Bill opened his mouth to speak, then held in his words. He was tired of having this same conversation, the same argument over and over. He loved her, but it seemed he'd never convince her of how complete that was if they were going to keep coming back to this same subject.

He'd tried, and hard, to accept who she was, let go of his personal fear, and to stop trying to push her to give up hers, but if she still believed he was against her and everything she was, the effort had failed.

"It's how it is," he said, trying not to sound as defeated as he felt.