Corinna wears a bikini and a gauzy wrap around her waist, and her hair is loose. We drift off in the dawn on the beach, and wake up cold and shivering and run home to her room in the main house and take a long hot shower together and fall back in bed. And when we wake up again, it’s midmorning and the party is still going.
There’s no formal announcement.
I just find myself one afternoon surrounded by all the A1S men, and Zero, and Sasha and Alexei, and I’m putting on a tuxedo. The hems are rolled up to my knees, and my bowtie is left untied, the top few buttons undone, and flowers are braided into my hair. It just works, somehow.
There’s a bottle of somethingveryold from Mr. Roth’s cellar, and it’s clear the wedding is happening, finally.
But I need to do something first.
“Can I have a moment with Mr. Roth?” I say, to the room in general.
Everyone leaves.
His eyes are serious, but welcoming and warm. “I think at this point you can call me either just Roth, or Valentine.”
I pull a folded piece of paper from the pocket of the shorts I’d been wearing. “I’d like to ask something of you.”
He senses the weight in my tone. “You’re marrying my daughter. What could I possibly refuse you, Apollo?”
I show him the paper, and he scans it. He’s shocked, his eyes going wide.
“Does she know?” he asks.
I shake my head, butterflies fluttering in my belly. “No. I haven’t legally filed it yet. I wanted to ask you first.” I blow out a breath. “I’d like to take Rin’s last name. Your last name. If you will let me.” I swallow hard. “I know…that the people I was born into…they hurt you. They hurt Mrs. Roth—Kyrie. All of you. And I…” I have to start again. “I became that. And I tried to leave it behind. It…it still caught up to me, and it pulled your daughter into it. I thought maybe if I took my father’s name, I’d leave that part of me behind. But that’s not enough.”
Valentine is choked up, blinking hard.
“So I want to become a Roth. I know it’s not…traditional. But it’s…it’s right. And I want your permission, before I say anything to Rin.” I’ve never in my life struggled so hard to speak, to make words come out.
To keep my shit together.
Valentine just nods, blows out a sigh, and nods again. “Yes, Apollo. I think that’s the best idea you’ve ever had.” He pulls me into an embrace. “Aside from marrying my daughter, that is.”
He claps me on the back, lets me go to hold me by the shoulders. “I would be proud to give you our name, Apollo.”
I duck my head, swallowing. “Thank you.”
He pushes me gently. “Now, go marry my daughter.”
Music is playing. I walk through the crowd, the name change application in my back pocket.
Take my place at the front, facing the aisle, down which my bride will walk.
There’s a shift of energy—we feel it. Zero plays the Wedding March on a mandolin.
There she is.
Corinna Roth, walking toward me. Her dress is sleeveless, delicate white silk cupping her cleavage, molded to her waist and backside and around the upper portion of her thighs before spreading out into a loose pool around her feet, dragging behind her in the sand. Her hair is partially up, a braided crown around her brow, the rest spilling loose around her bare shoulders. She has a bouquet of irises and white roses and lilies, and the ring I gave her, my grandmother’s ring, glints on her finger.
She’s already crying as she walks toward me, her hand tucked around her father’s arm. Going against tradition in another way, her mother is on the other side of her. They both bring her to me.
Sasha stands before us. “I know, I know—a man like me, an ordained minister? Too weird to not be true, hey?” His distinct, pronounced Russian accent—although he’d correct you to say he’s Georgian, he just speaks Russian—twists the words into new shapes. “I’m not a man for big speeches. So. We all are knowing why we are here, together, on this very beautiful beach, on this very beautiful day. Look! The sun is shining, the waves look like these diamonds,da? It’s a beautiful day, and you know why?” He gestures at Rin and me—he has no book, no folder, just his hands gesturing. “Because these two beautiful people are being married. Such love, hey? Look at them. The way they look at each other. It’s beautiful, and it’s why we are all here, right now.”
He points to me. “Apollo. Give her your vows.”
I look at Rin. “Corinna. You changed me. You forced me to let go of who I wasn’t and helped me find the courage to become who I’m meant to be. I will spend every single day of the rest of my life striving to be the man you deserve. Striving to love you as you deserve to be loved—wholly, fully, completely. That’s my vow.”
Sasha gestures at Rin. “Your turn, lovely girl.”
