"I don't know how I feel," that was the truth of it, too. Nigel had tried to parse through his feelings on the matter since reading the letters, but he was so far out of his depth here that he didn't know where he stood. He enjoyed their friendship, they'd sort of grown up together; but they were from complete different stations in life and he was in no place at his age and position, to be harboring any delusions of grandeur about marrying and settling down. Not to mention how poorly it would wind up reflecting on her, in the long run. He didn't want that to happen to her.

He sighed softly, feeling the frustration with himself welling up. "I think maybe I need a little time?" Was that fair? She had every right to tell him no, to bugger off and be done with him and he would have to accept that. "I care about you, obviously I do, but there's a lot of outside factors that neither you nor I could hope to control." His parents for one. Society's views. Their ages. It was all a bit of a mess.