I could barely speak through my tears.
“I promise to love you without trying to control you,” I told him. “I promise to stand beside you without asking you to fight every battle for me. And I promise that when the world becomes difficult, we will remember why we chose each other.”
Then we exchanged rings.
When the officiant pronounced us husband and wife, Caleb kissed me, and everyone applauded.
For a moment, I thought about the woman I had been on that first Saturday afternoon.
She had stood in a dark living room, terrified of admitting that she loved the man next door.
She had believed that telling the truth would destroy everything.
Instead, the truth had forced her to discover what she wanted, what she could survive, and what kind of love she was willing to build.
After the wedding, we moved into a modest two-bedroom rental with a small backyard and a wooden porch.
