take my place at my groom’s side, Bradley catches my hands in his.
“I’m the luckiest man on earth,” he murmurs as he dots a kiss behind my ear.
I swallow back the lump in my throat, fighting tears that threaten to choke out words I’ve spent weeks rehearsing. In Dovlano, we get right to the vows at the start of the ceremony. I’m delivering mine in both English and Dovlanese, intent on making sure everyone here knows exactly what this means to me. What he means to me.
“Bradley David Parker.” I take a shaky breath and look into his eyes. The bright blue warmth gives me strength to push past the wobble in my voice. “I never thought this moment would come.”
My mouth feels dry, but I’m not afraid. Nervous, yes, with a million pairs of eyes on us for this televised ceremony. But fear hasn’t touched me since that day in Dante’s cabin. I take another breath and keep going.
“My whole life, I thought I was destined for one thing,” I continue. “It wasn’t until we met that I discovered a whole realm of love and wonder and happiness that I never knew existed. I wanted that so badly. I wanted you.”
There’s a soft titter from the audience. Possibly puritanical members of the royal family, or maybe my Bracelyn brothers snickering on the opposite side of the aisle. I don’t care that I’m revealing such raw emotion. That’s sort of the point.
Squeezing Bradley’s hands, I keep going. “Before I met you, I never knew what it was to be the best version of myself. To discover who I want to be, and then turn around to find the man who loves me not just for who I am, but for who I might become. You make me the very best version of myself. Every day, you make me better, braver, kinder. For all of my days, I vow to support, cherish, and love you the same way you’ve loved me.”
I’m blinking hard now, but I got through it. It helps that we’ve done this once before, though our American ceremony was different. These vows, they’re just for the wedding here in my homeland.
Bradley smiles, making sure I’m done before he starts his own vows. “Lady Isabella Maria Francesca Blankenship. You are my world.” His smile broadens, and that’s when I realize he’s just spoken in Dovlanese. His accent isn’t perfect, but the words are clear as day.
A fierce wave of love nearly takes out my knees, but he holds my hands tighter. I love him more in that moment than I ever thought possible. This man, this wonderful man so intent on blending our lives, our cultures together.
“Izzy,” he continues. “You are the love of my life. From the day I met you, there’s never been any question of that. The question was merely how we’d get here, to this place, right now. How we’d find ourselves at the front of a church like this, pledging our lives together.”
He smiles and takes a deep breath. He’s nervous, too, and I grip his hands tighter and offer an encouraging smile.
Bradley grins back and keeps going. “The thing I’ve learned is that it’s a team effort. Sometimes, you’ll be the stronger one, and sometimes I will. Sometimes we’ll both be strong together, and sometimes we’ll both be weak. But the goal, the point, the beauty in all this, is that we’ll be together.” His dimples flash as he threads his fingers through mine. “I vow to always put your needs first, knowing if we both do that, we’ll thrive as a team.”
I hear my mother sniffling in the front row, and I’m fighting back tears of my own. Happy tears, the happiest I’ve ever felt.
Bradley gives me a smile with a hint of mischief and takes a step closer. Leaning in so his lips brush my ear, he lowers his voice and shifts to English. “I love you, Izzy. And I vow to love, honor, and get the hell out of your way anytime you need that.”
I laugh and pull him in for an embrace. I don’t care that the minister hasn’t told us to, or that it’s not the point in the ceremony for kissing. As I wrap my arms around him, it feels right and so utterly perfect.
The crowd erupts into applause, which is also not Dovlanese custom. We’re making our own rules now, and I’ve never felt more alive.
As Bradley’s lips brush mine, he looks into my eyes. “How’d