“We do. There’s a betrothal blessing at the start, and the groom gives the bride a ring. He puts it on her finger and says, ‘ani l’dodi, ve dodi li.’ It’s from the Song of Solomon and it means ‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.’ Then there are more blessings. And there are other parts, but nothing, I think, that involves vows. Apart from the marriage contract, I suppose, but the bride and groom sign that before the ceremony.”

“Christian weddings aren’t so very different. There are prayers and blessings, too, both before and after the vows.”

“Do you know the words to the vows?”

“Of course I do. Remember all those cousins? That makes for a lot of weddings.”

“I would like to say them.”

He nodded, his expression serious again. “Shall we kneel?”

They sank to their knees, facing one another, barely a hand’s width apart. Nico slipped the ring from her finger and set it carefully on the floor. Then he took her hands in his.

“I, Niccolò, take you, Antonina, for my wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death us do part.”

“I, Antonina, take you, Niccolò, for my husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for . . .”

“For richer—”

“For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death us do part.”

Nico picked up the ring and slipped it back on her finger. “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”

She had no ring to give him, but still she repeated the words. “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”

He embraced her, so tightly she couldn’t tell where his arms stopped and her body began, and then there were more kisses, slow and tender and enchanting. They were both shivering, but she didn’t feel cold at all.

“We need to stop for a moment,” Nico murmured, his breath fanning sweetly against her lips.

He got to his feet, went to the bed, and reached across it to grasp the woolen pad that sat atop the mattress. He then dragged the pad, along with the pillows, sheets, and blankets, to the middle of the room. Turning, he caught her eye. “I’ve no wish to waken the entire house, or to answer awkward questions from Carlo tomorrow.”

He then crouched to unlace his boots, but once he’d toed them off he made no further move to undress. Instead he sat on the makeshift bed and beckoned her over.

She knelt in front of him, tucking her legs under the skirt of her nightgown, and took his hands in hers.

He met her questioning gaze directly, though for some reason he was blushing, the color rising high on his cheekbones. “I also need to make a confession.”

“What is it?”