I looked again, just as the groom and best man turned to face us.
Hunter and Matt!
“What’s happening?” I didn’t expect an answer, and even if one had been offered I doubt I’d have heard it over the blood roaring in my ears.
Hunter, in a formal suit walked towards me looking devastatingly handsome, as Casey and Dani urged me down the aisle. With a quick glance around the room I saw the guests from my side of my original wedding invitation list.
Was I being pranked?
Hunter reached out to me, and Casey and Dani released my hands into his, then left us standing in the aisle.
“You look beautiful,” he said, with a smile so radiant, my temperature shot up.
“So do you. Handsome, I mean. But beautiful too. I’m confused. Everyone’s here. Why are you all here?”
“To support you through the ceremony you have planned.”
“Wow. I’m stunned. I didn’t expect this. You look amazing. I’m so happy to see you. Did I say that already?”
Hunter laughed. “I’ve haven’t heard you scrambling for words since that morning you found me in the kitchen when you thought you were alone in the house.”
“You mustn’t tell anyone that story.”
He squeezed my hands. “Come on, you have some vows to make.”
“I don’t want to do it.” When I blurted those words I wasn’t sure who was more surprised. Hunter or me. But they came directly from my heart. With Hunter in front of me, the last thing I wanted to do was take a vow of sologamy.
“Do you have your vows prepared?”
I nodded, glancing around the room. There were Mom and Dad, Matt, my two favorite cousins, Lily and June. My Aunty Nina. Other friends and cousins adding up to about forty people all looking intently at Hunter and me.
“Tell me the crux of your vows,” he said.
His gaze locked with mine and suddenly we were the only two in the room. My vows tumbled about in my head, and the most meaningful one, the promise to myself that I hoped to honor throughout my life, became the only vow of importance among the little speech I’d prepared over the past few weeks.
“Mostly…” I choked up and had to take a moment to swallow past the tightness in my throat.
“Take your time.”
God, his eyes. I couldn’t tear my gaze away. “Mostly, I want to vow that I will do whatever it takes to know who I really am, to live as that person, totally awake and aware, and to never settle for less than my heart and soul desire.”
“And, do your heart and soul desire to live a life of sologamy?”
My heart and soul desired him. Truth. I bit my lip as I tried to come up with a way to explain that to him. “No.” I shook my head. “No, there’s somebody else I’d rather share my life with.”
“I believe we’ve reached the same page of the same book,” he said, reaching into his pocket.
He took hold of my left hand, holding it flat, palm facing down. Then he pulled his hand from his pocket and slid a beautiful emerald and diamond ring onto my bare finger.
We stared at it. The fit was perfect. Hunter said my name and my gaze slid back to meet his.
“I hope with all my heart, Saylor, that you’ll do me the great honor of becoming my partner, my soul mate, and my fellow adventurer in this crazy thing we call life.”
“Can I cry?” I asked, knowing I couldn’t contain tears and calm a heart that was trying to detonate in my chest.
“Only if it means you’re going to say yes.”
“I’m saying yes. Every inch of me is saying yes.” I put my hand on my chest. “You’re killing me, Hunter, I can scarcely breathe.”