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Once he caught sight of her walking down the aisle, his gaze never strayed from her. Although Annie knew the room was packed with dozens of well-wishers and friends, all she saw was Declan. Her hero. The man who would always own her heart.
Before she was even halfway down the aisle, Declan began rushing toward her. He stopped beside her, his grin as wide as the ocean.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t wait a second longer,” Declan said. He moved to her left side and linked their hands together. They continued to walk down the aisle until Zachariah handed Annie over to Declan, then took his seat in the front row.
“Eager to marry this amazing woman, aren’t you?” Pastor Jack Teagan teased, his eyes alight with merriment.
“Imagine that,” Declan drawled. “Just shows you what the love of a good woman can do.”
Pastor Jack began the ceremony. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the blessed union of Declan O’Rourke and Annie Murray, a couple who has made the decision to walk through life together.”
Annie could barely hold back the tide of tears as she listened to the pastor’s words. After a few minutes he turned toward Declan. “I’m going to hand things over to you now. I know you have prepared your vows to Annie, as she has for you.”
Declan reached for Annie’s hand and began reciting his vows. “Before you came to town, I was pretty convinced I would be single for the rest of my days.” Tears gathered in his eyes. “Sometimes the past can make us think we’re not worthy of good things. I was afraid to hope, Annie. You showed me that everything I have ever wanted was right there within reach. I just had to believe. And now I want to make sure all your dreams come true. I vow to spend the rest of my life by your side.”
Annie smiled at her groom through a haze of tears. “Declan, I thought you were a hero right from the start. You denied it, but I always knew you were. You made me feel safe when we were stranded out there in the wilderness. And you’ve been making me feel that way ever since. After Gram died, I didn’t have a place that felt like home. Until you. You make me feel as if I’m right where I belong. Where God always intended me to be.”
Pastor Jack continued the service and pronounced Declan and Annie husband and wife. As they exchanged their first kiss as a married couple, both the bride and groom rejoiced in the fact that the darkness of the past had been stamped out by their beautiful present.
They were blessed with the knowledge that they would be living out their lives in love.
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