Chapter 3: At Last

Well, Clara thought, it was time to see what happened. It was the day of the wedding. She had just handed the invitation in and was allowed into the venue. She was wearing a plain, emerald green tea-length satin halter dress. John was with her, though his outfit was decidedly a bit more dramatic. He was wearing black skinny-cut trousers and Doc Martens, of all things. The dark coat he was wearing had red lining, making him appear more like a magician than a wedding guest. Clara had vomited more times than usual that day. It was definitely the stress. Her dress didn't exactly hide her tummy, despite her best efforts. Clara swallowed and said, "I don't feel so good."

John chuckled and replied, "It's probably because of all the strange food combinations you've been eating. For breakfast this morning, you had jelly babies and pickles on your fried eggs."

Clara nodded and said, "Between that and the stress, you're probably right." She looked ahead and said, "Here we go."

The two were led to the area where the wedding itself would happen. There were plastic chairs that weren't all that ugly and there was a flower-covered arch in front of them. The two sat down and John took Clara's hand in his. The petite brunette looked at her boyfriend, who smiled and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Now they had to wait. Before long, the officiant came to the arch. Not long afterwards, Dave Oswald arrived at the altar. Then came some more waiting before the music started. Everyone turned to look and saw that Linda was being led to her fiance by her brother. The not-so-blushing bride was dressed in the ugliest wedding gown that Clara had ever seen, with an overly poofy skirt and more ruffles than a bag of crisps. Clara looked at her father, who was beaming broadly at his soon-to-be wife. Linda took her place by Dave. The officiant went through a long-winded speech. Then came the exchange of vows, which were equally long-winded. At least Linda seemed to genuinely love her father, Clara thought. The officiant spoke again and the 'I do's' were said. Dave Oswald then leaned forward and pressed his lips to his new wife's. The second that happened, Clara felt an overwhelming wave of nausea. She got up and hurried away, ignoring Linda's screeches of indignation that someone was running away from her wedding. Once Clara found a bin, she emptied her stomach into it. Her body shook as she heaved again into the bin. She suddenly felt a hand on her back. She looked up to see that it was John. "Clara, are you okay?" he asked.

Clara couldn't respond. Seconds later, her father hurried up to her, Linda in tow. The new bride was complaining about how Clara was making a scene, but the teacher couldn't bring herself to care. She felt weak and collapsed. John managed to catch her before guiding her to the ground. Dave looked at her, concerned, and asked, "Clara, do you need to see a doctor?"

Clara swallowed and weakly said, "I'll be fine."

John stroked her back and said, "You've been so sick. I'm not sure that it's because of the crazy things that you've been eating."

The doctor's gaze then lowered. Clara followed the way he was looking and saw that he was looking at her tummy. She could practically hear the gears in his head turning. A look of shocked realization then appeared on his face. He looked Clara in the eyes and blurted, "Oh my god, you're pregnant!"

Clara gasped in surprise. "Pregnant?" She then shook her head and said, "How can I be pregnant? I was on the pill!"

John thought about it for a second. He then said, "It must have been when you were changing birth control. And I might have accidentally grabbed the expired condoms."

Linda let out a snort of disgust and said, "The last thing I need to know is about is you two shagging."

"Linda!" Dave hissed, also embarrassed by the knowledge of his daughter's sex life. Still, the idea of being a granddad excited him. "Clara, do you think that you really might be pregnant?"

Clara looked at her boyfriend, then at her father. "Maybe." she said sheepishly.

"You need to find out soon." Dave said. "There's a shop about ten minutes from here. Will you be back in time for the reception?"

"Dave, this is our wedding!" Linda protested.

"They'll be back." Dave said reassuringly.

"Dad, this is your wedding." Clara pointed out.

"Just go." Dave said. "If you don't take too long, I know that you'll be back quickly."

Clara nodded and left with John. The two got into the doctor's car and he drove his car to the shop. Clara quickly located the home pregnancy tests and bought one. She then headed to the ladies' room. Once in the privacy of a stall, she opened the box and read the instructions. A quick wee later, and all she had to do was wait. The three minutes seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Finally, after three long minutes, she looked at the piece of plastic that could potentially change her life. Depicted on the test were two very bold lines. She was pregnant. Immediately, Clara was filled with a bizarre combination of sheer terror and unbridled joy. She had no idea what came next. All she knew was that she absolutely had to tell John. Clara put the test back into the box and slipped it into her purse before leaving the shop. She saw John standing outside of the car with a look of aprehension on his face. He took a deep, deep breath, then exhaled and asked, "What does it say?"

Clara took the box out of her purse and removed the test. She handed it to John, who accepted it with shaking hands. His eyes widened when he saw the results. "You're pregnant." he said dumbly.

Clara nodded nervously, unsure of John's reaction, and said, "Yeah."

The look of fear on John's face suddenly turned to a smile. He let out a joyous laugh, picked Clara up, and spun in a circle before releasing her. He grinned breathlessly and said, "You're pregnant!"

Clara nodded, a smile appearing on her own face. "You're going to be a dad."

John took Clara's face in his hands and pressed a passionate kiss to her lips. He then released her and said, "You're going to be a mum."

A look of apprehension appeared on Clara's face. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

A thoughtful expression formed on John's face as he said, "We can talk about it after the wedding."

Clara nodded and put the test back into the box and back into her purse. She and John then got into the car and drove back to the venue where the wedding was taking place. The bouquet was about to be thrown. When Linda tossed the bouquet, the bridesmaids scrambled to catch it, but it overshot them and essentially landed in Clara's hands. John looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. Clara then looked at her dad, who was grinning broadly at her. He then winked at her and mouthed, "You're next."

Linda, on the other hand, looked slightly miffed. The bridesmaids, however, were shooting death-glares at Clara. The teacher looked at her boyfriend and said, "We should probably stay out of sight for now."

John nodded and said, "If you say so, boss." He looked at the bridesmaids and added, "I don't want to be around those pudding brains, either."

Clara and John then made themselves scarce until it was time for Dave and Linda to cut the cake. The petite teacher waited with apprehension, recalling the type of cake that Linda had wanted. However, instead of a blue cake with a tropical theme, a white cake that was decorated with buttercream roses was wheeled in. The newlyweds appeared and then cut the cake. Linda had the most genuine smile that Clara had ever seen on her as she and her new husband fed each other some cake. Clara could see that the cake itself was green. A few minutes later, it was time for everybody else to have some cake. Clara looked at the cake apprehensively. John looked at her with a curious expression in his face. "Aren't you going to eat that?"

Clara paused before nodding. "It is my dad's wedding cake."

She then took a bite. To her surprise, the cake was not matcha and mango with a cinnamon and blueberry buttercream. It was a matcha cake with a white chocolate buttercream and it tasted absolutely divine. She suspected that her dad had something to do with the changing of the flavors. She set down her purse, not noticing that her dad had his eye on it. Not long afterwards, there was speeches. Many were from people whom Clara did not know. Finally, it was Dave's turn. "I'd like to thank you all for coming to our wedding." he said. "You never think that you'll have a second chance at love, you know? That's what I found when I met Linda. Now here we are, a year and a half later, as husband and wife. It's been a long road and the wedding hasn't been easy. I wouldn't have been able to make it through it without my daughter, Clara. She's my daughter, my friend, and one of the people who makes me aspire to be a better man." He looked at Clara and smiled. "Who knows, maybe she'll be married next?" He looked at John and said, "Hopefully then, I'll get a new son-in-law, because I already know that I'm going to have a new grandchild."

Clara froze and her eyes drifted to her purse. The pregnancy test was still there, but it was no longer in the box. She looked at Linda, who was glaring venomously at her. Dave didn't notice. The subject went back on to Linda, but Clara was horrified at what had happened. After the speeches were done, Linda took Dave aside. Clara followed them. Linda growled at her husband and snapped, "How could you do that? It's our wedding! Couldn't you go five minutes without talking about your daughter? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was to me?"

Clara frowned and said, "She's right, Dad. This is yours and Linda's wedding. It's not about me, John, or our baby. You shouldn't have done that. It was embarrassing to both me and Linda!"

Linda looked at her new step-daughter with a look of surprise on her face. "Clara?" she said with a confused voice.

"Dad, the baby will still be here after the wedding." Clara said. "You two go have fun."

Dave smiled sheepishly and said, "You're right, Clara. I'm sorry. To you and to Linda."

"Go have fun." Clara urged.

Dave smiled and nodded before heading off. Clara looked at Linda, who was standing there awkwardly. "Linda-"

"I'm sorry." Linda blurted.

"What?" Clara was taken aback.

"I've been a real bridezilla, haven't I?" Linda said. "You didn't deserve that."

John bluntly said, "You were kind of a bitch to her."

"John!" Clara hissed.

Linda wrung her hands together and said, "I know. I know. It was..."

"Wedding-itis?" Clara provided. "I hope that you're not as bad as you seemed during the wedding and preparations."

Linda laughed and said, "No, at the best of times, I can be kind of a bitch. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, though. I'm..." She cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry."

Clara was silent for a moment. She then said, "I need you to apologize for another thing."

"What?" Linda inquired.

"My cat, Simon." Clara replied. "He was the Siamese-Maine Coon kitten that your Siamese, Precious Jewel, gave birth to. You said that you would have had him killed if someone didn't take him."

Linda squirmed uneasily. "Oh. That." She let out a deep sigh. "After Precious Jewel died, I've been thinking about that a lot." She looked at Clara and asked, "Is he happy?"

Clara nodded. "He's very happy. He's smart, friendly, and the best cat I've ever had."

Linda smiled and said, "Good. Sounds like he really was Precious Jewel's kitten. I'm glad that he turned out okay."

Clara nodded and said, "I'll tell him. Now, go enjoy your wedding."

Linda smiled and said, "Thank you, Clara."

The new bride gave her step-daughter what was probably the shortest and most awkward hug of her life. She then smiled at Clara and left to find Dave.

After the wedding, most of the people had left. Just Linda, Dave, John, and Clara were there. The doctor looked at his girlfriend and smiled. "Some wedding, huh?" he said.

"Yeah." Clara replied. "Everything turned out okay."

John shifted uneasily and said, "Now that the wedding is over, there's something that I've been wanting to ask you since I moved in."

"No, we're not getting another cat." Clara laughed.

"No, it's not that," John said. "It's something else."

The doctor then got down on one knee. Clara's mouth fell open in shock. John reached into his pocket and pulled out a box, opening it to reveal a ring. "Clara Oswald, will you marry me?"

Clara gasped, along with another female voice. She turned to see Linda. The older woman smiled at her and said, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Clara turned to John and grinned broadly. "Yes! Yes, I'll marry you!"

Dave put an arm around Linda, trying his hardest not to cry. Proposals always got to him. Linda looked at the expression on her husband's face and rolled her eyes. She gave John a stern look and said, "You had better take care of my step-daughter and my grandchild, John. If you think that I'm a bitch now, just wait until I'm really angry."

"She's right." Dave said. "When she's really mad, she can be a bitch."

"Dad!" Clara protested.

Linda rolled her eyes and said, "You still love it, though."

Dave grinned and said, "Yeah, I do."

The newlyweds then embraced each other and exchanged a brief kiss. John smirked at Clara as they walked away and said, "One day, that's going to be us."

Clara rolled her eyes and said, "Please. I'm not that much of a bitch."

John's eyes widened. "I just realized something."

"What?" Clara asked.

"Linda is going to be my mother-in-law." John said grimly. "This might be Reddit fuel."

"I heard that!" Linda called out in a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"What is a Reddit?" Dave asked loudly.

Linda chuckled and put her arm around her husband. "I'll tell you when we get home."

When the newlyweds left, the newly-engaged couple looked at each other and smiled. Clara took John's hand in hers and gave it a quick squeeze. "Well," John said, "what do we do next?"

"We'll be busy." Clara replied as she headed to the car. "We have a lot of planning to do."

John chuckled and said, "Indeed."

Clara smiled as she buckled herself in and said, "That, too. To think, all of this started with a blind date. I don't know who to thank."

"Don't thank Jack." John said, his voice very serious. "He'll be insufferably proud of himself for at least a week."

"We could always name the baby Jack." Clara suggested with a wink.

John gave Clara a mock-angry look and said, "Don't you even dare."

"Fine." Clara mock-sighed. "Let's just go home and spoil our cats."

"I can't say no to that." John chuckled. "We also have a wedding to plan."

Clara smirked and said, "I call final veto."

John rolled his eyes and said, "Control freak."

Clara laughed and said, "You know you love it."

John couldn't argue with that. He had a beautiful fiancee. He had an awesome life. Soon, he would have a beautiful child and a perfect wife. Not that the would ever thank Jack, but none of this would be possible if he hadn't set him up on that blind date.

The End