Perhaps they hadn't. They certainly hadn't followed the predetermined societal norms that were likely expected of them, hadn't followed what would have been considered the right and proper path. But they hadn't simply just crossed that line, they had run over it headlong and had never once stopped or bothered to look back. Everything had blossomed and come to life so quickly, rising up with the dawning of spring and burning brighter than all of the stars in the sky, almost as if this were somehow their destiny.

One day, there would be a ring on her finger. The news that she was carrying his child had only cemented that idea into his mind that she was the one he wished to marry, the one who he wished to share the rest of his life with. But it would come later, not now when she might think that it had only been asked because of the child. No, she deserved to know that it was because of her, deserved to have it be special and not some spur of the moment proposition quickly asked in the heat od a different moment.

"Such things do not matter." Long fingers gently squeezed her slender ones, holding them as if they were the most precious things in the entire world to him. And she was, truly. "I love you, Evie. And this child was made from that love." Releasing one of her hands, his own reached out, cupping her chin and tipping it upwards. "So long as you are happy, that is all I care about."