"So you and Amelia are pretty happy?" Matthew asked Andrew. "She has no ill will toward me anymore?"

"I shouldn't think so," Andrew shook his head. "Your daughter is another story; I think we have some more work to do with her, but I believe I have removed the Amelia threat."

"Good!" Matthew smiled. "That makes me very happy. Now maybe Christine and I can have a more public celebration of our marriage. We've only eloped, you know, and I can't say I'm really comfortable with that. I need more! And thanks to you, brother, I'll have it." He smiled widely and Andrew patted him on the back.

"Anything I can do to make you happy, including make out with your former wife behind your back," he told him.

"In all honesty, I always knew she had more feelings for you," Matthew told him. "It was just that with her mother being as obstinate as she was, there was nothing I could do about that without getting all three of us in terrible trouble."

"Well, that makes you a better man than me, but I think we both know that," Andrew replied. "I would have been the one encouraging Amelia to run off with me and just show some emotion and every other thing that her mother told her she couldn't do, regardless of what the consequences for her would be. Of course, if we'd just run off together when we planned, anything her mother said later wouldn't have been a problem."

"You know, I always wonder if I would have been happier if you'd run off with Amelia or not," Matthew told him. "I mean, I don't think either of us really wanted to get married and just did it to please our parents."

"Well, of course you did it to please others," Andrew told him. "I did the same thing with Abbie."

"But things with you and Abigail were happy enough, weren't they?" Matthew asked. "I mean, you at least liked her, didn't you?"

"Of course I liked her," Andrew nodded. "After how emotionally Amelia always reacted to everything, Abbie's calm nature was a nice change, at least for a little while. But then she died and I was back to having a choice of being alone for the rest of my life or going against my better judgment and pursuing your wife again." He paused. "You don't think I'm horrible for that, do you?"

"Oh, no, of course not!" Matthew shook his head. "Since I was either too cowardly or too foolish to return to her after what happened to me, I…I'm grateful that you stepped in until I was able to come back. And I showed up just in time, too. I think if I'd waited any longer, I would have been without a wife and a daughter."

"And then you did what?" Andrew wanted to know. "Gave her your blood, killed her, and then the two of you lived unhappily ever after?"

"Not the whole time," Matthew told him. "It was just when Selina made the choice to finally embrace her werewolf side regardless of what Amelia thought that things got really bad and Amelia became an angry and bitter person again."

"Yes," Andrew nodded. "People not doing exactly what she wants of them tends to make Amelia be sour. Or at least it did before now. I think we've finally managed to reach the point where she no longer cares, which means that if you and Christine want to get married, you should do it now, before her mood changes. Cause it could at any time."

"Oh, you don't have to warn me about this," Matthew told him. "And we're planning on it."

"Are you going to tell your daughter?" Andrew asked.

"Part of me thinks it's a bad idea, and part of me thinks I should," Matthew told him. "What do you think?"

"I think that you're gonna tell her what you and Christine plan to do regardless of what I have to say, but making Selina come, even if she offers, is a bad idea," Andrew told her.

"I think you're right on all counts," Matthew agreed. "She's trying so hard to accept what I did cause she wants me to be happy, but I can tell it's not genuine and it probably never will be, so why push it?"

"Why indeed?" Andrew nodded. "Why, indeed."

"Don't worry," Matthew told Selina as he ushered her into his house while Jack and Zeke nipped at her heels. "Christine's not here. She's out shopping for a party we're going to have."

"Oh?" Selina asked, eyebrow going up and eyes widening just a little. "What sort of party?"

"Something I don't think you'd be comfortable coming to," Matthew replied. "Now that your uncle seems to have calmed your mother down, Christine and I, after a long discussion, decided we wanted to have a more public celebration of our marriage. I understand that you object to what we did, so I won't request that you come, but I thought I'd let you know that it's a week from this upcoming Saturday if you want to."

There was a long silence and then Selina got out, "Well, if I'm going to make the cake, I have come, don't I?"

"You mean come long enough to drop off the cake?" Matthew asked. "It's sweet of you to offer to do such a thing, but you really don't need to. I appreciate that you're bending over backwards to try and show me that you support what I'm doing with Christine and that you just want me to be happy, but when my fiancée is threatening to shoot my daughter cause you're both threatened by each other's presence in my life, I think it's time for us all to step away, at least for a little while."

"Does that mean you don't want me to see you anymore?" Selina asked, her lip jutting out a little."

"No, that's not what it means at all," Matthew replied, hugging her. "It means we'll just have to plan times to see each other when Christine's not around, that's all. I couldn't ban you from my house. That would make me very unhappy, and although Zeke and Jack love Christine, I think they'd miss you too much if you never came over again."

"All right," Selina nodded. "That seems fair. But I'm still dropping off a cake anyway. Talk to Christine about what you want, give me a call, and then when it's done, I'll bring it over the day of the party. Are you having it here, did you say?"

"Yes," Matthew nodded. "I think we'll be having it here. We have enough space, so I really don't see a reason to have it anywhere else."

"It's time to get up now, sir," said a sharp voice from the other side of Matthew Warren's bedroom door. The small calendar on his bedside table was the first thing he saw as he opened his eyes. It was just a few days before Christmas, 1845, and he was getting married. The thought didn't make him happy, however. Instead, he stayed in his bed, the covers over his head to keep him warm after he cast a dismayed glance at the frosted over windows.

"Did you hear me, sir?" His manservant asked as he advanced into the room and pulled the blankets off Matthew while he tried not to shiver under his thin night shirt since his fire head gone out and his bed warmer had cooled. "You have to get up so we can dress you. Mr. Lockwood and his son have arrived to go with you, your parents, and your brother to the church. You don't want to keep them waiting, do you? I don't know why I let you sleep so long. Luckily for you, your brother has offered to entertain them while I get you dressed so you're not in as much trouble as you would think."

"Oh, all right," Matthew sighed and got out of bed. "No use in prolonging the inevitable, I guess."

They then made him up a bath (the water had already been warming on the stove for some time) and then after he'd been washed, his manservant helped him dress in his best suit and then led him out to the living room where Amelia's father and brother and the rest of his own family sat waiting.

"I apologize for being late," he said, bowing slightly. "On mornings as cold as this, it's sometimes very hard to convince yourself to get out of bed."

"Oh, that's all right," Amelia's brother said before his father (who had the beginnings of a frown on his face) could speak. "Your brother was entertaining us with the most amusing stories while you were getting ready."

"But now that you're here," His father added, his tone firmer and sharper, "Let's get going, shall we? My wife and daughter have to be wondering where we are, and they might even be starting to wonder if there won't be any wedding at all!"

So they all trudged out to the carriage and tried not to shiver too much while being grateful that they wouldn't be driving very long before they arrived at the church. When they reached it, Amelia's mother approached them all and said, "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

"It's my fault, ma'am," Matthew told her. "I slept late this morning and made us late."

Amelia's mother gave a dismissive sniff and said, "You'd think a man would be more eager on his wedding day, especially if he was marrying someone as beautiful as my daughter."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Matthew said quietly. "And send my apologies to Amelia also."

"I will," her mother said and then strode away.

Following that very awkward exchange, Andrew took Matthew into a corner and said, "You're very brave to do this, facing them and all. If I were marrying Amelia, I'd just run off with her."

"I know," Matthew nodded. "You tried that some years ago, remember?"

"Yes," Andrew nodded. "I know I did."

"Where's Abigail today?" Matthew asked him. "I thought for sure you'd bring your own fiancee."

"She had to stay home because her mother is ill," Andrew explained. "And it's kind of a lucky thing, too. I don't see Amelia handling her presence well. Think about that when Abigail and I finally marry."

Matthew nodded. "I will."

They then took only a few minutes more before they began the wedding. When Matthew finally got a look at Amelia in her dress, he had to admit that she was beautiful, but as he lifted her veil to kiss her, he saw that she had tears in her eyes. He tried to tell himself that she was crying cause she was so happy about being married but he knew that that wasn't the case. She was just as upset about this marriage as he was, but like him, she would go through with it anyway, just to please her parents, so at least someone would be happy about it. With any luck, it wouldn't take them long to conceive a child, and then if she died in childbirth, it would be a way out for both of them so they wouldn't have to continue with this charade anymore. The sad part about it was that they both didn't really mind each other, they just knew that they would be better as siblings by marriage than husband and wife. But their parents had their plans, and because of those plans, the right thing for Amelia and Matthew would never be done.

"Hey, Selina's here with the cake. Where should I tell her to put it?"

Matthew turned around from the mirror of Amelia's dresser at the sound of Christine's voice and then came over to the doorway of their bedroom to hug her. "It's very sweet of you to ask, but I'll tell her. You just relax."

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Christine smiled and kissed him. Then he went to the kitchen, finding his daughter standing next to a magnificent white frosted, three-layer cake.

"Is this good enough for this soiree?" Selina asked.

"Oh, it's more than good enough," Matthew replied with a smile, taking her in his arms and giving her a hug and kiss of her own. "Thanks for going to all the trouble."

"It was no trouble at all," Selina replied. "I hope you and your guests enjoy it. And Daddy…I'm glad you're finally happy."

"Thank you," Matthew nodded. "I can't say that I was on my first wedding day, even though someone really wonderful came from that, but now…now I can say that I am."

Selina gave him one last smile before leaving the house, getting in her car, and heading back home, where Elijah was waiting for her by the door and took her in his arms to hold her.

"So you didn't stay," he said as she hugged him back. "I hoped you wouldn't."

"I thought about it," Selina admitted. "But I didn't want to ruin Daddy and Christine's day by being the only one at the party who wasn't truly happy for them. Well, of course I'm happy for them, but…you know what I mean."

"Yes, I do," Elijah nodded and kissed her hair. "I know cause I feel the same way. Why don't we have a drink and then work on forgetting about it."

"All right," Selina nodded as she slipped her arm around his waist and then they headed for his office. "Can I have some of the fancy scotch you have hidden in your office?"

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "I didn't even know you were a scotch person!"

Selina shrugged. "When I'm in a certain mood, it all tastes the same to me."

Elijah rolled his eyes in response and took her in his office where they indeed drank his scotch and then went to bed, and although it didn't entirely make Selina forget about her father and Christine, having her warm bare skin against Elijah's as they held each other close and he nibbled at her neck was a pretty good time anyway, and she wasn't gonna try and pull away from it.