Chapter 77 I do.

Chapter 77 I do.
The walk down the aisle feels longer than it should.

Two minutes somehow feels like twenty.

I hear the soft sniffles and murmurs around me, but I don't look at anyone.

“She's so beautiful.”

“Look at her dress.”

“Noah looks so much like his father.”

I don't pay attention to the crowd surrounding us.

My eyes are fixed on him. My senses are consumed by him. Only him.

Hayden.

My Hayden.

He stands at the end of the aisle in his black tuxedo, looking more handsome than any man has the right to look.

The moment our eyes meet, he takes a breath and smiles.

And just like that, everything else disappears.

I see only him.

When Noah and Sam finally reach him and place my hands in his, Hayden leans closer.

"I thought you ran away."

I smile.

"Me? Never."

He laughs quietly.

His thumb brushes over my hand.

I look around the room.

My mother is sitting among both of my grandparents, Noah and Hailey's son, Aiden, in her arms. Yes, Noah and Hailey named their son after our father. At fourteen months old, he's too young to understand what's happening, but the tiny smile on his face makes me smile too.

Seated beside my mother is Paul, both he and my mother have teary eyes when I make eye contact with them. Though we're not as close as before, I'm still thankful for the role he played in shaping the woman I’ve become.

My eyes move toward the other side of the room, where Lily's parents are seated. Seeing them here makes me smile. Lisa was meant to be one of my bridesmaids, but broke her arm, so she opted to sit it out.

‘Oh Lily, how I wish you were here with us.’

Liam catches my eye from beside Hayden, dressed in his suit as one of Hayden's best men. He gives me a small nod and a grin before turning his attention back to the ceremony.

My eyes move through the room once again.

The Collins are seated on the opposite side, Scarlett has Lexi on her lap and Hayden's sister, Elizabeth, and her husband are seated beside her, with their son nestled between them.

My daughter spots me and immediately starts clapping.

"Mommy!"

I laugh softly.

Hayden looks toward her and smiles.

Our little girl.

Our family.

Everything I never knew I wanted.

For a moment, I take it all in.

The people who have been there from the beginning and chose to stay.

The people who came into our lives along the way.

The people we never expected to become family.

They're all here.

The priest begins speaking, but for a few seconds, I barely hear him.

I look at Hayden.

Three years ago, I never would have imagined standing here.

Then I was grieving.

I was angry.

I was broken.

And now I'm standing in front of the man I love, surrounded by the people who mean the most to me.

Maybe life didn't follow the plan I made.

Maybe it gave me something much better.

"You may say your vows."

I take a deep breath.

"Hayden..."

My voice trembles.

"You came into my life when nothing made sense and somehow brought life back into me."

His eyes immediately fill with tears.

"You showed me what I had been missing. You taught me that love doesn't have to hurt. You taught me that forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting, and that healing doesn't mean pretending nothing happened."

I smile through my tears.

"Thank you for giving me Lexi. Thank you for raising her alongside me. Thank you for reminding me to take care of myself when I forget. Thank you for loving me even when I don't understand how you could."

“And thank you for teaching me to let go.”

He wipes a tear from his cheek.

"I vow to choose you every day. I vow to be your safe place, your biggest supporter and your best friend. I vow to find you among thousands of people, no matter how many times life changes around us."

I take his hand.

"And I vow to love you for as long as I live."

The priest looks at Hayden.

He takes a deep breath.

"Victoria..."

He pauses, swallowing hard.

“I loved you at eighteen, and I will still love you at eighty.”

This gets the crowd cracking.

"You are my love and my salvation. My very reason for waking up each morning."

I smile through teary eyes.

"In you, I found peace. In you, I found strength and healing. You came back into my life through trauma and grief, but somewhere along the way, you became the best thing that ever happened to me."

His voice cracks.

"I can't promise that life will always be easy. I can't promise that we won't fight or that we won't have bad days."

A few people laugh softly.

"But I can promise that I will never stop choosing you."

His fingers tighten around mine.

"I vow to be a good husband. A good father. I vow to make lame jokes just to hear you laugh. I vow to hold you when you're hurting and celebrate with you when you're happy."

He looks directly into my eyes.

"And I vow to spend the rest of my life reminding you just how loved you are."

Tears fall freely down my cheeks now.

The priest smiles.

"Vivtoria, do you both take Hayden as your lawful wedded husband?”

“I do.”

“And Hayden, do you take Victoria as your lawful wedded wife?”

"Yes, I do.”

“Then repeat after me..”

Together, we say the words we've been waiting to say.

"From this day forward, I vow to be faithful, to be your friend, to hold you in sickness and in health, to love you for richer or poorer, and to choose you before any other for as long as we both shall live."

The priest smiles.

"By the authority vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife."

My heart pounds.

"You may kiss your bride."

Hayden doesn't hesitate.

His hands gently cup my face before his lips meet mine.

The room erupts in applause while Jamie whistles loudly besides Hayden.

When we pull apart, he rests his forehead against mine.

"Mrs. Collins."

I laugh. "That sounds weird."

"Mrs. Thompson-Collins?" He suggests, adding my last name.

"Better."

He kisses my forehead.

I look toward our daughter, still clapping.

I smile.

My husband.

My daughter.

My family, by blood and the chosen families I have.

My life.

Not the life I planned.

Not the life I imagined when I was twenty-one.

But somehow, it's better.

After losing so much at such a young age I spent so much of my life afraid of what the future might take from me.

Afraid of embracing life every blessing the universe gave me.

Today, I finally understand that the future can give too.

And as Hayden takes my hand and we walk back down the aisle together, I realise something.

I didn't lose the life I once dreamed about.

I simply grew into a different one.

A better one.

Mrs. Victoria Thompson-Collins.