My throat tightens.
“You saw me for exactly what I am and you stayed. You didn’t try to save me. You didn’t try to fix me. You chose me.”
His voice drops lower.
“I promise you this. I will never lie to you. I will never leave you. I will never make you feel small to make myself feel bigger.”
Tears blur my vision.
“I will protect you. I will fight beside you. I will build something new with you even if we have to do it a thousand times over.”
He exhales slowly.
“You’re my wife. You were before today. You will be after this. You’re mine in every possible way.”
He squeezes my hands.
“I love you more than I can ever express in words. I’ve already killed for you… a lot. I almost died for you and I’d do it again. Now I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
My eyes stay locked on his as I blink back tears. He looks nervous underneath all the confidence, I know this matters more to him than anything else ever has, and it shows.
The priest turns to me. “Brooke.”
I take a breath and lift my chin.
“I didn’t believe in love,” I admit. “I was raised to endure.”
Seth’s fingers tighten.
“I thought love was something that happened to other people. Not me.”
I shake my head slightly. “Then I met you.”
A quiet laugh slips out before I can stop it.
“You never pretended to be good. You never pretended to be gentle. You showed me exactly who you were and trusted me to decide.”
I swallow.
“I choose you. Not because you saved me. Not because you’d burn the world for me.”
I meet his eyes. “But because you see me. All of me. And you don’t ask me to be less. You helped me find my voice.”
Tears well up, I keep going.
“I promise to stand with you when it’s hard. I promise to tell you the truth even when it scares me. I promise to build a life with you.”
I smile through the tears. “I finally found my home and that’s you. You’re my home. And I’m never leaving.”
Seth looks at me as if my vows healed something inside him.
The priest clears his throat again, visibly overwhelmed. “Do you, Seth, take Brooke—”
“Yes,” Seth says immediately.
A soft ripple of laughter moves through the group.
“And do you, Brooke, take Seth—”
