"Archie..."
"I had a charm added."He pointed to a second piece I hadn't noticed: a horse, exquisitely detailed."For Solmarina.For me.So you'd have both worlds with you."
"You're going to make me cry.I specifically told Petra no crying until after photographs."
"Then I'll leave before I do more damage."He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my temple."See you at the altar.Or the espresso machine.Whatever we're calling it."
"We're calling it the counter where I used to work before I became a princess."
"Catchy."
He slipped out before I could respond, and I stood alone in my break room, holding a bracelet that represented everything my life had become.Oregon and Europe.Coffee and horses.The woman I'd been and the princess I was becoming.
Both worlds.Both lives.Both versions of myself, finally fitting together.
I fastened the bracelet around my wrist and went to get married.
* * *
THE CEREMONY ITSELFwas simple.No cathedral, no thousand-year-old protocols, no fish forks to worry about.Just me and Archie standing at the counter where I'd served countless lattes, with my father officiating because it turned out he'd gotten ordained online years ago for a friend's wedding and never let the certification lapse.
"We are gathered here today," Dad said, his voice only slightly wobbly, "to witness the marriage of my daughter, Betty, to Prince Archibald of Solmarina.Again.But this time for real."
Nervous laughter rippled through the crowd.Petra and Captain Steiner stood on my side, while Roberto and Carmela's assistant Marco flanked Archie.The Grand Duchess sat in her wheelchair near the front, Mom beside her holding a box of tissues they were already working through.And in the back row, Mrs.Lawrence sat with a cup of dark roast, no room for cream, a permanent "free coffee for life" card tucked into her purse courtesy of the new owner.
"Betty and Archie have asked to exchange their own vows," Dad continued."Betty, you're up first."
I turned to face Archie, this man who'd lied to me and fought for me and given me an escape route I'd already decided not to use.He was wearing a simple gray suit instead of his royal regalia, and his eyes were suspiciously bright.
"When I met you," I began, "you were Peter.A stable hand who taught me to ride and made fun of my attempts to speak Italian and somehow made me laugh on the worst days of my life.When I discovered who you really were, I wanted to hate you.I tried to hate you.You'd lied about everything."
I paused, steadying myself.
"But you hadn't lied about everything.You'd lied about your name and your title and the fact that you could probably buy a country with your pocket change.But you hadn't lied about who you were.The person who stayed up all night with a sick horse.Who made his own pasta because a chef taught him.Who gave me annulment papers because he wanted me to have a choice, even though it might have cost him everything."
I reached for his hands.
"I'm not marrying Prince Archibald of Solmarina today.I'm marrying Peter.The real you, underneath the titles and the seventeen different spoons.And I'm choosing you.Not because I have to.Not because of politics or alliances or dying grandmothers guilting me into it."
"Hey," the Grand Duchess protested weakly.
"Because I love you," I finished."Even when you're being an arrogant prince who thinks he knows better than everyone else.Maybe especially then."
Archie's hands tightened on mine.When he spoke, his voice had gone rough with emotion.
"The first time I saw you, you were standing in a coffee shop telling off a customer who'd complained about her latte temperature.You had flour on your apron and attitude in your voice and you looked at me like I was just another inconvenience in your day.I thought: this is going to be a disaster."
"Romantic," I muttered.
"I was right.It was a disaster.I lied to you, hurt you, took away your choices because I was too afraid to give you real ones.I convinced myself it was for the alliance, for my country, for the greater good."He released one of my hands to touch my face, his thumb brushing my cheek."You chose me anyway.Even after everything.I still don't understand why, but I'm going to spend the rest of my life being grateful for it.And being worthy of it."He was smiling now, that real smile I'd first seen in the stables when he was just Peter and I was just Betty and everything was simpler."I love you.I love your terrible jokes and your coffee and the way you tell my mother exactly what you think of her suggestions.I love that you wore jeans to a state dinner and put ketchup on pasta and proposed to me in a horse stable.I love every single thing about you, even the things that drive me crazy.Especially those things."
"If you two are done," Dad interrupted, "I believe there's a legal question I'm supposed to ask."
I laughed through the tears I'd promised Petra I wouldn't cry."Go ahead."
"Do you take this prince to be your lawfully wedded husband?For real this time, no take-backs?"
"I do."
