Boyfriend never tells me he loves me

2 months ago, me & my ex boyfriend decided to give our relationship another shot. We’ve been split up for nearly 8yrs, I don’t know why, but we remained friends. In that 8yrs neither of us had got into a relationship with anyone else. My reason for that was, that I still deeply loved & cared for him. In the 8yrs we were apart I made sure he knew that I loved him & always will. Anyway fast forward to 2months ago, he sat me down & told me that he wanted to get back together with me. He even told me that he wanted us to try for a baby. This has made me so happy, I’ve never wanted to be with anyone else in my life but him. As you can imagine I love this man with all my heart & soul. The thing IS…that not once has he ever told me that he loves me. I’m extremely confused because he never met anyone else after we split up so he must love me in some way shape or form, but why has he never told me that he loves me?….. please can someone explain why he hasn’t ever said the words I LOVE YOU….. sorry for the long story, thanks for taking time to read this 😊