Giving her to the man who had stood at the end of the aisle, he left and took a seat.
When her eyes landed on Drago for the first time since she had trashed his place, she expected the man who held a bit of fury behind his eyes. Especially with her dress choice, she had expected to see the flames in his fiery eyes. That wasn’t what she got though. There was a real calm in them, and as he looked down upon her for the first time since she’d approached the altar, he seemed almost pleased.
Unlike the Carusos, religion wasn’t anything her family practiced, but being married in their faith was what made them happy. It made her wonder what they had told or done to the priest to get him to marry them. All Kat knew was that Catholic weddings were one hell of a long event, and everything seemed to blur until she heard the words….
“Dearly beloved, you have come together into the house of the Church, so that in the presence of the Church’s minister and community, your intention to enter into Marriage may be strengthened by the Lord with a sacred seal. Christ abundantly blesses the love that binds you. Through a special Sacrament, he enriches and strengthens those he has already consecrated by Holy Baptism, that they may be faithful to each other forever and assume all the responsibilities of married life. And so, in the presence of the Church, I ask you to state your intentions.
“Drago and Katarina, have you come here to enter into Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?”
Together they said the words, “I have.”
“Are you prepared, as you follow the path of Marriage, to love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?”
“I am,” they repeated together again.
“Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”
Drago repeated, “I am,” for the final time, but Kat took a moment to think about those particular words from the priest before she finally had to say the words, “I am.”
“Since it is your intention to enter into the covenant of Holy Matrimony, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.”
Her heart started to pound out of her chest as she gently raised her right hand, and everything seemed to go in slow motion.
Taking her small hand in his, he gave her his vows, “I, Drago, take you, Katarina, for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”
She had been told to memorize the vows, because without the priest’s coaching, it gave them more meaning. Drago had done it so easily, and she found it more difficult, only able to hear the pounding of her heart as they waited patiently for her vows. It wasn’t until his thumb lightly brushed over her knuckles that she found herself saying, “I, Katarina, take you, Drago,”— she stared down at the way he tenderly held her hand and was able to continue—“for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,”—her eyes finally trailed back up to his, and she was able to see that in this moment they were in this together. That, just like her, it wasn’t what he might have wanted, but it was something he had to do. Unfortunately for her, she was who he chose, becoming collateral damage in this deadly game of chess. Slowly, her heart ceased, and there was nothing but her voice left—“until death do us part.”
The priest laid his frail hand over theirs, sacramentally making the bride and groom become wife and husband with no turning back. “May the Lord in his kindness strengthen the consent you have declared before the Church,
and graciously bring to fulfillment his blessing within you. What God joins together, let no one put asunder.”
“Amen.” The church echoed with the voices in the room.
Picking up the rings, he began blessing the tiny pieces of metal. “May the Lord bless these rings, which you give to each other as a sign of love and fidelity.”
Drago picked up the blessed ring and slid it onto her finger. “Katarina, receive this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
She looked down. A dainty platinum wedding ring now sat on her left ring finger, and whether she liked it or not, she was a wife. Kat picked up the weighted thick band that looked like silver that had been brushed in black. “Drago, receive this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”