White Knight Syndrome

In every fairy tale I was ever told, prince charming comes on his white horse at just the right time, sweeping the wide eyed, virginal princess up in his muscular arms and together they ride off into the sunset.
In a lot of ways this is still my framework for the perfect relationship- but what's behind happily ever after? Did Cinderella ever get a divorce? What happens when your prince charming is 26 years older than you? Maybe I don't know what love really is. It's hard for me to know where lust and loneliness end and love begins. I probably never should have dragged my boyfriend into this whole mess of my life but I did. And even if he would never admit it, I'm holding his heart in my hands. I can see how afraid he is, afraid that he will give himself away and we will simply grow apart. He says we will never make it together, that I'm just way too young and I will change too much. Maybe he's right. I honestly don't know- I feel so unsure.
Other times I feel like we are putting our lives on hold for a fairytale ending that might never happen. I love my boyfriend. I like to be with him as much as I can. I like to kiss him, touch him, sleep with him. He makes me feel safe and alive. I like to talk on the phone with him. I'm proud of him, I respect him. Maybe that's all there is to it.
Maybe love is what my parents have- a 30 year partnership. Two people who love each other and wanted to make a life together. Two people who didn't give up just because things were hard sometimes. Two people who sit together laughing and talking after dinner.
Im so excited to move in with my boyfriend. I want to come home to him everyday, go to the gym together, cook together and sleep together. Does there have to be fireworks, castles and white horses? What if there is no such thing as THE love of your life? What if you fall in love with someone you respect and work hard to keep that partnership alive? Is that somehow less real and profound than the love at first sight whirlwind that ends in divorce two years later? I hate doubting myself. I hate thinking that maybe I'm missing out on something when I have someone I love right there beside me.
I want to come up with some kind of revelation to end this with but I can't. I only know what I feel and it's a very intense and hopeful sense of longing that I feel every time I'm around him.