The ride to the back of the property seems to take forever, but I’m not really sure how fast this old truck can go. I see the barn and my heart practically leaps out of my chest, knowing Gabe is standing on the other side of it, waiting for me—along with thirty of our closest friends and family members.
I have to remind myself to breathe.
My dad helps me down out of the truck and Trisha, Audrey, my mom, and Jackie appear from the car behind us to help fluff my dress and smooth my train. They each give me a quick hug and then make their way around the barn to take their places for the ceremony.
I’m suddenly filled with nerves. Maybe it’s the buildup of not seeing Gabe all day, or maybe it’s the small crowd that’s gathered to witness this very intimate moment between us. I’m not sure which, but my hands begin to shake.
“Dad.”
“I’ve got you, baby,” he says, placing his hand over mine.
I hear the soft strum of the acoustic guitar that’s accompanying the ceremony and I try to steady my heartbeat to its soothing melody.
Breathe. Just breathe.
I close my eyes and open them again to a beautiful fall day. I hadn’t really noticed before, but it’s absolutely gorgeous today. The sky is strikingly blue—there isn’t a single cloud in it—and the sun is shining through the trees, illuminating the hanging moss, and throwing slanted shadows on the leaf-covered ground. It doesn’t usually get cold in this part of Georgia until after Thanksgiving, but today the air is crisp and cool.
I take another deep breath of the clean fall air, letting it resonate through me, and it erases what’s left of my nerves. The music changes and I know that it’s our turn now. My dad looks down at me and says, “I think that’s our cue.”
I smile and nod, and tighten my arm around his as he leads me around the side of the barn, careful not to step on my dress, until we’re standing before the century-old oak tree that Gabe carved our initials in when we were seventeen. Tears fill my eyes when I take in the view. White paper lanterns and delicate crystals hang from the twisted moss covered branches above two sections of white wooden folding chairs and the faces of our closest friends and family.
Everyone stands and I can feel their eyes on me, but the only face I see is Gabriel’s. He’s standing at the end of the aisle, smiling his breathtaking smile, pulling me toward him with his warm golden brown eyes.
I blink back my tears and take him in from head to toe. He’s wearing a fitted pale-gray vest, matching suit pants, an ivory shirt with a navy blue tie, and tobacco brown leather shoes. His face is shaved smooth and his hair is arched over his forehead in a little wave. He cut it after the surgery, since they had to shave half his head, and he hasn’t grown it back out yet. It’s just long enough to cover the new c-shaped scar above his ear.
He looks like he just stepped off a page of a magazine. I want to run to him and take his handsome face in my hands, but I manage to contain myself and stay by my father’s side as we slowly walk toward him.
Roxy is sitting at Gabe’s feet, patiently waiting for me. I smile at her when I see the ivory ribbon tied around her neck. She barks once and everyone laughs, including me. Gabe reaches down and touches her head, and she shakes her floppy ears back and forth.
When we reach the end of the aisle, Trisha takes my bouquet. She and Audrey look beautiful in their champagne-colored chiffon dresses. My dad lifts my hand from his arm and carefully places it in Gabe’s. And everything else disappears.
All I see is him.
All I feel is him.
His long fingers move over my hands and wrap around them. His palms pulse against my skin and his breath falls softly on my forehead as he leans in and whispers, just loud enough for me to hear, “Qui valait l'attente.” That was worth the wait.
What was left of the breath in my lungs rushes out on a wave of emotion and it takes all my control not to pull his face to mine and kiss him before the ceremony even begins.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says, wiping a tear from my cheek.
The minister begins to speak to our guests, but I stay locked inside my Gabe bubble, half listening, until it’s time to say our vows.
I pay close attention to the minister and repeat the traditional words that will marry us.
“I, Olivia Charlotte Dalton, take you, Gabriel Chréstien North, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow.” I smile and slide Gabe’s simple white gold wedding band onto his finger.
Gabe takes his turn repeating after the minister. “I, Gabriel Chréstien North, take you, Olivia Charlotte Dalton, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow.” He slides my wedding band onto my finger, and I beam up at him.
“Liv, I believe you have something you want to share,” the minister says to me.
I nod and gesture to Trisha who hands me a familiar folded-up piece of paper. I open it with shaking hands and look at Gabe. “Gabe, you wrote me a letter on my eighteenth birthday...”
He nods and smiles softly.
“I wanted to share it today...if that’s okay with you.”
He nods again.
I try to swallow down the emotion that’s choking me so I can read it. “‘Liv’”—my voice wobbles a little—“‘tomorrow you will turn eighteen.’” Gabe wipes a stray tear from my cheek and I smile at him. I take the moment to steady myself so I can continue. “‘You will legally be allowed to vote...You can buy cigarettes, but please don’t.’”
Soft laughter comes from the small crowd.
“‘And you can even join the military, but please don’t.’”
More laughter.
“‘You will officially be an adult...None of that really matters to me, though...I will love you the same tomorrow as I do today.’” I glance up at him and he smiles at the words that are now hanging in a frame above our bed. “‘And I love you the same today as I did when I was sixteen...I’ve been privileged to watch you grow into the beautiful woman you’ve become, and I thank my lucky stars every day that you chose me.’”
The laughs have turned into quiet sniffles now.
I drop my hands and look into Gabe’s eyes, and recite the rest of the letter from memory. “‘The coming years will be a challenge, no doubt. But as long as we’re together, I know we can navigate whatever comes our way. I promise to be your compass when you start to feel lost. I’ll be your beacon home when the world gets too big. No matter what path life chooses for us, I will always be your true north.’”
Gabe brings his hands to my face.
“You were my compass, Gabe. You were my beacon home. You are and always have been my true north. And I promise, for as long as I live, I will be yours.”
Epilogue
Gabe, Three years later
I’m balancing a cake in my left hand and balloons in my right when I walk through the front door and find Liv standing on our dining room table, hanging streamers from the light fixture above it. “Liv! What are you doing up there?”