Malcolm and I held our wedding as planned.
The ceremony took place in Ireland. He said he chose the location because he was afraid I might try to run away.
That same evening, I sat looking through the photographs and recordings he had kept of the seven years we were apart, and tears streamed down my face.
"Malcolm, when did you first fall in love with me?"
His eyes turned red as he watched me cry, yet he answered in a casual, lighthearted tone.
"Back when you were still in diapers and stole my first kiss."
I laughed through my tears.
He was only three months older than I was, so when I was still wearing diapers, he could not have been much more grown-up himself.
Later, he told me the real moment it began. It was on the night before the final exams at the end of ninth grade.
I had
