"I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may kiss the bride."

Cheering, clapping and a rather modest kiss ensued and we were all swept away with the celebrations flowing outside. I didn't have to see anymore of Will Darcy that afternoon – thank goodness - the quick glances I'd stole during the ceremony were enough to convince me that his attention wasn't completely on the blushing bride. What had I done wrong now? I couldn't see how my dress was too short or the bride too late… but still, that concentrated frown graced his features and boiled my blood.

The afternoon was spent in front of the camera at the beautiful Adelaide Botanic Gardens. At times when I wasn't needed, I watched Stacey, wondering if she could really be happy with Warren. She was smiling and seemed to tolerate his condescension with an easy grace. Perhaps she could be happy, after all. Or at least, fill her life with the things that she wanted, and find joy in them. And he could give her those things. So, I supposed, that was okay.

For her.

But, what did I want?

I pondered that question as we made our way back to the Grand Star for the reception.

I wanted love, strong love – anything less wouldn't be worth it. And a good man… cherished and respected by those in his influence, capable of keeping up with my crazy mind and someone who does the right thing, even when it's hard.

That's not asking too much, is it?

Despite there being only four in the bridal party, our bridal table was set for seven. I stood before the elaborately decorated table, confused.

"I don't understand," I said to the first person walking by me. Warren.

"You would not believe it, Magda Alliosia herself accepted our invitation to the wedding… she was at the ceremony – didn't you see her?"

"We've never met."

"Oh, well you will then! Oh yes, that will do nicely, you can meet her when she comes to take her seat with us. I thought it only proper that a lady of such superior social standing be invited to dine at the bridal table."

Oh, well, sure.

"Who are the other two seats for?"

"Hello, Elizabeth."

Of course.

I turned to face the chest of Will Darcy and looked up into his eyes. His mouth upturned slightly, in what looked like a smile, except I knew for a fact that he actually didn't possess the ability to find joy in any situation.

"Oh, Mr. Darcy, thank you so much for gracing us with your presence today, we feel the honour greatly," gushed Warren. Will was still staring at me as I tried not to roll my eyes. "And this must be Daniel! He is your cousin, am I right?"

I tore myself away from Will's gaze and looked at the guest, a robust man in his late twenties, with mischievous grey eyes, hair the colour of burnt caramel and a light beard to match.

"Hi! Daniel Fathorm, at your service," he spoke, hand outreached. It was meant for me, but Warren took it first and I suppressed a smirk as I waited for my turn. Daniel's handshake was firm and warm and I liked him immediately.

"Ah, yes, Elizabeth, this is my cousin, Daniel," finally spoke Will. "He's in Australia for a few weeks."

"On furlough," Daniel explained further. "I'm the director of an orphanage in Kenya."

"Wow, holy points for you!" I joked, and Daniel rolled with it.

"I know, right? I'm surprised my halo hasn't blinded you already."

Warren scratched his head in confusion and Will looked away, but I smiled. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Magda Alliosia's gravely voice was only superseded in annoyingness by the words she actually spoke.

"Well I don't know why it takes someone so long to refill glass of wine, honestly," and Magda exhaled with all the self-importance that came from owning most of Adelaide. "Daniel, sit here, not next to that girl. You must tell me about that water project, and I will make people part with their money to support it."

For all her superiority and inability to be pleased, apparently Magda did have a charitable side. As Daniel left his seat beside me with an apologetic grin, all it took was a sip of water for the space to fill again with another of the Alliosia nephews.

I tried at civility, for Stacey's sake.

"Why are you in Adelaide, Will?"

"Work," he stated, folding his napkin across his lap.

"And you took a Saturday night off just for Warren?" I teased.

"Uh, I had other-… my Aunt invited me, and while I don't enjoy situations where I know no one, Daniel was very eager to do something."

"Oh. Well, you know me." He inclined his head.

Silence.

"Anna is in Melbourne at the moment, perhaps someone's told you about it?"

"I wasn't aware, no."

Silence.

"Elizabeth…" he began.

"You can call me Lizzie…"

He nodded.

"…or I might have to call you William. 'William'," I imitated Magda's voice, and a small smile broke out from his face.

"That won't be necessary."

Silence.

"Elizabeth, I-"

"And you, Miss Elizabeth? What is your connection to Mrs. Beally?" interrupted Magda loudly, effectively shutting down whatever Will was about to say.

"Warren's mum?… Oh, you mean Stacey."

"Yes, child, Mrs. Beally. She is married now."

"Of course, yes. We are best friends, from before high school, in fact. She's like another sister to me." I looked at Stacey and shared a smile.

"Indeed," answered Magda, a wrinkly finger pointed. "And how many sisters do you have already?"

"Four."

The old woman tutted, shaking her head.

"How does your father afford it, five girls at private schools? Must be quite a toll on him... perhaps he is a doctor."

"Nope, he's a bus driver, so he doesn't get paid a whole lot. But we all went to public schools, so it didn't matter too much."

"Public schools? Your education has suffered."

Will shifted in his chair uncomfortably.

Folding my arms, I gloated, "Perhaps, but my sister and I are both at university so what we missed out on, must not have been that important anyway."

"University? What are you studying?"

"Science."

Magda peered at me closer, expecting further explanation.

"Multi-disciplinary Science."

"And what does that mean?"

"It's a mixture of the disciplines, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Astronomy... I couldn't decide which one I liked the most," I said with a shrug and Daniel chuckled.

"And, will you be able to get a job with that qualification?" pressed Magda, her tone saying it all.

"Well, Mrs. Alliosia, it is vague I admit, but it's not like it's an arts degree," I finished, suppressing a grin. I had wanted to finish with an 'amirite' and a hand up for high fives, but decided against it at the last minute.

"What impertinence! My very own niece is going to pursue an arts degree and she's a very gifted performer."

"She is, Elizabeth," interrupted Warren, "I've seen her dance. Very gifted."

At that moment, I convinced myself that it was of the utmost importance not to burst out laughing - for Stacey's sake, and God knows I'd do anything for that girl.

"Forgive me, it was only a joke. There are many qualified arts graduates who make our world a better place with their abilities."

"You are very confident to be joking around with people you've only just met."

She wouldn't have known it, but my mind flicked back to Will, and our first meeting. Without thinking, my eyes drew towards him.

"Of that, I've been told," I sniggered, realigning my gaze to Magda. "But I like to think it puts strangers at ease, that I don't take myself too seriously."

"Hmmm," she said, and our conversation was over. The meal had been served and our table was content to eat in relative silence.

The opening vocals of Seal's Kiss from a Rose echoed through the ballroom and an overly self-assured Warren led Stacey onto the dance floor for their Bridal Waltz. Flashbacks of a hot night, so long before, flooded back and I laughed as Warren haphazardly spun Stacey across the floor.

Magda Alliosia finally announced that the right amount of time had passed for the first waltz to be danced alone and that others should join them on the dance floor. Reluctant to dance another waltz ever again in my life, I ducked my eyes. But really, there was no way to escape the iron will of Magda Alliosia.

"Elizabeth, you will dance now, won't you."

"Mrs. Alliosia, thank you, but I am not good at dancing."

"You are being modest, I see, and you need encouragement. Daniel, dance with this girl."

"My pleasure," he agreed, with a wink and standing, offered his arm to me. I sighed.

Rising, I whispered to him, "Really, I'm a very bad dancer."

He smiled as we walked to the dance floor. "It doesn't matter, as long as I don't have to watch Stacey anymore."

I was hurt on her behalf. "Is she really that bad?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that. Poor Stacey tries to hide her pain when Warren steps on her toes, and I was feeling horrible because I wasn't stopping it."

I laughed and took his hand, let his other hand rest on my back and stepped closer to him.

Daniel twirled me around for the ending. I curtsied, he bowed, and we both grinned at how terrible we'd been. Other guests began to fill around us as a hip-hop song started and we took our leave of the dance floor.

"Are you thirsty?" asked Daniel, slightly sweating, but laughing hard. "I'm thirsty. I'll get us some drinks."

"Thanks, you know I'm always dehydrated after every gifted dance performance."

He shot me a wicked grin. Gee, I thought, if only I wanted to live in Kenya…

Daniel bopped along with the music off to the bar and I watched for a few minutes in contentment as Stacey grooved to the music in the crowd.

Suddenly I sensed, more than saw, the presence behind me.

"Are you here to supervise me, Will?" I asked the vacant space in front, knowing he would hear. "Make sure I don't make an inappropriate remark to your cousin, or heaven forbid, a joke about serial killers?"

"I know you enough now to realise that you only joke about things you don't mean."

"Is that so?"

At that moment, Daniel returned with two drinks and I turned to finally look Will in the eye.

"What are we talking about?" asked Daniel cheekily, handing me my drink.

"Will thinks he's figured me out."

Daniel's eyes went wide in animation. "Really, Will? Tell us everything!"

Will shot a look to me and smiled softly. "I would never presume to have figured out a woman."

"Are we so hard to decipher, Will?"

"I have not had the privilege of growing up with sisters, or female friends, consequently I admit that yes, I do find women difficult to understand."

I smiled at him. "And no one can make friends with a girl, that would be unheard of."

"If I cannot talk comfortably with a woman, how am I to build a friendship?"

"I cannot dance the waltz well, and in fact I impose on others whenever I try. But, I've always believed it to be my fault that I never stopped to learn."

The disapproval returned to Will's face.

"I never learnt either!" cried Daniel, lightening the mood, "And it's a good thing too, I'm certain that dance lessons would have been wasted on me." He raised his glass. "Two left feet."

"No one who saw either of you two dance would have concluded that money was wasted on lessons."

Daniel laughed and I had to smile. Touché.

"How is it that you are friends with Will, Lizzie? I thought his inability to speak to women would have scared you far off."

"Well, Daniel, you ask a good question. Shall I tell him of our first meeting, Will?"

Will stiffened. "If you think it's a good story, I don't believe I can stop you."

"Tell me! I'm dying for some dirt on Will."

"Are you sure? Because your opinion of him may alter forever when I tell you how he behaved…"

"I can't wait," cried Daniel, excited.

"I hardly think it's that interesting," said Will.

"It is," I shushed him with a grin, raising my eyebrows. "We met one perfect Saturday in Perth, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the young adults at our church were about to go sailing. However, our church lacks males. And they seem to be the ones blessed with inherent knowledge of all things mechanical-ish... and thus, we were very much limited by the number of males who could sail. Now, along comes Will, looking very suave, and able to sail - just what we girls need to let another few have a turn on the water… but alas…"

Daniel's mouth was open. "He didn't sail?"

Will glared at me.

"No, he didn't. And more than a few ladies were disappointed to miss out that day."

"I have told you," Will spoke in a very low voice, "I'm not good with women."

"Oh, I know, you made that very clear on the day."

Suddenly, it was announced that the bouquet was about to be thrown and that all single women should make their way to the dance floor.

I groaned. "Such a degrading tradition."

"I thought it was symbolic of the bride encouraging the single women," spoke Will, fiddling with his watch.

"Oh, sure, maybe if all the women are beautiful and sixteen, but I'm convinced gathering every woman who hasn't been able to secure herself a man in one place for the entire congregation to judge, well, doesn't do much for the self-esteem."

"I'm all for it," added Daniel, "I find it makes a woman desperate for her own marriage, and that's when I'll sweep in, propose and whisk her off to Africa before she's had a chance to realise what she's in for!"

"Such a gentleman, Daniel," I smirked, leaving the men and walking towards where the single girls were gathering. After much delay, the bouquet was thrown and Lauren-the-sixteen-year-old-with-purple-hair caught it. I thought that to be an acceptable result - with purple hair, she was going to need all the luck she could get.

A/N - Ahhhh, did you think I'd forgotten about you, my dear beloved readers? I had not.

I have a treat in store for you all. (Sadly, it's not DVG without a shirt.)

Starting this Sunday, I will be posting a chapter a day for 8 days, to coincide with the next week and a day in Lizzie's life. I thought it would be something fun and different for you guys to experience. Let me know what you think!

P.S. How great is Daniel?