Madoka and Lin's wedding party was quite small. On Madoka's side, her Maid of Honour was her cousin on her mom's side and best friend Yuri. She had two girls from BSPR on her side as well, Bella and Margaret. Lin, of course, had both twins on his side sharing the role of Best Man. He had asked a man named Jim from BSPR who he had gone to university with to be his third groomsman.
Yuri, Madoka's Maid of Honour, had been arranging the cake and dessert table inside the Davis' home. Now, however, she was finally helping Luella get Madoka into her dress.
The Davis' back garden was now full of people. The wedding was far enough from the beehive that no one seemed to notice. Eugene had puffed some smoke in earlier to calm them. He made a mental note to do that again before the ceremony.
Eugene made eye-contact with his father, who was chatting with Jim near a stack of extra chairs. He quickly made his way over to them.
"Mum said that Madoka will be ready in thirty minutes, so places then and we'll start in about forty-five I reckon."
Jim nodded dutifully.
"Anything else I can do?" he asked.
"You can go check on the groom," Eugene chuckled. "Lin is a whole mess."
Martin laughed, "I never thought I'd see the day."
Jim gave a terse nod before leaving them in search of the groom.
"How's the bride holding up?" Martin stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. "She's not cried yet has she?"
"She's cried, but I think she's holding it together now that her makeup is finished."
"Poor thing. Madoka's such a nervous crier."
Eugene raised an eyebrow as if to ask why his father knew this.
"I knew her as a student," he explained with a chuckle. "If anyone is to cry from nerves, university is the place to do it."
Eugene laughed, knowing exactly what that was like. Luckily, he had nerves of steel and only cried when he saw something super cute on the internet.
At that moment, two young children tackled Eugene by the legs.
"Genie!" one shouted, a young girl in a pale pink dress.
The other, a boy in a yellow dress shirt and pants, silently hugged Eugene's calf.
Eugene feigned great excitement.
"Marie!" He scooped the girl into his arms. "We've been waiting all day for you to come! Don't you know the wedding can't go on without a flower girl?"
Marie giggled, seemingly pleased with her important role in the wedding.
"And you!" Eugene reached down to ruffle the boy's hair. "Where have you been, Anthony? You brought the rings, didn't you?"
The young boy blanched, afraid now that he had forgotten to bring the rings.
Martin laughed, "Eugene's only joking. The rings are safe with me."
The quiet young boy sighed in great relief, earning a laugh from Martin and Eugene. Marie giggled too, though she did not seem to need a reason to do so.
Marie and Anthony were the children of Margaret, one of Madoka's bridesmaids and coworkers at BSPR. Eugene, being quite good with kids, had been asked to babysit them on occasion. They were assigned the roles of flower girl and ring-bearer.
Their mother appeared, dressed in her yellow bridesmaid gown.
"Eugene, could you keep an eye on them until we get in places for the ceremony?"
Eugene nodded.
"Of course!"
Margaret gave a grateful smile and headed inside to find the bride.
As guests filed in and took their seats, Eugene danced to imaginary music with the smallest members of the wedding party. Oliver joined them outside too, though he did not participate in the dancing.
"Nollie!" Marie grabbed Oliver's hand. "You and Genie look so alike in the same clothes! You're matchers!"
Oliver laughed, squeezing the girl's hand back.
"Don't we look handsome side by side?" he asked, smirking.
Marie blushed.
"We're a handsome pair indeed," Eugene laughed.
Eugene glanced at his watch. It was almost time for the ceremony to start. As soon as he thought this, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Madoka's ready," Martin said, giving Eugene's shoulder a squeeze.
Eugene nodded, grabbing Marie and Anthony.
"Time to get started!" He and Oliver led them to the patio, where the rest of the wedding party was convening.
"Thank you so much, Eugene!" Margaret took her children from Eugene.
Luella gave Marie a white wicker basket full of pink and yellow rose petals while the maid of honour outfitted Anthony with the pillow that held the wedding bands.
The wedding party lined up in pairs. Eugene with Yuri, Oliver with Margaret, and Jim with Bella.
As soon as Luella gave the signal, the interlude music began to play. Lin and the priest were at the front under an arch, and the mingling guests finished taking their seats.
The processional music began, and Eugene took Yuri's arm. They began their walk down the aisle, as practiced. Parting at the end, Eugene moving to the groom's side while Yuri went to stand opposite him on the bride's side.
Oliver followed with Margaret, then Jim and Bella.
Eugene watched Luella give Marie and Anthony, the young flower girl and ring-bearer, a small push down the aisle. Marie smiled, spreading petals unevenly as she walked, finally coming to a stop in front of her mother. Anthony came to stand in front of Eugene.
Finally, Madoka and Martin came from inside the Davis' house. Lin did not even try to hide the joy on his face. He looked uncharacteristically stunned. Madoka joined her free arm with Luella's and the three walked down the aisle together. She had wanted both Luella and Martin to give her away.
Madoka was beautiful. Her pale pink hair was pinned up and decorated with white flowers under her long veil. Her dress was form-fitting and lacy, with a heart-shaped neckline and simple gray belt.
She was holding Martin and Luella's arms tightly as she walked, shaking with excitement.
The Davises got to be family to both the bride and groom that day.
Luella, already crying, squeezed Madoka's hand as she let her husband present the bride to Lin. Martin and Luella took their seats in the front together.
The priest began the actual ceremony. Eugene was quite certain that Lin had not smiled this much in his entire life. Throughout all the vows and the saying of 'I do', Lin was beaming. Madoka, even more surprisingly still, did not cry.
"You may now kiss the bride."
Madoka laughed as Lin eagerly gathered her up into a rushed kiss. Usually, he was not one for public displays of affection. Today was clearly Lin's day for abnormal behaviour. Being his wedding day, Lin had a pass to be as outwardly happy and affectionate as he wanted.
Madoka giggled, kissing Lin one more time before taking his hand and walking together back down the aisle, disappearing into the Davis' house.
Eugene made eye-contact with his mother sitting on the front row. She was frantically dabbing at her eyes with Martin's handkerchief.
Martin stood before the crowd.
"The bride and groom would like to thank you for coming and invite you to stay for cake, drinks, and hors d'oeuvres inside," he announced.
Guests began mingling once more, slowly making their way into the Davis home.
Lin and Madoka had decided against a traditional reception since neither one of them much cared for dancing. They did, however, expect speeches from the prominent members of their bridal party.
Eugene was first to toast, holding a flute of champagne that he did not really fancy drinking. He did not care much for the taste. In the other hand, he held the jar of honey that his mother had set aside.
"I am so, so happy that Lin and Madoka are finally getting married. I was getting tired of my mother talking about how much she thought they should marry."
The crowd laughed, seeing Luella shake her head at Eugene's words.
"In my mother's defence," Eugene continued. "She was right."
The crowd laughed again.
"Also, I would just like all of us to appreciate how much Lin has smiled today!" Eugene indicated Lin with the rim of his glass. "I don't think he's ever smiled this much in his life."
"Now," Eugene held up the jar of honey in his hand. "You're all probably wondering why I have this. This is the very first jar of honey from my bees and I want to present it to Lin and Madoka. There is an old Polish wedding song that says, 'Diligent is the life on a farm, like the life of the bee, and marriage is sweet as honey.'" Eugene handed the jar to Madoka who accepted it happily.
"A toast," Eugene raised his glass. "To a genuine smile, a happy couple, and a life as sweet as honey."
hi! I was just crossposting all of these stories to my AO3 account and I realized that I never posted the last chapter! sorry to keep you waiting, I guess.
thank you, as always to Hannah (snavej) for editing!
I hope you enjoyed this story!
Love,
Bee
