Abby Girl: I’ve failed a lot on my promises.

Jo-Jo: how so?

Abby Girl: I promised I’d write when you deployed, that I’d wait for you, that I’d never leave. I broke them all

Jo-Jo: Abby girl, Abster, the only promise I care about is the one you’re about to make today.

Abby Girl: the honor to love and cherish bullshit?

Jo-Jo: yeah, that one.

Abby Girl: this is one promise I can keep.

Jo-Jo: I’m counting on it. You’re the love of my life.

Abby Girl: so are you. I’m so glad you came back to me, Joey Harrison.

I smiled thinking about her text from this morning. She wouldn’t wear white. She’d worn white to her courthouse wedding, she’d told me, and she felt it didn’t fit her anymore. Instead, she wore purple. A beautiful dress that she filled out even better than the one she wore to prom. Neither of us believed in luck, as we had created our own destiny, so the minute I saw her try it on at the bridal shop, I knew it was the one.

Today, the day of days, Zoey tottered up the two stairs toward the podium of my parents’ church, throwing her white basket of purple petals aside, when Julie, one of Abby’s three bridesmaids, scooped up the little one and held her on her hip. I slightly envied Abby for all her friends—Rowan, her ‘man of honor’, and then Lauren, Julie, and Tania, her new friends, whom I also enjoyed spending time with as much as Abby did. Even Lettie and Juney stood on her side. Randy, my best man, and Sam, my first friend in college, stood next to me as the organ pumped the announcement for the bride. In the front row, Andrew sat next to my mother, sobbing loudly into a handkerchief, and next to him, Rowan’s husband, Tech Sargent Josiah Matthews, stoically brushing away his liquid sentiment.

My father had neglected to attend, but Abby’s mother, on the other side of the pews, sat teary-eyed and smiling. I wasn’t sure I could ever repair the damage between my father and us, but that was another thought for another day. Randy and I both had some work in front of us.

Abby had entered the auditorium on her father’s arm. Even though I knew he didn’t like me, he had at least accepted our union, mostly for Zoey’s sake. An old-fashioned, firm believer every child should have a father, he’d obliged to picking up our modest bill and even purchasing a Christmas-themed cruise for our honeymoon. After the term was over, of course.

Abby was a breath of beauty. Her tight dress accentuated everything perfectly, as my heart thudded in my chest to see her slowly approach. Good God, she was more beautiful in that moment than I had ever seen her. Her hair was pulled back behind a lavender veil, but a few stubborn curls framed her face. I wanted to kiss her cheeks and skip to the part of the ceremony where I was encouraged to make our love public.

But first, all the formality.

Abby took my hands in hers and stared at me, her lips trembling, her voice nervous as she pledged her love and life to me.

“Do you, Abigail Years, promise to take Joseph Harrison as your loving husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?”

She searched my face, but only for a second. “I do,” she breathed, and slipped the simple gold band onto my finger.

I echoed her a few seconds later, sealing it with the ring, and finally…the kiss.

“No church tongue,” she’d told me during rehearsal. “My mother will be watching.”

“I don’t give a damn.” H er glare told me I’d better not.

To hell with formality.

I dipped her and pressed my lips to hers, much to the whoops and cheers of our small crowd. Even Sam clapped and shouted, “Go for it!” behind me.

When I stood her back up, her face was flushed red and she tried to glare at me but gave up. I hooked my arm around her waist as we turned to our audience, a gathering of only twenty or thirty of my parents’ and her parents’ friends, mostly. I kept my promise after all, and never let her go. Of course, I could say the same about her.

“May I now present to you, Mr. And Mrs. Joseph Harrison.”