Chapter 52
"Oh my," Barbara says, as she walks in the room to see Katie all dressed up in her flower girl dress. "Don't you just look like a little bit of heaven all wrapped up in white! I just knew you would be all kinds of adorable, but my oh my, just look at you!" Barbara rushes over and leans down, pulling Katie in for a hug as the little girl starts giggling.
"Mom, don't you get her all worked up. I know how you two like to play, but today… we need her to rest up now so she makes it through the day. It will be hard for her to rest with all kinds of people around."
"Oh, Arizona, don't you worry your cute little self. I will make sure this little sweetheart gets rest if she needs it. I will bring her in here if needed later and we will watch something and let her rest up for as long as she needs."
"Are you sure mom?" Arizona says, breathing a sigh of relief that Katie will have an escape from the crowd if she needs it.
"Of course, honey. Now, why are you not dressed? You don't have much time left."
Smiling, Arizona says, "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to make sure Katie is all set before I finish up. I'm a mom now, I always come last."
Nodding, Barbara reaches for Arizona's hands. "I am so, so proud of you. I can't believe that you found someone as wonderful as Callie. She and this little girl here," Barbara says as she looks over to Katie, "have brought out a side of you that just really suits you, Arizona. Everyone hopes to find someone that can bring out the best in them. I thought I had that at one point, but I was wrong. I'll keep looking for my Mr. Right, but I am so glad you found your Miss Right. She is a wonderful person and mom, and she has given you an amazing little girl. Don't take either of them for granted, Arizona. Prove to them every day that you love them and cherish them. Don't ever let them wonder where you stand. Never be afraid to apologize, even if you don't think you have anything to be sorry for. Pride ruins so much, so just apologize, even if you don't think it is needed. In the end, you just want them to be happy, so you do whatever that takes, you hear me?"
A tear slips down Arizona's cheek and Barbara reaches out to wipe it away. "Oh, honey, I'm not trying to make you cry," Barbara says, shaking her head.
"I know. But you said everything I'm feeling, and I just, I can't believe that I'm lucky enough to marry Calliope."
"You deserve it, Arizona. You two are meant to be. Now… enough mushiness, I don't think make up will be able to cover the puffy eyes if we keep this up," Barbara says, laughing. "Now, you get ready and I'm going to give this little girl a snack that won't get all over her dress to hold her over until the reception."
"Thanks, mom. I love you."
"I love you, too."
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Down the hall, Callie walks out of her changing area, to see her dad waiting on her.
"Oh mija…"
"Dad, I'm so glad you are here," Callie says, getting closer to her father, watching his face to see any hint of disapproval. Although he has been ok with the wedding up to this point, she wants to make sure he really is ok with the idea of her marrying Arizona.
"Of course I'm here. I wouldn't have missed it for the world," Carlos says, pulling Callie in for a hug.
Feeling a wave of relief washing over her, Callie exhales, letting out the breath she didn't realize she had started to hold. "Thank you daddy, thank you so much for being here. For being supportive. Just, for being you. I love you."
"Mija, I love you too. I wouldn't have it any other way," Carlos says quietly, relishing in the hug from his little girl. Finally pulling back, Carlos sighs and shakes his head. "I hate that your mother isn't the kind of mother that you need. I never thought that she would behave the way she has. She is missing out on being a part of your life. I know she will regret it one of these days."
"I don't know dad. At first, I hated that I wouldn't have my mom here. But then I thought about it, and I have Barbara. She has stepped in and really became a mother to me as well, even when she didn't have to. She has taken Katie in as her granddaughter from the very beginning. To have her love Katie and I the way she does, we will be just fine. Mom is the one missing out, not Katie and I."
"You are something else sweetheart," Carlos says, giving Callie a small smile. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and Teddy pops her head in.
"You ready to get this show on the road? Arizona is so excited she can't hardly stand it."
Smiling, Callie looks at Teddy and nods her head. "Let's do it!"
XXXXXXX
Teddy and Addie stand at the back of the small crowd with Katie in the middle of the two. Callie and Arizona are on opposite sides of the crowd in the back, hidden from each other, but they figured out a way for both of them to still be able to see Katie walk down the isle. The music begins and Teddy and Addie accompany Katie down the isle, and after Teddy goes to the right side to stand with Arizona, Katie joins Addie on the left.
Arizona had not been worried about walking down the isle alone, but this morning, when Mark made a generous offer to walk down the isle with her, it touched Arizona's heart tremendously. She gladly accepted his offer, so the two of them are now making their way towards the minister, to stop next to Addy. Arizona and Mark turn sideways, with her arm still linked with his, so that they could see Callie and her dad begin to make their way to them.
As Callie and Carlos begin walking down the isle, she smiles as she sees Katie standing next to Addie, and Arizona right there to the right of them. Callie can hardly believe this is really happening, and she can feel her heart bursting with love for her daughter and the woman she is about to marry. Not only is her daughter standing there, but she is standing on her own. She never thought she would see the day that she would watch her daughter walk again. It is all thanks to the woman who is standing at the altar, waiting on her, with a breathtaking smile that is meant for only her.
Smiling at Arizona, the preacher asks who is giving this woman away, and Mark answers. Next, the preacher looks to Callie and Carlos and asks the same question, and Carlos answers, then both men take their seats. Reaching for Arizona's hand, then looking at her daughter, she bends down to pull the little girl into a hug, and gives her a kiss on the cheek, making her giggle. Standing back up, Callie has tears falling from her eyes, full of happiness. Only able to muster up a whisper, she says, "Thank you."
Both women have tears as the preacher begins, "We gather this day…"
XXXXXXX
"….and I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now kiss," the minister says, looking at the two women.
"I've waited for this moment my whole life," Arizona barely gets out before Callie quickly rushes in for the kiss, making everyone laugh. Arizona manages to pull back with a full blown smile on her face. "I'll continue wanting to do that for the rest of my life."
"Get a room," Teddy whispers too loudly, making everyone in earshot laugh once again.
Taking that as a cue, the minister says, "I now present to you, Mrs. and Mrs. Robbins." The small crowd begins to clap and both women, full of smiles, reach over to take Katie's hands, pulling her over to stand in the middle of the two, and they look at the preacher who nods. "And now, I happily present to you, the Robbins family." As the audience one again begins to clap, the family makes their way down the isle, stopping to give Barbara and Carlos a hug.
When the 3 ladies make it to the back of the crowd, Arizona pulls the two to a stop. "Before it gets crazy, I just want to tell you how happy you have both made me today. I promise you both, I will love you more every day and I promise to always take care of you. And you, little one," Arizona says as she kneels down to be eye level with Katie, says, "I promise to be the best momma I can be for you. I love you so much." Katie leans over over and puts a kiss on Arizona's cheek. "Love Momma," Katie says, causing Arizona to gasp. "Calliope! Did you hear that?"
Laughing, and causing Katie to laugh too, Callie says, "Yeah, honey. I did. I certainly did," Callie says, reaching over to pull both her girls into a hug as they all laugh. Katie has been saying small words, but this is the first time she has put two words together, or called Arizona "momma". Hearing her do that today, of all days, has Arizona at a loss for words. "Katie, momma loves you so much!" Arizona once again kneels down to see Katie and pulls her in for another hug, causing the little girl to giggle.
"All right you guys... we are obviously going to have to drag you guys to the reception. Let's go!" Teddy walks up behind Arizona and gives her a little shove. "Come on. There is cake waiting." Laughing, Arizona dries her tears and picks up Katie, not wanting to break the connection she feels with the little girl, and the group makes there way to the tent they have set up, with tables adorned in light pink coverings, ready to begin their celebration.
As everyone takes their seats, with Callie and Arizona sitting among their best friends, with Katie right beside them, silverware begins to clank against the glasses. Knowing what everyone wants, Arizona stands and pulls Callie to stand as well. "You can do that all day guys!" Arizona laughs as does Callie, as Arizona pulls her in for a kiss, causing everyone to applaud.
"Before we sit down, I just want to take a second and thank you all for being here. It means the world to us that you joined us on our special day," Callie says, surprising Arizona. "I know that I have only been here a rather short time and as I look around, I still see many faces that I have yet to meet, but those of you I do know, you have become like family." Turning to face Arizona, Callie smiles. "Arizona, I can't even begin to put my feelings to words. Before we met, I felt like my world was turned upside down and I didn't know which end was up. I had hit rock bottom and I felt so alone, not knowing how things could possibly ever look up. Boy, was I wrong," Callie says, shaking her head. "Sometimes I feel like you do so much for me, for us, and that I don't do enough for you. And before you say anything, I know you don't expect anything in return, but... there just aren't enough grand gestures in the world that would ever come close to showing you how much I love you. Having said that though, I have worked on a little something. Now... Mark, would you?" Callie turns around and surprises Arizona when she has Mark walk towards her with a microphone and music begins to play. "Callie... what?" Arizona begins to ask, but is cut off by Callie.
"What Arizona doesn't know, is that I've been working on a little something as my wedding gift to her." Callie begins to sing "The Story" to Arizona. It is a song that they danced to a few times in the living room after they had put Katie to bed. It had become their "song" and Callie decided she would sing it to Arizona. Callie motioned for Arizona to take her seat, and as she did, Callie reached down for her hand.
As Callie began to sing, Arizona had tears welling up. She couldn't believe it was possible to fall in love with this woman any more, but she was. With every word Callie sang, Arizona was amazed. She had heard Callie sing before, many times, to Katie. But this... this was something else. When the song really picked up, Arizona was just in awe of the woman before her. Callie had never been one to shy away from public displays of affection, but the speech and now this song, Arizona was blown away. And this voice... wow. Arizona has never heard anything quite like this.
When the song came to an end, Arizona once again stood. "Calliope. I...". With no words coming to mind, she did the only thing she could do. She pulled Callie in for a kiss that left them both breathless.
"GET. A. ROOM!" Teddy yelled, reaching over to cover Katie's eyes, making everyone burst out in laughter, causing the women to finally pull apart.
Laughing, the women watched as Katie wiggled away from Teddy's hand, causing them to laugh harder. "I think we need to cut the cake and get out of here. What do you think?" Arizona asked. "Lead the way, my lovely wife. Lead the way."
Quickly moving on with the rest of the party, the two women do what they need to do, and then say their good-byes. "Katie, mommy and momma love you so much. We will see you in a few days, then we will have a few family days, all together. Sound good?" Callie asked, as she pulled Katie in for one last hug.
"You two go. She will be fine. We will be fine. So, go... get out of here and I'm going to get this one home and we will get her a bath and ready for bed. Then, we are going to curl up and read a few stories," Barbara said, putting her arm around Katie. "We will let you know if we need you, but we will be fine," Barbara says, smiling. "Mom, we know. It's just hard to leave," Arizona says, reaching down for one last hug.
"Ok," Callie says, reaching for Arizona's hand. "Let's go, we are going to wear them out. Besides, we have a little drive ahead of us, so let's get going."
"I know. Alright. Love you all, and we will call or text when we get to wherever it is my wife is taking me," Arizona says giving Callie a look. Callie insisted she make the honeymoon reservations, and she decided she would surprise Arizona. To say it was driving Arizona nuts that she didn't know where they were going is an understatement.
Everyone watches and waves as Callie and Arizona climb into Callie's car, which has been decorated by Mark. Buckling in, Callie looks to Arizona and leans over, giving her a kiss. "So, ready to get this honeymoon started?" "Calliope, you know I am more than ready," Arizona says, laughing. Starting the car, the two women wave as they pass through the parking lot. "Ok, here we go," Callie says, heading towards their destination.
XXXXXXX
"Calliope... this is, this, it's gorgeous!" Arizona walks around their room, taking in all the small details.
"Are you sure you like it?" Callie asks, walking to stand right behind Arizona, leaning her chin on Arizona's shoulder.
"Are you kidding? Callie, this is amazing," Arizona gushes as she stands looking out the window, that is facing the large lake just below their cottage. "This is just, it's perfect. Just like you," Arizona says as she turns to look at her wife. "You must have worked really hard to get all this set up."
"Well, I knew what I wanted and I knew I wanted to make it as perfect as I could for you. For us. I didn't want to drive all night but didn't want to stay in town either. I figured this was only a few hours away and I loved the view. Wait until you see it in the daylight out there. So beautiful. But, for now, how about I go over there and get that nice big tub filled with some bubbles and then you can join me?" Callie asked, as she nodded her head towards the gigantic tub sitting by the bed with candles lit all around it.
"Sounds good to me," Arizona says, watching Callie do just as she said. When the tub is filled, Callie stands in front of Arizona, and reaches around to find the zipper on her back, and asks, "May I?" Nodding, Arizona gives Callie permission to unzip her dress and help her out of it, then Arizona does the same for Callie. They make their way to the tub, and Callie gets in first, scooting back an motioning for Arizona to sit in front of her.
Leaning back, Arizona closes her eyes and smiles. "This is nice," she says, as Callie takes her fingers and runs then up both of Arizona's arms, then leans down to put a kiss on Arizona's neck. "This is more than nice. This is absolutely amazing. This, Arizona Robbins, is everything."
"I feel the same way, Calliope," Arizona says, moving her neck to give Callie more room.
"I love your neck. I love the goosebumps you get when I kiss you here. And here. And here," Callie whispers, as she kisses just below Arizona's ear. Bringing her hand up to stroke the side of Arizona's cheek, she pulls her in for a long kiss. Pulling back, she says, "I think I love being your wife." Going in for another kiss, Arizona smiles and says, "I think I love being your wife too."