Chapter Nineteen Ella
Chapter Nineteen
Ella
Tiero and the others return from their attempt to transform the Alaskan wilderness into a magical winter wonderland, looking more than pleased with their efforts.
I can’t wait to see what they created.
We have dinner together, the atmosphere light and anticipatory. I love watching my friends laugh, their eyes bright, their smiles easy.
And Tiero… it’s hard to take my eyes off him. He’s so damn handsome, especially with that rosy glow that only hours in the cold can create.
How is that man mine?
Sometimes I have to pinch myself.
He seems calmer than I’ve ever seen him, yet there’s still that fire beneath the surface. Shivers run down my spine when I think about how that fire will consume me in a few hours. I just know my wedding night will be one to remember.
Heat coils low in my belly at the thought. I shift in my seat, pressing my legs together, the anticipation almost unbearable.
Tiero watches me, his sharp eyes catching every tiny movement. A knowing smirk curves his lips.
“Soon,” he mouths from the other end of the table, where Claudette insisted he sit.
“It builds anticipation,” she had said, adding that technically we shouldn’t see each other at all before the ceremony if we wanted to follow tradition.
But nothing about our wedding is traditional.
I’ve certainly never been to one where the feast comes before the vows, timed just minutes before midnight.
It suits us perfectly.
Around nine-thirty, Rhia announces it’s time for everyone to get ready.
Despite Claudette’s protests, Tiero crosses the room and pulls me into his arms.
Home.
That’s the feeling that floods me as I melt into him.
Gualtiero Leandro De Marco is my home, my comfort, my safety.
My heart overflows as I look up into his hazel-brown eyes, letting myself get lost in them.
“Not long now before you are irrefutably mine,” he murmurs, his lips brushing mine.
Grinning, I shake my head. “I already am.”
The way he loves me, the need to claim me in every possible way… it’s intoxicating.
“I want to imprint myself onto your soul,” he rasps, his voice thick with need.
“You’ve already done that. You didn’t just imprint yourself, you became part of my soul.”
He kisses me gently, saying more with that single touch than words ever could.
But before we can get carried away, and let’s be honest, we absolutely would have, Claudette tugs on my arm until I’m forced to step back.
Tiero growls, low and dangerous, like a very displeased beast. The look he shoots Claudette could have disintegrated a weaker opponent.
Luckily for all of us, she’s completely unfazed and smiles brightly at him. This woman is fearless.
“No more,” she declares. “He can’t see you again until the wedding.”
Then, directing her next words at Tiero, she adds, “I think you’ll survive a couple of hours without her.”
With a small wave, I let my friends pull me toward Claudette’s room. It’s where we girls will get ready, while Tiero changes in our room and Lex in the guest bedroom.
When I step into Claudette’s lair, Rhia is already pouring sparkling apple juice into champagne flutes. Handing us each a glass, she raises hers for a toast.
“The countdown to the new year and the ‘I dos’ has begun. Here’s to Ella, our blushing bride, and the most romantic and probably coldest wedding of the century. To amazing friendships, laughter, and an incredibly happy new year.”
“Cheers to that,” Claudette and I say, lifting our glasses and clinking them with Rhia’s.
“Oh, and to a safe arrival of Peanut. May she wrap her father around her little finger with just one look,” Claudette adds after her first sip.
“And to Rhia’s proposal to Lex. That man won’t know what hit him,” I say, smirking at my best friend.
“Hear, hear,” Rhia laughs, clinking her glass against mine. “And to him knocking me up.”
Life is good. And it’s about to get even better.
It’s just after eleven o’clock when Rhia and I step outside our ‘Second Dawn’ cottage.
The chill of the Alaskan night kisses my cheeks as I descend the lantern-lit stairs one by one.
When I look up at the sky, I’m greeted with hundreds, no, thousands of stars. They twinkle as if cheering us on. What a perfect audience for our wedding.
I’m wrapped in a warm puffer jacket, thick gloves, and a faux fur hat. It looks ridiculous with my wedding gown, but for the ride to the spruce tree, making a fashion statement is the last thing on my mind.
When we get there, I’ll shed the jacket and gloves and swap the hat for its matching faux fur shawl and muffs. The light brown will complement my soft pink dress beautifully and should keep me somewhat warm. Until then, nobody but Rhia will see me.
As if to prove me wrong, Rhia steps in front of me and snaps a picture, then sidles up beside me for a selfie.
“You sure you want to risk the wrath of your fiancé?” she asks as I step onto the driver’s platform of the dog sled and pick up the reins.
I told her while we were getting ready that I wanted to mush the sled. Watching her this morning planted the idea in my head, and now I can’t let it go. I want to make my entrance like this.
“This is our wedding day. He won’t be mad.” I hope.
Rhia grins up at me as she settles in and pulls the blanket over herself. “Go you. I would’ve done the same.”
Once she’s ready, I release the brake and whistle.
“Hike up,” I call out, the command the huskies know to start moving.
Rhia pulls the blanket tighter as we pick up speed.
“Geez, this cold is biting,” she calls over her shoulder.
She’s not wrong. Under normal circumstances, I’d coat my face in a layer of Vaseline to shield it from the bitter chill, but I don’t want to shine like glazed bacon in my wedding pictures. So I suffer, somewhat gladly.
Moonlight filters through the trees, bathing the landscape in an ethereal glow. Diamonds of light shimmer across the snow, dancing with every movement. The ancient trees stand silhouetted as the dogs pull us through this magical winter nightscape.
Lanterns line our route, spaced out evenly, their flames flickering inside glass enclosures.
“How many of these did you buy?” I shout so Rhia can hear me.
“Hundreds,” she calls back, clearly pleased. “Except for the torches by the altar, we used battery-operated candles. I didn’t want to risk the wind blowing them out, or one tipping over and starting a fire.”
“You think of everything.”
She taps the side of her head and flashes me a beaming smile over her shoulder.
“You look good as a musher. Like a moon goddess riding her chariot,” she yells over the excited huffing of the dogs. “That look on your face is worth Tiero’s anger.”
“Ah well, he better get used to it. I’ll never be the meek and obedient wife.”
“Amen to that!” Rhia cheers.
The closer we get to our destination, the more lanterns mark the way, and soon the first fairy lights begin to sparkle in the trees.
They stretch across branches, forming glowing archways we glide beneath.
I press the brake to slow us down, wanting to savor the magic Tiero, Lex, and Rhia have created.
“Wow,” I murmur.
It feels like we’ve entered an enchanted world.
Anticipation hums through me, my awe growing with every second.
I guide the sled around a corner, and then I see it. The open clearing where our winter wedding will unfold.
The large spruce tree stands at the center, framed by tall, slender trees draped in white and silver. Their branches shimmer with fairy lights, twinkling like stars against the night sky.
The sight steals my breath.
As we draw closer, crystal chandeliers come into view, hanging from the spruce’s boughs, casting a warm glow that dances across the snow.
Strands of fairy lights fall like a curtain around the altar, where torches flicker softly.
Small bonfires burn in carefully chosen spots, their flames crackling and sending the scent of wood smoke into the crisp air.
“Wow,” Rhia breathes behind me.
It doesn’t even begin to cover it.
No words could do this justice. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine something this breathtaking.
But the man standing at the end of the dark red carpet outshines it all.
Tiero’s silhouette is outlined against the soft glow, wrapped in shadow and light, impossibly magnetic.
Though I can’t fully see his face, I feel him. The pull between us is immediate and undeniable, drawing me forward.
His gaze finds me, even from this distance. I feel it like a touch.
I shift my weight back and call, “Easy,” slowing the dogs further until the sled glides to a stop at the end of the carpet.
“Wow,” Rhia says again. “You’re a natural.”
Normally I’d bask in that, but I barely hear her. My focus is fixed on what lies ahead.
I step off the sled, my breath forming soft clouds in the cold air, rising and falling with my racing heart.
Emotion swells inside me, sharp and overwhelming, and tears blur my vision as I take it all in.
It feels unreal. Like I’ve stepped into another world, into a story written just for us.
Rhia helps me out of my jacket and drapes the thick shawl around my shoulders. She presses the bouquet into my hands, pine twigs and cones woven together with strands of red lingonberries.
And just like that, I’m ready.
Ready to walk to my love.
Ready to close the distance between us.
Ready to begin our always and forever.