I am. I plan to love this with everything I’ve got.
It’s been eight days with Stormy by my side when I wake up every morning. I’m surely the world’s happiest man. All those years of dreaming and hoping and now here I am.
I’m standing under an old oak tree, the same tree Stormy used to lean her back against in high school, waiting for her to make an appearance. One end of a string of outdoor lights are fastened to that tree while the other stretches across to a second oak tree.
Flower petals cover the grass where her sisters created an aisle between dozens of ladderback chairs draped with white gauzy fabric. At the end of each of the rows of chairs are tall metal buckets brimming with wildflowers.
A wooden sign with an arrow pointing toward the altar reads this way to a happily ever after followed by my name linked with Stormy’s.
Miss Ethel’s grandson, Bobby John, strums on his guitar, playing a soft love song that drifts among the guests who are gathered. It’s not a big gathering but that’s how we wanted it. A celebration with our family and friends. The people we love.
Beside me, stand my best men, Flint and Jude.
From seats on the front row my adoptive parents smile at me. Though the suddenness of the wedding surprised them, they were instantly supportive, the way they have been my whole life.
Sitting near them are Gavin and Frances Richford. They treat me just like I’m one of their sons.
Then Bobby John starts playing and singing, This One Love, a song he wrote just for Stormy and me about a love that doesn’t give up.
And there she is at the end of the aisle wearing a short white western dress and white cowgirl boots.
As she takes her first step toward me, memories of her through the years flash through my mind. She was worth waiting for and always will be. My Stormy. My one love.
Chapter 10
Stormy
Kannen stands beneath the branches of the oak tree that offered me shelter when life was rough. And now, beneath it, I see a new kind of shelter. The cowboy that loved me long before I realized that. Long before I knew that love could be warm and supportive, that it could be laughter and surprise breakfasts in bed.
Before I knew that love could be talking through the night simply because we didn’t want the conversation to end. Oh, my heart. I promised myself I’d get through this without tears but one look at my soon-to-be groom and I don’t think that’s going to be possible.
He’s wearing jeans and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. In those arms I found comfort. Two days prior to the wedding, we’d run into my father in town with that floozy and he’d tried to say something unkind, something meant to wound.
Kannen had instantly told him to stop talking, then he’d stepped in front of me and quietly said to my father, “She doesn’t want to hear that and doesn’t need to, so you won’t speak this way to her ever again.”
When I’d told my momma about getting married, I figured she’d say something snarky about how sudden it is. But she’d encouraged me. Kannen had gone to her. He’d told her how much he loved me and said since she was my momma, he was firmly on her side whatever she needed. He’d said if my father caused trouble, all she had to do was call him.
Momma gives my arm a gentle squeeze now and smiles. I start forward, floating on air to the sound of our song playing.
Each step I take draws me closer to Kannen and my heart is so full of joy, I couldn’t possibly get another drop of happiness in there.
At the altar, I pass my bouquet to Tempest. All my sisters are bridesmaids, but she’s my maid of honor. She’d volunteered to get everything done and worked until the wee hours for days making sure my wedding would be perfect.
She recently moved into my former rental home. That idea turned into a plan because she’d joked that if I could find a naked cowboy outside that house maybe she could too.
The officiant holds up his hand to quiet the music.
When it’s silent, Kannen takes my hands in his. “Everything I planned to say got stuck for a minute when I looked at you. I kept thinking wow.”
Our family and friends chuckle at that and he clears his throat and starts again. “I love you so much that there are days when it feels like my knees will buckle from the power of it.”
“You just had to go and say something like that,” I whisper and the tears start falling.
He steps closer and thumbs away the tears. “I swear I’ll always give you joy. I’ll look out for you and be your comforter. Your protector. I’ll be your support and your best friend.”
I nod, too choked up to speak.
“I promise you that my love is steadfast and unconditional and it will always be here.”
