The day of Edith and Anthony's wedding had finally arrived.
Everyone was there - everyone important to Edith and Anthony, that is. Or let me rephrase that, every human who was important to Edith and Anthony was there.
For the pigs it was just an ordinary day. They were - of course - not there in church.
The only thing that had been different from any other day was that they had been given some extra carrots in their breakfast throughs. And the next day they were to be given the leftovers from the wedding banquet. Something most of them wouldn't appreciate very much. Most of them preferred the carrots.
...
Right now the pigs were all having their usual afternoon sleep, thoroughly unaware of the fact that an important wedding was going on at the estate.
And - truth be told - they wouldn't have cared much if they had known about it either.
...
If Sir Brumble had known how many strange rituals human beings put into the simple act of making their rather inferior kind of piglets, he would have laughed. If pigs could laugh, that is.
Why complicate such simple and strait forward things? he would have wondered.
So I will leave him there in his sty, doing his pigly things, living his tranquil life.
...
It was a small wedding, but not all that small.
All Edith's relatives had come, sitting there together in the front of Locksley's church. Even Robert was sitting down, since Edith hadn't wanted him to give her away.
Robert was a bit annoyed by that, and had wanted to stay at home, but Cora had told him that he had to come or else he woluld lose Edith forever.
Besides - he hadn't wanted to give Sybil away - so why bother about those things with Edith? Robert hadn't wanted Edith to marry Sir Anthony Strallan anyhow, Cora said.
Cora herself was sitting there proudly, with little Alice in her lap, finally able to acknowledge that the little girl was her grandchild. She felt very happy that Edith would now, at last, be able to live under the same roof as her daughter.
...
Who else was there?
Anthony's sister and her children and grandchildren were there. Locksley's servants were there. Argyll, the pig keeper, and his family were there. Some of Downton's servants were also there. And the Drewes of course, with all their children, including the one who was still in the mother's belly.
Jane Argyll and Lisa Drewe were sitting together, taken by the solemnity of the occasion. They had each got a special invitation card of their own - beside the ones given to their respective families - so they were feeling very grown up and special.
And happy, feeling that they had helped to get the couple together again by bringing over that letter.
...
Now the bride and groom were walking up the aisle, hand in hand, beaming with happiness.
"It's just like a fairy tale", Jane wispered to Lisa. "She is so beautiful. And he is such a kind man. And little Alice will be the princess of Locksley."
Lisa was quiet for a while, thinking it all over. She remembered what had happened the last time she had been to a wedding between these two.
"I'm sure he will leave her at the altar again", she said with a sigh.
...
Lisa thought that she had kept her voice down, but in reality her whisper could be heard in the whole church. It was even heard by the bride and groom up in front.
And by the vicar, who had just started the cermony.
"Dearly beloved", he said, and then he fell silent.
And the whole congregation was looking nervously at Sir Anthony as he openened his mouth...
AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you for the lovely comments to last chapter a little more than a year ago!
There will, hopefully, be at least one more chapter.
