"A joke? No, I'm not that twisted," he insisted, with a bit of a nervous laugh. He hadn't really thought this far ahead, and he felt a little bad for shocking her quite so much.
"Abigail," he drawled in response to her use of his proper name, a sure sign that all joking had been winded out of her. "I love you," he told her sincerely, taking hold of her hand. "And even though I am utterly shit at marriage, I really can't imagine my life without you in it," he told her, giving her hand a little reassuring squeeze. "Don't marry me, even if I get drunk and beg you. But stay with me - live in sin with me - forever, or at least for as long as the island allows it." He stopped, feeling unusually vulnerable for the moment.