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“I’m sure,” I tell him, keeping my sights on my bride.
We only agreed to two years, but no matter when this ends, Juliet is my wife until she signs on the dotted line and divorces me.
“Who gives this woman to be married?” the officiant asks when Shawnie and Juliet stop just short of my reach.
“I do,” Shawnie says.
Shawnie pulls her arm from Juliet’s and looks to me to take her best friend.
I know she did this.
She made Juliet the bride she deserves to be.
Her hands are soft as they slide into mine and I pull her up the one step with me.
We face each other as the judge continues.
“You two have opted not to exchange vows. Is that correct?” the officiant asks.
“That’s correct,” I tell him, though now rushing through this might have been a mistake too.
“Very well,” he says, seeming unmoved by our decision to want a speedy ceremony on what should be the happiest day of our lives.
He doesn’t seem as though he cares either way. Officiating our wedding is probably just one more task he has to fit in today between a sea of other responsibilities, like passing judgment in traffic court issues and landlord-tenant disputes.
He'd just as soon move on to the next task of his day.
“We are gathered here to bear witness to this man, Ryker Haynes, and this woman, Juliet Di Costa, entering into a commitment of marriage. They both have come here of their own free will to be united under Washington state law,” he says, just barely a cadence to his monotone voice. He’s probably done this a thousand times and could recite it in his sleep. “Do we have rings to exchange?”
“Yes, we do,” I say.
Seven leans over and hands me Juliet’s ring… with the added wedding band I slipped him to combine.
“Ok then, repeat after me,” he says, turning to me.
I keep my eyes focused on Juliet as I repeat every word that the judge instructs.
“I, Ryker Haynes, take you, Juliet Di Costa, to be my lawful wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health until death do us part. With this ring, I thee wed.”
I slip the ring back on her finger and with it, the wedding band I bought yesterday when I went to pick up my ring.
She looks down at it, noticing that there’s a new component to her ring.
She doesn’t say anything since we’re in the middle of our vows, but her parted lips say she wasn’t expecting it.
Then the judge turns to Juliet.
“Repeat after me,” he says.
Shawnie hands her my ring and then her eyes lock on me and I listen to every word she vows to me.
“I, Juliet Di Costa, take you, Ryker Haynes, to be my lawful wedded husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health until death do us part. With this ring, I thee wed.”
She slips on my wedding band, the cold metal against the heat of her fingers causes a tingling sensation as they brush against my skin.
“By the authority vested in me by the state of Washington, you may now kiss your bride,” the judge tells me.
I lick my lips and smile down at her.
