Page 141 of At Her Will

Joss’s dark suit and tie suited his unruly brown hair and gleaming beard, framing his blue eyes and strong features. Jasmine was in an ivory-colored dress, a crocheted overlay over a silk sheath, with fringe at the bottom and on the short sleeves. Her blonde hair was coiled on her head and decorated with flowers. She wore a pewter pentacle where each point of the star was formed by two women with elongated bodies and lifted arms, their clasped hands creating the apex.

Vera smiled at the couple. She noted a handful of park visitors watching at a respectful distance. Many people were drawn to a celebration of love. It gave her hope for humanity.

“The ceremony isn’t long,” Vera told the assembled, “but should you need to leave the circle, we ask that you imagine opening and closing a door as you do so, to contain the energy we will build here.”

Because they were here to support Joss and Jasmine, the audience projected a current of happiness and love Vera could use for the ceremony. As she began, she was also aware of Rev’sattention. She’d never done this ceremony with a man present who was hers. It would give it an extra blessing of power and intent.

When the circle was cast and quarters called, she called on the power of the Lord and Lady inside the bride and groom to bless the space and strengthen it.

“Life tests us all,” she told the young couple. “But your love for one another, your faith, your belief in powers greater than yourself, in the truth inside each of us, creates an energy. You can let it help you move together through those tests, as individuals willingly joined as a couple.”

Picking up the scarf on the altar, she wrapped it around their wrists and clasped hands. The blue cloth had been embroidered with the bride and groom’s initials by Jasmine’s mother, and blessed on Jasmine’s altar. For nine days she’d kept it in a glass bowl with crystals nested in the folds. Each day, she’d waved incense over it, a specific fragrance infused with the properties that supported a successful handfasting between lovers.

“You met, and that was a beginning,” Vera said. “This is another beginning, an agreement to an even deeper level of commitment. Many of the mysteries you’ll explore as you share a life together will be known only to the two of you, beyond words to explain to any other. You will share souls in ways no one else will, and so what you have faithfully committed to one another, that journey and commitment, will not be under the influence of anything else other than your own hearts. Do you agree?”

“We agree.” Their hands tightened on one another.

“Joss, do you promise to love Jasmine with an open heart, generosity, and put nothing else above her, because your Love for one anotherispart of the Divine. They are one and the same, and should be honored and cherished as such.”

“Yes. I do.” His shyness dropped away, his back straightening and grip tightening. He showed her the man he wanted to be for her. Jasmine’s eyes glistened.

When Vera asked Jasmine the same, the girl nodded and spoke in a choked voice. “I do. I love you so much, Joss. Thank you.”

As the emotional response echoed through the audience, smiles were exchanged and the tissues came out. Vera felt the touch of tears herself.

Though many things had happened in the past few weeks to reinforce it, Vera was still gathering every scrap of evidence to reinforce her confidence and joy in what the world could be and often was. Today she’d get an extra helping of that proof.

“Good. Then here before the Lord and Lady, the spirits of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, Joss and Jasmine have committed to one another’s well-being and happiness for the rest of their lives. Blessings upon them. Will you, as their friends and family, also commit to helping them on this journey together as husband and wife? To support that love? Say ‘we will’ if you agree.”

“We will,” the group replied. The grandmother was holding the cross she wore around her own neck in one thin hand. When she nodded, Vera bowed in acknowledgement. The Crone was the most powerful face of the Goddess.

“Good. Let us honor the Quarters and the Lord and Lady, and open this circle.”

The attendees’ heads and bodies turned in each direction as the respective quarter caller bid that element a thanks and the farewell blessing, “Go if you must, stay if you will.” When they were done and Vera declared the circle open, she unwrapped the scarf and handed it to Joss. “Your wife’s mother created this. I give it to you to conclude this ceremony. In the eyes of the Divine, of your family and friends, you are married.”

Joss and Jasmine came together for a lingering kiss, their hands tight upon one another. Cheers and applause erupted. When they drew apart, Vera hugged the couple to her, then stepped aside to let friends and family congratulate them.

Rev was no longer alone at the tree. She saw Ros, Skye, Abby and Cyn, as well as Lawrence, Mick, and Tiger. Neil had been called down range the day before; otherwise he would have been here as well. They had come at her request. Not for the wedding, but for something different.

While the semi-circle they formed around Rev might have been unplanned, the positioning held meaning for her.

She crossed the ground between them, nodding to Ros and the other women before meeting Rev’s bemused gaze. It told her they hadn’t explained to him why they’d arrived near the end of the ceremony, evidence they weren’t here for the wedding.

“Do you remember when I told you that each man—Lawrence, Neil, Tiger and Mick—went through a ritual of acceptance, where these Mistresses formally made them part of our family?” Her gaze passed over the men present, noting from their body language, the flickers in their gazes, how the words called the powerful memories to them.

“I do,” Rev said. Anticipation vibrated through him, touching her with its electric current. “Are you telling me that’s what you want, Mistress?”

After he’d placed those Goddess symbols upon her and offered to serve her, something had shifted. She didn’t need to be fully healed, or have everything figured out about what had happened that terrible day, to be certain of what she wanted and needed from him. It wouldn’t dictate what mattered to her.

“It is. But you have to tell me that’s what you want.”

He clasped her hands. “It’s an honor I want with all my heart.”

When she looked at the others, she was glad for their presence. She couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness, though, thinking of how parents, siblings and grandparents being here to witness it had added to the joy of Joss and Jasmine’s commitment to one another.

Rev caressed her wrist with his thumb. “The spirit of your born family, of what they should be, is here.”

From the beginning of their relationship, she hadn’t had to explain much to him about the most important things to her. It was especially true now. The wedding energy that saturated the air had their hearts open to one another.

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