Love and other catastrophes - Part 3

Or, How to transition from relationship to friendship.
Soon enough, Miss Pond and I began seeing more of each other. We were restricted by knowing that our recent (separate) history and age difference would become fodder for those with nothing better to do but gossip.
As we saw more of each other, Miss Pond started to realise that the kind of relationship we had was not what she wanted. She was/is still deeply in love with her former (henceforth known as Mr Toe-webbing). I won't go into her reasoning; that is hers and hers alone to discuss. I am too old for her; although she has admitted on more than one occasion to having a fancy for a male actor how is slightly older than I. Her concerns were all valid, and all I could muster was an emotional argument. It came down to one night when I listed all the reasons why she should marry me, and finished it off with '...and I won't, because I don't want to hear you say "No"'.
Unfortunately, I was still (some may say that I still am) desperately in love with her. Given the options, remain good friends or stop talking to her, I couldn't really decide on any other way. It's not been a smooth path, but a few things have helped level out some of the bumps:

• A strange, almost weird, bond. With the amount of conversing we've done, a deep bond has formed. This has manifested itself in some unusual ways, including knowing when the other is feeling lower than normal, etc.
• Open and honest. From the beginning, we promised to be open and honest. While it means a bit of pain sometimes, we've become candid with each other.
• We love each other. Okay, so this is a bit... unexpected. However, we love each other still, but as mates.

What does all this mean? We have become best of mates. We talk pretty much constantly during the day.