Jordan Rice and Jessica Moreland

Jordan Rice and Jessica Moreland met each other through friends who believed they shared something very powerful: Both of them were widowed in their 20s. A little under two years after getting married, Rice lost his wife, Danielle, to a rare heart sarcoma in 2011 and Moreland lost her husband, Jarronn, in a motorcycle accident in 2009, just two and a half months after their wedding.

So when friends mentioned Moreland’s story to Rice in 2012, he decided to take a leap of faith and reach out to her on Facebook. His friend request became the beginning of a unique Black love story. Each believed it would be impossible to find another person to love like they had before, but when they finally met in person, they talked for hours and say they knew upon the first encounter that their lives were about to change.

“I knew, 100 percent, this was it,” Rice said. They were married on June 22. “We always laugh,” said Rice. “I stare into her eyes and feel so incredibly connected and hope and pray we have a long life together — though, that is not always promised.”