Title: Something Blue

Author: TartanLioness

Summary: short oneshot. Sam is marrying the love of her life.

Being with her parents in Lyminster would be okay, Samantha Stewart had thought. And it was. But she hadn't counted on the fact that her mother, though happy for her daughter, seemed somehow disappointed in Sam's choice of husband.

Sam didn't blame her, really. Her mother – all mothers, she supposed – had dreamed of the man her daughter would one day marry, and this wasn't it. Her father was rather more practical about it. He knew Foyle to be a good and honest man. He could not say that his daughter's plan to marry said Mr Foyle hadn't come as a great surprise to him, but he could not find it in himself to disapprove of Sam's choice. He only worried that something improper might have happened to make Sam have to marry her former boss, but as soon as the couple arrived in Lyminster and he saw them together, he calmed down. His daughter was in love and that was the most important thing.

But Mrs Stewart… she liked Foyle well enough, but she could not see how her daughter could be happy in a marriage where she was not only the second wife but also so many years younger. She turned a blind eye to her daughter's happiness, not out of spite or even on purpose, but because she couldn't understand it. Her Sam was so full of life, so young and vivacious and Foyle was old, stuck in his own ways and much too quiet. Mrs Stewart didn't see the quiet adoration in his eyes or the respect that he had for Sam. She didn't realise that the couple complemented each other quite well.

Sam was miserable. She knew she loved Christopher and now that they had finally admitted their love for each other she was not about to lose him again, but her mother's disapproval bothered her.

The men, her father and her brothers, had taken Foyle out to show him the town and the church and Sam took the opportunity to talk to her mother. Over tea, they chatted about this and that until Sam finally drew a deep breath.

"Mum? I have a feeling that you don't quite…" She had to search for the word, "approve… of Christopher?"

Her mother sighed, but a slight blush crept into her otherwise deathly pale cheeks.

"I'm sorry, darling. I just don't think he's the right person for you. He's so much older than you."

Sam nodded. "I know. It made me hesitate at first too, but I tried to fall in love with someone else, someone closer to myself in age. It just never happened. I love Christopher. It seemed hopeless for a while, but then the war ended and we didn't work together anymore and… and I decided to tell him, thinking I'd never have to see him again. I just couldn't keep it a secret any longer."

Her mother smiled. "It's hard to keep love a secret. When your father and I first started walking out, I wanted to shout it to the world. But of course, that just wasn't done."

Sam could feel her mother softening up, and was glad she had chosen to be open about her feelings for her husband-to-be. "Turned out, he was as madly in love with me as I am with him. We had a long talk about a lot of things. Like, what society would say. What Andrew would say! The fact that he will most likely die a long time before me," Sam sank the lump in her throat. "And that I might never have children by him. All the things you've probably thought and hated."

Her mother nodded, somewhat ashamedly at the fact that her daughter had already thought it all though.

"It just didn't matter to me, Mum. I love him and I want to spend the rest of his life with him."

Her mother got up and left the room, slowly as always but determinedly. Sam frowned and looked after her. A few minutes later, Mrs Stewart came back with something in her hand.

"See here, darling. I want you to have this. I wore it when I married the love of my life." She handed Sam the item; a baby blue and white lace garter with a silk bow. Sam nearly blushed. "I hope you'll wear it when you marry yours."

Tears came to Sam's eyes as she looked down at the delicate work in her hand and knew what it meant to her mother. Her eyes rose to meet Mrs Stewart's and they found acceptance and love there.

"Thank you, mum," Sam said, her voice thick with emotion.

"It can be something old as well as something blue," Mrs Stewart laughed, knowing that those were the two things Sam had yet to find before the wedding.

"It's beautiful."

THE END.