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XACTLY I S A D UCK C OMMANDER ?
    A few weeks after our encounter at the hair salon, Jep and I both attended a concert in our hometown and saw each other again. He walked up to me and said, “I’m Jeptha Robertson. You’re Jessica, right?”
    We went on to have a conversation that went something like this.
    Jep said, “My dad is Phil Robertson.”
    I was unimpressed. Even though I come from a family of hunters, I had never heard of Phil Robertson, and that seemed obvious to Jep, so he continued. “You know, the Duck Commander.”
    I’d heard of Daffy Duck; Donald Duck; and Duck, Duck Goose, but I had never heard of a Duck Commander. “What is a duck commander?” I asked, not sure if it would be a person, a job title, a tool, or what.
    Jep was totally shocked by my ignorance but very sweet about it. I thought his disbelief was cute. Our interaction did not go much further beyond the fact that I did not know who Phil was, but it was pleasant.
    The next time I saw Jep was at a Chili’s restaurant. He was there with his friends and I was there with my family. He and his friends were going home, to a house he rented with one of his buddies, to play a game of dominoes. Jep invited me to join them. At that time, I was a homebody and an introvert. I was not adventurous in any way and felt uneasy about playing games with people I did not really know. But there was just something intriguing about Jep that caused me to step out of my comfort zone and go with Jep and his buddies.
    Not long after the night we first played dominoes, Jep invited me to a Bible study he held with his friends several nights a week. Those guys preached the Gospel to me, and soon after I started attending the study, Jep baptized me one night in a muddy pond in a local neighborhood. By the time we got there, it was already dark, so we used Jep’s Jeep headlights to help us see so we could wade in and out of the water.
    M EETING THE R OBERTSONS
    Soon after Jep baptized me, I met his family. I have always thought of myself as an old soul, and I felt an immediate connection with Miss Kay. From the time we met, we have been close. That’s myperspective of course, but if you ask her, she will tell you the same thing!
    Jep, too, has always been close to his mom. After we married she told me that when we were dating, but before I met her, she asked him one day why he liked me so much and why he thought I was the one for him. I have always thought his answer was so sweet. He said to her, “Momma, of all the girls I’ve dated, this one is the most like you.”
    In June 2000, Jep and I admitted we really liked each other and began dating. In September, we broke up. I was miserable without Jep, and I think he was miserable without me. We finally said to each other, “I missed you,” and got back together after only a couple of weeks apart. Later that month, we were studying the Bible together one evening at Phil and Miss Kay’s house and Jep said, “We should get married.” There was no getting down on one knee, no long profession of his undying love for me, just that matter-of-fact observation. I knew by that time that God had brought us together for a reason and that Jep loved me and would love me forever, so I did not need any of that; I simply agreed: yes, we should get married.
    J OINING THE F AMILY
    On Sunday, October 7, 2001, just two weeks after Jep and I agreed to marry, we had a beautiful wedding in the backyard of a family friend. It was just what we wanted—outside on a gorgeous fall day, surrounded by nature and people we loved. Alan performed the ceremony, and Missy, a talented vocalist, sang. It was not elaboratebecause we did not have time to plan a big wedding. It all happened quickly, but it was perfect in our eyes.
    The day we married we went to church in the morning, then Jep told me he needed to go somewhere and would see me later. I had no idea what he was going to do but found out he went straight from church to the mall, which opened