Her answer made him smile, and the smile only faded in the slightest when he returned the kiss. Even if it was difficult to find something happy to say about her, either. All his thoughts of her for over twenty years had filtered through a lens of regret, and if there was something happy there, he imagined he'd have trouble finding it. Or at least making it sound happy. He'd always been exceptionally good at bringing everyone down.
"All right," he answered with a soft sigh, lowering his head to peck her cheek once more, and he nuzzled that, too, for a second before propping his head on his hand again. "Well, obviously, we will be inseparable, apart from when we have to work at our respective jobs. But I will become the best Healer this resort has ever seen, and you will eventually be promoted to the head groom, so that you don't actually have to bother with the horses yourself. You'll just order other people to do it."
He hesitated before continuing onto the next bit, but considering that she'd already said -- if things had been different -- she would have accepted his proposal of marriage, he felt a touch more confident. Still, he had to clear his throat before he could work up the nerve to say what he hoped might happen aloud. "And we'll fall madly in love, of course, and I'll propose to you here, in our clearing, though obviously I'll do it properly -- going down on one knee and all that.
"And I'll give you a silver ring with an emerald that you will positively adore, and you'll be crying too hard to actually say yes, but you'll nod, at least, at which point I will stand and gather you in my arms and wipe your tears away before kissing you." He stopped there, wondering if he'd said too much. He had gone on a bit, he supposed, but if she wanted to hear more, he could probably think up something about their wedding ... and children, even?