalize it, though; he was sure he would find a way to pull through.

"I'm sorry if I'm off," he said.

---