The Vows

The Vows
Mason raised his hand to cup my face as he gave me a wide smile. “Laurel, when we met, I wasn’t looking for my soulmate. I didn’t think that I would make a good husband or a good father. I never thought that I was going to be ready for a serious relationship, but the minute I laid eyes on you, you awakened the part of me that I tried to keep under lock and key. My father used to tell me that one day I would find a woman that would touch my soul in a way that only one woman could.” His thumb moved over my cheek as he looked deep into my eyes. “This woman would make me want to protect her, provide for her, and love her with everything in me. You are that woman. The first time I saw you, you weren’t even facing me, and yet, something made me approach you. My soul recognized yours as my other half.

From that moment on, I knew that my life would never be complete unless you were in it. That night, you walked through my walls, and broke all of my rules. You didn’t even hesitate to take everything that I thought I knew I wanted, that I thought I was happy with, and turn it on its head. It still hasn’t rightened itself, and now, I don’t even want it to. I want to take the man I became when I met you, and let him love you the way you deserve to be loved for the rest of my life.” He paused as he tried to blink back tears before continuing.

“I fell in love with you that night, and that love has grown until it’s all I can feel. It’s all I want to feel. When I think about everything that we have already been through, I know that I can say without hesitation that I will love you through good, and I will love you even more through the bad. I love you when you’re healthy, and I will love you more when you’re sick. I loved you when you had nothing, and I will continue to love you now that you have more than you could ever want or need. I loved you everyday in our past, I love you more today than I did yesterday, and I will love you more tomorrow than I do today. You were the woman that was made for me, and now, on this day, right at this moment, I get to make you my wife. From this day forward, there is no more you and me, there is only us, and our,” he told me as he placed his other hand on my stomach.

I leaned my face into his hand, loving the way he lovingly stared into my eyes. The pastor turned toward me.

“And now you may recite your vows to Mason, Laurel.”

“I should have gone first. How do I follow your amazing vows?” I teased as I smiled at him. “The night we met, I was terrified of going out. I didn’t want to go, but I let Lauren convince me to go. For a decision that I made almost against my will, it led me to the most amazing man that ever existed. It led me to you. That night was a foreshadow of our relationship. I ran from you, but you didn’t let me run far. You found me. You protected me. And I stayed.” I placed my hand over his heart, loving the way it pounded under my touch. “I spent the last few weeks running from you, but every time I ran, you let me know that you weren’t going anywhere, and I longed to stay. I wanted you to be the one that took everything that held me back from loving you like I wanted and make me forget, but you didn’t do that.

You did something better instead. You made me want to be better. You made me want to be stronger. You made me realize that the way I was trying to love you was wrong. I’ve spent months trying to love you in a way that I thought you should be loved. I thought if I cooked, cleaned, and gave you my body, it would be enough. It would make you love me in the way that I wanted to be loved. It wasn’t until this last time that I ran from you that I realized you never cared if my food tasted like ashes. You would have still eaten it. It didn’t matter if I cleaned or not, you would have done it for me. You didn’t care if I gave you my body. My heart, my brain, and my soul were what you really wanted.

You cared about my opinions. You valued them. You cared about how I felt, and even when I thought I was being stupid, you still listened to every single one of my emotions. And as for my soul, you took my deepest hopes and dreams, and made them a reality. You gave me a way to do for others everything in my power to help them. You didn’t judge me, you just did. You loved me the way I always dreamed that I would be loved. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you the way you have shown me that you want to be loved. It’s not just about the big things. It’s about the little things too.

I want those nights where all we do is stay home and dance around the living room to music on movies. I want to cook with you, and talk to you. I want to explore everything life has to offer with you by my side. I want you to know that as much as I’m everything to you, you are everything to me too. You were everything to me second we met. I just didn’t realize it. You will always mean everything to me, and I can’t wait to see what our future holds. I’m done running. I love you, Mason, body, heart, and soul.”

He leaned forward and I leaned away from him, giggling. “Behave,” I whispered, making everyone that heard me laugh.

The pastor smiled widely at us. “You may now kiss the bride.”

He pulled me closer as a grin graced his lips. As he dipped me backward, he lowered his head to kiss me deeply as the pastor announced us as man and wife. When we finally broke our kiss, Mason smiled down at me.

“Hello, wife.”

I returned his smile as I happily ran my fingers through his hair. “Hello, husband.”