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Her husband, Coen, sat beside Eddie and Teddy and her voice carried ancient promises as she said, “We gather here tonight to witness Nerida Avci and Aslan Kara’s love. A love that struck young, held fast, and overcame death itself.”
Lowering her hands, she smiled at both of us. “The land owns us, the sea guides us, the stars teach us, the sun watches us. When the wind blows, we breathe. When the moon glows, we heal. We are all connected. We are all one.”
Neri shivered, and I sucked in a breath as Jedda came forward and placed her hands over ours. “We carry a spark of souls all while living in bodies of soil. You found each other and turned separate into whole. You are now the rain to each other’s growth and the shelter to each other’s successes. It is not words that bind you but fate. Fate that knows. Fate that designs. Fate that will one day guide you into the divine where, fate willing, you will find each other again.”
Ayla shifted beside me, slipping her hand into the pocket of my shorts where my shell was firmly back home.
I glanced at the little girl Neri and I had created, and my pulse skipped with awe as Jedda passed Neri a gold band. Pulling her hands from mine, Neri splayed my fingers, kissed my knuckles, then slid the wedding band onto my left ring finger.
“I wed you years ago on this very beach beneath this very moon,” she whispered. “I’ve loved you since I found you, and I’ll love you until I lose you. I vow to continue finding you for the rest of my existence.”
Tears lodged in my throat as I accepted the simple gold band from Jedda and repeated what Neri had done to me. I lingered over the kiss on Neri’s knuckles, inhaling her gorgeous frangipani scent, schooling my hiccupping heart that wanted so much to be alone with her.
Sliding the ring beside her engagement diamond, I whispered, “I fell in love with you in this very ocean and became yours beneath this very sky. I only exist to love you, Neri, and I’m honoured to be yours forever.”
Jedda wiped away a tear, bent down, and picked up two smooth stones just out of reach of the tide. Passing them to us, she said, “Face the sea.”
Together, Neri and I accepted the small rocks, then shifted to wade a little deeper into the shallows.
Ayla came with us, staying glued to my side with her hand in my pocket, fingering my shell, linking our past, present, and future.
The sea lapped around my leg and blade, teasing at that phantom awareness that said I could feel the coolness of the salt even though I had no foot to sense it.
“Do you, Aslan Kara, agree to love Nerida Avci until your last breath?” Jedda asked. “Do you promise to protect her, adore her, and forsake all others for as long as you both shall live?”
My hand shook. “I do.”
“Do you, Nerida Avci, agree to love Aslan Kara until your last breath? Do you promise to protect him, adore him, and forsake all others for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Neri whispered.
“Then cast your stones and offer your love to the sea. Let your rocks sink with commitment and settle beside one another, content together while life ebbs and flows around you.”
Neri caught my eyes, her blue gaze catching the steel-coloured dusk.
We threw on the same breath, watching the small splashes, hearing the quiet plops.
Only once the ripples had faded did Jedda say, “Now kiss as one because that is what you are.”
I didn’t need telling twice.
Scooping Neri into my arms, Ayla laughed as I planted my mouth on my legally married wife. A girl I’d proposed to countless of times, married twice, and pledged my soul to every fucking day.
I didn’t stop kissing her as we spent a lovely evening sharing a simple barbecue on the beach, shared sticky raspberry and vanilla wedding cake by firelight, then retired to our private tent with its heavy canvas walls, king mattress on the sand, and a thousand pillows in reds, oranges, and golds.
Our daughter bunked with her grandparents.
Our friends knew not to disturb.
And that night, Neri and I didn’t go to sleep.
We consummated our marriage a hundred times, ensuring the world knew that this was it, and we were one, and nothing on earth or in the heavens could ever tear us apart.
*
Eleven months later...
*
POP.
Ayla skidded back as the cork from the replaced champagne bottle went flying.
“That was loud!” She grinned, her dark hair braided down her back with a baseball cap keeping the relentless sun off her beautiful little face. “Again. Do it again!”
I laughed and turned to fill everyone’s glasses. “Have to drink this bottle first, tatlim.”
