"I want you!" she cried out. "And I don't want there to be these stupid restrictions between us. Maybe I am a fool, but I don't want to be alone anymore and I don't want to be with my family either, but I don't want to make you feel forced into something you don't want. And all of this is confusing!"

In that moment, something inside Joesph Blacke snapped. Maybe it was the anguish of his beloved, maybe it was the crashing of the waves upon the shore, his desire to protect her from cruelties and scandal.

"Then let us be wed!" he blurted out. "..As man and wife, we'd be together. It'd be proper, and we would face whatever comes."

She blinked and stopped talking. "You want to wed me, Joe?" she sniffled and wiped at her tears as if in disbelief. But nobody wanted to marry her! She hadn't wanted to get married either but she loved him. "I... yes."

"Is that a yes?" Joe repeated, to make sure he was thinking clearly. After all, his head was still filled with noble thoughts, his nostrils with the smell of seawater.

"Yes," she said. She may not have wanted to get married, but she wanted to marry Joe. "Let's..."

"Be wed? Great. Wonderful idea!" Joe paused his enthusiasm. "How do we go about being married?" he asked innocently, never having been married before. Presumably a Reverend was involved...

"Well," she said and paused... "We could elope to Gretna Green," she said, "Or we can do it proper like... If we elope, we can be married as soon as we get there. What would you like, Joe? I... think we should just do it... now. I don't want to wait... but it's not just up to me." Her hands found his and squeezed. "Do you really want to marry me?" she asked, this time in a daze as it hit her hard that he yelled that to her at all. "I'll marry you however you want to... A big wedding or just us."

Joe felt the pressure of Pearl's hand in his and its warmth. He listened enraptured by her soft voice as she explained their options and their future. The promise of a life together was truly intoxicating. Pearl's repeating if Joe was serious brought him back to the moment and there was a pang of regret that he had indeed sort of shouted at her. Before details of a wedding far or near, big or small could be decided he felt the need to apologise.

"Pearl, ye mean the world to me. Of course I want to marry ye." he paused, his eyes fell downwards to look at the sand of the beach "Sorry I was harsh, I didn't mean to. Ye're seem most distressed and I couldn't stand to see ye hurtin'. All of the things people have done and said to ye, and it sort of made me mad. My tone was not what it should 'ave been." Joe stopped looking at the ground and looked at Pearl. He was not an misbehaving schoolboy anymore.

"Can ye forgive me?"

"Yes, I can... I am sorry I yelled..." she murmured and then said, "Let's just... go right now. I change my mind. Marry me as soon as Gretna Green. I... I don't want a big wedding." Not when they would get mocked for it.

Her spoken desire to be his wife, and everything that meant, swamped his brain to which he quickly answered

"Yes. Let's get married in Gretna Green."