" We are married -and maybe this is no conventional arrangement, but it is still real.

"It isn't," he said.

"It is. What is a husband, but the man who offers you support when all the world turns you away?"

Was that what he was to her? He couldn't look at her now, or she'd see how much those words affected him.

She continued. "What is a wife, but a partner who will see through to your deepest wishes? We have promised each other our deepest wishes. "

― Courtney Milan , The Governess Affair (Brothers Sinister, #0.5)