Page 99 of The Oscar Escape
He eyed the altar and had a good idea of what was coming.
And he was ready for it. He wanted it with every fiber of his being.
“That’s a little Havenmatch Island magic for you,” Del said, then melted into the crowd.
Georgia presented her palm. “May I have the ring?”
Aria slid the bit of silver off his finger and handed it over.
Georgia set them on the bench next to the driftwood, then addressed the group. “As a descendant of Homer and Evangeline Havenmatch, I open the Driftwood Ritual—the ritual that welcomes our annual festival. Tonight, we take the time to celebrate new love. A week after Homer and Evangeline’s youngest daughter married, they’d invited the mainlanders to the island. With a desire to share their ways, Homer and Evangeline created this special event. A vow renewal on this beach beneath the lighthouse’s beacon. Aria and Oscar, if you were dedicating your life to the island as we have, this is when you’d carve your name onto the bench. We’ll skip that part tonight. Instead, you’ll be given the opportunity to carve your names onto your piece of driftwood. My husband, Judge M. Gibson Harpswell, will perform the ceremony,” she finished, then stepped aside.
“Vows before a judge?” Aria asked, her voice a slip of a sound.
Georgia nodded. “Yes, think of it like getting married all over again with the sea, the starry sky, and new friends as your witnesses.”
Aria pressed her hand to her heart. “This counts like that?”
“It does,” the judge answered.
Oscar’s pulse quickened. His fake wife was about to become his real wife. What had started as a little white lie had turned into the real thing. He’d never imagined marrying Aria surrounded by people dressed up as lobsters, but this was how it was supposed to be. Del was right. This place was magical. They’d only been there a matter of days, and already the stressors of Aria’s celebrity life felt a million miles away. She’d returned to herself. She was writing and making the music she wanted to make. He’d never seen her happier or more committed to a cause. And she wasn’t the only one who’d transformed. He’d shed the chains that had weighed him down. Chains that had dragged him to a place in his mind where creating distance between himself and the woman he loved had seemed like his only choice. This island had opened his heart, and his heart wanted her as his wife. His lawfully wedded, till-death-do-us-part wife.
Still, he needed to ask her—officially ask her to be his wife—but he had to do it without the islanders suspecting this was, in fact, their first wedding and not simply a renewal of vows.
He took Aria’s hands in his. “We agreed, no more secrets and no more distance.”
She nodded.
“It would be the honor of my life to exchange vows and pledge my love to you on this beach.” He glanced at their audience. “In front of a bunch of lobster people.”
She tightened her grip on his hands. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Yeah.”
“No, it’s apahhd,” Del called, his thick accent peppering the air.
Oscar stared at the masked man. “A what?”
“A group of lobsters is called a pod.”
“A pod?” Aria repeated.
“That’s what I said. Apahhd.”
Suppressing a chuckle, Oscar tucked a lock of hair behind Aria’s ear. “We learn something new on this island every day, don’t we?”
Aria’s lips curled into a girlish grin. “We do.”
“Aria, will you exchange vows with me in front of a lobster-people pod?”
Now she was the one holding back her amusement. She surveyed the crowd. “I mean, we’re both here, and Havenmatch Island needs a sacrificial couple. We might as well. I am wearing my best galoshes.” Her expression grew serious. “If exchanging vows is what you want—”
“It is,” he answered, conviction coating the words.
“Then that’s asacrificeI’m willing to make.”
There it was. The eat-worms version ofyes, I will marry youdelivered by a woman with a snarky, sexy spark that owned his heart.
“On that rather interesting note, let’s begin,” the judge said and removed a card from his pocket. “Aria and Oscar, join hands and repeat after me. I promise my love will weather any storm that comes our way.”
