“I was running a little late,” I said. “Had a hard time getting into my dress.”
“Definitely won’t have a hard time getting it off later,” he said.
I shot him a glare, because Constantine’s mother was right there.
“Oh, come on,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re already pregnant. Here, let me help you.” He came to me and scooped me up like I weighed nothing, carrying me the rest of the way to the double doors where everyone waited inside.
The girls followed close behind, staring at Rocco as if he’d just stepped out of a magazine.
“I’ll tell Con you’ll be right in.” He put me down, then let himself back inside the sanctuary, making sure the door didn’t expose me.
“Okay, I know it’s your day and everything,” Beatrice said. “But I think I speak on behalf of all of us when we say we want to knoweverythingabout that man.”
I chuckled. “All right, will do.”
The girls stepped into the church to take their places, and Sofia stayed outside with me. She fixed my hair and adjusted my dress until I was absolutely perfect. Then she extended her arm to me. “I’m honored to walk you down the aisle, Aurelia.”
I was already a ball of excited energy, but she made my heart expand in size. “Thank you for being the best mother-in-law I ever could have asked for.”
Her eyes softened. “Seeing my son happy means the world to me. But getting a daughter-in-law whom I truly love is a special gift in itself.” She pulled the door handle, both of the ushers propped it open, and we were hit with the organ music.
Once I adjusted to the darkness of the church compared to the bright sunshine outside, I saw all the rows of people standing and staring at me.
And then I saw him.
Standing next to the pope, in his finest suit, he looked at me just the way he did across the bar that night. Rocco was at his side, but Medusa also sat at his feet with a white bow tie around her neck, our rings tucked into a small box in the band.
I stopped as I stared at him, forgetting the room and all the people in it for a second.
Sofia continued to guide me forward, and it was an out-of-body experience, walking to him as his fiancée for the last time. With every step I took, my heart pounded harder, the excitement and desperation growing exponentially. My entire life had led up to this moment, when I would heal from the wounds that had bled me dry for so long.
I finally felt complete, this man loving me in a way no one else ever had, the child we made out of love growing in my belly. The past felt so distant, it was as if it had never happened at all, not when all I could think about was the exciting life that awaited us.
When I was close, he smiled. A full, cheek-to-cheek grin, so sincere and infectious, it nearly brought me to tears.
We came to a stop before him, and I suddenly felt numb and weightless and terrified and at peace ... all at once.
Constantine kissed his mother on the cheek before he took my hand, guiding me when I’d suddenly lost my direction. He positioned me across from him in front of Pope Zephyrinus, and we stared into each other’s eyes while the pope gave a short sermon and blessed our union.
I didn’t listen to a word of it, lost in Constantine’s dark eyes.
He didn’t seem to hear it either, focused on my face with his usual intensity, like he could rip off my dress right then and there ... or ask me to marry him again.
Pope Zephyrinus turned to Constantine first. “Do you take—”
“Yes, I fucking do.”
Quiet laughter filled the church at his enthusiasm.
Then Pope Zephyrinus turned to me, giving a slight chuckle himself. “And do you—”
“Oh yeah.”
Everyone in the church chuckled again.
Constantine smiled at me in a way he never had before, like he somehow loved me a little more.
“The rings,” Pope Zephyrinus said.
