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Thepartywasn’tverybig. It was Gino and Anna as witnesses, and me and Lorenzo. We had a guide with us and one more person—the key to it all.
We hiked through the National Park at Machu Picchu. The ruins lay scattered all around us, and the mountains and valleys all around us were breathtaking.
“This is perfect,” I said when we stopped on a hill, the ruins lying at our feet, an ancient city that had stood the test of time. They weren’t ruins to me—they were proof that no matter how rough the storms got, the beauty remained.
“Okay, places,” Gino said, and Anna and I walked to one side and Lorenzo and Gino to the other.
“I still don’t know how you pulled it off,” Anna said, pinning a white veil to my hair.
“It was Lorenzo who pulled the strings,” I said, a thrill of excitement running through me. “We’re not supposed to get married in here, it’s against the law.”
“It’s crazy,” Anna breathed.
“Money can do a hell of a lot,” I said with a smirk.
Anna laughed and held up a compact so I could check my makeup. I hadn’t put on a lot because it would smudge with the hike, but I’d wanted to make a bit of an effort. I wore white leggings and a white crop top, with white hiking shoes with rhinestones on them.
I glanced toward Lorenzo, where he and Gino were in deep conversation. He’d put on black tracksuit pants, a white shirt, and he’d put a black bow tie around his neck.
I giggled. This was better than any fancy wedding ceremony I could ever have imagined.
When I’d told my parents we were coming here to get married, my mom had nearly fainted. My dad had said then and there they weren’t going to come to the ceremony.
Campingapparentlywasn’t their thing.
Go figure.
My dad had promised me a crazy sum of money to arrange the reception, which would be at the base of the mountain at the Belmond Hotel, and everyone was there, waiting for us. My parents, Noah and Ava, all the Conrads, Paige and Gavin and a slew of Lorenzo’s friends and family. They’d all flown from all corners of the world to join us in celebrating our marriage. I had a wedding dress waiting there for me, too.
I wouldn’t be Celine Forger if I didn’t end up doing this in style, but up here, that wasn’t what mattered.
I wanted it this way—just the four of us, the two people who would witness, and me and Lorenzo, who were about to start the rest of our journey.
“Ready?” the officiant asked.
The tour guide—who’d received a healthy sum of money that would set him up for the rest of his life—kept watch.
“Ready,” I breathed and turned to Lorenzo, who stared at me as if I’d been dressed by Vera Wang herself. I didn’t have to have any fancy clothes on for him to look at me like I was everything.
In fact, the fewer clothes I wore, the better.
I smiled at him.
“We’re gathered here today to celebrate the union between Lorenzo Carelli and Celine Forger,” he started. “It’s not a normal wedding, and I’m not going to do the usual speech. We also don’t have much time before someone catches us.” He chuckled. “Go on, did you prepare vows?”
“Yeah,” I said. I turned to Lorenzo. “You’re my hero, you know that? You fought all my demons, and you climbed all the walls around me. When we were in the forest, you took care of me. You saved me… but that’s not where it all started. It started a long time ago when we were just kids and had no idea what love meant. We found it, anyway, and now, more than a decade down the line, I can tell you that it’s been you from the start. I love you more than life itself, and I can’t wait for the next adventure with you. You’re my hero, you’re my best friend, you’re my sparring partner. You’re everything, and I promise that you’ll be everything until the end of time.”
Lorenzo beamed at me. Anna had tears in her eyes.
“That one’s hard to beat,” Lorenzo said with a chuckle. “I love you more than you know. I’ve fought what I feel from the day we said we would end things as kids. I told myself there was better out there, but I was a fool. I was just trying to convince myself I hadn’t been the idiot who’d let you slip through my fingers. Three times, I lost you, but I won’t ever let that happen again, come hell or high water. You’re my person, my other half. You complete me, Celine. I can’t wait to call you my wife and see what else you have in store for me to rile me up and grate me until we have tofightit out again.”
I giggled, blushing. He hadn’t meant to say fight—he’d said that for the sake of our guests. He’d meantfuckit out, and I was more than happy to do that again and again and again.
“I promise to be there for you, to hold your hand, to pull you up when it feels like you’re drowning, and to come after you when the cliff falls away. I promise to share in your success and happiness, to be your shoulder to cry on, and to be the man you deserve, every day for the rest of my life.”
“With that said, and by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the officiant said. “You may now kiss the bride.”
Lorenzo leaned in. Just as he did, thunder rumbled overhead. We looked up, and water poured from the sky, drenching us all in no time.
