Broken Ride (Men of Valor MC)

We’d invited everyone from Valor, the entire shelter, all the employees at the hospital and probably some of the patients. Sky’s friends from school came and some of mine from the art studio. Even Doctor Wallace was invited and actually showed up. I dropped Skylar at a tent where Claire and Isla and Trudy were waiting for her. After parking my Harley, I wandered over to the spot where the chairs were set up and tiny lights had been strung up among the trees making the spot look magical. Rough was there waiting for me and I could tell he was a ball of nerves. Pacing and worrying his fingers, I’d never seen him so cut up.

“Ready to give her away?” I asked him.

He turned to me and looked at me wincing, but with kindness in his face. “I want you to know, Patriot, I wouldn’t give her away if it was anyone else.” He slapped me on the back and we both cleared our throats like we could clear away all the emotion that was choking us up. When the music started, I walked down the aisle and took my position by the archway.

Alex and Ava were the flower kids, but neither of them could walk in a straight line, and Ave got tired halfway down the aisle and decided to turn around and go sit with her mom. Sky was more beautiful than the sky in her lacey dress that covered her fully in the front, but had a daring backless plunge. When she and Rough walked arm in arm, their smiles were so wide, despite the tears welling up visibly in their eyes. Trudy stood up as Sky’s maid of honor and Miller stood for me as soon as he passed Sky to me. He kissed her on the cheek and grabbed my shoulder affectionately.

We’d written our own vows and Sky signed hers to me entirely in ASL. She’d kept up with ASL classes and we often used it to communicate at home.

“Dex “Patriot” Myles, when I met you, I was told that you were hearing impaired and couldn’t understand me unless you were able to read my lips. And while you do have a hearing disability, you have managed to understand me better than anyone I’ve ever met. I was also told that your other senses were more attuned because of your disabilities. This was also spot on, because you see me, Dex, sometimes even more clearly than I see myself. When I graduated high school, my dad gave me a car,” she said looking at Malcolm. Everyone in the audience snickered and Rough shrugged with his hands facing out toward the audience.

“My mom gave me savings bonds and set up a fund for my college tuition. I received a lot of gifts that day and all of them were thoughtful and special. But you, Dex, the quiet and brooding guy in the background, you approached me with a gift without any explanation. They say good things come in small packages, and I believe it’s true. You gave me a mustard seed, and in your quiet gesture, told me that you believed in me.

“My life wasn’t easy, my path wasn’t clear cut, but when you saw me, you looked right past the darker stuff. It was your faith in me that carried me through times where I didn’t believe in myself, where I fell short in loving myself enough. You told me that from humble beginnings, I would grow to move mountains, and it was your unwavering faith in me that made me feel capable enough to actually do it.

“So I am here today, to pledge my love and commitment to you. You are my life’s hero, Dex and I put all of my faith in you.”

I held her hands in mine and looked into her bright eyes.

“Skylar Rose, I fell in love with you the minute I laid eyes on you. For me, our love wasn't a question of if or when, instead, my whole future was revealed to me the first time I saw you move through the world. We are kindred spirits for all the reasons no one would want to be, but when I hold you in my arms, I’d suffer it all again and more if this is where the road leads. After I lost my hearing at nine, I used to feel like I existed in an alternate world, where no one could reach me and I lived with that boundary because I believed I deserved it. I’d look at the world as an outsider and sketch it from afar. But when I met you, Sky, the boundary was gone. No one else has ever taken the time to learn to speak to me like you, and despite my disability, I hear every single word you say. You are the epitome of grace and poise and compassion. You’re not just my sky, Skylar, you my whole goddamned world. And I can climb any mountain as long as I’m beside you.”