"I know." It's something that's almost always on the edge of his mind -- the understanding that his happy domestic life here at the inn might suddenly be swallowed up by the painful reality awaiting him when he returned home.

"You know, this -- all of this -- has made me happier than I have been in a long time." Now seems the right time to say it. "You make me happy and I am so grateful for whatever time we have here."