“I know this is fast,” he began. “But if this was an air strike, I would be zeroing in on my target and not taking any chances. I love you and want to provide for the woman I care for – is it impulsive? Yeah. If I felt any sense of ‘wrong’ I wouldn’t be fighting so hard to make this happen.”
“What happens if…” she whispered tearfully, looking at him and realizing that they needed these moments to talk between them in a place where they felt safest together. “What happens if you feel like you’ve made a mistake later on? What if you decide you want a divorce later? Or grow to hate me?”
“That’s not gonna happen, Mary.”
“It could…” she protested, feeling panicked as she searched his eyes.
“Remember what I said about the wishes?” he said tenderly. “You have to believe with everything in you that this is what you want – and if you don’t? Then it’s okay, but I am planning on leaving you with my bank card, so you have funds in case you need it. I would prefer to give you everything I could by marrying me… but if you don’t feel comfortable, then I understand.”
“But you are leaving…”
“I am,” he said softly. “It would be in name only for months.”
“This isn’t a trick?”
“No.”
“And you don’t care if I use your account to fly out to ComicCon, book some fancy hotel, and get premier tickets?”
“Buy two of them and let me know the dates,” he smiled tenderly at her, his thumb gently caressing her hairline.
“I don’t understand why…” she whispered.
“If you got sick or needed something, my insurance would cover you. If you needed help, my friends would be there, because you are one of us. If you needed to escape, my mother would take you in seconds, because you’d be her daughter-in-law… and if something happened to me?”
Mary’s breath caught raggedly in her throat at feeling his heart under her hand jump nervously.
“Then my widow would be taken care of financially for quite a while – and to me? It’s comforting to know that I have someone I love waiting for me back home.”
“Marriage…” she said evenly, realizing she might have bit off more than she could chew by admitting her feelings.
“I would never pressure you – but Iamasking,” he said softly. “And I’m hoping that the brave woman who took a chance on writing me, meeting me, and flying across the state with me… has one more brave streak left in her, to take one more leap of faith.”
“You really want to do this?”
“I do,” he smiled poignantly, saying the words softly.
“I’m not changing who I am for you or anyone else,” she whispered cautiously. “I’ve been down that road and will never do it again.”
“I would never ask you to change who you are – just trust me and allow me to give you my name.”
“And what if I wanted children someday?”
“Say the word, and I will give you as many as you want,” he breathed softly, his voice holding so much tenderness and emotion in those softly spoken words.
Mary sat up, pushing back from him, and looking away as she crossed her arms over her knees, desperately trying to keep from falling apart. He was giving her a future, everything she could have ever wanted or asked for, all in exchange for trusting him and letting him be the person for her.
“Mary?” he said tentatively, touching her shoulder.
“I’m scared and need to think,” she whispered.
“Fair enough,” he breathed softly, rubbing her back gently.
She sat there silently, knowing this was a waste of time and they could have been flying back towards Yonder… but he wasn’t pushing her. He never pressured her, but this time was slightly different. He was pointing out all the reasons why she should marry him, and even said that he loved her repeatedly… but it wasn’t him pressuring her.
It was her trying to keep from making another mistake that she might not recover from emotionally.
“I want to meet your parents,” she whispered softly, wiping her eyes and still not looking at him. “I don’t even know if you have brothers or sisters. We barely know each other and…”