It's not a user-friendly word, spouse. Long-time companion or loving companion is reserved for an obituary. I long for a word with the grace and flow of companera or novia, but they haven't found their way into English yet, and the translation of companion or sweetheart doesn't do either word justice. Introducing my lover as my roommate or housemate or best friend maybe accurate, but it is a form of concealment. Those words don't include in thier definition that we are sexually linked.
Partner is fuzzy that way.
I've heard one or two women introduce one another as wife. I can't get there. I don't have, personally, the same feelings about the word wife, or even husband. A wife, historically, was a piece of property. A wife was owned by a husband, or a man, and I have a hard time finding anything abnout that concept that I want to reclaim.