After a few seconds of Jo letting Mary say those words, Jo chuckled, causing Mary to sigh in annoyance for the umpteenth time.
"I don't think you like it when I put it in writing, Miss Sanders." Jo released the balloons he was holding into the air, and flew upwards, following the wind as they left them. Even so, his attention did not shift from Mary, and vice versa. They looked at each other with different eyes. If Mary had a look of disappointment in her eyes, it was different for Jo, who was staring at him intensely. "Because… as you wish, I had those words prepared in my mind, and now they are in my mouth. I love you, Marylou Sanders. I do."
It felt as if there had been a mace on Mary's head hearing Jo say those last words. The sentence he had been waiting for for almost a year. The words that flowed clearly in his ears, echoed off the walls of his head, and danced wildly in his mind.