[OTA] We Are Gathered Here | The Fox-Kattalakis Wedding

[headfollowheart]

A few things had gone wrong, honestly. There had been some confusion in the morning when they’d arrived to decorate the church - a few bouquets on the altar, some green and blue ribbons twined around a few of the posts - and it’d been locked. She’d managed to leave Spade Castle with her dress, veil, the coin from his mother strung on a thin leather thong, the emerald silk sash and Victor’s ring - but of all things, she’d managed to leave her shoes in their box in the closet, and Chives had had to go back for that. Hadyn looked a little green from his adventure shanghaiing Victor with Ben and Elisha, her cousin Sara had in usual Sara fashion managed to break the heel on her left shoe. Nerves finally hit as Chives was braiding her hair, and by the time the veil was settled over the smooth curls, her nails had left indents in her palms.

In the end, though, it was pretty much perfect. Two of her closest friends preceded her down the aisle in soft blue dresses with forget-me-nots in their braided hair and small posies in their hands. She’d walked towards her fiance on her brother’s arm with her hands full of spring flowers, and after the words were said and Victor lifted the veil, they were married. It only felt a little different than before, Zoe thought as their brief kiss ended. But it was different; she was Zoe Fox.

Zoe Fox knew, of course, that Victor Fox would have preferred them to just slip back to their apartment - no big party, no flowing wine and hors d'oeuvres - but she’d wanted something. And he’d given her carte blanche in the end, really; she’d chosen the small reception room that opened out into the Castle gardens, she’d picked the combination of hyacinths, hydragea, and lily of the valley for the table arrangements, the Greek-flavored menu of spanakopita, wild green and strawberry salad, linguine primavera and herb-encrusted lamb. She’d pored over cake designs until she finally picked a vanilla bean cake with strawberry puree filling, decorated in vanilla buttercream. She’d pruned the list of friends, family and acquaintances who might be expected to be invited to the wedding reception until they numbered barely fifty.

Under the strict supervision of Chives, of course the reception looked perfect, she thought as they arrived, and she smiled as she slipped her hand into Victor’s arm and the full skirt of her dress swirled against both of their legs. Perfect, though perfect didn’t matter quite so much to her right now.

Comments

[headfollowheart]

"Imagine how bad it'd be if I actually had invited everyone I know," Zoe says with a slight smile. "Probably twice as many people. We probably won't stay too late, though; everyone expects the married couple to slip out early, right?"

That's how it'd worked in the other weddings she'd gone to. As for the honeymoon, she shrugs and shakes her head.

"I don't know that we'll go on one, really. Victor's had to be gone a lot lately, and with everything happening...I'm not sure it's a good time for it. I don't really need to go away, anyway. I just got back from Venice." Not that it wouldn't be nice - to go to Provence or Vienna or somewhere like that - but she was a practical woman, and she'd just married a Ten for whom the Suit was paramount.

Better not to have those kinds of expectations.

[old_dog]

"Or more. Unless you did invite Cynric." He'd seen the Joker prancing about and he wasn't sure if there were more of them lurking under the finger foods tables.

"And we'll cook up some excuses for where the two of you have absconded off to. There's no need to stay too much longer than you'd like." He'd seen The Chives Glare directed at various staff so he was confident that things wouldn't all fall apart if the bride and groom decided to vanish.

"I'm sure the two of you can make the time to go somewhere, even if it's only for a few days."

[headfollowheart]

"I did not invite Cynric, but...I might have budgeted for one or two Jokers showing up for the free food." It had seemed wise, really. And maybe Dillon had told her about the free-for-all over Aunt Olivia's baked ziti.

"We'll see," she says, leaning on her hands. "There's nowhere I've really been dying to go, so I wouldn't have the first idea of where to go. We went to Prague in the autumn."

[old_dog]

"They're a pragmatic bunch," Michael said with a chuckle. And one had to consider that they didn't have stable income and weren't taken care of by any of the Suits.

"Prague's nice." You'd think that Michael would be full of ideas since his 20-year sojourn from the Deck was more or less a 17-year on again, off again honeymoon with Lasse, but he didn't know what the Foxes would like.

"But perhaps you might like to go somewhere a little warmer this time."

[headfollowheart]

"It was beautiful," Zoe says, maybe a bit dreamily. A week, after all, with nothing to do but spa appointments, shopping, and just...time with Victor, alone, without any claims on it. Which, if she was after a honeymoon, would probably be the only thing she'd be after: the time alone together.

"Like Spain?" She asks. "I went to Italy for my hen party, but it was northern Italy. Not that warm, really."

[old_dog]

"Spain might be nice. Easter was early this year so you'll have missed Holy Week, but on the bright side it won't be so crowded." She'll likely want to stay longer regardless of where she's going once she's away from the Deck madness and has Victor all to herself.

[headfollowheart]

"We were in Italy for Easter Week; it was pretty insane." She'd always planned to go to Greece some day for Holy Week, but there was little point now. There was still a pang about leaving the church, really, but a slighter one than she might have expected.

It had been the right decision, even if there hadn't been much choice.

"I don't speak Spanish at all. Maybe that's why I keep going to Paris; French, I've got down. Hadyn and I grew up practicing on each other."

[old_dog]

"There's no reason not to go back to a place you've enjoyed going to. But if you're up for something new, I'm sure you could get by if you pick up a few words here and there beforehand." Surely one of the Spades spoke enough Spanish to lend Zoe a hand.

[headfollowheart]

Hadyn knows Spanish too; he'd learned more useful languages, really, while Charlotte had drilled Zoe in the languages of music - French and Italian, and the German of Mozart and Beethoven. Greek, of course, she'd spoken before any of those. "Probably I can," she says easily. "If Victor thinks we have time, maybe I'll suggest Barcelona or Seville."

[old_dog]

"Alright. Well I hope he does listen to you, and then the two of you can have some well-deserved time off." He'd reassure her that the Deck wasn't going anywhere and she could come back to spending late nights at work if that's what she really wanted to do, but who knew anything for certainty about the Deck after all that's happened?