He Got Cold Feet and Almost Lost Her

When his relationship with Fidelia started to get serious, William got cold feet.

“I feel blessed to say that God had other plans for me,” shares the 57-year-old. “I immediately began to miss spending time with her, and I felt an aching in my heart.”

Fidelia had left a lasting impression on William. “I truly never stopped thinking about her. After a few months of solitude, I began to realize that the Lord gave me feelings of loneliness for a reason—because of my selfish attitude.”

He had just applied to his diocesan diaconate program when God had another plan...

Both William and Fidelia had been members of CatholicMatch for around four months when he saw Fidelia’s profile and messaged her. He had joined to find a woman who shared his faith. Fidelia was looking for a long-lasting friendship with an authentic Catholic man, which would, prayerfully, lead to marriage if God willed it.

Fidelia, now 50, was a widow, and William’s first marriage was annulled. “I had applied to the diaconate program in the Wilmington diocese. My annulment was done to help me get into said diaconate program. Although I eventually did not get accepted into the program, the annulment became a blessing in disguise,” he says.

Fidelia felt like "she could see his heart, even over the phone."

William messaged Fidelia because her smile caught his eye. It was William’s responses to her emails that caught Fidelia’s attention.

They both could see that they had a had a lot in common. “For one, we share the same sense of humor,” he explains. She adds, “We laughed at each other’s jokes.”

Good communication was also important to both of them. For Fidelia, honesty was at the very top of her priority list in any relationship. “The very first time Will and I spoke over the phone, there was an honesty in his voice that made me want to continue speaking to him,” she shares. “I felt like I could see his heart—even over the phone.”

On their first date, they held hands. On their second, they kissed!

They met at a shopping mall that was located about halfway from where Fidelia lived in Pennsylvania and William’s home in Delaware. They spent an enjoyable date walking around the mall and eating lunch at Wegmans. Fidelia liked William enough to let him hold her hand.

About a week later, they met for another date. “On our second date, we kissed when we said goodbye to one another,” William recalls fondly.

Fidelia and William would also go out for a night of dancing, but William wasn't a great dancer. Fidelia would tell her friends, “Will has no business on the dance floor or even singing, but we have so much fun dancing together, and he takes pride in 'singing' off-key [so we keep going].”

When they weren't dancing, they enjoyed doing spiritual things together like praying together, attending Mass, and going to Adoration.

Their relationship was progressing nicely, and Fidelia was looking forward to their future.

But suddenly, things took an unexpected turn: William ended the relationship.

Shockingly, after a year of enjoyable dating—when Fidelia naturally expected their relationship to progress—William ended it after she brought up the future.

"I am not the 'dating forever' type of woman. I needed to know where our relationship was headed," she explains. "We had what I thought was a candid and honest adult conversation. Then suddenly he wouldn't take my calls, or respond to any of my messages anymore."

When Fidelia finally heard from William, he explained to her that she had done nothing wrong. "That I was the most wonderful, heartfelt woman he had ever been with, but he wasn't ready for such a commitment."

For several months, they did not talk.

A few months later, William ended up in the hospital...and realized his mistake.

When William ended up in the hospital, Fidelia was one of the few people who came to visit him.

A week later, William reached out to Fidelia in an email. He told her that he had made a big mistake in letting her go and that he wanted to get back together with her. The break up had left a big hole in his heart. 

"He said he was deeply in love with me, but, obviously, he didn't realize how much he loved me until he stopped seeing me," she says.

William was thankful to find out that Fidelia was still interested in having a relationship with him. “By the grace of God, she wished to start seeing me again as well, and I instantly jumped for joy,” he remembers.

William had waited his entire life for a woman like Fidelia, and when God placed her before him, he almost let her go.

Thankfully, by God's grace, they lived happily ever after.

On New Year’s Day, 2018, William proposed to Fidelia in front of her family. “Will and I had gone to spend the new year with my sister and her family in West Virginia. Being a romantic guy, he proposed to me in front of my very traditional family. They were all quite surprised and thrilled for us,” she remembers.

The couple was joined in Holy Matrimony on May 5th, 2018, at St Anne Catholic Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.