For Nikki DeLoach, Father’s Day is a day of both celebration and remembrance. The Hallmark star shared a tender Instagram message honoring her husband, Ryan Goodell, and the father she lost, holding joy and heartache in the same breath.
A ‘Layered’ Day of Joy and Heartache
“Father’s Day is layered for me,” DeLoach began. She praised Goodell as “the man who shows up. Every day,” crediting him with the “sacred job” of raising their two sons into good men.
In the same breath, she turned to the memory of her dad.
“And it means remembering my dad. Who isn’t physically here to celebrate today, but who I feel every Father’s Day with deep heartache and gratitude,” she wrote. Her father, she explained, shaped the kind of partner she would choose and the kind of parent she would become.
“I know that my dad is somewhere smiling down, seeing that his baby girl and precious grandbabies are deeply loved and taken care of,” she continued.
“He is at peace knowing that I choose Ryan.”
She summed up the two men who anchor her life in a few words. “Ryan and my dad are two of the best to do it. The one who raised me. The one who is raising our boys. I love them both with every fiber of my being.”
A Love Story Decades in the Making
DeLoach and Goodell’s love story could easily pass for one of the Hallmark movies she is known for.
The couple first met in 1999, when Goodell was performing with the Florida-based boy band Take 5. Although the group eventually went their separate ways in 2001, their relationship continued to grow, laying the foundation for a life they would build together.
After spending a decade by each other’s side, DeLoach and Goodell married in September 2009. They later welcomed sons Hudson and Bennett, creating a family that has remained at the center of the actress’s world.
Over the years, DeLoach has often spoken about how grateful she is for her husband and the life they share. Celebrating their anniversary in 2015, she reflected on their bond with a heartfelt message.
“I’m in love with this beautiful life we’ve built together,” she wrote on Instagram. “And after 16 years together (yes … 16), I’m still in love with you.”
Carrying Both Pain and Joy
This is not the first Father’s Day DeLoach has spent holding both grief and gratitude. In a tribute last year, she reflected on how the day shifted after her father’s death.
“Since the passing of my dad, Father’s Day has become a day full of the bittersweet,” she wrote. “I’ve learned that it is in this bittersweetness that we often live, holding both the pain and the joy in our hearts at the same time. This is the way of life.”
She closed that message with thanks to Goodell for the steady presence he brings to their family. “Thank you for taking the ride with us. And most importantly, thank you for loving us through it all,” she wrote. “We hope you feel how much you are loved today and everyday.”
More than two decades after they first met, their relationship remains one of the constants in DeLoach’s life, marked by family, resilience, and a deep appreciation for the journey they’ve shared together.
