“Rachel, will you marry me?” Will said from the one knee he was leaning on.

“Why would I do that?” came the unexpected reply.

Will obviously hadn’t thought that far ahead. He should have. Rachel was a lawyer. This would have to be a negotiation.

Will stood up and began pacing like Cary Grant in Arsenic And Old Lace. “OK,” he said, “reason one.” Rachel sat down on the sofa. “Um,” Will was just full of pregnant pauses today. “OK, reason one. You love me.”

“Well, of course, I do, Will. Otherwise I wouldn’t have spent the latter half of my twenties with you. But is that a good enough reason? My parents loved each other, too. They divorced only three years later.”

“OK, Rachel, I still think it’s a valid reason though. People who love each other and spend seven years dating should get married. It’s what humans do. And for the record, I love you very much. Reason two. We would have beautiful children.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Rachel said, “But we haven’t decided to have children yet.”

“Well, it’s an important part of marriage. Reason three. Financially, emotionally, socially, culturally, educationally and in every other -ally way, we are a good match. We could each support the other if one of us lost our job. We believe in the same things. We have the same core values. Your parents didn’t. He wanted to be a rock star and she wanted a house in the suburbs and three kids.”

“Now you’re speaking some sense. That is an excellent point. Alright, Will, I will marry you if that’s what you really want, but don’t expect me to get all sentimental about it and I am certainly not planning a wedding.”

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Flash Fiction 365 prompt: three reasons.
Daily Post prompt: Set a timer for ten minutes. Open a new post. Start the timer, and start writing. When the timer goes off, publish.