Page 124 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

When the music next changed, those curtain doors would open again, and that would be it. It was Olivia’s time to walk down the aisle so the two of us could join hands in front of everyone we knew and held dear.

It was more than enough to get me emotional, and my eyes began to sting. But I had sworn to myself that if I was going to cry at my wedding, it was going to be for my wife and my wife alone, so I braced myself and flexed my toes to distract my tear ducts.

It worked, and I made it all the way through the older women’s journey down the aisle to where Leandro and Riccardo were waiting on either side to escort them to their seats.

It was time!

As soon as the thought finished in my mind, the song I had been waiting for began to play. It was a melody that felt as old as time, so ingrained in American culture and media, and yet it might as well have been composed for the two of us. These were the notes I would hear every time I recalled this day, every time I lovingly remembered how beautiful my bride was when she walked down the aisle that her family had so lovingly prepared for us.

“Remember, breathe and keep those knees unlocked.”

Honestly, I was grateful for the reminder, because the doors opened and I was treated to the most ethereal vision I had ever seen in my entire life.

Olivia...

She could have walked down the aisle in a potato sack and I still would have been thrilled, but this was so, so much more. That gorgeous hair of hers had been piled so high atop her head it was basically a crown, and soft coral roses and pearls had been mixed throughout it. Michelangelo himself couldn’t have made a more beautiful image, no matter how many Sistine Chapels he was given.

“My God...” I whispered to myself. Really, only a deity could be responsible for such beauty. Olivia captivated me in every single way possible, and those tears I had so successfully fought against suddenly had the upper hand.

She held a massive bouquet, one no human would have been able to carry. Roses, baby’s breath, all sorts of things that I didn’t really have the name for despite Serafina trying to educate me. It was an explosion of color but also a reminder of how much her father and sister loved her. They had put their blood, sweat, and tears into their gardens, and in the end, they chose to sacrifice those blooms for Olivia’s big day. I had a lot to do to prove that I was going to be a good son and brother-in-law to them, but I was thrilled about the challenge.

And then there was her dress.

Olivia was relentlessly sexy. Whether she was brushing her teeth in the morning, sleep crust still in her eyes, or excitedly telling me about the most recent gig she’d landed, I was always attracted to her almost to the point of distraction. But now? Every cell of my body was being pulled toward her in that dress. It hugged her body, accentuating all the parts of her that made my blood thrum, and the style seemed like the perfect mix of classic, new, and entirely Olivia.

She was so fucking beautiful as she slowly sashayed down the aisle, her veil translucent enough so I could see that perfect face of hers. But it was the telltale hitching of her chest letting me know that she was crying that did me in. My own tears welled over, and I wondered if it was possible to die from too much happiness.

What a way to go, though!

“Here,” my mother said quietly, tapping my shoulder. I turned just enough for her to hand me some tissues, which I put to good use as Olivia floated down the aisle.

She was a dream. More than a dream. She was a prophecy of our future together. Laughs and victories, losses and late nights. Family drama, car troubles, and happy holidays all stacked on top of each other. It made a beautiful vision, one of depth, and any hope I had against the tears was utterly gone.

And then she was in front of me.

If she was gorgeous walking down the aisle, the image of her hazy through my tears, then she was downright resplendent in front of me. Even with the ethereal gauze of her veil, I was utterly enamored with her beauty.

“Hey,” I murmured, pleased that my voice didn’t go crazy through the sheer amount of emotion churning through me. There was a fierce sort of protectiveness in my chest, something masculine and primal, along with all the force of love I had for her.

“Hey,” she said right back, and although it was only one syllable, for us, it said so much.

Just like it always did.

“Members of the Rizoli pack and honored guests,” the officiant started. Mr. Rizoli had said he was the best of the best for pack weddings. I was surprised that they didn’t have a family member or even an Italian shifter do it, but there were some things even a hundred family members didn’t have experience with, and being ordained was one of them.

The photographers were also shifters, although neither was from the Rizoli pack, so we didn’t have to worry about anything slipping out from them, either. Despite having three humans among their number, everyone present at our wedding was in the know.

“We welcome you here today to honor the joining in bloodlines of Keith Insrym and Olivia Rizoli. We invite you to share in this joy with us and encourage any who have objections to keep them to themselves, as the time for that is long over.”

Olivia had worried about that, since some of the more traditional members of her pack were still pretty pissed at my incursion, but I seriously doubted anyone would try to ruin the wedding of their alpha’s daughter. That seemed like a great way to get themselves kicked out.

“For many years, we have segregated ourselves, humans to humans and shifters to shifters,” the officiant said. “We told ourselves it was for our protection. That these two species, so alike yet so different in nature, could not coexist.

“But today, Keith and Olivia attest that, when it comes to love, there is no divide that cannot be bridged. No differences that cannot reach an accord. No irrevocable logic that forces us apart. Today, a human and a shifter join together in front of you not as outliers, or exceptions to the rule, but rather proof of what can happen when walls come down and we reach outside of the norms we have been programmed to accept.”

My eyebrows went up a bit at the officiant’s speech. While we had told him about our relationship, and what we wanted the overarching message of our wedding to be, we’d largely let him do his own thing. He had asked us to go over the general outline of his speech, as he did warn us that he liked to move “where his spirit led him” on the day of, and we had approved it, but I hadn’t expected his address to our guests to be so... emphatic? Touching?

“Because love is the one constant in all our histories. Time passes, magic shifts, power dynamics come and go, but no matter what, there is always love. And today, as we witness the incredible love of this pair, I want each of us to remember and cherish our own as well. For it is these bonds that make us stronger, that help us grow.”