"Because you told him after the fact!" Alastor couldn't believe anyone was this dense. "Charlie...Charlie...look. He asked about marriage. You told him you didn't want to do it, you should find other options. Of course it didn't make a difference when you told him after the fact that you love him, that you didn't want to push him into anything. Your first words are what he hears and everything else sounds like platitudes and backtracking."
If putting up with him was even half this insanity-inducing, Alastor was going to owe Marlene several huge apologies.
"If approaching it like writing a report helps straighten things out, don't knock it. And I prefer to think of approaching it like an interrogation.
"Let me explain something to you, Charlie. You're right, men didn't just get married in our time and they certainly didn't marry other men. Add to that the very traditional upbringing he and I had -- and him more so than me for the mere fact there was a decade separating us -- and, yes, marriage is a big deal. Which is why you're looking at this all wrong. You're looking at it as if it's something he wouldn't want to do if he didn't have to. How you should be looking at it is this is a man who wouldn't even suggest such a thing lightly, not unless he was serious about it.
"The mere fact he brought it up should have told you what he wants more than anything else."