for the light, for how it allowed me to see her all the more clearly.
The walk down the aisle seemed to last for miles, but I couldn’t complain about the extra time I got to watch her walk to me. It was easy to ignore the dozen empty seats in this small but bright room, especially when she looked at me the way she did—with humor she tucked into her cheek but a smile that felt genuine all the same.
When she finally reached me, the minister quietly encouraged me to greet her and walk her up the two steps to the stage where we waited. I was grateful for that, because I’d been so mesmerized that I’d forgotten, for a moment, what we were here for.
She placed her hand in mine, looking up at me with the nerves I’d seen, but also a sense of humor that had made it all too easy to agree to do this, with her.
I led her up the couple of steps to the stage, never letting go of her hand, and the minister raised his hand, shushing the music and causing the few people witnessing our ceremony to take their seats behind us.
“Good evening, everyone,” the minister said. “From this place of beauty,” he said, holding his arms up to gesture at our surroundings, “we remove ourselves from our daily lives to witness a special moment between Victoria McLaughlin and Liam Best.”
Victoria. Not just a Tori. I squeezed her hand reassuringly and she glanced sideways at me, the side of her mouth quirked up.
“Today, Victoria and Liam join their lives in the union of marriage. We come together not to mark the start of a relationship, but to acknowledge and strengthen a bond that already exists between these two individuals.”
Tori squeezed my hand and I bit down on a grin that she was failing to suppress herself.
“It is my honor to officiate this ceremony on this beautiful evening. Let’s begin.” He cleared his throat, looking down at the book he held before him. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man, and this woman in holy matrimony. We are here to give recognition to the beauty of love that is shared between Victoria and Liam as they complete their family in holy matrimony. Marriage is a contract not to be entered into lightly—”
I squeezed Tori’s hand.
“—but thoughtfully and seriously and with a deep realization of the obligations and responsibilities. Marriage is a sacred union between husband and wife and shall remain unbroken. It is the basis of a stable and loving relationship and is a joining of two hearts, bodies and souls.” He looked over our heads. “If any person here can show cause why these two people should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
I half expected one of Tori’s friends—the one called Katy—to interrupt in some way, but she held her tongue.
The minister turned a page and looked right at us. “Please face one another and hold hands.”
My heart thundered in my chest as we faced one another and clasped hands.
“Victoria,” the minister began, and Tori’s hands squeezed mine like she was afraid of falling. “Will you have this man to be your husband; to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?”
“I will.”
The minister repeated a similar script to me, prompting “I will,” from my throat.
“Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?”
The silence from the room in response caused Tori and I to burst into laughter.
“This is the part where you say, ‘We will,’” the minister instructed Tori’s friends with a laugh himself.
Her friends, while giggling, uttered “We will.”
“Carrying on then,” the minister said, turning his attention back to the book in his hands. He shifted so he faced me. “Repeat after me, Liam.”
“I, Liam Best, take you, Victoria McLaughlin…”
I repeated what he said, my attention directly on Tori.
“…to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward…”
I smiled gently down at her, repeating the words.
“…for better for worse, for richer for poorer…”
She smiled at me, without the same humor for the craziness of this situation that she’d first possessed.
“…in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until