Slowly they began to talk about either getting married, cohabiting or cohabitation and then getting married later in life. Since William was a social worker, he knew about the risks of cohabiting. He also knew that cohabiting was on the rise, so he knew why Abby was considering it since it was becoming the norm. Between 2001-2006, the number of families with cohabiting adults have increased by 18.5%, whereas married couples have increased by only 3.5%. However, William knew that couples that cohabit are more likely to separate and if they got married after cohabiting, they are twice as likely to get divorced. So they decided that getting married without cohabiting was the way to go. Unlike in the past, where people married for the economic benefit and women had little say in it, Abby and William decided together that getting married was the best option to continue their relationship and they were getting married because they loved each other and wanted to support each other, and not for economic reasons. Their families also wanted them to get married and not just cohabit. Both their families were traditional in some ways of thinking, so this also helped influence their choice for marriage.
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Soon after deciding to get married William proposed to Abby and they quickly set a wedding date. It would be an interracial marriage, since Abby's parents were from Sri Lanka and William's were from England and Canada. Abby and William decided to have a small wedding, they invited close family and friends, and had their wedding close to home. Soon they got an apartment for the two of them and moved in together. They were so happy that their relationship had come this far and that they could call each other husband and wife. All the while this was happening the Abby and William were going to work and saving up money to move out. After they moved into together, they worked hard at their full time jobs, but they realized that they were still barely making each months bills. They hadn't realized how expensive it would be to live on their own and they started fighting about it. They also saw each other less as they took more shifts at work. Every time they saw each other, they would start yelling about what to do about money, which then escalated to them yelling about little things, like dishes not being put away or clothes that need to be washed. They knew that if they didn't work things out this would tear their relationship apart.
They decided that they would take one day off and try to figure things out together, while also spending time together. When the day arrived they promised they wouldn't raise their voice and would try to calmly state their issues and any solutions they had. Abby started off by stating the problem, which was to find ways to pay the bills and have money for the wants they had in their lives. After bouncing ideas off each other and keeping their temper levels at bay, they were able to come up with a solution, which was to either try to get a raise at the jobs they had, or to find new ones that paid better. William also suggested that if neither of those happen within the next 3 months, they start looking for a different place to stay, which didn't cost as much.
After dealing with that main problem they addressed the cleaning issue in the house. They worked out a schedule for who would deal with what chore on a given day in the week. But they also agreed that they would stop leaving dishes, clothes and other household items where they didn't belong. After discussing their problems, they decided to watch a movie. They weren't going to think about anything other than being together with each other in that moment, and it was nice just to be with each other after all those months of arguing. Within the next week they saw their interactions improving. They'd always wake up and have breakfast together. Everyday they did their assigned chores and made sure to have dinner together when they could. However, their happiness was short lived. It had been more than a year since their marriage and they had happily celebrated their anniversary, but shortly after that they went to visit William's family.
