A Magical Addition
Chapter 7
Hello again. Sorry this took a little longer than the others as I had to fit in updating my other stories along with school work. Thanks for all the reviews, favouriting and alerting, keep it up ;) Enjoy chapter 7.
A soft, warm breeze blew across the valley meadow ruffling Sophie's delicately curled hair which strangely was beginning to darken. The covering of white netting which hung over those curls lifted slightly and then settled giving a cascading effect.
'Goodness,' Fanny muttered grasping handfuls of white skirt, ruffling and fixating at it. 'Your marrying a wizard, you'd think he'd stop the wind on his wedding day for his bride's sake!'
Sophie rolled her eyes and set about swatting her mother away from her, stroking down her dress and shaking her head.
'Sophie!' Lettie's voice rang as she skipped over the hillside in her carefully designed bridesmaid dress, flowers from the meadow woven into her bun. Sophie's gaze shot up from her dress, a nervous smile spreading over her lips. 'It's almost time.' She finished as she slowed in front of her sister, her cheeks slightly flushed, a glint of excitement in her eyes.
'Where's Markl?' Sophie asked shakily trying to sound collected but Lettie and Fanny could tell she was on the brink of falling apart with nerves.
'He's with Howl.' Lettie replied with a giggle placing a hand on Sophie's cheek. His name made the knots in Sophie's stomach twist and turn, a groan slipping out of her tightly pressed lips.
Another petite girl appeared following the same path as Lettie, her arms laden with flower bouquets.
'Martha.' Fanny sung running over to help her, her long primrose over skirt swishing from side to side.
'Everybody's waiting.' Her wispy voice panted as she unloaded the flowers onto her mother who returned just one small bunch of lavender to her. Fanny turned handing a bunch of lavender to Lettie and then the much larger bunch of mixed meadow flowers to Sophie, several long vines drooping out of the bouquet and hanging over the lower part of her skirt.
'Ready?' Fanny whispered with a soft motherly smile, brushing a few stray curls out of her daughter's eyes and caressing her cheek with her thumb a few times.
Sophie took a long, hitched breath in and nodded holding her shaky hand out to take Fanny's.
'Let's go.' Fanny said quietly to the others who beamed excitedly and got into position, Martha taking the first step approaching the peak of the hill.
Down by the water's edge, Howl stood at the self-made altar, in front of a few rows of small wooden chairs filled with friends, the odd family member and then of course Prince Justin who had made a point of being able to attend considering Howl had eventually responded to his letter, willing to help.
Howl wore a deep maroon suit with a golden lining and long draping sleeves. Large white frills from his shirt pooled over the equally large collar of his suit jacket. He stared at his feet wringing his hands as he waited, he hadn't expected to be quite as nervous but yet again he'd never expected to be getting married at all. The minister stood in front of him smiling smugly, hands clasped in front of his black robes ceremoniously. Markl stood a little ways off to Howl's right holding a red velvet pillow, two gold rings sitting prominently on top.
Following a few gasps of awe and admiration the wizard turned, his eye's scanning over the hillside to the crest where his bride seemed to float gracefully amongst the flowers, her white, puffy dress and veil blowing off to one side. Her tight bodice sat beautifully over her slender body hiding any signs of a very small bulge in the lower part of her belly. From a distance her eyes locked with his, a wide grin spreading over both their faces, their cheeks breaking out in a sudden heat.
Martha and Lettie made their way elegantly down the hillside, both being quite careful not to lose their footing and fall. Sophie held tightly to her mother's arm being forced to tear her gaze from Howl's to stare at the ground ahead of her with the same fear as her sisters. Within seconds they where back on the flat, their feet hidden amongst the flowers as they waded through, Lettie and Martha smiling at the guests as they passed, both winking at Howl as their eyes met for a split second whilst he made the effort to admire them.
The guests murmured amongst themselves, but any noise was in oblivion to Howl and Sophie who where once again held in each other's gaze. As they got progressively closer Howl held out his hand which shook almost as much as Sophie's. With a tear and a sniffle, Fanny kissed her daughter's hand before placing it in Howl's and smiling approvingly at both of them.
'Good luck.' She whispered bowing slightly to the minister and then backing away to her seat in the front row beside her husband.
Both taking a deep breath they turned to the minister who cleared his throat ready to begin.
'Dearly beloveds…'
The couple stayed completely engaged throughout, both fighting to hold back the tears which occasionally pooled in their eyes as the other spoke.
'I do.' Howl announced confidently, his bright blue eyes exploring Sophie's as she listened to the minister.
'I do.' Her voice quivered softly. The minister closed his small leather book firmly and smiled glancing between the couple.
Markl hesitated and then scurried over with the pillow watching happily as they slotted the rings onto each other's fingers. He then scurried off to the side again smiling contently at the great job he had done.
'I now pronounce you man and wife…you may kiss the bride.' And they were kissing almost before he got a chance to finish. Sophie flung her arms around Howl's neck, his arms winding around her waist as their lips moved strongly together.
A long 'Awwwww' was released from the crowd along with someone's loud wolf whistle in the back. Howl and Sophie smiled at this as they slowly broke apart, Markl blushing and giggling at the intimacy of his 'parent-like' figures.
Martha skipped merrily up to her big sister reaching up on her tiptoes to peck her on the cheek before handing her back her bouquet.
As the couple walked back towards the small hut hand in hand Sophie whispered,
'I love you Mr Pendragon.' She glanced up at him and squeezed his hand a little.
'And I love you Mrs Pendragon.' He smiled down at her, Sophie's knees quivering as she threatened to swoon.
'Sophie!' An excited voice squealed from across the living room. The silverette's eyes scanned through the crowd of guests that drank and mingled eventually focusing in on one practically beaming sister that was in the process of elbowing through the others to reach her.
'Keep her away from the punch.' Howl whispered in his new bride's ear, patting her shoulder and then moving off swiftly to chat to prince Justin who was doing his best to avoid the former witch of the waste who was stalking him down like a bunny.
'Sophie!' Lettie squeaked once more grabbing both her sister's hands in her own and grinning. 'Why didn't you tell me?' She giggled, her voice a little quieter.
Sophie's eyes widened. Shock and horror surged through her at the fact her motor mouth sister somehow knew about the pregnancy. She would tell everybody!
'Mother!' Sophie growled through gritted teeth. She jumped a little as a hand suddenly planted itself on her stomach.
'When are you due?' She whispered, her face glowing with excitement. Sophie quickly brushed her hand away and glanced around for anybody who might've been watching. Sometimes Lettie was so unaware of her surroundings Sophie worried.
'Sometime in March I'm guessing,' She responded in a hushed tone still glancing around warily. 'I have my first doctors appointment on Monday.'
Lettie's expression dulled slightly, almost in disappointment.
'That's ages away! It's only June…' Lettie sighed. Sophie rolled her eyes at how childish her only slightly younger sister was being. Suddenly she was alight once more. Her face shot up, a few blonde curls falling in her eyes and quickly being shoved behind her ear. 'Where was it conceived?' She blurted out rather loudly, a little too loudly. Howl certainly heard anyway and was glaring over the prince's shoulder looking quite concerned.
Sophie face-palmed and emitted a low groan. Lettie giggled looking bashfully over her shoulder at a handful of guests closest to them that stared with perched eyebrows. 'Sorry Sophie, I'm just so surprised! I didn't even know you and Howl were in a proper relationship until a few weeks ago, let alone…you know, baby making.' Sophie let out another groan of embarrassment.
'Where's Martha?' Sophie asked in an attempt to change the subject.
'With Markl…Markl isn't secretly your son is he?' She asked suspiciously. Sophie surpassed this with a shake of the head and a chuckle pushing her aside and doing her best to run over to Howl without tripping on her dress or breaking a heel of her white, satin ankle boots.
She squeezed past Justin smiling sheepishly as she snatched Howl's sixth glass of wine, setting it on a nearby table and taking his hand.
'Excuse me your highness,' She said with a small curtsey 'But my husband and I must have our first dance before he becomes completely intoxicated!' She raised an eyebrow glancing at the wine glass and then at Howl whose eyelids were already starting to get heavy. The prince nodded and chuckled.
'Who am I to keep a drunk wizard from his beautiful bride.' He said lustfully causing a pink hue to settle on Sophie's cheeks for a split second before she was whisked off into the centre of the room. The guests cleared a space for them, each set of eyes watching Howl with jealousy. The wizard held his head proudly like a hero, Sophie's hand sitting delicately in his as he extended his arm and bowed grandly, the tails of his jacket swishing out behind him, his jet black bangs hanging over his eyes. Howl wanted to be noticed, he wanted people to watch them, he wanted them to fawn over him, all of which every single guest was already doing, especially the females who were secretly plotting Sophie's death.
Sophie curtsied just as she had done with the prince, her giggle that Howl had grown accustomed to filling the surrounding air. He spun her around into his chest, her cheeks growing warmer and redder with each passing second. It dawned on Sophie that she had never actually danced with him before, what if he thought she was terrible? What if he was terrible?...unlikely
Howl was a wonderful dancer, he swirled Sophie around the room with ease, several women swooning as floated passed, his womanising vibe stunning them. Sophie didn't mind Howl stealing her limelight as she would much rather bask in his anyway, it took the stress of her for having to look perfect as it was apparent not many were watching her anyway.
'You are a simply lovely dancer my darling.' He cooed as a few other couples began to join in.
'Ha!' Sophie retorted 'You're practically carrying me around!'
Howl glanced down to where Sophie's feet moved gracefully around his.
'Lies.' He muttered with a smirk leaning in and kissing her chastely. Sophie's heart thumped loudly as she let her eyes flutter closed. His tongue flicked out over her bottom lip pleading for entrance which Sophie willingly permitted letting their tongues swirl together. A few guests clapped and whistled but the couple didn't seem to care.
The night went on. They danced, they sang, Howl drank, Sophie didn't. They chatted , they laughed, they were teased, they were given presents (a few they quickly had to throw out of sight from Martha and Markl) and eventually they found themselves falling into bed completely exhausted.
'You know what we've t'do now…' Howl slurred letting his head fall to one side. Sophie propped herself up on her elbows and stroked his cheek with a gentle finger.
'You're floored Howl, we don't have to.'
He opened one bright blue eye, the corners of his mouth twitching.
'But it's tradition!' He stated with a groan however Sophie could tell all he really wanted to do was sleep.
'And we're great with traditions.' Sophie replied sarcastically glancing at her stomach and then back to her beautiful yet sluggish husband. Howl chuckled rolling onto his side and holding his head in his hand.
'But it's not fair on you, just because I'm pissed…' He sighed. Sophie shook her head, hauling herself off the bed and meandering over to a rather large mirror nestled amongst trinkets in Howl's jewellery box of a bedroom. She slipped the barrette holding her veil out of her hair and placed it over a heap of necklaces wondering if she'd ever find it again. It was just as she began trying to undo the long row of buttons a pair of firm hands grabbed her waist pulling her backwards onto the bed once more.
'You'll never be able to undo those all yourself…' He whispered smoothly in her ear, his hot breath causing her to fidget and quiver uneasily. She could smell the alcohol dripping off each word and it worried her but she trusted him and with a suggestive wink, she let him continue.
Thanks for reading. Please please please keep reviewing and I'll try to update asap. Unfortunately I have exams coming up so the next few chapters may be a bit delayed so please work with me. Thanks.
~*Sarah*~