She couldn’t believe that he was asking her to marry him. Despite knowing there would be problems, there was only one answer that she could give. Ha...d trembling, she reached out to touch the simple gold band.Softly, she said, “Yes.”There was a pained groan from the men around the fire. Leaning forward, Bill kissed her. She returned the kiss with passion even as tears of happiness gathered in her eyes. For the moment, they were only aware of each other.When they broke off the kiss, Bill stood. What’s going to happen to me? I’m going to lose everything. Everything.’Tears were welling up in her eyes, "I...I was SO busy! I didn't know what to do. Do you know how much pressure my parents placed on me? Every single day I had a practice or a game. There were tests, and essays, and the AP tests are coming up." She started crying. "I needed that. I just wanted a break. I needed a little bit of time." Susan," he said softly. "Take a breath. Listen to what I have to say first before you get. She was quite impressed by it.We spent about two hours outlining our latest collaboration. We debated ideas backwards and forwards. It was like a mental sparring match. It appeared we both enjoyed the process. Once we had ‘enough’ of each other, we hugged each other goodbye.The next visit was on a Friday afternoon. She didn’t bother with social media or messaging. She phoned me. In the background I heard lots of noise; Molly was on the brink of tears. She wanted to study for Monday’s exam.. I asked if she had any mistakes and she said, "I'm sorry that I failed you two times today, Sir."She got ten more for the two mistakes and she seemed happier when she climbed up on my lap. I held her and looked over to see all the women in their men's laps. It was a quiet ten minutes while they absorbed the love and protection they needed. I picked up Darcy and said, "I need some time with my pet. If you are hungry, help yourself to anything you need. We should finish in an hour or so and I can.