He was standing there in a tailored black suit, a soft breeze tugging at a lock of his dark hair. But it was hiseyesthat undid me. They weren’t just looking at me — they werememorizingme, like this moment would be etched into him forever.
As I reached him, he took my hand with this fierce, grounding grip, and suddenly, I wasn’t nervous anymore. I was home.
The officiant said something, I think — I only half-heard it. My heartbeat was louder. My soul louder still. Then it was time for my vows.
I faced him fully and tried not to cry.
“Noah… I used to think love was something you survived. Something that cost more than it gave. But you—” my voice cracked, “You were patient. You listened when I was silent. You stayed when I tried topush you away. I never thought I could beseenthe way you see me. And now I never want to look away from the life we’ve built together. I promise to love you when it’s easy, and especially when it’s not.”
A tear slipped down my cheek, and he brushed it away with his thumb.
Then he began his.
His voice was low and steady, thick with emotion.
“Elizabeth. You are the calm in my storm. The first light after every shadow. Before you, I didn’t know what it meant to bechosen.Not out of duty. Not out of desperation. But chosen — over and over — because no one else would ever beenough.You have been my fire and my softness, my armor and my peace. And I swear, with every breath I have, to never let you feel unheard again. You are not just my love, Liz. You are my beginning, my middle, and my last line. And I will write you into every story of my life.”
I was crying before he even finished. Not just tears, but something deeper — something that felt like release.
He leaned forward, gently, reverently, and kissed me. And when our lips met, I felt it: the silence breaking inside me, the ache of every year I spent trying to earn love that was always withheld.
My father never heard me. Not truly. But Noah… Noahheardme even in my silence. And for the first time in my life, IknewI was loved — not for what I could do or how strong I could be — but for exactly who I was.
And that… that was everything.
