[Cutie]

I need a few opinions on this as it is starting to drive me crazy! I have been with my boyfriend for just over two years, and we now live together with my child from a previous marriage and our 1 year old. My divorce was finalised soon after I started seeing my boyfriend but his was only finalised 9 months ago.

Soon after his was finalised I made the fatal mistake of indicating that I would like to be married to him and at that point he freeked out, told me I was stupid for even wanting that and stormed off for a few hours. When he came back I was upset, he comforted me but made it clear that he had been so hurt by his previous marriage that he didn't want to marry again. I still maintained that marriage was something that I wanted but for now we would agree to disagree and just get on with it.

So, anyway since then I have of course stayed well clear of even mentioning the M word! I was beginning to think that perhaps he had become a complete commitmentphobe (as he has periods of being close but then moving away and creating distance emotionally), but for the past few months the topic of marriage has kind of been entering the scene again. I haven't brought up the subject, but he found a poem which stated all my feelings about five months ago and was so shocked that I was thinking of leaving him that he wrote me one back mentioning that he 'knew one day would be our wedding day' and he told me that he was still hurt and had regrets about his previous marriage and that he still needed time to heal.

So I left it again, making sure that whenever the subject of marriage came up (such as going to friend's weddings, stuff on TV etc), that I remained neutral and cool about the whole thing, definately not mentioning anything about marriage and us. Even to the point of not mentioning the fact that even though in his poem he said he knew we would be married, at the friend's wedding he said 'if we ever get married...'.

Then, last night there was a program on TV where a couple were getting married in Las Vegas. He was watching me and I was smiling at it (they had an Elvis impersonater!) and when I looked at him he said 'perhaps we should get married in Las Vegas, just go and not tell anyone'! Then he mentioned that no, my eldest would never forgive me if we did that (by not inviting her!) and neither would the relatives. So I remain light hearted and agree that the kids would have to be there, in thier little bridesmaids dresses. So the whole thing remained light hearted, after which we carried on doing what we were doing (me watching TV him on the computer) and nothing more has been said.

He always talks about stuff we're going to do when we're older and the kids are grown up, tells me he loves me everyday, sends me text messages and phones me during the day. Sorry to ramble on! But what do you think? Is he actually ever going to propose to me? Am I right in thinking that he's starting to come around to the idea? Do you think it might be soon? (I know he's got some money coming his way and I was hoping he may start thinking of spending a little of it on a ring!)