"In the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."
The final benediction was pronounced over the newlyweds and the best man and maid of honor smiled at each other. The bells began to ring out once again, this time with pure joy. The people were happy for their prince had been reunited with his lost love. The shadow that had seemed to settle over the kingdom was lifted. The queen nodded approvingly and the king beamed. It wasn't so bad, after all, that their son should wed a Euphranian girl. That, at least, showed patriotism! And he was happy. What more could royal parents ask for?
Apparently, a lot.
But, thank goodness, the magical mystery of love had provided even for that.
That evening, the walls of the palace rang with music and laughter. In honor of the marriage of Prince Edward to Cinderella, a grand ball was being held. The evening shadows were swiftly falling but inside the ballroom was brilliantly lit with the flickering light of hundreds of candles. Edward and Cinderella, oblivious to all around them, as was to be expected, danced together in the center of the room. The king and queen followed the young couple with their eyes as they whirled across the floor, glancing from time to time at each other and smiling happily. And Queen Edith, pacified by the return of Lady Caroline, was sitting quietly, nodding her head to the music.
Owing to the rather chaotic day, Caroline had scarcely had time to collect her wits about her. As she stood with John in a corner of the ballroom, vainly trying to gather her scattered thoughts, her brother approached her, with a lady on his arm. Poor Caroline had barely recovered from the shock of the magical ending to her friend's near-tragic story. To find herself suddenly in Euphrania, hundreds of miles from where she had begun the day, was shocking enough. But the news that her brother was shortly to communicate was quite another story.
She didn't even notice the lady at first for she was only too glad to greet her brother, whom she had not even seen at the ceremony only a few hours earlier. But then he presented her and Caroline recognized, with a start, the rejected princess from the near-disastrous wedding. In all the confusion, she had forgotten that there had been another bride.
"My dear sister," Charles was saying, absolutely beaming with pride, "This is the Princess Kathryn of Neuburg. Isn't she a perfect vision of loveliness? Indeed, she is!" He lowered his voice and added, somewhat confidentially, "And she can speak Euphranian!" Princess Kathryn blushed and Caroline simply stared in amazement. She couldn't seem to find her tongue…
"And Kathryn has promised to become my bride!" Charles continued, his large eyes brimming with happiness. "Indeed, I can scarcely believe it. Isn't it perfectly wonderful, dear Caroline?"
"I… can scarcely believe it myself…" Caroline stammered, trying in vain to find something sensible to say. "I… am so happy for you, Charles… really I am… so happy…" she broke off suddenly, for she found she was crying. And then she laughed, throwing her arms around her brother and then the astonished Princess Kathryn. And in her surprise and happiness, she realized with sudden relief that this... the aforementioned magical mystery of love... had provided for the long-desired political alliance after all.
"Forgive me, your Highness," she realized suddenly her lack of propriety and for a moment feared that the stately princess would be offended by her outburst of emotion. But the girl was smiling and grasped Caroline's hand.
"I am so glad to meet you!" she cried. "Charles was just telling me what a wonderful sister you are to him and he is so certain that we will be good friends. I am so hoping that we shall!"
"Of course, we will be the best of friends!" Caroline answered in happy relief. "We shall be sisters soon and, you know, I've always wanted a sister!"
"And I as well!" Princess Kathryn fain would have said more but Charles, who had been talking with John, turned back to her, offering his arm with an elaborate bow.
"Shall we dance, my lady? Indeed we must, the music is so enchanting."
As the couple moved to the floor, John turned to Caroline and, imitating Charles, with a humorous glint in his eyes, bowed also.
"Shall we dance, my lady? Indeed we must…"
"Don't, John," Caroline covered her mouth to stifle a rather un-lady-like giggle. But she accepted his offer and they joined the other couples in the dance. It was the first time since the night of the bride-finding ball that they had danced together. As if half-fearful, Caroline turned to glance at Queen Elinor. Her aunt was nodding at her, smiling, and the approving look in her eyes warmed the girl's heart. She felt, suddenly, that her happiness was truly complete for all the others around her were also happy.
She had noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Sarah approaching Edward's new companion-at-arms. He seemed a rather shy young man and barely responded to Sarah's happy chatter. But he didn't hesitate when the young girl grabbed his arm and pulled him into the circle of dancers.
Something must have been in the air that night for never had everyone seemed so happy. The crowning surprise of the entire evening came at last, as the king rose suddenly and offered his arm to Queen Elinor. In a stiff, stately sort of way, they too joined the dance. Never since the night of their own wedding, had the king and queen danced together, and the incident caused quite a stir in the court. But Caroline realized, as she saw them share a smile, that they really did love each other after all.