March 26th 2022

Chapter 85
Our Summer of Matrimony

For having none of them presently of this household being the ones who were getting married that day, it was somewhere between hilarious and baffling just how much they were all of them riding on a wave of frenzy. Maybe it was that they'd been spending a lot of time around the planning and preparation for this big day, and they had inherited a lot of the stress coming off the bride and groom. Oh, both Cara and Mateo were looking forward to being married, no doubt about it. It was the wedding part that was the problem. They had gone into this with the shared feeling of wanting to have A Wedding, with all the bells and whistles, and they knew… even if they'd sometimes had to be reminded… that once they got to the actual day, all the stress and the work would have been worth it. Today was the day when they would find out if they had been right or not.

In the Friar house, after one final evening of helping with preparations, Eliza had elected for all of them to have an impromptu movie night, as a reward, to wind down and get their minds back to the part where the next day would be a good day, a party… It had mostly worked, but now the morning had arrived, and seeing as they were all part of the bride's family, they needed to get a move on, everyone ready and in the minivan as soon as possible. For now, it mostly meant eating breakfast and getting dressed casually. All the dresses, for the bridesmaids, matron of honor, flower girl, and most honored tiny guests, along with the groomsman's suit, all the shoes, the accessories, baby bags… were packed away carefully, the better to follow them where they were expected.

Much as Marianne had wanted for her little sisters to come along with the rest of them to the hair salon, she'd eventually been convinced to let them go along with their father, where they would be less likely to either get overwhelmed… or overly curious. By now, Kacey and Remy were so in tune with their ability to move around by themselves that they did not do well with being denied that possibility. With Lucas, at least, they were much more likely to end up somewhere that would be a good place for crawling little girls.

"Hey!" Cara practically bolted out of the chair and out from under the hairdresser's hands when she saw her sisters come through the salon's door. She hugged them all at once rather than having to take each one for only a few seconds. When she pulled back again, Maya saw her face, and she could recognize so well the trepidation of a bride ahead of her wedding…

Her little sister… Little Cara… One moment ago, she'd been eight years old, a stranger to her… and now she was a young woman, soon to be married… She still looked so much like her, like their aunt Luna, but also just like… Cara. Sweet, funny, mischievous… She always felt young at heart, which might have been a given, being that she was still in her early twenties, but if you knew her then you got it. That didn't mean that she couldn't be serious, no, but even when she was serious, it was never so much as to make her feel strict. She knew what had to be done when it had to be done, so she'd do it. But she'd much rather be done with it and get back to a more playful attitude.

"I think you better get back there before they chase you with a curling iron," Maya whispered, and Cara startled as though she'd just remembered that she was getting her hair done.

"Yeah, right…" she breathed, looking down when she felt little arms closing around her legs. "Hey!" she laughed down to Marianne. "Can't wait to see how you'll look, huh?" she told her niece. They'd told her all about that when they'd gone to get her dress and she had been looking forward to it ever since.

Before they knew it, they had checked the salon off their list, and they were on their way to Sullivan Stables. It had felt like the natural place to go when they'd been choosing their venue, and Lucas had been more than happy to offer it to them. Cara and Mateo would be wed under the big tree, just as so many had done before, including both of Cara's older siblings. They expected to find themselves back here many times in the years to come.

Now that they had arrived, it was time for everyone to get changed, and even as Maya was focusing on helping Cara get ready after she'd dealt with herself and Marianne, Lucas would be off doing the same for himself and the triplets, with both Sam and Wyatt to assist him. Once this was done, he brought them back to where their mother and sisters would be. Ella was the one to come to the closed door and ask who it was. When he announced himself and confirmed that the groom was nowhere in sight, he was admitted. While Ella happily discovered her little sisters in their wedding best, Lucas was treated to the previously secret array of dresses, guarded from his view by everyone from Maya down to Sheriff Annie… the sheriff especially. But it wasn't a secret now, not anymore, and she wasted no time to come and show him.

"Daddy, look what Cara got me!" she held up a golden star pendant on a chain around her neck. She had her locket as well.

"A fancy star!" Lucas beamed. "For special days?" he guessed, and she nodded. It didn't say Sheriff Annie on it, but that didn't matter. In her heart, she knew, and she loved it.

She loved her whole look for the day, he could tell just by looking at how she carried herself, swishing her hips around so that the skirt of her dress would shimmy along with her, or touching the little details over the fabric, or holding out her feet to look at her new sandals, or observing her hair in any reflective surface she could find… She had chosen not to get her nails painted, even if the special day would have warranted it. She really didn't like it, and no one would have forced her to do it anyway. In contrast, fellow flower girl Francesca was very happy with her little pink nails and showed them to everyone.

After getting to see his daughters and granddaughter in their wedding day looks, he was very glad to get to see Maya in her full transformation, and then… the woman of the hour… Cara's dress was stunning, probably was as well on its own, but once worn by her it felt as though it became so much more. It was hard for him, for any one of them who'd been old enough to get to watch her grow up, too, probably, not to be struck the full image of her standing there, about to be married. She'd come into his consciousness as Maya's estranged, younger half sister, but today she was as much of a little sister to him as she might have been if she'd grown up in his own house all her life as part of his family. She'd been there, living with him and Maya, as they'd become parents for the first time, and he hoped she knew how thankful the two of them were to have had that experience.

Soon, Cara and Mateo's friends and families were gathered before the big tree. The groom stood under its branches, waiting for his bride, and as calm and collected as he could appear to most people, he was not without nerves, not in the slightest, but he did very well when it came to hiding it, and he would continue to right about until he'd get to see Cara coming along. All their guests expected that moment to come, and it did not disappoint. The smiles were pouring out of all of them to witness the union of Cara Hart-Lane and Mateo Arroyo.

In all the running around of preparation ahead of the ceremony, it wasn't until they were all in the transitional period between ceremony and party that Maya and Lucas and most of the others finally got to go up and meet the one and only Priya, who had been invited and came along as Teddy's date to his sister's wedding. The two of them had been taking things slow since they'd first started seeing each other back in January. It was very important to Priya not to get ahead of herself, what with her little daughter to think about, and everyone from Teddy on to his family understood and respected this choice. It would have been so easy to go and track her down, with how the whole story of their courtship had made them aware of where she worked, but they had been very respectful in that matter as well. They would meet her when she and Teddy were ready.

She was just as aware as they were of how potentially awkward it was to introduce a boyfriend or girlfriend at a family wedding like this, but she was really just happy to finally meet them, after having heard so much about them through Teddy. The feeling was mutual. She had not brought her daughter along, instead leaving her with her in-laws, but by the end of the day, it would be arranged for Teddy, Priya, and three-year-old Lily to come over to the Friar house for dinner soon. There was a good feeling that she and Marianne would get along tremendously.

"My little sister is married…" Maya hummed in quiet drama as she and Lucas danced, near the end of the evening. By now, many of the guests had already left, and it was down to the closer circles. Across the dance floor, Ella sat at her table, talking animatedly but – probably – quietly with Taylor, as just near them, Marianne, Tori, and Francesca all slept on a 'bed' of several chairs brought together, next to the stroller where the triplets also dozed.

"One more down," Lucas confirmed, getting a pitiful whine in response which made him chuckle and kiss the top of his wife's head. "Who knows, maybe some of them will never get married. Not everyone does."

"Is that supposed to be helping?" she mumbled.

"Is it helping?" he countered. She considered the question.

"Debatable."

"I'll take that."

In a sort of repeat of Ella's trip and her graduation, Cara and Mateo were leaving for their honeymoon the very next morning, so before anyone left, they would take a moment to hug the newlyweds, congratulating them again while wishing them a good trip. In no time, the couple was brought in as the core of a many-armed embrace, as one by one Cara's siblings, by any definition of the word whether full, half, step, in-law, or 'half-sister's other half,' came in to stretch the hug to near comical dimensions. Mateo had been as good as one of them from the moment he and Cara had been engaged, but today it was all official, with rings and vows and a big party, so it was very important to all of them that Mateo know just how many brothers and sisters he had gained. When they all pulled away, he gave them that very humble, shy smile of his, showing that he understood it very well.

Heading home at the end of the long day, they could not forget the last thing that had happened before they'd all gone their separate ways. They could not forget when Cara got to receive her letter, ten years guarded, from her late father to her, on the day of her wedding. They'd waited until now, knowing how it was likely to hit her and stay on her mind. Now, she would get to take her time and read Kermit's words in peace.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners