Note: This post is short on pictures in the text itself to help maintain the element of surprise. However if you want to spoil the surprise (tsk, tsk!) and look at the pictures as you go, I will link to pictures along the way. Or if you prefer click here (password: paxlegacy) to read the chapter with all the pictures.

As I stood at the altar waiting for her, I began to feel my face burn with the nerves I had been fighting back all day.

The night still carried the warmth on the day on its breeze, but the waterfall that we had chosen to be our backdrop offered a gentle, cooling mist for anyone that wasn’t fighting back internal fires of fear.

After a few years of chasing and falling. False starts and major revelations. Connections and love. I was finally going to marry my best friend.

My thoughts were suddenly broken by the resonating first from the piano and the shuffling of chairs as everyone made to stand for the bride. As she appeared at the top of the aisle, a light breeze swept through and slightly lifted her veil. Even just the quick glimpse of her chin, filled me with that undefinable mix of anxiety, love, and passion.

After we first met, I never thought our journey would take the winding path it did. At a fork in the road we nearly separated, never to meet again. But luckily fate or whatever you choose to call it that drives the actions of the universe, brought us back together, but only after throwing another curve ball right down the stretch.

With the pressure off though, I didn’t have to worry about making a fool of myself because at that point I knew we were friends, and neither of us wanted more because our friendship had become something too special to compromise.

As the next year passed we spend many days across Windenburg, enjoying all that it had to offer: from delicious espresso, to ancient sites, to eclectic shopping.

But then that night came where everything started to change. It was my birthday and she invited me out just the two of us for dinner. Something had felt off for a few weeks now, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. During dinner though, I started realizing exactly what it was. She was flirting with me. Not the usual playful banter we had, but real flirting.

And so, I played along. And for the first time ever, it wasn’t painfully awkward. I didn’t struggle to find the words that I needed to express how I was feeling. They were there. They had always been there, I knew it. The words came easy to me, it wasn’t difficult to express attraction, interest, even love because I was genuine. And I knew, in that moment, that she was too.

And like I said, that was the night that everything changed.

After that point everything seemed so quick. Dating. Living together.

It wasn’t always easy though. When she first moved in I was still living in my tent. The difficulties of being homeless, sleeping beneath the stars every night, using facilities the town provides instead of having them myself. It wasn’t easy for for her, especially given her career and familial obligations. I had to scrap and scrounge to make changes to my lifestyle to make things more agreeable for both of us.

Any troubles we had only brought us closer, and every time I realized I had fallen deeper and deeper in love with her I would open my eyes to see her sitting right there beside me.

On her birthday, exactly 16 months after that first night. I decided there was no reason to wait any longer. I remembered those vows I had made to myself years ago, to start my own legacy. This was the first step, but more importantly this was the woman I wanted to be the other half of my legacy. I wanted her to be Mrs. Pax.

And when, through watery eyes and a timid breath, she said yes. I knew that she had fulfilled that promise I made to myself. And that no longer was this my story.

This was going to be our story.

The Legacy of Mr. and Mrs. Pax.