"Relationship?" The word should make things easier, but instead, it made him itch, like it were something that he needed to rub off from his skin, scratch until there was no trace of it, except that he knew that it was too late for that. He'd had the chance to stop things, but had willingly gone along.
"Yes, I know very well, and my son is one of those keepers. Even without him, I'd still be concerned," he said.
Callum stood up and paced, trying to understand what he was saying, let along what Charlie was saying. He stopped and stared at the other man. "That's not good enough, Charlie. You're saying that you'll marry me so you can have me around, and that's just- When I say that I do things properly, I mean that. I've always taken marriage seriously, which is why I've avoided it, but if I do it, it's because we will be together until we die. It's meeting the families, and being engaged, and waiting the proper amount of time before getting married. Is this what we want? Is this relationship worth changing everything we do? Neither of us wanted to get married or even have a relationship. Do we really want to now?"