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“I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, but if you start…”
She tossed her head back and cleared her throat. “Let’s do this.” Kyla started walking.
“Stop.” DeeDee hurried into the living room and changed the music on the stereo. The soft soulful sound of Norah Jones, The Nearness of You was playing. DeeDee came back into the kitchen. “Let’s do this. Count to ten and then follow behind me.” DeeDee hugged her. “You sure?”
Kyla nodded. “Very.”
“Okay, then.” DeeDee turned around and started walking.
Kyla closed her eyes and the last few months of her life passed before her eyes. It seemed like a bad romantic comedy with a happy ending. She looked up and her eyes met Sean’s. She felt at peace. She smiled and started walking toward him. As she got closer to Sean, her eyes filled with water. She stopped next to him and took his hand.
“This is a first. Usually after dinner we play cards or dominos or just sit around talking, and then devour some amazing dessert DeeDee spent the afternoon making. Tonight, things are a little different. A wedding. Considering who our dinner guests are, I’m not surprised.” Everyone smiled. “Sean and Kyla, speaking for me and DeeDee, we are excited to be sharing this moment with you. The past few months, we have seen a woman, our friend, completely change her life and fall in love twice…first with God, and then with one of my best friends. And Sean, I’ve watched you become the man we all knew you were destined to be. I, we, are honored to stand here with you before God and usher you both into the marriage club. Sean take both of Kyla’s hands.”
Kyla handed DeeDee her bouquet and turned to face Sean. He took her hands in his.
“Would you like to say something?” Mike asked.
“Yes.” Sean hesitated for a second. “He that finds a wife finds a good thing. It can also be said, he that finds a good friend, finds a potential good wife.” He smiled. “When I met you I knew I wanted you in my life, and I would have been fine with friendship. However, God went beyond what I wanted to give me more. Someone told me having you in my life was a great lesson in love. At the time, I didn’t understand the statement, but shortly thereafter I did. When a man loves a woman, he’s saying he wants to protect her, provide for her, assist her and make every effort to be with her. I have wanted all those things since the day I met you. I love you and want to partner with you for the rest of my life.”
“Kyla, do you have anything?” Mike asked.
She nodded. “When I first saw you, let’s just say my intentions weren’t as pure as yours.” They both smiled. “I told your mother you made love to me unlike any other man I’d known and she almost fell on the floor, but it was true. You showed me how to love, by starting with myself. This is the last place I thought I’d be…in my friend’s home, getting married to a man who saw what I could be and not what I was. I love you and I promise the next time we do this, I’ll have something more romantic to say.”
Sean lifted her hand to his mouth and k
issed it. “That was perfect.”
“Sean, do you take this woman, whose hands you now hold, to be your wedded wife, and do you promise before God and these witnesses that you will be to her a true and devoted husband, true to her in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in prosperity and in adversity, and that forsaking all others you will keep yourself to her, and her only, until separated by death?”
“I do.”
“Kyla, do you take this man, whose hands you now hold, to be your wedded husband, and do you promise before God and these witnesses that you will be to him a true and devoted wife, true to him in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in prosperity and in adversity, and that forsaking all others you will keep yourself to him, and him only, until separated by death?”
“I do.”
“Are there any rings?” Mike asked. “I mean, you had your license.”
Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out a diamond and platinum band, and handed it to Mike. “I wanted to be ready at a moment’s notice.”
“Kyla, do you have one?” She looked at DeeDee.
“I have it, Honey.” She handed Mike the diamond and platinum band.
“I wish all my weddings were this simple. Sean place the ring on Kyla’s left ring finger and repeat, with this ring, I thee wed.”
He slid the ring onto her finger, repeating the vow. “Kyla, with this ring, I thee wed.”
“Kyla, your turn. Place the ring on Sean’s left ring finger and repeat, with this ring I thee wed.”
She slid the ring onto his finger and repeated the vow. “Sean, with this ring, I thee wed.”
“Sean and Kyla, you both know marriage takes work. And no two marriages are the same. But if you keep God at the head, you’ll be able to overcome any obstacle the devil may try to throw at you. Marriage is as easy or difficult as you make it. You make the rules.” Sean squeezed Kyla’s hand. “Bow your heads. Father God, we come before You thanking You for this couple and their commitment to each other. We stand in agreement with them for a blessed and prosperous marriage. We bind and rebuke anything the devil may try to destroy this union You have commissioned. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Sean and Kyla, in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, I now declare you to be husband and wife. Congratulations, you may kiss your bride.”
Sean cupped Kyla’s face in his hands and gently pressed his lips against hers. He slowly pulled back and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you.”
“May I kiss the bride?” Mike asked. He kissed Kyla on the cheek and then walked over and hugged Sean. “Congratulations.”
