“I love you,” I told her. “And I don’t need some big fancy wedding to make this mean more. We’ve already made it pretty clear to our families that we’re never going to follow the expected path. If you want to keep it between us and we’ll have a party for everyone else later, I’ll do whatever you want. Or if it’s too fast and you want the fancy dress in a church, God, I’ll wait but I don’t want to wait long. You’re already my partner, my best friend,” I said fervently, “but I want to call you my wife.”
