"I want to marry you.   I am not alone in my heart anymore.  I don't feel the need to avoid quiet time anymore.  I was either working or spending time with my little girl to avoid being alone."

"But to me this is more than just you and me now.  Be both have children to consider as well.  I want to talk to Heidi about it."  He gave Karen a look.  "You understand that she is important in this too, even though she is only 3... well almost 4."  He chuckled.  "But if you and I are to marry, I would want you to be as a mother to her.  I would want to be a father to your children as well.  Not meaning to not let them know of their true father, as I would not want Heidi to forget Cress.  But I would want all three of them to consider us parents to them.  That is why I said about the house, I guess in an awkward manner.  I want to be a true family that feels safe and that they belong with us."  He explained. 

"When I ask you to marry me, I want it to be looking at all that it means.  And that we are in the same thoughts about how the future would be.  I would want to make decisions about the property with you giving me your thoughts and concerns.   As the children grow up and even children of our own one day, I want us to make those choices together.  I want to watch them grow strong and with love and laughter."  He had taken a lot of thought into it and was not going into it with a light and sudden decision.  He wanted her as his wife, but he wanted it to be as a family.