I had nothing to live for other than awards, accolades, and being the face of good policing in my city, despite my picture never being made public even when I did win Officer of the Year. I thought it was the end all be all, the thing that drove me and completed me, made me whole as a person. How sorely misguided, ignorant, and mistaken I was. Because it was her all along. I just didn’t know she was out there until somehow our worlds collided like two speeding meteorites. I don’t believe in fate or any of that Hallmark b.s. At least I didn’t until today. Now it all makes sense. All of it. Because of her. My woman. The one who will never show her body to another man, except me in our home. She’ll never have to offer herself in order to pay the rent or feed herself. She was made for me and me for her. I never second-guess my instincts. So why start now? Once in a lifetime, in so many ways. That’s the best way to describe her. And mine. Because that’s what she will be, mine.