When I arrived at the altar, Magnus stood, and my knees about gave out. He was so handsome, hard jawline, soft eyes, dark and mysterious. He was wearing a tuxedo on his top half with a darker more modern kilt on his bottom half. He wasn't carrying his sword. He smiled briefly, nervously, and then we stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the priest.

The priest prayed and welcomed us. I was instructed to turn to Magnus, and we clasped hands while Lady Mairead slowly bound our wrists together with a silk rope before she returned to her seat.

Magnus bowed his head, so I bowed too, staring down at our hands. He held mine so tight and sure, but mine trembled. I worked to settle their flutter, concentrating on the form of his hands and the strength, the way he held mine. And the heat forming between our palms.

The priest began to speak. His words, the prayers, the solemnity and importance of their meaning filled me with calm and slowed my racing heart. Warmth spread through me.

I was marrying Magnus Campbell before God and family. I glanced up at his face. He was stoic, solemn, strong. Clasping my hands, he made me feel safe.

My arms grew tired, but the ropes held us together, or was it his fingers woven around mine? The priest prayed over our hands. He asked if I would be true to Magnus, forsaking all others, as long as I lived? I answered, “I will.”

He asked Magnus if he would be true to me, forsaking all others, loving and comforting and caring and keeping, and Magnus said, his words rumbling through my head, “I will.”

Then the priest spoke longer about the importance of our decision and the binding and union of our lives. He prayed and when he quoted scripture I heard Magnus's voice whispering along. And then the vows began.

Magnus repeated the priest, staring into my eyes, his hands shaking with mine. “In the name of God, I take ye, Kaitlyn Sheffield, tae be my wife, tae have and tae hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, tae love and tae cherish, until we are parted by death. Tis my solemn vow.”

Then it was my turn. I repeated the words back to Magnus, a quiver in my voice, a catch in my throat, “to have and to hold, from this day forward...” I lifted my eyes to his and he smiled — my breath caught. I filled my lungs with the air between us. “...until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.”

The priest asked Magnus for the rings. We pulled our hands from the knotted rope, leaving it looped over Magnus's sleeve, and he pulled two gold rings tied with a ribbon, from his inside breast pocket. The priest blessed the rings while Magnus and I stood, six inches apart, no longer touching. I missed his hands.

A few moments later Magnus took my hand in his. He trembled as he said, “I give ye this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am and all that I have, I honor ye, in the name of God.” He slid the ring onto my ring finger.

The priest handed me a ring. And I repeated the same words, and slid the ring onto Magnus's finger.

This was the most I had ever touched him. We had been in close proximity on his horse, rubbing and jostling together. But here, holding his hands, was intimate and forever and intense.

The priest proclaimed that we were married. “What God has brought together, let no man tear asunder.”

Then we turned toward the altar, my right hand clasped in his left, and our heads bowed. The priest prayed and read scripture and prayed again. We said amen together at all the important points, and rose or knelt when asked.

And then finally, it was over. We turned around to the mostly empty church. A few more words were spoken and my hand was clutched in Magnus's as we walked down the aisle toward the doors of the church.

I was married. I was Kaitlyn Campbell, former YouTuber, believer in the big public life, past lover of more than one boy, now the wife of a mysterious Scotsman named Magnus.

My parents rushed us. My mother hugged me and carried on about how thrilled she was, how beside herself with excitement. She didn't need to say it. She was in high color, carrying on as if she couldn't believe it actually happened, which was a little embarrassing for me. Did she think I was making it up? Did she come to the church to watch me fail?

Dad shook Magnus's hand, hugged and kissed me, then announced he would bring paperwork to be signed tomorrow. Meaning I would have my name on a fortune within hours.

They were all coming to my new house, where Zach was making a wedding meal.

You might think the dreamlike trance of the day would be broken by now, but no, still going. And I hadn't even kissed him yet. I thought that was the main part of every wedding, yet here I was, not kissed. My hands had been bound to his though, in many ways that was way better.

He was speaking with Lady Mairead. I watched the side of his face, angled and intense.

Lady Mairead turned to me. “Kaitlyn Campbell, I will see ye at home, your parents are giving me a ride.” She clasped my hand in hers. “Thank ye.”

“Oh, no worries, I mean, you're welcome.” I had forgotten I originally did this for her, because I could only think of Magnus now, and what I had done for him.

She and my parents left, and then Hayley hugged and kissed me. She led us outside as it dawned on us that her car was the only vehicle left.

She said, “I should have thought this through. I could have had a temp here with a car. Hmmm. Okay, in a pinch, I'm your chauffeur.”

She opened the car door for us, and I slid in and then Magnus. She closed the door and ran off to check we hadn't forgotten anything in the church.

Magnus still had the silk rope looped over his arm. He slid it off, coiled it into a small circle, and fit it over my hand to my wrist as a bracelet. Then he pulled my arm, up under his own, and pressed his lips to my temple and lingered there. I listened as he breathed me in. “Ye hae married me then, Kaitlyn?”

“I have Magnus, I married you. Did you marry me?”

“Aye, I hae, forever.” The words vibrated on my skin.

Hayley appeared and climbed in the driver's seat. “Okay — to Magnus's? am I invited to dinner too? Michael?”

I laughed, “Michael's probably there moving my stuff in, right? So definitely.” Then I glanced at Magnus, “I'm sorry, I just — can Michael and Hayley come eat dinner tonight?”

“Tis your house too Kaitlyn, ye decide.”

“Yes, come to dinner.”