"Why do I have to be here again?" Richie asked as he drug his feet into the church behind Duncan and Tessa.
"It's a rehearsal, so you know what to do," Duncan told him.
"What's to know?"
"Richie, I thought you said you'd never even been to a wedding?" Tessa pointed out. "How do you know what to do?"
"I've seen them on TV. Everyone walks down the aisle really slow, then you stand around while the priest talks, then you kiss and it's over and everyone walks out again."
Duncan laughed. "Hate to break it to you, Rich, but this is a Catholic wedding." He put an arm around his shoulders and steered him into the chapel.
"Is that different from a normal wedding?"
Tessa laughed. "It's still a 'normal' wedding, Richie. But there is a mass."
"You mean like, the readings and kneeling then standing and singing and kneeling then sitting and priests babbling and kneeling then standing and communion and all that?"
"Yes. And all that," Duncan teased. "It's not too bad. It'll take less than two hours."
"Are we all ready?" Father Jehan asked, looking around the small group that had gathered.
The entire wedding party was present along with Amanda and Nicolas, who had come along to get the free dinner afterwards. A short old lady snapped to attention as soon as everyone said they were ready. She quickly took over, demanding to know who was in what role and placing them accordingly in line.
"Best man?" she asked, taking Connor's arm and putting him next to Odette, just before Tessa. Richie smiled and slid into line in front of Connor and next to Katia, earning himself an approving smile from the wedding general.
"Well, I see that's finally been decided," Tessa said from the back of the line.
"Groom?" she asked, taking Duncan this time and dragging him up the aisle. Father Jehan went with them and walked into a back room behind the alter. After a few minutes, they returned and Duncan was positioned next to the priest, on the top step.
The old lady came back down and forcibly positioned Katia's hand to take Richie's elbow and marched them up the aisle, pushing Richie into his spot two steps down from Duncan, and Katia across from him on Tessa's side of the alter. Then Connor and Odette received the same treatment and Connor was put between Duncan and Richie. Then slowly Tessa's niece was marched up the aisle, pretending to toss rose petals out of her little white basket. But instead of standing beside Katia and Odette, she got to go sit with her dad in the pews. Last, but most importantly, Tessa marched up the aisle with Gaston at her side. They were walked through the ceremony and told what to do and when. Then reversed and marched back down the aisle to gather where they had started.
Richie glanced at his watch as his stomach growled. "We're almost done, right?" Nicolas asked, sneaking into the small group. Richie shrugged.
"Once more!" the old lady decided and began positioning everyone again. Once again they were marched up the aisle and put through their paces for the wedding, then marched back down.
Richie let out a huge sigh as they gathered at the end of the aisle again. "Relax," Tessa smiled at him. "We're almost done."
"This is so tedious."
"Just wait until tomorrow," she teased him. "I'm the bride and I know it's going to be boring."
Richie snorted loudly, just before the old lady told them they could leave. Tessa giggled and Duncan cast him a, "what are you up to back there?" look.
"Are we going to dinner now?" Nicolas asked, coming up behind Tessa.
"Really, I'm starving," Richie agreed.
Tessa smiled and shook her heard. "Just a few more minutes."
The rehearsal dinner was being held at a popular Chinese restaurant. They had reserved the back room so they had privacy. They were all seated at a large round table, with a giant lazy Susan in the middle of it. Duncan and Tessa had already ordered so as soon as everyone had gotten their drinks large bowls of soup were put on the table along with some fried noodles.
"You got egg rolls, too, right?" Richie asked Duncan who was a few seats away from him.
Duncan smiled. "No, we didn't get any egg rolls because we thought it would be fun for everyone to watch you throw a hissy-fit over it."
Everyone chuckled and Richie frowned. "You could'a just said yes," he mumbled.
"Aw, relax, Rich. After tomorrow, I'm not going to see you for almost two weeks. I have to get it out of my system."
"Oh, great, I can't wait."
"Where are you going on your honeymoon?" Odette's husband asked.
"That's right, you haven't told anybody," Amanda agreed.
Duncan smiled and took Tessa's hand. "We're going to Japan. Tessa's always wanted to go, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity."
Everyone nodded their approval and expressed their envy. The conversation turned to various vacation destinations as everyone ate their soup, Richie and Nicolas finishing off what was left when everyone else was done. Not soon after, large platters of egg rolls, fried wantons and steamed and friend dumplings were placed on the table. Richie and Nicolas were the first to jump in, serving themselves a little bit of everything. Richie reached for the pepper sauce and snagged it up, just as Duncan turned the lazy Susan to get the young men's favorites out of their reach so others would get some too.
"I think we need to keep the dumplings away from those two," he smiled as he did it.
"You two are even more alike than I realized," Tessa told them. "You even look alike."
"They could be twins," Gaston agreed, studying them from his seat across the table from them.
Simultaneously, Richie and Nicolas looked each other up and down and shook their heads. "I don't see it." Everyone laughed loudly. Richie and Nicolas, after a slight period of embarrassment, joined in as well. The doors to the private room opened and everyone looked to see who was coming in… it was Tessa's parents.
"Who invited them?" Riche grumbled rather loudly.
"Richie!" Duncan warned under his breath.
"I did," Odette spoke up. "I didn't want Marie to be up too late." She indicated her young daughter who was playing with the contents of a wanton. "I'm sorry, Maman, we got here a little late, she hasn't eaten yet."
"Well, we can't very well wait around all night," Madame Noel huffed.
"Yeah, why would you do something nice?" Richie shot back.
"Especially somewhere we're not wanted," she added glaring at him.
"Then why stay?"
"Madame," Duncan cut in. "Richie doesn't speak for all of us," he assured her. Then directly to Richie: "And if he keeps it up, he won't be speaking at all."
"What?" Richie defended. "I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking. They already hate me, why should I have to play nice?"
"Because I told you to."
Richie set his jaw and stabbed at a dumpling with his chopsticks.
"Honestly, did no one ever teach that little urchin how to behave?" she asked her husband just loudly enough for Richie to hear.
"What did you just call me?" he demanded.
"Richie, I will not tell you again," Duncan barked.
"Mind your manners around your superiors, boy," Monsieur Noel told him. "I have stood by long enough listening to you speak to my wife in that tone. I had hoped someone would have disciplined you by now," he shot a look at Duncan. "If you were my child, you'd have had your ears boxed for such behavior."
"That is enough!" Duncan yelled, slamming his hands on the table and getting up, making everyone jump. "He is not your child, is he?" he asked Monsieur Noel. "No, he is not."
"What do you think you are doing?" Madame Noel sputtered.
"I have stood by long enough trying to cut the fights off before they started. I stood by and let you insult me to my face and said nothing. I've even let you get a few jabs in at Richie while he wasn't there to hear them, all for the sake of trying to keep peace. But I will not stand here and let you insult him to his face because he wasn't born into a higher position in the little aristocracy you have built up in your imaginations."
"Dang, Mac," Richie breathed. He had never seen the immortal this angry before.
"And I certainly will not let you talk to him as if he were inferior to you because of his behavior when you deliberately bait him!" he continued. "I understand why you don't like me, I can accept it, I actually did something. But he has done nothing to you and you have been rude to him since day one. I am sick of pretending it doesn't bother me and, quite frankly, I am sick of shushing him for saying things he has every right to say!"
"How dare you use that tone with me!" Monsieur Noel said.
"I am merely treating you with the same respect you have been showing my family," Duncan replied calmly. "Now, if you will kindly excuse us," he said, taking his seat again. "We are in the middle of a celebration. If you don't care to join us, I suggest you wait for Marie elsewhere."
Everyone stayed perfectly still, in total silence waiting for the next move.
"Surely," Monsieur Noel finally spoke, "now you understand why we don't approve of this wedding, Tessa?"
"No, not really," she admitted. "I think what Duncan just did was entirely honorable and a long time coming. I am proud of him for standing up the way he did. And I agree with every point he made. This is my decision, Father. And I choose to marry the man I love, despite knowing that I may very well not belong to this family anymore," she said calmly. "And after truly seeing the way you think the world should work, I believe that taking myself out of your family is a wise choice."
Madame Noel took a deep breath and held out her hand. "Come, Marie, cook will prepare your dinner at home."
"But I want to watch the adults fight," she whined taking her grandmother's hand.
"Be quiet," she snapped, walking briskly out of the room, with the little girl running to keep up.
Everyone sat silently as the Noels stormed out of the room. Finally, Connor broke the silence. He held up his glass in salute.
"Well done."
Richie smiled and held up his. "About damn time."
Nicolas joined in, "Someone had to do it."
"I've wanted to do that for years," Odette's husband held up his glass.
Gaston picked up his glass. "To Duncan and Tessa, may they always have the sprit they showed us here tonight."
"Hear hear!" They all clinked glasses and went back to their dinner. The party lasted well into the night, emptying a few bottles of amber wine as the night wore on.
"I have to stop," Tessa said when Gaston tried to pour her another glass. "I'm getting married tomorrow."
"Bring it here!" Duncan called. "I'm Scottish, my body is meant to be filled with alcohol." Richie laughed brightly.
"I think it's time to cut the lad off," Connor said.
"Baaaah!" Richie protested. "I'm fine!"
"But you won't be in the morning."
"Hey, you never know, I might be Scottish too!"
"But not with a constitution like ours, yet," Duncan said. "No more for you."
"Boooo!"
"You'll thank us in the morning."
The party lasted until nearly three a.m. when everyone decided - overruling Richie and Nicolas - that it was time to call it a night. After all, there was a wedding that afternoon.