Chapter Twenty-Two - The Vows We Meant

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The Vows We Meant

WE STOOD UNDER a dripping sky.
Hair damp, hands shaking, hearts louder than the thunder.

She went first.
Of course she did.
She always led with her heart.

Her vows:

"You are not my other half.
You’re not my missing piece.
You are your own, and I am mine."

"But today, I promise to meet you in the middle.
Every time.
Even when I’m mad. Even when you’re wrong. Especially when I am."

"I promise to choose you when it's easy, and fight for you when it's not."

"I promise to never weaponize silence.
To say 'I love you' when I hang up the phone.
And to always, always, steal your fries when you’re not looking."

"You make me laugh when I want to break things.
You hold me without trying to fix me.
You are home."

"And no matter what, no matter who we become or where this world takes us, I promise to keep choosing you.
Even when we’re old and weird and yelling at teenagers for being loud in restaurants."

"You’re it.
You’ve always been it.
Even before I knew."

By the time she finished, half the crowd was crying.
The other half was trying not to.
I was holding it together like a guy trying not to cry on camera, badly.

Then it was my turn.

My vows:

"I never believed in soulmates until I met you.
And now I think they’re real, but not because it’s easy."

"Soulmates aren’t people who complete you.
They’re people who stand beside you while you figure out how to complete yourself."

"You never tried to save me.
You just stayed long enough for me to save myself."

"I promise to be your safest place. When the world gets too loud, too fast, too much."

"I promise to listen even when I don’t understand."
To learn your love like a second language.
To speak it fluently, even when we’re exhausted."

"I vow to hold your hand through the good, the grief, and the ordinary."

"To never stop being curious about you.
To never stop dancing in the kitchen.
To never stop picking you, over and over and over again."

"You are my best friend.
My favorite voice.
My great adventure."

"I love you.
Fully. Freely. Fiercely.
And I always will."

Then came the kiss.
Wet, messy, magic.

And just like that, we were married.