“Hopelessly.” I breathe, begging her to say the same, and her eyes drop to my shoes. Fuck. She doesn’t feel the same? My heart is beating a mile a minute, beginning to hurt my chest with how hard it’s pounding in anticipation. Then she meets my eyes again, determination burning from within.
“Antonio San Giovanni. You’re the most infuriating person I know.” Not where I thought this was going. I feel the priest looking between us curiously. “You don’t know how kind and smart and I would say sexy, but you know that… you don’t know a lot about yourself that is really wonderful… And I wish you did because then you wouldn’t be surprised or even nervous when I tell you I love you too. Absolutely head over heels, Joker and Harley type crazy love that reallyscares me.” She whispers the last words, and I breathe a laugh as I whisper back, “me too.” A smile grows across her face.
“But,” I tilt my head at her proposed condition. “You have to promise me something if we do this.” I nod, waiting. “That you’ll never leave me again.” I laugh knowingly.
“Only if you promise the same.”
“Promise,” She whispers.
“Promise,” I whisper back as I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her into a kiss. Her hands tug on the back of my neck as she meets me. Her soft lips make me feel like I’m floating, and now I know she feels the same. After we get a little lost in it– our hands holding each other close in a longing so purely fueled by our affection, the priest clears his throat, and we pull away.
“Shall we?” He asks with the first smile I’ve seen him crack.
“Yes.” We say in unison as he begins to read off his pamphlet. When we say I do with rings on our fingers and kiss for the first time as husband and wife, everything feels as it should be. Our stars align, lives become forever entangled, and she’s mine.
Stella San Giovanni is mine.