Page 58 of Soaring and Steadfast

Soft. Loving. Unshakable.

Louis felt the air leave his lungs in a sharp rush, the force of that simple expression knocking him off balance. His throat tightened. Gratitude swelled, thick and aching inside him.

“And do you Louis Michael Gagne take this woman for your wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?”

The words rang out, steady and strong, but Louis barely heard them over the roar of his own heartbeat.

"I do," he said thickly, the promise settling into his soul like it had always been meant to be there.

“Lila, do you…”

“Oh yes,” she interrupted breathlessly, her voice trembling with uncontainable joy. “I absolutely do.”

Laughter rippled through the room, a gentle, knowing warmth. Louis barely registered it. His focus was solely on her—the way her eyes shimmered, the way her fingers trembled just slightly in his grasp.

He turned toward Stephanie, his voice low but filled with so much meaning. “Thank you for giving her my number.”

“Oh yes,” Lila agreed instantly, the memory washing over her with a reverence that made her eyes shine. “I was so nervous, so scared, and it took so much for me to send that first text…” Her breath hitched as she gazed up at him, her expression raw with emotion. “And you were the sweetest person, the most understanding, and…perfect. I couldn’t wish for a better friend in my life…”

Louis barely had time to process the weight of her words before Trophy clapped a firm hand against his shoulder. “Agreed.”

But then Lila spoke again, and his entire world narrowed to just her.

“I couldn’t hope for a more beautiful soul, a gentle soul, to find my broken one,” she whispered, her voice thick with tears.

Louis felt the sting behind his own eyes, an answering ache in his chest as he reached for her hand. Slowly, deliberately, he lifted it to his lips and brushed the softest of kisses across her knuckles, his own breath shaking.

“Because I know what a journey it’s been for you,” he breathed. “But you will never walk alone again. I will celebrate every moment, every smile, and cherish every laugh because you gave me the time of day.”

A tear slipped down her cheek as a watery laugh escaped her lips. “All my time is yours.”

His answering chuckle was low, reverent. “I’m a greedy man,” he murmured, his voice thick with love. “I’ll take them all.”

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the chaplain said over them.

The words barely had time to settle before Louis was pulling Lila into his arms, his hands steady as they cupped her face, his lips brushing softly—tenderly—against hers. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a vow—a promise.

And then he was holding her, burying his face in her hair, inhaling the scent of lavender and warmth, his arms wrapped so tightly around her that not even the weight of the world could pry them apart.

"I love you," he whispered against her ear, his voice unshakable. "I will never give you a reason to doubt me or my feelings…"

"I know," she murmured, pressing closer, her hands smoothing up his back, cradling him as if she needed the connection just as much as he did.

This—this—was everything.

This was faith.

This was love.

She was the gift he didn’t know he needed.

And the one he would spend an eternity cherishing in his soul.

As they left the chapel, Louis kept Lila close, his fingers laced with hers, his grip firm as if afraid she might slip away. The evening air was thick with the scent of salt and jet fuel, the sounds of distant engines humming in the background, but all he could focus on was her—warm, solid, real. His heart still pounded from the overwhelming rush of homecoming from seeing her waiting for him on the pier. It had been everything.

His strides lengthened, pulling her toward the parking lot, toward the car he’d left behind before deployment. A lot of the guys hadn’t even bothered bringing one, relying on rides or sheer necessity to keep them on base. But Louis had needed an out—a way to escape when the walls of the ship closed in too tight. And now, he needed it more than ever.

Trophy and Stephanie were his best friends, his family in every sense of the word, but he understood the unspoken urgency Trophy must have felt—the desperation to be alone with his wife and child because Louis felt it, too.

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