* The Wedding day disaster *
Amy thought that, after all the drama and dilemmas that the whole preparations have been over the past months, her actual wedding day was going to go as smooth and perfect as she ever dreamed of. Little did she know that everything was going to be way far from perfect.
It started on Friday, when she got a message from Beth saying that her flight had been delayed due to the weather in the UK and that she would probably arrive in time for the rehearsal dinner on Saturday evening. But Saturday evening arrived and the rehearsal dinner went on well... until one of Laurie's friends got very drunk and tried to make a pass on Meg, who politely refused him. He was quite insistent to the point that nice John Brooke had to intervene and they ended up in a not-so-nice almost fist fight that earned Laurie's friend a black eye and bruised ego and John a couple of bruises and a severe reprimand from Meg, who although was flattered by her husband's chivalry, was not so pleased with the violent example he was setting to their kids in that moment. Yet, she healed him and praised him for defending her honor and he apologized for getting things out of hands. Beth was still nowhere in sight that night. She did message them saying that she would be home on Sunday morning. Amy panicked a bit. Beth was in charge of the music during the ceremony. If she wasn't at the ceremony on time, who would play for them? Laurie certainly couldn't. He was the groom! And none of her other sisters knew how to play the piano as well as Beth, and if they did, they didn't know what Beth had in store for the musical part of the ceremony.
After everyone has gone to bed, Amy walked around Plumfield, where the wedding was going to be held and where the whole March family (or at least her sisters, her parents and her aunt, uncle and cousin) were staying for the weekend. Jo had happily suggested the place as Amy and Laurie's wedding venue. She had thought it was the perfect venue since Aunt March had always had a soft spot for the youngest March girl and she knew that the old lady would have wanted the event to be held there. The big garden was divided in two parts: a big, white tent full of tables dressed in white and gold, adorned with Meg's beautiful handmade center pieces, where the reception was going to be held; and another small ivory tent with golden chairs adorned with pink and blue flowers leading to an altar where the ceremony was going to take place. Ideally, Amy would have wanted to have everything settled on Friday evening, but Meg and John had a PTA meeting at Rose's school that day, so flowers and other decorations weren't going to be there until early Saturday morning. And then, the catering with all the food was going to be there early Sunday, although some chefs were going to be at Plumfield on Saturday for the rehearsal dinner. Still, everything looked absolutely beautiful and Amy was more than happy that the drama of that evening was finally over. She looked around, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and smiled to herself. Yes. Now everything was going to be perfect.
But despite the bright sun, the birds singing and the cheerful environment, Sunday was far from being perfect. Amy woke up to find Meg and Jo whispering to each other at the breakfast table while they looked at Jo's cellphone and exchanged worried. Jo was feeding baby Robbie while Meg was keeping an eye on her children, who were sitting across her.
"Good morning!" Amy sang, smiling at them. Meg and Jo looked at her and got immediately quiet. "What's wrong?" she asked, obviously starting to worry.
"Nothing's wrong, darling. You slept well?" Meg asked reassuringly.
"There IS something wrong. I know by your looks. Tell me, what is it?" Amy demanded. Meg and Jo exchanged looks, then sighed.
"Beth's flight is still delayed. She won't be here until after midday." Jo said. Amy sighed and sat down. The wedding started at 4 and her sister/musician wasn't there yet.
"wh-what? That... what about the music?" Amy asked as she sat down next to John.
"It'll be alright. She'll be here for the wedding. Don't worry." Meg said, reaching out and squeezing her baby sister's hand lovingly. Amy nodded and had some breakfast. The rest of the morning went on uneventfully, and soon after lunch, they all went upstairs to get ready. The room where the girls were in was big and bright and was overlooking the garden. It had an in-suit bathroom and it was connected to a second room where Amy and Marmee were with the hairdresser. Meanwhile, Meg and Jo got dressed in the main room. They were almost ready when little Daisy approached her mother.
"Mommy, my tummy's funny." the little girl said. Meg kneeled down to her, concerned.
"What do you mean, baby?" she asked, feeling her daughter's forehead. She hadn't any fever, but she looked awfully pale.
"Mommy, tummy's funny." the girl whined again. Meg got worried, and just as she was trying to take some curls off Daisy's face, the little girl bent over and threw up all over her mother's dress. Meg instantly picked up her child.
"Bathroom." she shouted to Jo. Her sister looked at her, confused. Meg sighed. "Bathroom! Either you move or she'll throw up on you!" Meg said. Without hesitation, Jo moved just in time for Meg to reach the toilet with a very sick Daisy who threw up once again. After a while, the toddler was done and crying for her mother. Meg grabbed a towel and cleaned the vomit from her dress as best as she could. Then, she cleaned her daughter.
"How is she?" Jo asked from the doorframe. Meg picked up her child and stood up.
"Better. But she still looks sick." Meg said as she rubbed Daisy's back soothingly and kissing her head. "Any news on Beth?" she asked when she saw Jo checking her phone for the tenth time.
"Fred says their plane just landed. He's waiting for them to get off and grab their luggage." Jo answered and made a disgusted face. "Eww! What's that smell?" she asked. Meg sighed.
"Daisy threw up on me." the eldest sister explained.
"I don't think she means that smell, Meg. Demi has a funny face." Flo said from the sofa where she was with Rose and Demi. Meg looked at her son and shoot her head, desperately. She knew that face.
"No, no, no, no, no. Demi, wait." she said, giving Daisy to Jo and running to her boy. But it was too late. Demi looked at her, face turning a light shade of red, then looked down. Meg sighed. "Great! Just... great!... Ok... I need the baby bag..." she said as she looked around.
"I think it's in our room." Rose said.
"Me want Winky, mommy." Demi told her as Meg took his hand and walked him to the bathroom.
"Alright. Rose, go to our room and get the baby bag and Winky." Meg said. Rose got up and left the room.
"I should have never listened to those preschool mommies. What do they know about potty training anyway?" Meg complained as she stripped Demi from his pants and underwear.
"What do you mean?" Jo asked.
"According to the preschool mommies, all the kids should be on potty training by the end of the Easter holidays. I was going to wait until the summer, but they insisted that the twins were the only ones left in their class and that I should think of the poor teachers who had to change them every once in a while, and I was like 'this is NOT the time for potty training!'... But nobody listened to me, even though I already have a 10-year-old and already went through this before. So the damn mommy's group agreed that we should try it this weekend of all!" Meg exclaimed, annoyed, as she cleaned Demi's privates.
"Winky's not in the room." Rose announced when she walked in. She gave the bag to her mother. Meg opened the bag and looked for Demi's toy unsuccessfully.
"Winky, mommy! Winky!" Demi demanded.
"I'm looking for it, baby!" Meg said as she frantically took everything out of the bag. She asked Jo to put Demi's dirty pants and underwear in a plastic bag before checking his pockets for the rings.
"Erm... Meg... they're not here." Jo said, worried. Meg's head shot up and looked at her sister.
"What do you mean they're not there? They should be there! I put them myself!" Meg said, taking the bag from her sister and checking the pockets again. No rings. She looked at Demi. "Sweetie, where did you put the rings?" she asked the little boy.
"Wings?" he asked. Meg nodded.
"Rings. Like the ones mommy has on her fingers? Where did you put them?" she asked as she showed Demi her left hand. Demi just shrugged his shoulders.
"Should I get dad?" Rose asked. Meg just closed her eyes in defeat and nodded.
"And we haven't put our shoes on yet!" Jo joked. Meg just gave her a look. She put a diaper on Demi and a pair of striped shorts. "Ahoy, sailor!" Jo said, laughing, referring to Demi's marine-style pants. Demi laughed as well and Meg sighed and looked at Jo.
"Everything alright? Rose said you were in panic." John said as he walked in the room. He looked at his son dressed half in a suit, half in his summer pants, and then looked at his wife.
"I need you to go to the car and find Winky, and then look for the rings." Meg ordered as she stood up once again. He looked at her dress, then at her. "John! Winky and the rings! Now!" she said again. John nodded and left.
"so... our pianist and sister is stranded at the airport, the page lost the rings, and one of the bridesmaids has a stained dress. What a wedding!" Jo exclaimed. Meg just took Daisy from her and went straight to the sofa, followed by Demi, and sat down.
John walked in a few minutes later with Demi's beloved toy rabbit in one hand and a little white bag with the rings in the other. He gave the toy to his son, who held it tightly, and the rings to his wife, then kneeled down in front of them.
"She threw up a while ago. I knew something was off with her when she didn't want to eat her cookies." Meg lamented. John just rubbed her arm.
"She's gonna be ok. She has colours in her cheeks already." he said, looking at his daughter sat on her mother's lap.
"I shouldn't have taken them to that birthday party yesterday afternoon. I don't care if they were the only ones who wouldn't go. This is the last time I listen to those mothers! They know absolutely nothing!" Meg exclaimed. She had reluctantly taken the twins to a birthday party the day before after the many insistences of the preschool mothers. The twins had fun AND extra candies to eat, which of course left Daisy a bit under the weather the following day. John just nodded.
"You're absolutely right, darling. And I'm sorry I didn't say anything before." he said as they heard a door open. Amy walked out of the other room. Her hair was up in an elegant bun which was overflown with her golden curls. She had white flowers in her hair and was wearing a sparkling tiara.
"Beth isn't here yet?" she asked, concerned. She looked at them. "Why is Demi wearing shorts?" she asked then. Meg sighed and got up to discover a big, pale stain on her dress. Amy's eyes got bigger than plates. "What happened to your dress?" she asked, shocked.
"Daisy got sick and Demi soiled himself. These are the only pants I had in the bag and I have no other dress to change into. I'm so sorry." Meg explained. Amy let out a long sigh. This was not right. Not right at all.
"And Beth's not here yet." Jo added.
"And neither is the catering service." Flo added. Everyone looked at her. Amy groaned. No. This was NOT the perfect wedding day she had envisioned. She started to think this was a sign. A sign that everything was going to be incredibly wrong. A sign that, maybe, this has all been a terrible dream and that she would wake up and everything would be gone. She started to panic. She had to talk to Laurie. She had to do something. And then... they heard a sound. Jo looked at her cellphone in her hands and the screen lit up. She looked at Amy and Amy looked back, expectant, half hopeful, and half dreadful. She couldn't take any more bad news.
Hello again!
It's been a long time since I wrote something, but I've been quite busy with work + haven't had much inspiration until now...
This chapter is longer than the rest, I just realised. I hope you enjoy it.
Last chapter would be up as soon as I finish it.
In the meantime, any comments, suggestions, ideas, thoughts... are more than welcomed!
Thank you again for reading and commenting!