John Edwards has asked Rielle Hunter to marry him, the National Enquirer reports, a month after his estranged wife Elizabeth Edwards died of breast cancer. Edwards fathered a daughter with Hunter, Frances Quinn, though he denied paternity for months.

"Rielle never uttered a peep about their affair publicly, and remained loyal to John. John felt she deserved to know that he wanted to raise their child together, and wanted Rielle in his life as his partner," a source told the tabloid.

Of course, this is the National Enquirer, not The New York Times, reporting. On the other hand, the National Enquirer was on top of the story of affair--and the baby--for months before the mainstream media caught it. Unlike most reports of imminent nuptials, few online are congratulating for this particular happy couple.

• Stranger than Fiction, The Hollywood Gossip's Free Britney writes. "This story is really unlike any other we've covered in five years. The reports keep getting more and more absurd, and you keep assuming it has to be bogus. Then a court subpoenas the real John Edwards sex tape and you can only scratch your head. We'd pencil in the nuptials for this summer, likely at his estate."

• Crafty as Ever, Ginger says at I Own the World. "If it's true,  might this be a good thing for him?  Isn’t there some rule that says a wife doesn’t have to testify against her husband?  I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, but John would know."

• Don't Bet On It, The Huffington Post warns. "While the Enquirer gained some credibility for its coverage of the Edwards affair, it is worth noting that they posted nearly the exact same story regarding an Edwards-Hunter nuptial and a 'luxury $3.5 million beachfront home' last year, a report that was later denied."

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Elspeth Reeve