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The first lesbian couple married in Missouri talk about their love story

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Time now for StoryCorps. If you buy flowers in St. Louis this Valentine's Day, they might come from the flower farm run by Miranda Duschack and Mimo Davis. They've been growing flowers together for more than a decade, and while their work has played a part in many romances, Miranda and Mimo talked about their own love story as the first lesbian couple married in Missouri.

MIRANDA DUSCHACK: We met at work...

MIMO DAVIS: Right.

DUSCHACK: ...At our day job, and then we decided to farm together, fell in love, got married in a spiritual ceremony where we jumped the broom 'cause we couldn't legally be married. And then the second wedding was in 2014...

DAVIS: Right.

DUSCHACK: ...To be legally married. Do you remember this - when we had August, do you remember how I pushed August out, OK?

DAVIS: What do you mean, do I remember that?

DUSCHACK: Yeah. But they didn't know how to fill out the birth certificate paper.

DAVIS: I do remember that.

DUSCHACK: So I was making a fact sheet to leave at the nurse's station about how to register.

DAVIS: It's OK. It's OK. You can have you some tears.

DUSCHACK: I just felt like we were total freaks, man.

DAVIS: We weren't freaks. We were just first.

DUSCHACK: We were just first. And it was really embarrassing for me that we fought so hard to get married and then we got divorced.

DAVIS: But, you know, that was part of the rights that we fought for.

DUSCHACK: I know. I was...

DAVIS: (Laughter) I mean...

DUSCHACK: I would say that to people, you know.

DAVIS: And that's all part of the package, right? You get to be married and then you get to be divorced. I mean...

DUSCHACK: Right, I was like, just like straight people. I can get...

DAVIS: Just like straight people. Right.

DUSCHACK: ...Divorced. I could get divorced. It didn't necessarily pan out the way we thought it would be.

DAVIS: But we're still in it. We're still farming partners.

DUSCHACK: We're raising a beautiful son. These are gorgeous flowers sitting in front of us. And Mimo Davis, I'm going to say right now, I still really love you and...

DAVIS: Of course.

DUSCHACK: ...Care about you.

DAVIS: Of course. I love you and care about you, too. I mean, that was never in question for me. We are both really, in our hearts and souls and deep down, totally committed to each other. And that's why we work through all the real stuff. And I see that as the win.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU LOOK LIKE A FLOWER")

RICHARD CAITON: (Singing) You look like a flower.

FADEL: Ex-wives and business partners Miranda Duschack and Mimo Davis in St. Louis. Their StoryCorps interview has been archived at the Library of Congress.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU LOOK LIKE A FLOWER")

CAITON: (Singing) Every way. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Jey Born