[OTA] Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts

[onlytolerable]

(Fitzgerald-Berthier Wedding)

It's been a long road from asking to wedding, Sophie thinks as she watches the stylist add the last touches to her hair. Adrien had wanted the wedding close to Sophie's birthday, but then Silas had talked about stepping down and there was the very real chance Cadogan might have been asked to fill his shoes. They'd decided to postpone. Then there'd been Lotty - and another postponing. She looks at the ceiling and wills tears away. The last thing her sister would have wanted was to ruin an excuse for a perfectly good party.

And so here they are, with Sophie looking like an Edwardian lady in Claire Pettibone and her bridesmaids like iced petit fours in sage and peach respectively. Other than the butterflies performing an aerial show in her stomach, she's surprisingly free of nerves. Nothing has felt so right to her as loving Adrien. The wedding is just one more step in that, a chance to tell the world how she feels. She's even stopped worrying about tripping down the aisle.

Not that Cadogan, who she'd asked to escort her down the aisle, would ever allow that to happen. No, she arrives safe in one piece before he leaves her side to take up his place as Adrien's Best Man. He looked handsome in his morning suit, though not so handsome as the groom. She gives Adrien a blinding smile, one that's returned to her full-force. He's been like a kid at a candy store ever since they'd begun planning. Utterly sweet, she thinks, and, well... surprising. She feels stupidly gooey inside (like one of those ridiculous romance heroines) just knowing he wants this as much as she does. Not that he'll hear that from her, at least not without prying. A woman needs to have some secrets.

All in all, she thinks later as she and Adrien leave the chapel as newly married couple, everyone and everything looks lovely. The chapel has never smelled so sweet as it has today with the profusion of peonies, roses and hyacinths. Sitara has never looked so adorable as she does in her sage flower girl dress. Adrien can't have been more charming and handsome.

A day made of superlatives, with an equally astounding evening ahead of them. She brushes a soft kiss along her--her husband's!--cheek. Never has anyone been so lucky.

Comments

[uncutclarity]

It was a beautiful wedding, Avery thinks as she joins the crowd leaving the chapel and follows the crowd into the ballroom that Katriane's staff had quickly transformed into a coral and sage wonderland. She'd worried, after Lotty, that the tragedy and the Diamond way of handling it would drive a wedge between Adrien and Sophie...

But it's so clearly not the case. She smiles as she accepts a glass of champagne. She never thought she'd see Adrien so openly in love. "I wonder how long I can possibly stay away from the chocolate fountain," she says to the person next to her.

[onlytolerable]

"Borrow Sitara if you feel you need an excuse." Sophie suspects her little girl will be ice cream camouflage for a lot of the party-goers. She hopes Adrien remembered to buy tummy medicine just in case.

[uncutclarity]

"I think I would have gone swimming in it when I was her age," Avery says, laughing. "It's a good thing I was never called upon to be a flower girl. I asked Mom and Dad if they would please get married when I was six, you know." She gives Sophie a conspirational look. "I just wanted a dress and an excuse to wear flowers in my hair."

[denythyfather]

A part of him can't really believe it. A year earlier, he would have never imagined himself here. But now, unexpectedly, he finds that this is exactly what he wants. Ring on his finger, wife - wife, god, that's weird and perfect - by his side, arm around her waist.

Except not constantly. Apparently other people want to talk with her and dance with her and although it's completely ridiculous, he doesn't have much choice in letting it happen. So he will occasionally be ecstatically alone at his table, either glancing down at his hand or watching Sophie in the crowd.

[onlytolerable]

"You do realize there are no take-backs?" Sophie teases. "You're stuck with me now."

[denythyfather]

"What?" he gasps, pressing a hand to his heart. "Oh no. I suppose I'm stuck with you forever, then."

[diemwnt]

Which is just as well, really. Because maybe other people want to talk to Adrien. Or dance with him. Or probably just talk with him.

Definitely, at the end of the day, there's at least one person who wants to briefly throw an arm around Adrien's shoulder and pretend no one can tell that it's just a tight, quiet, incredibly proud, completely overwhelmed bit of a hug.

[denythyfather]

Adrien ducks his head against Cadogan's, wrapping his arms around the other man briefly. "We did it," he says softly, with a grin. "Thank you for being here."

[heneiddio]

All alone? On his wedding day? Impossible. Clearly needing to be corrected.

By cheek-pinches. So he'd best hold still and let her coo.

[denythyfather]

"Maman!" he says excitedly, not quite holding still immediately. First he has to jump to his feet and find a chair for her. Then he'll be perfectly content to sit and let her coo.

[oneirophiliac]

"Adrien. Adrien. Top marks for the goofy smile and ring mesmererem...ism. Not so good on the guest-entertaining, but we can let that slide. How's it feel?" Annie waves a hand in front of his face. She won't be so mean as to interrupt his view of his ring. Object permanence is something to be relearned, with marriage.

[headfollowheart]

It's a cold day. Cold enough that Zoe is pathetically grateful that her matron of honor dress is made of pale sage wool instead of the coral silk that Irene and Katriane are wearing. But inside the reception, of course, it's warm and comfortable, and Zoe laughs and chatters with the other guests, dances with her husband, the groom, and Ben, and finally settles down in a chair away from the action. She surreptiously slips her heels off.

Somehow shoes are worse when you're having fun in them.

[petitechoti]

"... can I try them on?" Sitara asks curiously, peering at Zoe's shoes curiously before looking up at the matron of honor. "They look..." It takes her a few moments to come up with the word, but there's a sense of pride in her voice as she says, "unwieldy."

[onlytolerable]

Sophie doesn't plop even though she'd like to. Like Zoe, decorum's too ingrained in her. Instead she slips into a chair beside her Matron of Honor. "I see those feet," she teases. "I don't know how women wear these things all the time. I almost chose flats for myself, then I saw the ones I'm wearing."

She'd have chosen flats for all of them had the hour designated evening rather than tea length gowns.

[petitechoti]

As everyone partakes of the buffet at the reception, Sitara will be busily flitting around with a huge smile on her face. And how could she be unhappy, really, with Papa and Mama getting married today? She graciously thanks the guests for coming in between bites of her food - a carefully assembled plate full of whatever she can reach on the table.

And if anyone mentions anything about her dress, she'll inform them mischievously, "I wanted to dress up as the Dread Pirate Roberts a little, but I knew that Papa might have exploded, so I didn't try."

[diemwnt]

What a good girl. She's still getting an arched brow from her uncle, but clearly she's a very good girl.

And she's absolutely getting tapped on the nose for it before he needs his hands back.

/Next time?/

[onlytolerable]

Sitara may want to be the Dread Pirate Roberts, but she'd been equally happy to be help pick out the dress she was wearing today. "You could be him in disguise. You didn't hide a rapier under that skirt, did you?" Sophie makes a point of examining the girl's outfit for signs of smuggled cutlery. She thinks of the pair of matching wooden practice swords she's wrapped and hidden safely on the top shelf in her closet.

"Amazing as the Dread Pirate was, there were equally amazing women pirates. You could be Anne Bonney or Jeanne de Clisson or Ching Shih or Sayyida al Hurra." She may have made a study of such things when she'd been about Sitara's age.

[onlytolerable]

She still feels like she's landed in some dream. Rather than pinch herself--or Adrien (who'd probably pout)--Sophie contents herself by occasionally lifting his left hand with hers and staring at their matching rings to make sure she hasn't drifted from reality. Nope. The rings are real. She slips her arm around her husband's(!) waist and rests her cheek against him. Definitely real.

She doesn't begrudge any of those who drag him away for a dance or conversation or a private joke or well wishes. Everybody should have an Adrien in their life. Everyone should feel as happy as she does right now.

[diemwnt]

And what if someone wants to steal Sophie for a moment? Surely while Adrien is distracted with other guests is the right time.

Because big brother is absolutely going to ask for a dance. He's absolutely going to tell her again how proud and happy he is to see them both here, to have been asked to be a part of it.

It's just first? First the glowing, beautiful bride is going to need to be hugged.

[heneiddio]

There's hope yet she'll see her biological son married off to some well-deserving girl. That isn't at all going to stop Roisin Thomas from beaming today like it was her own flesh and blood standing before God and the world.

It certainly isn't going to stop her finding a moment to squeeze the bride's arm with a warmly maternal sort of joy.

[allthesamemask]

Surely when she looks up she'll see the girl sitting across from her who's been grinning at her for a while. Be glad of the distance, Sophie- it's half of what's keeping Leigh from descending into old-womanhood and pinching your red cheeks. "Wow. I've been sat here five minutes and you only notice me now? You're all in a tizz."

[pureaudacity]

Kat was dancing with Adrien. Then she convinced Irene - Irene had been getting that look again - that she needed to dance with Adrien, and she'd danced with Peter.

Somehow Peter's dances ended sooner than Adrien's, but she didn't begrudge him, especially since it was because he kept looking at his wife.

"You look absolutely stunning," she tells Sophie as she adjusts the sleeve of her dress. "Have I thanked you today for not making me do another blue and silver wedding?" There was nothing wrong with blue and silver; it was stunning, a classic. But she did three weddings in those colors a year.

[thecutdiamond]

And so far, it seems everyone is as happy as she is, albeit in different ways. Rachel certainly is smiling broadly as she approaches the new bride.

"Congratulations, Sophie."

[diemwnt]

It's a beautiful day. It's one of the happiest days he can remember in an incredibly long time. Absolutely perfect, the way he'd always hoped things would turn out for both of these incredibly important people. This incredibly important family he'd somehow stumbled into without meaning to.

It's almost overwhelming, feeling this settled again. Feeling this happy.

Which is why, once he's stolen a dance with the bride (and the groom) (and the flower girl), he'll be sitting down for a bit. His jacket has been folded over the chair, his cuffs unlinked and a drink in his hand. He just needs a few minutes.

[grrranimals]

It would be easy to lose him in the sea of heads that obstructed her view. Fortunately--or unfortunately considering how much her feet hurt--Tess had paired tall heels with her dress. She still was shorter than most everyone in the room (except the flower girl) but the added height did give her a better vantage point.

Which is how she winds up plopping into a chair beside him. "I'd heard the Diamonds had some odd wedding traditions," she teases, eyeing both jacket and loose sleeves, "but I had not idea the best man was expected to do a strip tease. I'll need to attend more of them if that's the case." She sips her scotch--no nose tickles for her, thanks. "It really was lovely. I'm trying to decide if bride and groom look ecstatic or shell-shocked. A bit of both, I think."