Married at last! Couple who made a pact 23 years ago to wed if they were single at 40
IT was a parting promise made by a young couple as they took the heart-wrenching decision to go their separate ways.
Mairi Gordon and Rhys McLellan made a pact in 1995 that they would marry if they found themselves single at the age of 40.
And in a romantic twist of fate worthy of a Hollywood movie, the couple have now tied the knot.
Make-up artist Mrs McLellan, 45, said: ‘I’ll never forget the day we split up when we were young. We said to each other, if we are still single at the age of 40 we would get married. I still can’t believe that we did it.’
The couple first met in 1992 but after several years together drifted apart. She said: ‘We first met when I was 19 and Rhys was 18, in the City Cafe in Edinburgh. I think he got quite a lot of stick for going out with an older woman at the time.
‘We had been together about three years before we broke up. Both of us just wanted different things – I wanted to go off to France and pursue snowboarding, which I did, and he wanted to stay and continue to train to be an electrician.
‘But it was amicable, which is why when we did break up we made the pact. At the time there was no social media or anything to try to stay in touch, so we just drifted apart.’
Mrs McLellan said a chance meeting in 2009 set them on a path to rekindling their romance, adding: ‘I went to a fashion show with a friend who had been organising it for St Columba’s charity. Rhys was a volunteer for the charity and we all went for a drink after the show.
‘There was definitely a spark between us. However, nothing was acted upon as we were both in committed relationships. I was living in Cornwall and he was in Leith, Edinburgh, at the time.’
Three years later, Mrs McLellan moved back to Edinburgh after splitting up with her partner of 12 years. While apart, neither she nor Mr McLellan married or had children. Although he had a few relationships, he says he was single for most of their time apart.
Another chance meeting brought them back together. Mrs McLellan said: ‘I bumped into his mum and sister in a shop in Leith. They gave me his number and I called him for a catch-up. We met, but I was still hurting from the previous break-up so nothing happened and we parted.
‘The next year I heard Rhys’s mother was in hospital with cancer. I called him to pass on my condolences and to find out how she was.
‘We started to date for a few months after, as we were getting close again. But I was feeling scared about getting hurt and about us getting back together again, so I ended it, even though I had feelings for him.’
It wasn’t until 2015 when the couple finally decided to give it another go. Within two years they were married. She said: ‘We bumped into each other again and this time both of us felt the sparks fly. We were both single and the feelings for each other were still very much there.
‘Soon after I had an accident at work and injured my knee. He was always there to make me laugh, do some shopping, make me food.
‘That’s when I realised he was what I had always wanted and I never really stopped loving him. He says I was always the love of his life.
‘On March 25, 2017, we got married in Thomas Morton Hall in Leith. In my eyes, I have married a very good one – we got there in the end.’
‘I realised I never stopped loving him’