Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
After she gathered her composure, she turned back to face him. Tears glistened on her gorgeous face.
“I knew you were the one when I couldn’t stop crying tears of joy, shocked that I’d met someone like you. I knew you were the one, Nikolai, once those tears continued, when our love was threatened. I’m not generally an emotional person, and somehow, some way, you bring that out of me. With you, I become soft and vulnerable. With you, I feel at ease. You accept both my sharp corners and soft spots. You show love through action and promises kept. You show love through providing good food, good drink, and something else that is not appropriate to say in front of my mother and Pastor Patricia.”
This caused another round of laughter. She also chuckled and he joined in her amusement.
“All jokes aside, Nikolai, through you, I realized I can be so much in this world, but I am accepted by you for simply being me. Life came at us fast. Though I never wish to fully immerse myself in the dark underbelly of my former occupation again—it is far too taxing and costly to the family life I’d prefer to begin with you—it reminded me that, by nature, I am a problem solver and a giver, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Now, I just want to be good at supporting and loving you, and raising our future children with love. I want to continue to help people, and also go into a new direction, with you by my side.
“Thank you for asking for my hand in marriage. You know a good thing when you see it. Today, you’re obviously a very lucky man… but please don’t forget that at any given time, I am fully capable of making a citizen’s arrest. Keep the toilet lid down, or else.”
They all laughed as she kept a stoic face as she turned to the pastor, looking quite serious. Though a slight smirk appeared on her face for a fleeting second.
Pastor Patricia nodded at him.
He cleared his throat and began.
“Porsche, today I join my life to yours, not simply as your husband, but as your friend, your lover, and your biggest supporter. Let me be the shoulder you lean on and the companion of your life. You’re a strong woman, but you don’t have to be all the time. I embrace the many shades and colors of you.” She blinked several times, her smile slowly fading. “When we met, I knew pretty early on that you were the one for me.
“It’s hard to explain… it was just a gut thing. That’s why I worked so hard to gain your trust, and agreed to your many tests of my character. A few years ago, I’d written down in a book what I wanted in a wife. I know this might sound funny, but I wrote it in white ink, on white paper. Do you know how hard it is to find white ink?” The crowd burst into another round of laughter. “That way, I’d be the only one to ever know what was written on that list. It was for my eyes only.
“You matched everything on that list, and even offered things I hadn’t even thought to write down.” He took her hands in his as she stood before him, slightly trembling. So emotional. “The unhappiest time of my life was not the horrible ordeal we encountered together. No… the unhappiest time of my life, Porsche, was when I thought I may have lost you forever.”
He swiped at an errant tear with his knuckle.
“To think… that… the last time I hugged you might have been the last time. That the last time I kissed you might have been the final kiss. It was overwhelming. It was debilitating.” He trembled as she squeezed his hands, and the tears flowed freely down his face now. “I asked God to help me. Not just for my sake, but yours, too. I needed you to know that no matter how things looked, please believe in me. No matter what anyone said about me, you needed to believe in yourself and your own intuition, too. Now, I believe that my mother could somehow see into the future. I was never a writer, a notetaker.
“But she encouraged me to do it… She said, ‘If you mean something, write it down.’ Her advice helped free me from a situation that could have gone in a totally different direction. I learned a lot from her. How to love. How to show kindness, even when you don’t feel like doing so. That’s why when I met you, Porsche, I knew you were beautiful on the inside, too. I watched you serve kindness to others on a silver platter, even during difficult circumstances. I watched that kindness be tested, but you persevered. I watched one of your clients fall into your arms with gratitude. Thanking you for giving her and her family peace. That same client, in her own way, brought us together. That same client was able to look at me… and see.”