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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39337
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Your worry is that Celeste expresses more feelings about their relationship's implications than Marko does, which could play into a "women have more feelings" stereotype. I assume Celeste is the protagonist, which to an extent gives us greater licence to get in her head than his, but your concern is still sensible. I think part of the solution is that there's a lot of [telling rather than showing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don't_tell) in your excerpt, which apart from its usual downsides makes the feelings seem heavier. It pays to aim for concision. You could go for something like this:

> She stopped herself. Their children. She'd thought to wait till seventy for that. Mum seemed happy enough with the child she hadn't lost. Best bring her back, then. But Marko for fifty years? Not too tall, eyes like hers, and long curls almost touching strong shoulders. Quiet but easy to talk to, with enough vocab not to swear. But most importantly, he seemed to love her.

You mention also that Marko does have these feelings, but doesn't mention them due to a lack of pressing. I assume that's not so much conveyed in your current draft as part of your "[iceberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_theory)". So add incidents where he gets pressed! For example, if she has a quirk he finds delightful, he can stand up to someone who critiques it (or at least mention he disagrees, possibly before the relationship has even fleshed out). Again, try to convey the feelings (in his actions), instead of spelling them out.

Original score: 3