Page 103 of Banter & Blushes #1
“I didn’t expect love to look like what we’ve created, but every bit of it is perfect.
You’re steady like a well-brewed cup of tea, bold in your convictions, and gentle in the way you love.
You’ve taught me that love isn’t always fireworks—it’s warm hands holding mine, it’s being known and accepted completely, and it’s showing up every single day and being present in a way I’ve never been.
I promise to love your girls like they’ve always been mine.
I promise to make space for you when you need it, to keep choosing you over and over, and to keep showing up with open arms. I promise I will be there waiting at the end of every road trip and to be there for you in any and every other way you need me. Always.”
And now he was crying, too.
“I believe the girls have something to say,” Ryan said.
“Yes, we do!” Isla replied.
“It’s in my wedding diary!” Amelie explained.
She had a wedding diary?
As the girls approached us, Zaki pulled a small, sparkly book from his back pocket and handed it to her. She turned a few pages .
“Macy, can we please use your microphone?” Isla asked. “The people in the back need to hear this.”
There was a tittering of laughter as Macy brought the mic over and handed it to Isla.
“Thank you,” she said into it. “Amelie is going to hold her diary, and we are going to read our parts. We would like to thank Hallie and Harlan’s mommy, Mrs. Shelby, for helping us write the rhymes at camp and for fixing Amelie’s spelling.
And for copying it perfectly when we were done onto new pages so it’s easy for us to read it better. She’s a writer, you know.”
“A very good writer,” Amelie emphasized. “She helped us find rhymes and make all of our ideas fit.” She looked up at Ryan. “Can we start now?”
“Take it away, girls,” he said.
Isla began. “‘We Love You, Arwyn!’ A poem by Isla and Amelie.” She looked up at the guests. All eyes were fixed on them. “We used to be a team of five. Just Daddy, us, and our silly doggies! But now there’s you, and that’s just right, like Olaf warm-hugging Elsa tight.”
She paused, then Amelie read from the book. “You’re kind like Anna and smart as well. You read us lovely stories to our friends we tell. You braid our hair and sing a little flat, but you know we don’t care about that.” Amelie tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned to me. “Right?”
“Right,” I assured her with a broad grin.
“My turn again,” Isla said. “You bake cookies, you read to us at night, and you always make the wrongs feel right. You’re patient, fun, and super cool—and we’re so glad you help us with our school!”
Amelie read the next quatrain. “We love you so much and now you can see, you’re the perfect match for our fam-i-ly! Thanks for marrying Daddy and joining our fun family crew. We’re so glad you said ‘I do!’”
The audience clapped and whistled. “She hasn’t said that yet,” Isla fretted in a loud whisper.
“But she will,” Amelie whispered back. “Right, Wynnie?”
“You bet!” I assured her. There was no doubt in my mind.
When the applause ended, Ryan bent forward. “Girls, do you have the rings?”
They reached into the pockets I’d sewn into the seams of their dresses and handed him the two boxes. He removed the rings and handed the boxes back to the girls. When they were back in their seats, he continued the ceremony.
“Zaki and Arwyn, having declared your love through your vows, we now come to the exchange of rings—symbols of the unending love and commitment you share. These circles are reminders that your love has no beginning and no end. As you wear these rings, may they constantly remind you of the promises you’ve made today.
Zaki, please take Arwyn’s hand, place the ring on her finger, and repeat after me. ”
Zaki slipped the ring on my finger and lifted my hands to his lips, brushing a light kiss over my knuckles .
I’m pretty sure our new Crane’s Cove friends in the back row heard my swoony sigh.
Zaki repeated Ryan’s words. “Arwyn, with this ring, I give you my heart. I promise to love you, honor you, cherish you, and stand by you in all seasons of life. This is my promise to you.”
Ryan said the words again, and it was my turn to make the promise. I gently pushed Zaki’s wedding band onto his finger. “Zaki, with this ring, I give you my heart. I promise to love you, honor you, cherish you, and stand by you in all seasons of life. This is my promise to you.”
“Beautifully done,” Ryan whispered for only us to hear.
“Ephesians 4:2-3 calls for us to be completely humble and gentle; to be patient, bearing with one another in love. To make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Marriage is a beautiful time when two souls start to share one heart. Now, Zaki, do you take Arwyn to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish in all the days and ways to come, for all the days of your life?”
I expected Zaki to grin, but the expression on his face was one of pure sincerity. “I do.”
“And Arwyn, do you take Zaki to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish in all the days and ways to come, for all the days of your life?”
“I do.”
Zaki didn’t wait for Ryan to pronounce us wed; I heard the words as my now husband’s hand cupped my cheek and his lips met mine in the tenderest of kisses, the kind that set butterflies loose and rendered every muscle weak.
The guests cheered, and Isla and Amelie returned the two halves of my bouquet to me for our journey together up the aisle. We bent down to wrap our arms around them and squeezed them in a warm hug that Olaf himself would be envious of.