The salt-laced wind whipped Stella’s hair across her face as she stood on the cliff edge, the vast, inky ocean stretching before them like a dark, shimmering curtain. A full moon, a luminous pearl in the velvet sky, cast an ethereal glow on the scene. The cliff face, rugged and ancient, formed a natural amphitheater for their ceremony.

Before them, the pastor, a kindly man with eyes that crinkled at the corners, adjusted his spectacles, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Theo, his hand ...