Page 38 of Until I Found You
He chuckles, looking around at us before he reaches out to shake Callum’s hand.
“I’m going to get back to our girls. We have just a few minutes until it’s time for all of you to get out there.”
“It’s good to have you home, son,” Hudson says, clapping his hand on my shoulder. He winks at me before he walks out the door.
“I think that’s my cue to head out there too.”
Callum, while he’s one of my good friends, has a closer relationship to Wes and Brannon. Growing up, they were his two best friends. It made sense for the two of them to stand next to him, along with his brother, Mason.
I follow the guys out, leaving them to head down to the pavilion as I take a seat, waiting for the wedding to start. When the music starts, I turn in my seat. I watch as my friends walk down the aisle one at a time, the last of the group is Halle with her hand wrapped around Brannon’s forearm.
She looks beautiful, like a dream, as she walks slowly down the aisle. She fights back a smile at something Brannon says to her, before she squeezes his arm. Her eyes are bright with the happiness radiating off her.
The champagne color dress combined with her tan skin gives her the look like she’s glowing, and I can’t help but stare at her, even when her and Brannon separate and she takes her spot behind Kinsley.
There’s hardly a dry eye in the room, as everyone watches Ellie walk down the aisle with Hudson by her side. This time Callum doesn’t even attempt to hide his emotions, as the tears stream down his face.
As soon as she reaches him, he presses a kiss passionately against her lips. Hudson clears his throat, reminding him he’s not supposed to do that just yet, which earns him a few laughs and makes Ellie smile.
You can feel the love between the two of them. The entire time, I’m unable to keep my eyes off Halle. It’s hard not to picture us up there, her standing before me looking like the angel she is, and I’m like Callum, unable to resist the urge to pull her into my arms and thank God for giving me her forever.
Then, I remind myself that the future we had laid out before us was changed, and the only person to blame for it now is myself.
We listen as the pastor talks about loving each other in the face of hard times. I look over at Halle and watch her as she glances down at her flowers, running her hand underneath her eye again, before she peeks over at me.
She looks surprised when she finds me staring back at her, but this time she doesn’t look away.
“I’m sorry,” I mouth to her.
She gives me a sad smile, turning to look back at Callum and Ellie.
We both watch as the pastor asks them to recite their vows. When he announces them as husband and wife, our eyes once again find each other’s. This time I hope the look on my face says everything I can’t say in that moment.
Halle deserves better than anything I could ever give her. She deserves someone who would give her the world. While I can’t give her all those things, I can promise her one thing. I will love her more than anyone ever possibly could.
All these years, Halle never once gave up on me. When I walked away from her, she never turned her back on me. She never stopped loving me. She doesn’t have to say the words, I know it with everything in me.
While I can’t go back and fix what I took away from her, from us, these past five years, I can promise her today and everyday forward that I’ll be the man she deserves.
Until I found her, I never knew what loving someone meant. Now I need to prove to her that I’ll never let her go again.
