"We've both got angry dark messes in our pasts." Stephanie replied quietly, mustering as much dignity as she could. "It's one of the reasons we can't ... it's one of the reasons we need each other so much."

"For what it's worth, apology accepted. I'm sorry too."

She wiped at her own eyes. "What they want is for us to fight and drift apart and be miserable and give in to all the deepest, darkest parts of our selves. They're demons, right? That's what they do. We can't let them, we're not going to. Because we're people that take our vows seriously." She held up her ring. "For better or for worse."