Moments pass and suddenly my hand is reaching out before being placed in his. He turns to say thank you to my father but I don't register the words. I only stare at the side of his face until his eyes meet mine again. A gentle smile slides across his lips leading me to return the gesture. He takes both of my hands and kisses each one on the knuckles.
“Nervous?” He asks so quietly that only we can hear.
“Me? Never.” I say in a sorely unconvincing way. He softly chuckles in response.
The officiant clears his throat before speaking, “Welcome. We have gathered today to celebrate the union of these two beings in a bond that will last many lifetimes.”
There’s a brief pause before he speaks again, “This joyous day does not mark the beginning of a chapter but the continuation of a grand love story. Should we all be so lucky to find someone so perfectly fitting for us? I now must ask… Do you, Ghost Mikaelson, take Everly Berretta to be your wife? To have and to keep, through illness and good health, in the best time and the worst, for richer or the unlikely poverty, binding yourself to her for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Ghost says with finality. As if he was built piece by piece to say those words. The officiant turns to me before speaking.
“Do you, Everly Berretta, take Ghost Mikaelson to be your husband? To have and to keep, through illness and good health, in the best time and the worst, for richer or the unlikely poverty, binding yourself to him for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.” I don’t hesitate but feel the weight of a thousand suns at how two words can forever bind me to someone who has and will continue to change my life forever.
James steps forward and hands us each a wedding band, earning an appreciative expression, just as the man begins to speak again.
“A ring is an unbroken circle, like that of the serpent eating its own tail. With ends that have been joined together it represents your union. It is a symbol of infinity, and of your infinite love. The infinite opportunities to fall in love over and over again. When you look at these rings on your hands, be reminded of this moment, your commitment, and the love you now feel for each other.”
My eyes begin to pool before blinking the tears back. The officiant's words only remind me further of just how much I love the man standing in front of me.
“Ghost, place the ring on Everly’s finger and repeat after me:
Everly, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love with the pledge: to love you today, tomorrow, always, and forever.” Ghost does as he’s told, repeating them verbatim as he slides a small silver band over my left ring finger.
“And now… Everly, place the ring on Ghost's finger and repeat after me:
Ghost, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love with the pledge: to love you today, tomorrow, always, and forever.”His words slip away just as my voice carries this pledge. My trembling fingers find his ring finger and fit it with his own silver band. I rest my hands in his, needlessly searching for something to ground me in this moment. He does without question, rubbing my thumbs.
“Now, we will listen as this union shares their vows…” the officiant says.
The silence is deafening as moments pass without any words. Ghost stares at me as his eyes dance over my face. His lips never move, beckoning me to break the quiet.
“Ghost?” I ask softly.
My eyes search his face for a hint at what restrains him. He continues to look at me. His eyes hold the weight of a thousand suns with their gravitational pull. So much so, that the world fades away and I’m lost somewhere deep within the void that is Ghost.
“Just-just stay with me a minute. I want to etch this on the stone walls of my mind. I want to remember this moment until my heart stops beating. I will never have the opportunity to see this version of you again. I want to hold on to that just a little longer, if you’ll allow me.”
I’m so succumbed to his words that I don’t even respond. The smile on my lips never fades as I aimlessly nod, attempting to muster some form of acknowledgment. No one has ever loved someone the way we love the other. It's wordless. Nothing measurable could ever describe what we have. Within the space between us, my end is his beginning and beyond. After a long minute, Ghost nods softly to himself.
“Okay, I’m ready.” He says softly before speaking loud enough for the room to hear.
“I’m ready to find where your molecules come from. To search the tendrils of your make up to find where their reach ends. That is the place I vow to never go.” He breathes out.
“For I have never known a stronger feeling than my need for you. You are my chaos, the home I was born into. My darkness, to which my soul dances for. The violence that quenches my thirst. You are my pull to depravity. To return to my chaos, darkness, and violence. To live in a world that did not have you in it would be torture to my soul. To die by your hand would be a gift, if it meant you were the last thing I cast my eye upon. I vow to love you until nothingness and more. When life ceases to exist and just our souls walk this earth, I will still hold on to you. If nothing else, I will live for you.”
“I vow to love you for every moment…in every lifetime…in every universe…in every timeline. You are solely responsible for my existence. I have waited to love you since the first sunrise and the winds first carried sound. I vow to search for you in every person I’ll ever meet because without you, there is no place for me to exist. If I were to die, without ever knowing you, I would spend an eternity searching the stars to find you. You, Everly, are catastrophic to my soul and I willalwayspay to be torn apart by you.” His voice cracks leaving me to slowly crumble with it.
Tears well up in my eyes as I attempt to find my words. The reality is that I never prepared vows. When I sat down to write them, the words never came. There is nothing I wouldn’t give this man. Nothing I could possibly say to properly format my love for him.
My voice finally finds itself as the gates of my voicebox give-way, “Ghost… I don’t have a single vow for you but one. I vow to find those parts of you that are most ruined, most fragile, and love you there in its entirety. No matter the reason. Always. You, Ghost, are my favorite assembly of atoms.”
He softly squeezes my hands, with a trembling lip and tears gently falling past his full lashes. I instinctively reach up to wipe them away with my thumb. My hand continues to rest on his cheek and his own snakes its way round my neck. We pull each other into a deep kiss that causes the crowd to cheer and yet we don't stop. Deepening it further while continuing to draw the other in. Eventually we pull away, paying no attention to our guests.
“I love you.” It’s a declaration he already knows but feels natural to say at this moment.
“I will love you until the day my heart stops beating or the sun sets in the east. Until the earth stops turning. Until there is nothing left. Whichever happens first.” He then plants a gentle kiss on my forehead.
