Page 72

Opening my eyes, I started to lift my head, and I had to hold my breath. Emery was coming down the flower-covered aisle, barefoot and glowing. The biggest smile I had ever seen was on her face as she held her bouquet at her waist.

The orchids cascaded down over the back of her palms, flowing like water to her wrist. Her dress moved like silk against her skin, cradling the bump emerging from her belly. I tried to breathe, but I couldn't, she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

Passing the flowers to my mother, Emery smiled up at me as a single tear trickled down her cheek. Lifting my thumb to her face, I swept it away.

I knew it was a happy tear, a tear built off of something special, made from the purest form of love anyone could wish for. But she didn't need to cry, not for this. This was all about us, about our life together.

Taking her hands, I braided our fingers together and stared into her eyes. I wanted to live in this moment, to hold onto it forever.

Because this was a new birth for me. I was no longer held back by the pain I had felt, or the anger that worked me from the inside. All of that was gone. I had finally found happiness.

The minster opened his book as he started to speak. “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous, it's not angry, or arrogant. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. Love does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

His words coated my body, bleeding into me as our eyes held each other and the world around us faded away.

“You may speak from you heart,” he said, as his gaze settled on my face.

Stroking her fingers, I smiled. “Emery, before you I was no one. I was a lost boy, a man without a purpose. But when I found you, you changed me instantly. All I wanted was to protect you, to love you, to give you the world in the palm of your hand.” Dropping to one knee, I cupped my hands around her belly and kissed our unborn child. Standing back up, I scooped her face in my hands as I spoke. “I love you, I'll always love you. I can feel you in every piece of my body, it's like you're a shade of me, and without you I'd be half of a person. You're in my heart forever, you're the love of my life.”

Emery's eyes were glossy as she sniffled and wiped at her cheeks. Her smile was endless as it reached from ear to ear. Glancing up at the sky, she lowered her gaze to mine. “Porter, I can't imagine what my life was like before you, and I don't want to. You're a part of me, you belong to me. I'm yours and you're mine. And this child, this child is a creation of us. I want to grow old with you, I want to share laughs and tears. All I want is forever with you. I love you.”

Lifting her hands to cover mine, I leaned in and brushed the tip of my nose against hers. Emery bit her lower lip, and that was it, I kissed her. I kissed her with all the emotions I had finally freed.

I kissed my wife, the mother of my child, the love of my life.

We weren't just two people getting married, we were a family binding our lives together as one.

One heart.

One love.

One life.