A 72-year-old woman just married her longtime boyfriend after rejecting his proposals for a whopping four decades.
"When Pauline asked me, I almost fell off the bed," Jones told Metro. Young popped the question in December 2018. "I'd been asking her all this time so now she was asking me, I said, 'Of course I will.'"
Both were previously married and have five children between them, reported Metro. The two met in 1976 at a playgroup for their children.
"When we saw each other it was instant, we fell in love—hook, line and sinker," Jones said.
The pair lived and worked together throughout their relationship.
"People say they've been together years but really they have maybe an hour before work and then they see each other in the evenings—we were always together," Jones said.
For 30 years, the two ran a cabinet-making business called Young Jones, which was based in Powys, Wales. Then, 14 years ago, they moved to Gozo, Malta, where they ran a bed and breakfast together.
"We never found anywhere we were really comfortable until Gozo, it is very laidback—it suited us down to the ground," Jones said.
"We had to work together, getting separate jobs would have meant being apart, which we never wanted," he added.
However, three years ago, Young moved back to England to a care home, due to complications with a medical condition called corticobasal degeneration.
"But eventually I could see a deterioration. It was very slow at first, but it started to become more noticeable," Jones said about the condition. "It was not discernible to other people, but when you’re that close to someone you really are that close to them."
Jones said Young felt welcome in the care home right away.
"They made her feel so welcome and safe, science doesn’t really have an answer to the condition," he said.
Despite the challenges, Jones didn't let the condition affect their relationship. He still continued to run the couple's business in Malta while also traveling to visit Young at her care home every two weeks.
During such a visit in December, while the two were relaxing, Young popped the question, and he promptly said yes.
On Valentine's Day, the two finally tied the knot in a blessing at St. George's Methodist Church in Telford, reported Metro. The couple dressed in their finest outfits for the special occasion, and even Young's wheelchair was decorated with flowers.
"I had given up all hope of us getting married," Jones said. "I thought it would never happen. The service was a blessing ceremony, but as far as we're concerned it's a marriage, it's a show of love."
"It was a real mix of emotions, I was surprised, I was worried," Jones said. But at the end, he said the big day couldn't have been better.
"The vicar has been absolutely incredible. She wrote out a whole service as close as she could to a wedding service," he added.
The nursing home pitched in for the reception, saying it was their gift for the couple."The home has bent over backwards for us, it’s really unbelievable," Jones said.
"There is so much love here at the moment," Jones said. "Everyone round about us is so happy."