Page 54 of The Prodigal's Promise of Love
“Who gives this woman to this man?” Philip’s voice rang out, projecting across the lawn so all guests could hear.
“Her father does,” Sheriff Williams said with confidence. “And her mother would, too, if she could be here with us today.”
Then Sheriff Williams took Cora’s hand and placed it inside Roy’s, and it wasn’t lost on Roy how hard this was for him. Roy looked into the sheriff’s eyes, silently communicating gratitude, and the sheriff tipped his hat and nodded. Roy found it beautifully ironic how far they had come, from his teenage days of mischief and giving the sheriff a hard time, to this moment where he entrusted his daughter to him, and they became family. It was a twist that could only be ordained by God Himself. Roy was honored that he was the man that Sheriff Williams trusted to cherish, honor, and protect his daughter for the rest of her life.
And within moments, Roy vowed to do exactly that. He didn’t take his eyes off Cora, who looked back at him with so much love, more love than he ever thought he was worthy of. He had spent five years in Wheats Ridge believing himself to be rejected and disposable, a prodigal son who was unworthy of love and acceptance.
God had sent this woman into his life to prove him wrong.
So, when Philip—now Pastor Hawthorne—asked, “Roy Burns, do you take do you take Cora Williams to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?'", there was absolutely no hesitation on Roy’s part. He responded with more earnest confidence than he had ever expressed in his twenty-three years, projecting his voice so that everyone in Lakewood, even those not attending the ceremony, could hear his simple declaration
“I do.”
And then Philip asked Cora the same question. She looked up at him, her long lashes framing her bright, blue eyes, and she too responded without pause, “I do.”
With trembling hands, Roy slid her mother’s ring over Cora’s delicate finger. He watched Cora look down at her hand with both awe and a joy he had never seen reflected in her eyes to that extent. When she looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears, she took Roy’s ring and repeated the gesture, sliding it slowly over his left ring finger, a simple but profound symbol of their love and commitment.
And then came the moment that both of them had been waiting for their entire lives. For Roy, it was a moment he didn’t know he had been waiting for until he met Cora, and he knew that for Cora, it was the moment she had dreamed of since she was a little girl, without ever suspecting that he would be the one standing in front of her when her dream came true.
“With the exchange of these rings and the heartfelt vows you have made to one another, I now pronounce you, Roy Burns, and you, Cora Williams, as husband and wife. You may seal your union with a kiss.”
Roy didn’t have to be told twice. He leaned toward her, placing his hands delicately on the side of her face and running his fingers through her long, soft locks. He paused for only a second, savoring this precious moment just before he would kiss his new wife for the first time, and then he tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers, first softly, with the tenderness that comes from a husband kissing his wife for the first time in their marriage.
He pulled away just slightly, and then the next kiss came with more intensity. For Roy, no one else was present in that moment except the two of them. He pressed his lips firmly against hers, pouring all the love he held in his heart for her into that kiss. He melted when he felt her reciprocate with the same passion.
When they finally pulled away, the sound of the congregants clapping was merely a distant noise.
“I love you, Cora Burns,” Roy whispered, pressing his forehead against hers.
“And I love you, Roy Burns, my husband. Thank you for making my dream to marry for love come true.”
THE END?
