For the first time, keeping my date didn’t feel like defiance.
It felt like keeping a promise to myself.
IF FACEBOOK BROUGHT YOU HERE, THEN THIS IS THE NEXT PART YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. HAPPY READING!
The next two days blurred together.
Lighting tests.
Floral deliveries.
Camera rehearsals.
Guests changing flights after seeing the teaser and deciding they wanted to come.
These weren’t relatives attending from obligation.
They were friends, colleagues, clients, and people who had watched Ryan and me build our life together.
The night before the wedding, Willow Crest Castle glowed against the dark hills.
Warm gold light covered the stone walls.
Lanterns lined the paths.
Inside, Ashley and Jenna checked tables, flowers, camera angles, and all the details I usually worried about for other people.
Jenna looked at me.
“You nervous?”
I thought about it.
“No.”
And I meant it.
“For the first time, I feel exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Later, Ryan and I checked the live-stream countdown.
2.4 million people were waiting.
He whistled.
“This is insane.”
It was.
I’d planned events with huge audiences before.
I knew trends and algorithms could inflate numbers.
But this felt different.
Nobody had been pressured to choose me.
They simply wanted to witness something beautiful.
At midnight, Madison sent a video.
