Summer Interludes
Chapter 6
7 years later- Mid August.
Robin called it "the summer of weddings". They were now celebrating wedding number four in the family. First had been the wedding between his niece Roberta Kingsfort and Neal Nolan in mid-June. Neal and Roberta didn't even try to restrain his mother. The wedding was a near recreation of an Enchanted Forest royal wedding, scaled down to fit Snow and David's back yard. Robin thought back on how Roberta and Neal's mentor friendship had grown into a romance…
Roberta had confessed to Robin, when she was 22, that she was starting to feel something for Neal.
"Uncle Robin, I thought Neal just had one of those adolescent crushes on me. But now, I know it's not just a crush, and I'm starting to have feelings for him. But he's still a kid."
Roberta had just completed her Forestry degree and had just been hired as a full time employee. They were getting ready to go home from their shift at the station. Although she'd become much closer to her father in recent years she still tended to go to her uncle for answers to difficult questions. This was one.
Robin looked thoughtful. "It is difficult right now, because in this realm you are considered a young adult, while he's still a teenager. In the Enchanted Forest you wouldn't have had that problem, as long as the families were friendly. The families would negotiate and you two would likely become betrothed, since you both come from nobility."
Roberta snorted, "Some don't consider barons nobility."
"Ah yes, as they've been dubbed 'the snob group'."
"You heard about them?"
"Of course, we adults do hear about things. None of that matters here though."
"But there are other issues in this world."
"Yes. And you should listen to your discomfort. If Neal truly has feelings for you, he will listen to what you say and wait until you don't feel uncomfortable about the age difference."
Neal and Roberta did talk about it. Neal was so overjoyed, at first, that Roberta admitted having feelings for him that he readily agreed to waiting to date until he was 18. Although he didn't let it show to Roberta, he did get a bit frustrated at times. Roberta was still somewhat hesitant even after Neal turned 18 because of the age difference but more attracted than she'd been two years ago. Neal spoke to his father in frustration.
"She even says she loves me, dad, what can I do to convince her age difference isn't important anymore?"
"Show her you are a man now, charm her, listen to what she says, surprise her with things you know she likes-"
"I already do the last two dad, what do you mean by charm her?"
"Are you flirting with her?"
Neal blushed with embarrassment, "I've tried, but she just laughs and changes the subject."
"Ah. I think I see the problem. Try casually taking your shirt off after you get to her apartment. Make some excuse that's obviously false and grin at her. Then continue to flirt with her."
"You think that will work?"
"Works with you mother." David shrugged and grinned.
Neal rolled his eyes.
The next time he went on a date with Roberta he called his parents with a rushed message that he wouldn't be home tonight. Neal told them he was spending the night at Roberta's apartment. Snow and David opened the bottle of champagne they'd been saving for this moment.
After that, things progressed rapidly in Neal and Roberta's relationship. Within a month he was spending more nights at Roberta's apartment than at home. Within a year he'd moved in with her. And now three years later, they had married. Roberta had been working as a Ranger at the station for a few years now; but Neal was only three quarters of the way through his degree in accounting. He was working as a bookkeeper in Storybrooke's school office. Snow and David had no idea where his fascination with numbers and budgets had come from. Snow was a teacher and both his father and sister were in law enforcement. No one else in the family was an accountant.
Robin told them, "Roland's an actor; a career that isn't anything connected to Regina's, mine or even Marion's interests. Children follow their own paths."
"It's just so…different from what we expected."
Robin shrugged "Roland being an actor took a while for Regina and I to understand. But it's what he loves to do. While Roberta likes working with nature, like her favorite uncle" Robin grinned. "She does a lot of work at the station- looking at the data, and working out focus plans. She and Neal have a kind of similar way of looking at things."
"So did she influence him?"
Robin shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But I remember, even when he was in early elementary school, Hope talking about Neal being the one who always answered the math questions first."
Snow nodded. "Yes, he understood simple math before he even started kindergarten… So maybe Neal was attracted to Roberta, even before she started mentoring him, because they thought alike."
"They're both air element magic users. Regina says air types tend to be attracted to theoretical science and mathematics. Certainly it's true for Neal and Roberta."
Snow looked solemn. "You know Bae was an air element too I think. I wonder how she ended up using it? I wonder how she and Belle are doing." She looked sad. "It still feels like something is missing from here without them. Just this note in the background. Your youngest, Grace, was very close to Bae. It must still be painful for her."
"Yes. She has other friends, and of course now her fiancé, Laurent. But she still talks about missing her best friend fairly often."
"Bae and Belle will be missed by all of us at Neal and Roberta's wedding."
Robin was one of the few male relatives on her side, outside of her immediate family, which Roberta wanted in the wedding party. She asked her Uncle Robin be Neal's Best Man. So that Robin wouldn't feel awkward being so much older than the other groomsmen, Neal asked his sister be Roberta's Matron of Honor. Regina was in the wedding party too, being Neal's step-grandmother.
Wilfred thought to stop a potentially awkward situation from happening of father versus stepfather; he told Roberta she should walk down the aisle on Stan's arm, not his.
"Roberta, I know you've become close to your father in recent years. It would make him so happy if you choose him to walk you down the aisle. I care for you as my daughter too, but it would mean the entire world to him." Her stepfather understood his stepdaughter, and understood his friend Stan as well.
"Thank you!" Roberta looked relieved, she couldn't decide who to ask, afraid she'd hurt the feelings of whoever she didn't choose. "But what about mom? It might be awkward for her."
"Rowena and I already talked about it. She's fine with it. Things are a lot better between Stan and her than they were when you were younger. "
"Yeah but the whole wedding thing. I worried it might remind her of when my dad was an alcoholic and she was miserable being married to him."
"No. We've all already talked about it together. We knew you'd be worried and wanted to make sure everything was okay before the wedding."
"I kind of wish both you and my dad could walk me down the aisle."
"Well, if you want that, maybe we can do that. Who says it has to be conventional?
For the wedding Roberta wore a three tiered wedding dress with a cathedral length veil and detachable lace dress train. Neal wore a Regency revival style tailcoat. They deliberately avoided having a themed style wedding, deciding it had become too overdone. The men and boys of the wedding party wore modern tuxedos- in the tradition of formal weddings of this land.
The one concession to Enchanted Forest style dress was with Henry's daughter Zita. Zita was the flower girl and Dylan was the ring boy. The twins were now eleven. Zita still liked playing dress up, much to her great grandmother Snow's delight. Zita's dress had a polonaise skirt that resembled a style of Enchanted Forest court dress, but with a simple sleeveless bodice with a satin cummerbund style sash at the waist.
The bridesmaids and matron of honor's dresses were all full length, made from a satin underdress and a chiffon overdress. The dresses skirts were all gathered in a soft A-line in a periwinkle shade. The bodices were periwinkle as well, but in different styles, depending on what style they liked.
The fad of dressing in Enchanted Forest style clothing for weddings had faded. It had reached its peak around the time Henry and Violet had married, but was already starting to fade when Roland and his partners did their handfasting. The three of them had chosen to wear Avalon style robes for it. Roland had fond memories of seeing Robin and Regina's wedding there and got his partners interesting in dressing that way. The candlelit ceremony next to Henry and Violet's house had felt nearly as magical, if on a smaller scale. Roland, Eimi and Douglass seemed to be quite happy. But to Regina's disappointment, the trio were still living in their old apartment.
Next this summer had been the double wedding of Hope and Yara, and her sister Grace to Laurent. That had been in early July in the backyard of the two couples' new duplex home.
That duplex had been quite a find. Hope and Grace were determined to live right next to each other. It was looking like they might have to settle for two apartments close to each other. But then a duplex home had gone on the market. The four toured the home, along with Regina and himself. The realtor seemed almost beside herself with excitement at the thought of selling a home to the mayor's daughters. Hope and Grace seemed equally overjoyed at getting this house, where they would be literally right next door to each other. Their soon to be spouses were calmer but were happy that a perfect solution had appeared right when they needed it.
For their weddings Hope, Yara and Grace all wore full length sundresses with flower blossom circlets matching the pastel shades of their dresses. Laurent had worn Penobscot festival clothing. Robin chuckled, recalling the conversation he'd overheard about Laurent's choice of clothing at the wedding.
"Grandma Snow is so disappointed that the four of us were able to put our feet down and say we'd plan our own weddings." Hope grinned.
Grace giggled and replied after she whispered in Laurent's ear and he whispered back in hers. "We love her, but sometimes she's a pest. We have an idea that might shock her a bit."
"What?" Hope asked.
"I could wear my festival clothing for the wedding." Laurent smirked.
"What's that look like?" Yara chimed in.
Laurent pulled out his phone and showed her a picture of himself. Other than a long, open, fringed vest his chest was bare. At the bottom he was wearing a long breechclout with fringe matching the vest, and traditional leggings. His hair was longer and was loose except for two small braided and beaded strands with round metal disks on the ties. Grace now wore one of those metal disks as pendant and Laurent wore the other the same way. "This was at the summer festival, in my family's lands, when I was 16. I was really happy your mom let you come to it with mom and me."
"My first trip out of Storybrooke without mom or dad."
Hope laughed. "Dad was pacing the floor waiting for you to get back home. Mom pretended to be doing paperwork."
"And they were so nonchalant when I walked in." Grace's mouth quirked into a smile. "Dad acted like he'd just come out of the kitchen; mom just glanced up from the sofa, and said 'Did you have fun?' You were awake waiting for me too, though." Grace smirked.
"Busted." Hope grinned. "My baby sister, of course I'm going to worry."
What was amusing was that the plan to shock Snow failed spectacularly. The children were too young to remember Snow had a bit of a wild side. Robin knew from David's mild complaint that Snow still enjoyed romantic movies where good looking men went around shirtless.
But David's complaint was with a smirk as he said, "it gets her in the mood to 'make tacos'."
Robin rolled his eyes, subtle, David wasn't.
Snow had ended up shocking Grace and Laurent a bit instead on their wedding day as she laughed and gave the two of them a knowing grin when she saw Laurent's clothes. It wasn't the first time they wrongly thought something would shock older family members. Robin remembered when the two thought they were keeping their relationship a secret from Regina and himself.
Grace was the baby of the family. She was sure Regina and he couldn't deal with her growing up. So Grace and Laurent used the excuse of training for their school cross country races to have time with each other. They were both seniors in high school then . By the time Robin suspected what was going on Grace and Laurent were only a couple of months away from graduation. Regina must have suspected as well. He and Regina were settling into bed when she mentioned a conversation she'd had with Grace earlier that day about when and how teens should learn about birth control. Regina talked about the conversation matter of factly, but he knew that look in her eyes. He'd decided to do his ranger patrol in the part of the woods Grace and Laurent liked to train the next day.
Grace and Laurent were a bit too preoccupied to be listening for anyone's approach. He heard them some distance off. He didn't want to see what they were doing; and give them enough time to get back into any clothes they'd taken off. He dropped a small rock against a larger rock, then snapped a dead branch and let it drop against the rock. As he suspected there was an obvious panicked scrambling and words from their direction.
"Oh crap, someone's coming!"
"Hurry! It might be my dad!"
"Or your brother, isn't he working at the station this week?"
"God, that might even worse. Roland thinks he's my protector or something. I'm already eighteen, an adult."
"He's your older brother, that's how they're supposed to be. Lita still thinks she can boss me around too just because she's my big sister."
Robin could tell from the calmer tone they must have hid the evidence they were doing anything. He snapped a smaller stick with his foot and walked to where they could see him.
"Hi dad! Laurent and I were just taking a break." Grace said with a blush. Laurent, blushing as well, silently waved hello.
"I see." Robin smirked. "Enjoy the rest of your run, then."
Robin had worried, when his daughters started dating, he might turn into an overprotective father. But neither Hope nor Grace complained about either Regina or himself being too overbearing. Both Hope and Grace had chosen wisely with the people they dated and their eventual spouses. Laurent was a kind young man who adored Grace, and Yara had a warm protective side that reminded him of Regina's.
Hope had met Yara through her work at the emergency veterinary clinic last year. Up till then Hope had dated a few other women, including a few she'd met during the semesters she'd spent at Tufts University in Massachusetts. While most of her course work could be done in Storybrooke, there were a few classes she had to do at Tufts, including two classes next year that would complete her degree. Yara worked as a security guard in Storybrooke, like both her parents.
Yara's grandparents were Zumurrud and Ali Shar. In this world their somewhat inaccurate story was a tale in the Arabian Nights. The real Zumurrud had been a warrior queen and Ali Shar had been the youngest son from a neighboring kingdom. When a peace treaty had been signed between the two kingdoms Prince Ali had fallen in love at first sight with Zumurrud. He was a handsome young man and Zumurrud needed a husband so the peace treaty was concluded with a marriage contract and a royal wedding. While not a true love match, the marriage was peaceful and prosperous. Queen Zumurrud and her consort Prince Ali had five children, three daughters and two sons.
Yara's mother, Tahmina, had been their rebellious middle daughter. Too much her mother's daughter, Tahmina ran away at sixteen and became an adventurer. She happened to be in the Enchanted Forest when the first curse happened. The then eighteen year old became a security guard in Storybrooke. When everyone was sent back to the Enchanted Forest, under what became known as the missing year, Tahmina returned to her parents' kingdom to reconcile with her parents. While at the court she met a cat shifter among the younger palace guards, Bahadur Fahad.
The two soon fell in love. Tahmina's parents were so happy to see their daughter again, they had no objections to her choice. They did worry about some in their kingdom reacting badly. Prejudice against shifters was as common in their kingdom as any other. Despite her parents warm welcome, Tahmina felt out of place in the Enchanted Forest, and she missed her friends who were staying in the Queen's castle, for safety from the Wicked Witch. A couple of months after the wedding Tahmina and Bahadur traveled back to the Queen's castle. They arrived just days before the second curse took everyone near the Queen's castle back to Storybrooke. Tahmina helped Bahadur adjust to life in Storybrooke. Their daughter Yara was born the year between Grace and Cedric. Grace and Cedric knew her in passing but Hope didn't.
Yara's father, who was a cat shifter on his father side, shifted to a panther, as most his father's line did. Yara was only a quarter cat shifter though, and her animal form was a black housecat. At first Yara was embarrassed about her unimpressive cat form, but eventually she came to like the advantage it gave her. Anyone would know a panther roaming around had to be her father, but a black housecat, it could just be someone's pet.
Last year Yara had been working a night shift on the fateful day. It had been a damp and chilly night. Yara decided to shift back to cat form as her fur kept her warmer than the windbreaker she was wearing over her clothes in human form. Only moments after she had shifted she was struck with a baseball bat from behind. It was Phillip Junior and his fellow delinquent friends. She was so hurt and dazed she couldn't shift back to human form. She was kicked and dragged to the side of the road and left there. She lay there semiconscious and in agonizing pain for some time.
She was discovered by four children out far past their bedtimes. Ten year old Dylan and Zita, their 9 year old half sister Lucy and their friend Xian. Nine year old Xian had noticed the injured cat first. Xian didn't want her moms Rebecka and Mulan finding out she was out running around with her friends when she should have been in bed. That ruled out taking the injured cat to her mother Rebecka. Lucy was Jacinda and Tiana's daughter. Henry had been their donor, Rebecka had done the IVF. At first Henry, Violet, Jacinda and Tiana had kept it a secret that Henry was their donor. But gradually they'd let everyone know. Xian was Rebecka and Mulan's baby, conceived via IVF genetic tinkering and magic. The four of them, born within 18 months of each other were close friends.
"Aunt Hope's working tonight at the emergency vet clinic, we could take the kitty there. Aunt Hope won't tattle on us." Zita declared.
The others agreed and Dylan, being the tallest, and with his great grandfather David's words of gallantry inspiring him, took off his jacket, and laid it on the ground next to the cat. Zita, with the bit of magic she could access, gently lifted the injured cat onto the jacket. Xian, having watched her mother care for injured people, carefully wrapped up the cat. Then Lucy carried it; she was most agile, because of her ballet classes. They went around to the back door.
"Her office is close to this door. If we ring this bell she'll probably answer."
Hope was checking the results of the test on her brother's cat, Penny. Henry had brought in the cat to her because it had been vomiting. Hope hated to tell him that unfortunately Penny had terminal cancer. She couldn't heal Penny. She wondered how her niece and nephew would react. Penny had been the family pet since they were babies.
When she answered the door and saw Dylan and Zita there for a moment she wondered if Dylan's weak touch telepathy had taken a huge leap and they were there because he'd picked up her sadness about Penny.
"Aunt Hope, can you heal this kitty? We found it hurt beside the road."
Hope glanced at the clock, ten PM on a September school night. All four should be home and in bed. She let it pass though and gently took the cat from Lucy.
As soon as started to heal the cat, Hope knew it was a female cat shifter. She paused her healing at a point where she could and spoke to the kids. "She's going to be okay now. Thank you for bringing her to me. You better get home now though, it's past ten thirty."
"You won't tell on us?" Xian asked.
"Nope, as long as you go straight home now."
After they left, Hope continued the healing. When she finished the cat shifted back to a woman with short straight black hair. Hope thought she was the most stunning looking woman she'd ever met.
"Thank you, for both the healing and the privacy. I don't like shifting around other people, but I could tell you knew what I was, and when you continued to heal me after the children left I knew I could trust you." Yara smiled at Hope.
"Who hurt you?"
"Storybrooke's best known spoiled jerks."
"Phillip Junior and his friends."
"Yeah, the plague of Storybrooke. They either saw me shift, or just decided to beat up a cat."
"They belong in jail for this. You want to press charges, right? You still have some visible bruising I can record that and turn it over to the police."
"Thanks. Did you get any images of my injuries in cat form? I was so out of it when they brought me in I don't remember anything until right before you paused to get the kids to go home."
"Yes, we have to record injuries before we treat them, especially when it's an obvious assault."
"Good."
Storybrooke had passed a hate crimes bill that included crimes committed against shifters. Phillip Junior received a sentence of a minimum of three years before chance of parole. The trial also helped shift more of even the older generations of Storybrooke to support the hate crimes bill. There had been a lot of prejudice against shifters in the Enchanted Forest. Regina and Robin had been part of the minority that weren't prejudiced against shifters, Hope was proud to say. Even after facing Zelena's flying monkeys. That had been a dark spell not nature.
Hope and Yara soon realized they were attracted to each other and began to date. After a couple of months Hope visited Robin at work.
"Dad, I think I love Yara and I think she loves me. But she's still a bit reserved. It kind of reminds me of what I've heard about how you and mom fell in love. Mom kind of held back a bit, not physically, but other stuff, like about her past."
"She was afraid. She'd forgotten I'd seen her darkness and her broken side already. Do you think she's holding back because there's something about being a shifter she thinks would scare you?"
"Maybe."
"Hmm. Well, with Regina, I just kept assuring her I loved all of her and I wasn't afraid of any part of her. It took a while for her to feel assured I would always support her. I knew her dark past. I knew who she was before, but I also knew who she was right then."
"I'll try that." Hope thought something else might help too. She could talk about what she'd dealt with because Zelena was her biological mother. How people looked at her marmalade colored hair, and were wary of her, even people who hadn't when her hair was blonde. The light red hair reminded anyone Roland's age or older of Zelena. Unlike Regina, Zelena had never truly reformed, much less apologized and felt shame for what she'd done. The only person even now Zelena had expressed remorse to was Hope. She was remorseful that her actions cast a shadow on her daughter. But still tended to turn it toward anger at the people who were mean to her daughter rather than shame for what she had done.
Even though Yara was still a bit reticent, Hope proposed on the spring equinox. To Hope's joy Yara said yes. Grace and Laurent had been engaged since New Year's Day. It was at that point Hope and Grace had become completely set on living next door to each other. They'd talked about it for years, and now that they both were getting married it just seemed the perfect thing. Neither Laurent or Yara had any strong feelings about where they wanted to live, so they went along with what Hope and Grace wanted.
After Hope and Grace had moved out, shortly before the weddings, Regina had turned to Robin and said. "I'm so glad they're that close."
"You wish you and your sister could have been that close." Robin said solemnly.
"It wouldn't have had to have been that close, that's something special between the two of them. But even if we'd had even a grudging tolerance… If she'd realized my life had been hell being raised by our mother. She was able to escape from her stepfather and be free. Mother made sure I was never free, that I went into an even worse hell when she forced me to marry Leopold."
"She's still that way?" Robin grimaced "When you talk to her; I thought you'd-"
"Reached a kind of truce. Yes we have. She's… stopped being ragingly jealous of me. And she did give vital help when I had to face Gold in New York. But is she apologetic for what she's done? No. Only to how its hurt Hope. But that's mostly just anger at the people who are unkind to Hope, maybe a little remorse for her part in causing it. Maybe a little remorse toward the pain she caused me. The way she looks at me sometimes. I recognize that look, because I looked at Snow that way at first, before we were able to make things right between us." Regina faintly smiled "Nowadays, half the time I feel like she's my bossy older sister."
Robin chuckled. "I believe much of our extended family would share that feeling about Snow."
"Emma calls her the family alpha." Regina laughed.
The next dramatic event in the extended family was not a wedding but the adoption of a child. Matthew's husband Gian went to help out where his family had come from, two generations earlier. There was a severe earthquake in Northern India in November. Gian helped in the shelters. He asked to be notified if any of his relatives were located. Most were okay, but one distant cousin and most of his family had died. Only an infant boy survived; his mother had protected him in the collapsing house. The baby was slightly dehydrated and had a broken foot but was otherwise unharmed. The boy's mother was a biracial American. Unfortunately the closest relatives were prejudiced against biracial children and had a limited income. Gian was then contacted as a relative. Gian readily agreed to take custody of the baby boy named Kavin. It took several months of red tape but finally Gian was able to formally adopt Kavin and bring him back home in July.
When Matthew heard from Gian about the addition to their family he was both happy and nervous. He asked all his relatives for advice, including his uncle Robin.
"I'm happy we'll be able to raise Kavin, but I'm scared about taking care of a baby. They're so helpless. "I know a bit about babies from when my little brother. Mom and Wilfred let Roberta and I help out taking care of him, but this is Gian and I taking care of him. Glad they promoted me to manager at the store last year; we'll need a good double income with the baby. Gian's already talked to the library staff and they're excited to see the baby."
Gian was now the Director of the Storybrooke library. The staff was large enough that they had their offices on the second floor, shared with a childcare center. Belle started the childcare center for the support staff, about a year before she left. A couple of years ago it had opened up to the public. One of the other daycare centers closed because the owner decided to retire. The library daycare center manager suggested that they could help out and Gian thought that was a great idea. They ended up with about half the kids from the other daycare center. So at least they didn't have to worry about searching for a daycare center.
"It is scary, even when you have a partner. But don't think it's just you and Gian alone . If you need help, you can call us any time." Robin replied.
"Thanks Uncle Robin."
The summer wound down with the wedding of Cedric and Leira. Cedric was a nephew of Robin's; while Leira was the daughter of Regina's surviving paternal cousin, Valeria. They were the same age and had been friends since childhood. They announced their engagement at their high school graduation party. The now large extended family had gathered for the party, making it convenient for the engagement announcement.
"Isn't it wonderful!" Snow enthused to Robin. "It brings our families together even more!"
Robin grinned. "I don't envy the next generation when they do the family tree assignment at school."
Snow's eyes widened , then she burst into helpless laughter.
There was some worried discussion in the family about them marrying straight out of high school. But Leira's job as a jeweler's assistant and Cedric's as a house painter was enough to comfortably live in an apartment. Both also did commission work, Cedric as a portrait and mural painter and Leira created and sold her own jewelry. They'd both inherited their family's artistic talents. That had been part of what brought them together. So despite their youth, the families decided to let their love take its course.
Cedric and Leira had decided they wanted a lighthouse wedding. There wasn't a lighthouse in Storybrooke, but there was one in Arcadia National Park. The lighthouse was less than an hour drive from Storybrooke.
So here they were, Regina, his sister, her husband, assorted children and a few grandchildren at a lighthouse in Arcadia National Forest. Watching the happy young couple, dressed in what they called post World War I style, get married.
He wasn't thrilled to be on the beach, especially dressed in a suit, blessedly without those old neck strangling "ties". Regina called the type suit he was wearing a blazer. It was a hot day so the name was suitable; he felt like he was roasting in it. But Cedric and his groomsmen had it even worse, full formal tuxedos, replicas of the 1920's. Leira's dress and the bridesmaids looked far more comfortable.
Robin was one of the few of the men of the older generation who could sit through a discussion of wedding costumes without passing out from boredom. If someone was enthusiastic about a subject Robin usually liked to listen and learn. Regina said it was probably part of his low level magic. Their happiness and enthusiasm touched his. So he knew that Leira's dress was a replica of a 1918 wedding dress she had thought was the most beautiful dress she'd ever seen. The bridesmaids were satin and lace replicas of 1920's dresses. Dylan, as the ring boy, was spared having to wear the tuxedo. He had been slightly embarrassed to wear a replica 1920's ringboy outfit, because the original had been for a boy around five years old, where he was eleven. But now he was smirking that he had a cotton shirt and shorts on instead of a suit. Zita's and Lucy's dresses were replica 1920 flower girl dresses; short cotton dresses with collars that matched Dylan's.
They'd been able to reserve a large beachside cabin for the reception . After the early afternoon wedding and reception, most the family changed into swimsuits or shorts and were playing in the surf.
"Do you think we finally ended the magical disasters that kept hitting us every few years?" Regina said to Robin as they wandered along the shoreline. "It's been almost four years since we ended that threat from the bad book realm."
"Morgan seemed to think we had, and they could see all the realms." Robin said reassuredly.
"But that realm had been hidden, even from them, for so long. Could there be others like it?"
Robin shrugged. "We just know what Morgan said, when we shut off the corruption it was causing to all the other realms."
"That we'd saved all the realms, even that one. "
"I have hope we did."
Regina smilled, "Me too. I just need to be worried, just in case."
Robin pulled her in for a kiss. "I know."