He extended his hand, before everyone important to us, to join him. I searched for Kade. Understanding what I'm asking, Kade appeared beside me, to walk me through the aisle. 
When I reached Raphael, he joined our hands together and turned us to the pastor. We both looked into each other's eyes ignoring the pastor, until the time he asked Raphael, 'do you Raphael Jacob Sinclair take Erica Anderson as your wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, keeping yourself solely unto her for as long as you both shall live?'
Raphael said 'I do' while looking into my eyes.
Then the pastor turned towards me and asked 'Do you Erica Anderson, take Raphael Jacob Sinclair, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and health, to love, honor and obey, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto him for as long as you both shall live?'
The traditional response would have been 'I do', instead I replied, 'my water broke'.
'What? Now?', Raphael sounded bewildered.
'No, yesterday. Of course, it's now', I snapped at him, the wedding forgotten. I must be the only bride in history who forgets her wedding while it's happening. Raphael, still looking dazed at my announcement, stood where I left him.
I started walking towards the home to change my clothes before going to the hospital, quickly counting my weeks and mentally sorting where I kept my emergency kit. Before I could turn the corner, I threw over my shoulder. 'Oh, I almost forgot. I do, father.', I said to the pastor as if I'm saying- keep the change.
'Raphael, are you coming?' I asked him as the poor guy still looks perplexed. That jolted him out of his reverie and he ran towards me saying, 'yes, I'm coming'.
The pastor shouted, 'but what about the ceremony?'
We didn't wait to see who responded to him. Once we reached the hospital, the urgency left us, as the labor was a slow-growing process. My pains were seven minutes apart. 
'Are we married? Do you think we are married?' I asked him once the pain eases.
'I...I'm not sure. We can find out later'
'Promise me we will tell our baby that we married before her birth'
'There are certificates to consider', Raphael said, always being practical.
'Can't you just promise me?' I shouted at him as the pain returned.
'Yes. Yes. I promise. Whatever you say. Now breathe...relax. Easy there'
'I'm trying. It's not easy. Don't you dare tell me what to do!'
'Of course. I wouldn't dare.'
'Oh, Rafa. I'm so sorry', I cried on his shoulder.
'Son of a bitch, that hurts. Do something. Don't just stand there!' I screamed again.
This continued for 6 hours. Yes, you heard it. Six hours of crying, yelling, cussing, and more crying later, Katherine Josephine Sinclair entered the world. (Ya, why disrupt the family tradition of naming after English royalty?) 
'She is beautiful, isn't she?', Raphael asked me while holding her. With Raphael's hair and my eyes, she looks like a mini-Raphael. Though it's early days to say specifically. But I have this gut feeling that she is going to be more Raphael than me.
'Yes, she looks just like you', I replied tiredly even though it's been a day since her birth.
The moment felt right for what we never uttered after reconciliation.
'I love you Erica', he declared reading my mind, love shining his eyes.
'I love you too, Rafa'. 
After that, if I say life became easy, then it would be a lie. There were ups and there were downs, but we had each other.
And as I said, Charlotte did try to pull some stunt, that too on Kat's first birthday. She cornered me, while I was feeding Kat. I don't have a choice but to listen to her rant. This time she went too far when she included Kat in her choice of words. Unbeknownst to her, Raphael was listening from behind her. And I never let her know of his presence. Why would I? When I was getting a thrill from seeing Raphael's face when he finally learned about his 'sister'. After that, let's just say, aunty Charlotte went for a Long vacation from where she never returned.
'I'm sorry Erica. I should have trusted you. When did she become this ugly? I feel like a fool'
'Hey. You feel like a human to me. We all make mistakes. This one is yours. Let's just forget about her and enjoy our daughter's birthday'. And so, we did. We enjoyed not just that day, but every day of our lives, counting our blessings.
Lastly, you all would have wondered what may have happened to my inner self? Well, she faded away into Neverland not to be heard or seen...forever. 
You wish
Ya, I wish. I really, really wish. Instead, I got an additional replica of her in Kat. Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter, but she thrives in antagonizing me. What with wearing 'costumes' instead of clothes, or shouting over her top of lungs, 'mommy, I need to pee' in a supermarket or asking her favourite question, 'what's this?' every single time, or... I could go on.
Once she opened a counter on our driveway, selling my bras. Yes, you heard it right. I said, 'you don't need to know about them now' when she asked her favourite question. And what does she do? She opened a counter with a board suggesting $1. My brand-new lingerie from Victoria's...and she was putting it on sale for $1. I thanked Raphael that we live in such a secluded area, otherwise this girl can make a living out of my clothes. Unfortunately, it was not me who caught her in this act. It was Nathaniel, who became a regular guest to our home, who found her. My only defense was she was 4 years old then.
Between her antics and my alter ego, life got a new meaning for me. A new addition, my son, Richard (yes, I named him after my would-be stalker. What can I say? he grew on me) was born after five years of our marriage (where we are still maintaining our marriage happened before the delivery), finally completing our family.