“You made this—me,” I said, pointing to myself. “You have to say that.” I laughed a little.
“I did.” She smiled even brighter. “I made this. And I will always, always, always love this. More than my own life.”
I squeezed her hand. “Papà?”
“Right here,” a rough voice said.
I narrowed my eyes through the mirror. He was standing behind me, in the shadows, until I held my hand out. He took it and brought it to his mouth. Then he set it against his cheek, where a tear had slipped down.
“Mia—”
I shook my head. “Don’t,” I whispered, a tear slipping down my own cheek. “You don’t have to say it, Daddy. I know everything you don’t say.” I lifted his hand and put it to my heart. “I feel it.”
Words were so hard for him, especially soft ones. He didn’t have to say them, though. I always knew. I always knew how much they both loved me.
He gently dried the tears from my eyes, and I dried his.
“Ready?” I breathed out.
“Never for this,” he said.
I laughed a little. “My feet seem to have a mind of their own today.”
“That’s your heart,” mamma said, taking me by the other arm.
I nodded. “And my heart is telling me it’s time.”
And it was better than the clock on the wall. I could feel him like a mate out in the wild, calling me to him. I went wherever he went; he went wherever I went. The world would no longer see me or him, but the two of us as one.
“Bene,” mamma said. “Because if you took another second, Saverio is going to charge the castle to find you.”
She wasn’t joking.
“Ants in his fu—shoes,” papà grumbled.
Mamma and I laughed quietly, but it faded as we came to the chapel’s door.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. It was trying to jump out of the gown and run to him.
“Tell me you’re sure,” papà said, squeezing my hand.
“Without a doubt,” I said and looked him in the eye.
He stared at me until the music started to play, and then he nodded, lowering my veil.
“Mia Macchiavello,” mamma whispered as the doors opened and the music inside reached us.
A collective sigh from the guests reached me before they stood, Aunt Lola and Uncle Tito helping each other up. The tears in their eyes when they saw me made me hold on to mamma and papà tighter. I held on even tighter when my eyes found the warm amber ones watching me with rapt desire. I let go of my parents when they did, and I started to sign the lyrics to “Boxes.”
The rest of the world seemed to fade.
He was all I could see.
He was haloed by the flames brightening the darkness. The soft candlelight seemed to give life to the dress, making it shimmer, like the man who waited for me gave life to my heart. I wanted to appear as the physical representation of who I was to him.
A light in the darkness of his world.
Saverio met us before we made it to the altar.
