A/N: Part one of three. Things get more fun and McWitham-y next chapter. :)
The day of the wedding, Betty and Gladys lock themselves in Betty's room with a bottle of the cheapest liquor they could find. It's been three months since Teresa left and ten months since James died. Sometimes they feel like the only people who get it, the only people who are as alone, and they certainly have a similar approach to this wedding. (That is: We are so happy for you, Kate, but we kind of want to kill ourselves.)
Betty pours the first drink and they down it in one by unspoken agreement. The next inspires a toast from Gladys: "To never ever getting married."
"Couldn't even if I wanted to," Betty replies, clinking her glass against Gladys's. They drink.
"To dead-end relationships," Betty offers up.
"Literally," Gladys replies. Clink. Drink.
"To being alone for the rest of my life," Betty says, the alcohol contributing nicely to her morose outlook.
"Hey," Gladys says, putting her hand on top of Betty's free one. "You'll always have me."
"Until you get married."
"What did I just say?!"
Betty pouts and Gladys hooks her arm around Betty's neck, pulling her head in to her chest. "I love you Betts. I swear you'll never be really alone as long as I'm around."
"Thanks," Betty says, muffled by Gladys's dress. She wraps her arms around Gladys's waist and they stay like that for a few minutes.
Wanting to be at least outwardly supportive, they stop at three (ish) drinks, though Betty takes her flask to the sink and fills it from the bottle. They're dressed, made-up, and they share a long sigh—a sad puppydog look across the room and a bolstering breath—before unlocking the door and heading out. Girls in the hall smile as they pass, and they smile in return, then link arms and put their heads together in commiseration.
They ride the streetcar to Leon's church. Betty has borrowed a dress and a hat from Gladys and feels like a freakshow, but Gladys tells her she looks pretty with that little smile Betty can't resist.
The people on the streetcar smile at them too and Betty says in Gladys's ear, "Why is everyone but us so damn happy about this?"
"Just take it as a compliment," Gladys says absently, watching out the window.
"You would say that, Princess."
Gladys smiles at that, then frowns at Betty. "Whatever do you mean by that?"
Betty smiles too.
At the church they link arms again and enter slowly. Scattered over the pews are a couple handfuls of people, almost all of them instantly recognizable. They join Vera in the third pew; Betty and Gladys clasp hands and Vera joins in on the other side of Gladys. Betty leans forward, looks across at Vera who knows and sees all, and rolls her eyes. Vera squints and smiles back.
They wait, mostly in silence, and Betty's heart is in her throat. She squeezes Gladys's hand and Gladys squeezes back, and she wishes she could be anywhere other than where she is but she's grateful she at least has a hand to hold. This is really hard.
The door at the back of the church swings open and Betty's shoulders go up around her ears. Leon walks swiftly to the front, followed by Ivan in a borrowed suit. He glances at the gathered congregation but studiously avoids Betty's eyes, looking up at the stained glass windows behind her. Standing at the front of the church, he coughs and tugs at his collar, then nods at Leon.
The doors open again and from a corner unforeseen, the cheap tinkle of a stand-up piano cues the attendees to stand and turn. Kate is in the doorway, wearing her white gown, carrying a bouquet with no one to give her away. Betty smiles, painfully, knowing her brow is furrowed and she looks anything but pleased—she tries. Gladys keeps a hand on her elbow as they watch Kate walk herself slowly to the front of the church.
Kate's face is grave, yet when she is level with Betty she looks her way with a small smile and reaches out her hand. It takes every ounce of Betty's strength to keep smiling (though her teeth grind together and she can't be sure she doesn't more resemble a carnival mask) and to reach out instead of snatching her hand away. They clasp hands briefly and then Kate is past and joining Ivan at the altar.
As soon as the music stops Betty turns to Gladys, grabs both of her hands, and bows her head as they sit. She takes deep, slow breaths, and Gladys frees one hand to rub Betty's back. Then Leon begins to speak and they look up; Betty holds her head high through sheer force of will.
The ceremony is simple and brief—they don't speak their own vows and Kate requested a less elaborately religious service. Kate doesn't smile, and when Ivan slides the ring onto her finger she stares at it instead of looking at him. Their kiss is chaste, then they turn to the congregation and Kate does smile. It's her stage smile, Betty knows that much, but she can't do anything about it and just clutches Gladys's hand tighter.
There is a small reception in one of the church's gathering rooms—and small is being generous. A bowl of punch, a plate of cookies, and the radio. Kate's friends and Ivan's family stand in clumps, waiting to pay their respects to the couple. Betty leans against the wall, hands searching for pockets on Gladys's fancy dress, while Vera and Gladys get glasses of punch. Forming a huddle, they discreetly top up their glasses from Betty's flask, then go back to casually waiting around.
Vera is on the same page as the both of them: happy for Kate, miserable for herself. Well, not really miserable—it's Vera. They giggle and whisper and try to distract themselves; play the games they played as kids on long car rides.
When Ivan and Kate—Katie—come into the room, there's a smattering of applause, a hoot from one of Ivan's friends. They make their way slowly around the room, arms wound tight around one another, while Betty and Gladys and Vera make faces at each other and then shush each other's giggles.
When the happy couple are a few feet away, they pause and whisper to one another, and Betty and Gladys and Vera hush and watch them. Kate is saying something emphatically, and Ivan is shaking his head. The girls look at each other in curiosity, but soon enough the couple approaches.
"Thanks for coming," Kate says softly, making eye contact with each of them in turn; lingering only slightly on Betty.
"It's great you gals could make it!" Ivan says with his trademark exuberance.
Gladys says, "Of course, we're so happy for you. Both." She hugs Kate tightly, then kisses Ivan on the cheek.
Vera does the same (encouraging Ivan to be in his best form later tonight, wink), and then there's the briefest pause as Betty leans against the wall, before she pushes herself upright and smiles at Kate. Without a word, she hugs Kate and then pats Ivan on the shoulder. It's awkward, but what can you do, really.
Ivan makes a speech with Kate by his side; her smile is small, not her stage smile now, but somehow sad. They raise their glasses (filled mostly with non-alcoholic punch, ahem) and wish health and happiness on the new marrieds.