“I want my man to gift me with one ring—two, someday—both worn on my left hand on the fourth finger from the right. I want him to humor me as I plan a wedding that is classy but bold, quaint and picturesque, full of dresses the color of sunrise and the color of dusk, when fireflies roam about. I want him to dance with me in the silence when we cross the threshold of a gorgeous house; a house that will be our home. It will be two-storied, finished with dark wood floors and have walls painted however which way we choose. A spacious house, bot not too large for those have a heartbreaking way of becoming too lonely. A lovely, lovely house full of life and laughter and joy. I will be gifted with three children: two handsome boys and one darling girl who will give me as many gray hairs as they give me pride.”

“That isn’t an impossible wish.”

“I want that man to be all man, but remembers how to be a boy. I want to find he who would love me at my highest and lowest, love my moods as they shift from summerspringautumn to deadly winter, where my demeanor is at its lowest, most frigid point. When I am there, I want to find the man that would smile and tell me I still glowed and kiss me until I smiled with him. He would tell me he loves me, argues with me when I am at fault, and murmurs away any doubt I have.”

“I could be that man for you.”

“I doubt that you could. For I am that horror in the middle of the night that will drag you out of bed because I am railing and whimpering, only to kiss you and love you until sunrise moments after. I am everything that is unpredictable as well as all that is mundane. But in retrospect I could love you, write you poems on napkins to be left underneath your coffee cup. I could raise a fire in you from my touch, set your heart pounding with a glance, make you yearn with a coy smile given over my shoulder.”

“With those words I think I have fallen even more in love with you.”

“That’s a dangerous, stupid thing to do.”

“Why?”

“Because I am not that one you should fall in love with. I’m that one that will steal your heart initially, but whom later you find to be too troublesome, too heartbreakingly wild and as a result you leave to find another. I cannot keep your love, I cannot tend to it as I should. And you will find that I am full of cannot’s instead of can’s. I am more trouble than I am worth to be honest with you and I wouldn’t be surprised if all my wishes simply remained as wishes.”

“My love, then let me prove you wrong. Let me be all you ask of me and more, able to lift you into the highest of moon-tops and the deepest of euphorias. I will be that man to give you two rings on your left hand, a quaint and bold wedding to inspire awe, two handsome boys and a darling girl that will be as much yours as mine, a house to become a home, a love to last a lifetime.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am positive.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“Your hand in mine for us to start ticking your wishes off your wishlist.”