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Massimo jerks his chin toward the man. "Get on with it, then."
The mayor mops his brow. He pockets his handkerchief and draws himself up to his full height. As is normal in Italy for a civil ceremony, he reads the three main civil laws and asks us both if we agree to uphold them. Once we agree, he turns to her.
"Do you, Elsa Tara Ducati, take Sebastiano Charles Domenico Sovrano as your husband?"
She stills and the color slides off of her face. She sways and I shoot out my arm to grip her shoulder. "You okay?"
She blinks rapidly. "Your... your second name is Charles?"
"Yes?" I scan her features. "Is everything okay?"
Elsa swallows. "It's also Keanu's middle name."
"Is it, now?"
She nods.
The mayor clears his throat.
She pulls away from me and I release her. She swallows, then tips up her chin at the mayor. "I do," she says softly.
"Do you Sebastiano—"
"I do," I cut him off.
He looks askance. "But I haven’t asked the—"
Massimo makes a warning noise at the back of his throat. The mayor pales even more. He mops his forehead, then begins to rattle off words to the effect that he’s marrying us as per the laws in this country.
When he's done glancing between us, he says, "Uh, I assume you don’t have rings to exchange, in which case—"
"I do, actually." I don't take my gaze off of Elsa. "Hold out your hand."
"What?" She gapes.
I release her, only to reach over and take her left hand to slide the ring onto her ring finger. She glances down at the yellow sapphire embedded in the platinum band, which matches the engagement ring I placed there earlier.
When she looks up at me, her eyes are shining.
The band around my chest tightens.Don’t cry, please don’t cry.If you do, I won’t be able to bear it.
"I, uh, now pronounce you man and wife." The mayor’s voice seems to come from far away. I close the distance to her, tip her chin up, then bend and touch my lips to hers.
24
Elsa
His lips touch mine. I expect him to kiss me the way he has in the past—with passion, and dominance and the self-assurance I've come to associate with Seb. And it is all that… Yet, it’s also different. I share his air as he holds his mouth to mine. His lips are firm, yet soft. He doesn’t deepen the kiss. He doesn’t touch me anywhere else, either. It’s just his mouth, which covers mine. He stays there for a beat, then another. Some of his calmness bleeds into me, and the tension drains from my muscles. I sway toward him, and he breaks the kiss.
He turns to the mayor. "Where do we sign?"
"Eh?" The mayor stares, wide-eyed.
"The marriage certificate," Seb says through gritted teeth.
"Oh, of course." He walks around his desk, then slides a sheet of paper over to us.
Seb reaches over and pulls out a pen from the inside pocket of the jacket he'd draped on me. Then he leans over and signs his name. He hands the pen to me—a fountain pen—who uses fountain pens? Seb, that’s who. There’s so much I don’t know about this man… My husband. Oh, my god, I’m married to him.
