Dante placed the ring he had chosen in the velvet casing.  He knew how much Ninkasi loved history and all in all, she was a bit of a romantic.  She’d be blown away by this.
 
She had told him tales of men, on bended knee, proposing to their loved ones and he’d smiled at her enthusiasm.  She had suggested her best friend Cari for bridesmaid and his old room mate, Mark as Best Man, but these didn’t exist in modern ceremonies.  This was a nod to her beloved traditions, not that it was commonplace these days.  He’d found the ring box in an antique shop and had it adapted for it’s more modern purpose.  The slot for the ring was there but there were also three tiny buttons, almost seed pearl size, beneath.  These would indicate the length of the contract she would choose.
 
He had consulted with his solicitors thoroughly on the contracts and felt they were fair and sensible for both of them.  In this day and age, marriage was not a lifelong commitment.  It would be ridiculous to see it as such considering the average life span was now 137 yrs old.   In the times that Ninkasi fantasised about, people lived to around 80.  Marriage was 60 yrs at the most (there were the odd exceptions) and a lot were far, far less.
 
He slid his fingers over the tiny buttons.
 
Five years.  They would both walk away, hopefully happy with their time together and taking everything they each brought to the home.  There would be no financial obligations.  Any children would be taken care of by the mother and an annual payment from the father would go towards health insurance and education.  Immediate needs  and visits would be negotiated at the contract termination.
 
Ten years.  Dante had made sure that provisions had been made for both of them.  In all honesty, he felt that his career would be more fruitful but if Ninkasi was more successful, she would compensate Dante for loss of family earnings.  The home would be divided in half and any children would have a sum put aside in a high interest account (there was marriage insurance to cover this).
 
Thirty years.  This is what Dante hoped she would choose.  The longest, most sensible option.  He loved this woman with all his heart and wanted to be with her for the optimum time.  Any longer would mean they had aged and grown, possibly apart.  Children would no longer be children and they would not need to be financially looked after.  With this option again, they got to walk away, hopefully happy with their time together and taking everything they had brought to the home.  There would be no financial obligations.
 
Dante smiled as he hid the ring box in the linen napkin and waited.
 
Ninkasi knew it would hurt him but he would see sense in the end.  She loved bits of him but he was far too traditional for her to hitch her future to.  He wasn’t willing to leap into the unknown and the “known” was what she dreaded.  She glanced at the ring on her finger and looked into Mark’s eyes.
 
“Till death do us part”.