Chapter 4: The Wedding and the Baptism
It is sunset on a beautiful summer's evening. Andrew brings his face very close to mine. Hesitant at first, I reach up to him and meet him halfway in a passionate kiss. Slowly, as Andrew's tongue slips in between the opening split, my mouth curve into a smile against his. A new life. A new promise.
Instantly, Andrew picks me, his new wife, up and begins to carry me towards a flat-bottomed boat, as fisherman cheer and begin to sing the traditional wedding song: "I tell ya of young men in black-and-white coats, and it's say, to the port side, heave ho. You'll cart your bride off in a flat-bottomed boat to mysterious fathoms below."
I laugh, and manages to wriggle out of my second husband's kiss, before dunking him in the water. That's the other wedding tradition that most people in District 4 don't talk about. Like it is tradition for the bride to be carried away to a flat-bottomed boat, so too is it tradition for the groom to get dunked.
"Wait, there's one more thing!" I cry and I turn to Annie. "Annie, fetch me a piece of bread from my kitchen, would you?"
She returns a moment later to see that I have actually started a fire, using driftwood from the beach. I toast the bread she gives me, and then I prompt my new husband to share it with me, before pulling him to me and kissing him soundly.
"Now, we're married," she tells him. "No one from Twelve feels really married until after a toasting." The people of Four are intrigued. But I am a woman from District 12 at heart. I have to maintain that tradition
"Shall I call Katniss and Peeta with the great news?" Annie asks.
"Better make it a letter. And no, don't mention to my daughter that I have gotten married. But you can still write them," I advise.
Andrew moves in with me in the home in Victors' Village after our honeymoon. It is a nice place to be and good to give Annie and her small son, Finn, some neighbors. Our house also serves as an effective place to bring patients after-hours, in the event of an emergency.
Today is the day of Finnick Odair Jr.'s baptism and my daughter and Peeta have been chosen as the godparents. My husband and Annie and the baby and I are standing at the District 4 train station, to greet the engine from Twelve.
They are all here. Katniss, with Peeta and Haymitch in tow. I give my surviving daughter from my first marriage an awkward hug, and we waltz down through town and to the beach. The baptism will take place in the ocean, as is District 4 tradition.
Introductions are at last in order. I watch nervously as Andrew introduces himself to Katniss. "I'm Dr. Andrew Lambert. You must be Katniss. I've heard so much about you."
Katniss frowns, confused, so I bravely clarify by referring to Andrew as "My new husband."
Katniss now stares between us in bewilderment and deep mistrust. Also... hurt. Of not being told of the wedding. Anger. She actually glowers at Andrew. Refuses to shake his hand. There is a painful silence.
"More brandy?" Haymitch suddenly bellows. I didn't think he was that drunk as he thrusts himself into the space where my husband and daughter are conspicuously not shaking hands and sticking his liquor bottle almost right up Andrew's nose. Then he rounds on Katniss, sounding more like her father than Estes ever did. "And, Sweetheart, I think it's high time you go somewhere private to change. You are not baptizing your godson looking like you just went on one of your hunts! You should have changed on the train!"
Katniss sends him a look that could split stone before turning on her heel and flouncing up to Annie's mansion. Finn coos and squirms in Annie's arms, trying to reach his godmommy, whom he must think is very pretty. Annie and Peeta dither after Katniss, talking in low whispers.
"That Haymitch is... quite a character," Andrew marvels after Haymitch stumbles a distance away.
I smile wanly. "You'll never be bored, Andrew. But that man is smarter than he looks. He can do brilliant feats even when he is drunk. He saved Katniss's life."
When Katniss returns in a beautiful blue dress that matches the tide, she exchanges fiery words with Haymitch. "Why did you call me out in front of my mother?"
"Why are you being such a bitch?" Haymitch volleys back in almost a dead-pan. I see Peeta try not to laugh.
"Who gets married again and then doesn't tell her daughter? Is that something someone hides?" Katniss demands. "I want to know!"
"All right; that's enough! Both of you!" Peeta breaks it up. "We should all be very happy for Mrs... Everdeen's, I mean Lillian's... new marriage."
Katniss places a hand on his chest and actually kisses him. Her eyes are full of something I never thought I'd see in her: love. "Always the peacemaker," she actually smiles appreciatively.
Katniss is a little nervous and emotional when she is tasked with holding Finn. But she kneels in the tide and allows the priest to baptize the baby. Then, she and Peeta stand with their godson on the shore. Katniss actually covers Finn with kisses, as Peeta embraces them both.
"I've tried to tell her she'd be a good mother, but she won't listen to me. And she won't listen to the boy," Haymitch slurs from where he stands next to me.
He's actually right, as I suddenly gasp and become teary at the sight of what could easily be a family. Katniss would be a great mother. Better than I ever was to her.