Connie’s heart—and her lips—sang as she left NLC’s administration building to prepare for her wedding. She locked the door with some regret. For not only was this her last day as a single woman, but she was closing the Center today. She and Joseph had delayed their marriage for a whole year after their engagement, while she built an elaborate health spa on a twenty-acre corner of his ranch. They had agreed that she must continue her therapy work, but in the vicinity of Fort Collins. She’d been fortunate to find a buyer for NLC, and the new owners would take over tomorrow and operate the property as a resort, which it had been intended for in the beginning.
Most of her staff was moving to Fort Collins, and Connie eventually intended to broaden the scope of her ministry to hold conferences on the relationship between physical health and spiritual growth.
Since Connie and Joseph had met at NLC, they wanted to have the ceremony there, and the lawn behind the administration building was decorated much as it had been when Kim and Eric had been married. Today, Eric would be performing the ceremony. They had only two attendants. Kim was the matron of honor, while George Perry served as Joseph’s best man. During the past year, Connie and Joseph had often visited the Perrys, and Connie and Stephanie had become good friends. George looked with favor upon Joseph’s marriage to Connie.
Wearing a sparkling white wedding gown to symbolize her belief in the Marriage First vow that she’d promoted, Connie took her father’s arm and started up the flower-bordered aisle toward Joseph. A worry-free year had erased the lines from his face, and it had been months since she’d noted any despair in his gray eyes. He looked happy! For a moment, Connie wondered if he was comparing this simple ceremony to the ostentatious wedding when he’d married Virginia, but she shoved the thought aside. The year had also erased the hold Virginia held in his thoughts, and she had no doubt that Joseph loved her as much or more than he had his first wife.
Bill Harmon delivered Connie to the makeshift altar and placed her hand in Joseph’s strong one. Eric followed the traditional wedding service, with one exception. Before the giving and receiving of rings, he added one additional vow. He read the Marriage First pledge and asked if they had obeyed the pledge. In unison, they said, “We did,” and repeated, “I believe my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If I defile my body with immorality, I dishonor the Spirit of God living within me. Therefore, I pledge to maintain the purity of my body until my wedding day.”
As Peggy McCane sang, “With this Ring I Thee Wed,” Joseph placed a wide golden band on Connie’s finger.
“We did it!” he whispered. “We passed the test of love.”