Sally's Wedding
"Come on, Sally"
"Deep breaths, Girl"
"You got this"
"I don't got this" Sally peers into the mirror at herself. Why did she let herself get talked into this again, oh right, Piper's charmspeak. Sally thought back to her wedding announcement
Sally came from a big family with very small ties to each other; different aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents beyond her time had wronged one another generation after generation. The familial hate was something she never quite caught on to but it sparked great animosity so deep that no matter that situation, one part of the family always got blamed for it, no matter if they had even been in the area at the time. From what she understood, a series of events separated the four children of her eldest grandfather after his death. These children grew into adults and discovered their father had left them something each. These possessions, according to her cousins, were unfairly given. The eldest child left a chest of books, the second a wardrobe, the third a small small farm, and the youngest inherited the family estate. Her ancestor's money was split even between the four, none had not a singular penny more than the other. Yet still, the elder children felt quite cheated and they never failed to bring it up. Their snide comments and complaints lead to constant arguments. The hate soon bred into their children and chain went on. Death threats and wishes of ill will were constant and they increased after the first child's death, his progeny blaming the third's. The children broke into alliances with every coming death until brother no longer trusted brother.
Sally grew up at the center of all of this madness and she was a descendant of the youngest child, she also was the youngest of four. It was believed that she too would inherit what her siblings considered to be of greater value than what they had. Sally's childhood filled with nothing other than hate from her siblings and cousins was slightly relieved by the love of her parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Sally's great grandparents were the family oriented, no nonsense type of people who found the situation entirely ridiculous but were not spared when it came to family arguments events. This pair held the family together despite their better judgement and it only served to cause more damage than good. They were the reason the family met as often as they did, these meetings continued after their deaths when Sally was five. Sally's grandparents held these gatherings at the family estate, such a great idea.
Sally never wanted any of her inheritance, or part in her family. After her mother died, Sally found herself with nothing. Her siblings had found a way to take most of her money but she wasn't mad, what she had was enough. She let them keep the house, it maybe in her name but it would be utter blasphemy to even ponder selling it for more than a minute. At first chance, Sally moved out on her own and changed phone numbers. Her address never stayed the same for two years after leaving. Then she met him suddenly staying in one place didn't seem all too bad. But it was, and eventually she realized so was he.
Being a drifter, Sally had become accustomed to a cold bed but as she laid there facing her bedside table, it's contents nothing more than her pregnancy test and a picture from her first mammogram, the empty side of her bed seemed just that much colder. The apartment looked exactly how it did before she fell asleep but she knew that his personal things were long gone, right alongside him, the place that they were was not disclosed in his note.
Sally never shed tears that day, or the week after that, not even the month after that. Her tears came when she held her son for the first time. The emotions that she kept away for the last eight had came down on her with a vengeance as soon as the nurse utter the word father in Sally's direction. Sally didn't just cry, she sobbed; her tears, the first rainstorm her son came to witness, the promises she made to him a quiet thunder. And that thunder rolled for years to come.
That rainstorm made a rainbow seventeen years later as Sally Iris Messaged Percy. She wanted to tell him in person but she figured it would be better to not completely blindside him, she didn't count on him being with friends at the time of her call. She didn't count on them putting together the puzzle pieces right there. She didn't count on her son's smile or him finally saying "I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to ask." Sally would have never even knew where to factor in the kid's determination to give her her dream wedding.