I appreciate the sentiment. I'm not sure if I'm proud of myself or if I've lost my mind. I suppose they go hand in hand where I'm concerned. I do agree happiness should trump everything else, but in most respects we'd be lucky if that was the case. Maybe we will both be lucky.

There's something to be said about waiting and for the first time to be special. There's something romantic about doing things the traditional way, especially if you love him. I can easily picture you in a pretty gown, making me wear one beside you and watching you walk down the aisle with flowers and all the bells and whistles. It's very you, it's not very me. We've talked about eloping, I can't wait. Honestly.

I don't envy the position you'd be in financially, Edric has that covered for us. I will point out, only for the sake of being the devil's advocate that your brother likely thought they'd be fine too. His wife worked until they had kids, then it became infinitely harder, I suspect. That said, I'm completely convinced you will make it work if you want it badly enough.

In the interest of full disclosure, once this damn expedition is over, would I perhaps be able to sometimes use visiting you at the museum as a cover to see Edric? Only every one in a while, I promise! I know it's terrible and it will not always be for that reason, but we need to wait for the stupid newspaper article to blow over before we can be seen in public together.