They ate in silence for a few minutes before she asked, "So, does this mean you'll never say 'I love you' to me? And would you refuse a wedding ceremony, even if it was just the ceremony, no legal documents?"
"I'm reasonably certain that even just the ceremony carries some legal weight, and if I offered it to you, I'd have to offer it to my other girls, and that would open me up to polygamy charges. But even if polygamy was legal, I would probably refuse."
"But why?" she said, exasperated. "What would it hurt?"
"Because if you cannot be happy with me without a wedding ceremony, then we have no business being together."
"And what about the 'I love you'?"
She tensed, like she knew what he was going to say, but hoped she was wrong.
"If you feel loved, then you don't need to hear it. If you don't feel loved, then you are a fool if you believe it when you hear it. Saying it doesn't magically make it true. Hearing it doesn't magically make it true."
