Savior Complex: A Small Town Love Triangle Romance

That ring was upstairs in my dresser drawer, but you better believe I ran up those stairs, two at a time, to grab it before flying in front of her, landing on one knee. I’d had this whole speech set up and kept thinking up romantic places I could pop the question. But in that moment, on our concrete floor, the rain pounding on our windowpanes while we ate a spaghetti dinner, I knelt in front of her and simply asked her to marry me.

And she said yes.

That was three months ago, and we threw this whole wedding together in record time.

Now she’s standing before me, her father kissing her cheek before releasing her to me. Steve shakes my hand, holding on to it for a moment.

“Welcome to the family, Son,” he says. I nod my head, because at this moment, I have no words, and I can’t keep my eyes off Nina.

Up close, she’s even more beautiful. I’d told her to pick whatever dress she wanted; I’d pay for it. She reminded me that she has her own money and could buy her own dress, and this is the dress she chose. It’s covered in lace, tapered to her waistline then billowing out in tulle. Her hair is in soft curls, covered by her veil. In her hands is a beautiful bouquet of daisies, which I recognize as Amber and Hazel’s favorite. I’m touched by the sentiment, but it’s Nina’s face I can’t look away from. This is the face I get to see every day for the rest of my life. I’ll get to see it change as she ages, and I’ll always think she’s beautiful. This is the face of the woman I love, and I’ve never seen anyone so stunning.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you,” she whispers back. Then she plucks a daisy from her bouquet and hands it to me before taking one for herself. “We have one more thing to do before we get married.” She hands Jordy her bouquet, then takes my hand and leads me to that chair up front with my sister’s photo. She nods to it, and I understand what she wants. Carefully I place my flower next to the photo, and Nina does the same.

“Thank you for being here,” I say to that chair, then look up to the sky. I don’t know if she’s actually here, but for a moment, I feel her. A breeze blows through the trees, caressing my face, then disappears as quickly as it came.

My father leads the ceremony with meaningful words about love and marriage and what it means to be in a partnership. When I’m not looking at Nina, I look at my dad, who moves his eyes to my mother often as he talks about love.

We get to the vows, and this is the part where I do get nervous. Nina and I chose to write our own vows, and I’m not the best at making public speeches. But I do know how much I love Nina, so I tried not to think of other people as I just wrote down what I felt.

But now that we’re here, my nerves are getting the better of me.

“Breathe,” she reminds me in a whisper, and I realize how tense my face must look. I smile at her, then take out the piece of paper from my pocket. It’s just a formality, though, because I know my vows by heart.

“Ours is an unlikely love story,” I begin. “It starts with the most beautiful girl in the world who finds herself in a dangerous situation. Enter a wannabe hero who comes to save the day. Since then, we’ve been on a crazy journey together. We’ve made mistakes, burned some bridges, then rebuilt everything with the help of our families. We’ve grown together, learning what it means to be a daughter, a son, and a cousin, what it means to be part of a family. We’ve cried a lot. Laughed a lot. Fallen down only to get back up again. But in all this time I’ve loved you, I’ve realized I’m not really the hero. You are, as you’ve saved me every day you’ve been in my life. It’s because of you I’ve learned what it means to be a true partner, who knows how to give and take, to win and lose, and to understand that true communication means not agreeing with everything you say, but listens before everything else.

“So on this day, when I stand before God and all our friends and family, I make these promises to you.

“Antonina Dorotea Chance, I promise to be slow to speak and quick to listen, to hear you completely when you have something to say.

“I promise to tell you the truth, even if it’s hard, and even if we don’t agree.

“I promise to build this life with you, not just for you, because we are equal partners, and this is our life together.

“I promise to reserve Meredith only for you, since she was your horse all those years ago, and she’s still your horse now.”

Nina laughs, wiping away tears as they fill her eyes.

“I promise to bring you coffee in bed every time I wake up before you, and I promise to accept coffee in bed anytime you wake up before me.”

Everyone laughs this time, as Nina bites her smile.

“I promise you will never need to ask me to do any chores because this is both of our home, and both our responsibility.

“The same goes for our future children. You will never need to ask me to care for them, because they are ours.

“I promise to be the best father I can be to our children.

“I promise to be the best husband I can be to you.

“I promise to never forget to romance you, to remind you in little ways how much I love you.

“I promise to continue dating you, even when we’re old and grey and our children are making families of their own.

“Most of all, I promise to love you every day, in every way, until the day I die. But even then, I will go on loving you into eternity. You are the woman who called to my soul, and all I could do was answer, and now we get to create this beautiful life together.”

Nina frantically dabs at her eyes, looking at me with furrowed brows. “Damnit, Winters, do you know how long it took to do this makeup?” She smiles as she whispers it. I blow at her face, and she jerks back in surprise and gives a confused laugh. “What the hell?”