New York City: The Underground Prop Room of the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. Nick has just left the couple in their new "home" and Phillip has gone out to buy dinner. He returns, and sees that Beth has decorated their new home with the items in the room. Music is playing on the old record player and she approaches all dressed up in a turn-of-the-century dress--he's speechless.)
Beth:
Welcome back to the castle, my lord.
Phillip:
You look beautiful.
Beth:
This is our magic castle.
Phillip:
You make it special.
Beth:
I'm just me.
Phillip:
That's right. Don't you know what you give me by just being you?
Beth:
No.
Phillip:
Well, look around. You give me this. You give me a way of looking at things that I've never seen before. Look at this place. You take things that are ugly and dull and old and somehow you make them come to life.
Beth:
Phillip...
Phillip: [Whispers]
Shhh. You'll break the spell. I love you, Beth.
Beth:
I love you.
Phillip:
I wanna spend the rest of my life with you--seeing the world through your eyes. I wanna take you everywhere that I've been that you've never seen, and let you make it all new for me again.
Beth:
I'd like that.
Phillip:
[inaudible]...and I'm gonna be so close to you that I can feel you breathe. I'm gonna keep you so close that nobody can ever come between us again.
Beth:
We have that--tonight.
Phillip:
I want it forever.
Beth:
Forever.
Phillip:
Mmm-hmm. To be as one through all time. [He hands her a folded up piece of paper.]
Beth:
What's this?
Phillip:
Our wedding vows.
Beth:
Wedding?
Phillip:
I want you to marry me, Beth.
Beth:
Marry you?
Phillip:
Right now--well, tomorrow.
Beth:
We can't.
Phillip:
Oh yeah we can, Beth. I'm eighteen, remember? All we've gotta do is find a state where it's legal for you to get married without your parents permission. That's it!
Beth:
Phillip...
Phillip:
What? We can get a blood test tomorrow. We can do it, Beth.
Beth:
No, you don't understand.
Phillip:
I don't understand what, Beth? I understand that I love you, and you love me. Right? Why shouldn't we be together? Why shouldn't we get married? Nobody can stop us, Beth.
Beth: [Slowly and evenly]
I can't marry you. I can never marry you--not ever. [She turns away from him.]
[COMMERCIAL]
Phillip:
Could you turn around please, Beth? Beth, please turn around. I would like you to repeat what you just said.
Beth:
You heard what I said.
Phillip:
No, I didn't hear what you said, because what I think I heard, you couldn't possibly have said. So, if you'll just look at me please--and say it again...
Beth:
I can never marry you.
Phillip: [Shocked.]
Never? Or just right this very minute?
Beth:
Please, Phillip, don't do this to me. Please don't ruin our beautiful night.
Phillip:
Me? Beth, a couple minutes ago, I said that I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life. You're telling me that I'm ruining tonight?
Beth:
But we are together, and we're happy. Why do you want to change that?
Phillip:
I don't. That's just it! I just want it to be that way forever. I want to fulfill a promise.
Beth:
What promise?
Phillip:
The promise that we made to each other when we jumped through that window together back in Springfield. Things aren't the same, Beth. We changed things that day. We made a decision. We took responsibility for our lives. And we made a silent commitment to each other. I just want to say it out loud with real vows, that's all.
Beth:
No! I can't marry you. I can't.
Phillip:
Why not? Come on, tell me why?
[COMMERCIAL]
Phillip:
[Bit cut off] ...there's this huge void between us because you keep shutting me out. I know something is wrong, Beth. I just don't know how to reach you, that's all. I don't know why you feel like you can't tell me what it is?
Beth: [Trying to steer him off-track.]
It's just that, it's just that I thought you'd never want to get married.
Phillip:
That's all that we've ever talked about, Beth. Don't you remember back in Springfield? That's all we ever dreamed about!
Beth:
I dreamed about a lot of things once, but... [She begins to cry.]
Phillip:
Damn-it, Beth, why don't you trust me enough to know that I will understand? I love you! I'm beginning to feel like that love is a little useless... [He sighs.] Beth, I don't know how to reach you. I mean, I don't know what to do anymore. You can't tell me I haven't been patient. I've given you all the love that I have to give. I don't even know if you want it anymore.
Beth:
I do, Phillip. If you can believe anything, believe that. [She pulls him into a passionate kiss, and then backs away and looks at the floor.] Does that prove it to you now?
Phillip: [Takes the paper with the vows out of her hand and unfolds it.]
Read the first vow.
Beth:
I can't.
Phillip:
Just read it, Beth.
Beth: (reading)
Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face,
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror,
But you are eternity and you are the mirror."
Phillip:
That's "The Prophet."
Beth:
Yes, I know.
Phillip:
Do those words mean anything to you?
Beth:
They mean everything to me.
Phillip:
Well, then why won't you just say them with me in front of a Justice of the Peace?
