Chapter Four

I Now Present The King and Queen (Four Years Later)

Susan twirled around in her new white dress and veil, feeling happier than she would have believed possible. The day she had forever dreamed of had arrived.

Lucy came in the tent, beaming. She too was wearing a dress, although hers was green and she had a wreath of flowers in her hair.

"It's time," she said.

So Susan followed her sister out of the tent and in full view of the audience. Instantly the bride-to-be felt jittery and nervous. Butterflies erupted to life in her stomach and she thought she might be nauseous. But when she saw a certain two faces, her heart slowed to its normal beating pattern.

There was Caspian's face. He looked so calm, so sure of what he was doing. Susan loved Caspian with all her heart, and Caspian felt the same way. She could see it in his soft, reassuring brown eyes.

And there was Aslan's face, and no one could look into Aslan's face without getting a sense of tranquility. He was smiling gently at her, his eyes saying You're doing the right thing, dear one. Do not be afraid.

Peter stood a few feet away as the best man. It had taken Susan, Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, the badgers, Trumpkin, and Glenstorm to convince Peter to let Susan marry Caspian because Peter possessed the elder brother protectiveness as most elder brothers do.

Eventually all the pleading, reasoning and bribing led to Peter seizing the front of Caspian's shirt and pinning him against the wall.

"If you hurt her," he said warningly. "I'll fight you myself. To the death. And I'll be the one walking out alive."

"I would never hurt her," said Caspian fiercely, although when Peter released him he almost ran away, brushing himself off.

Edmund stood next to Peter, looking reserved; he himself didn't mind at all. To him, it was whatever made his sister happy, and Edmund had never seen Susan this full of of happiness in a long time.

And Lucy led her sister down the aisle. She was beaming happily that they were all going to be a family now.

The ceremony began. It was long, with lots of pauses and readings.

But finally, they came to the end.

"Do you, Queen Susan the Gentle, take King Caspian to be your husband?"

"I do," said Susan resolutely. Her voice shook slightly and Aslan gave Susan another reassuring smile.

"And do you, King Caspian the Tenth, take Queen Susan to be your wife?"

"I do," said Caspian confidently.

"Then by the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife."

Aslan turned to Caspian.

"You're married now, young one. Kiss her."

Caspian did and the applause began. Twilight and Lucy were both crying, with Trufflehunter patting them both on their backs. Edmund clapped and smiled, and Peter even managed a small grin. Aslan stood with Glenstorm; both were applauding as well.

Then came the reception. Everyone was in very high spirits and there was a lot of dancing and singing.

Caspian had gone to entertain some guests, so Susan sat on the balcony of the castle alone.

She heard a noise behind her and saw Peter.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

"So...you're married now," said Peter.

"Yes," said Susan. "It feels spectacular."

Peter was actually smiling, and he gave Susan a hug.

"I'm happy for you," he said.

But something in his voice led Susan to ask the next question.

"Do you think I made the right choice?" she said.

Peter looked at her and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Su..."

"What? Did I?"

"You always do this," said Peter, looking exasperated and amused at the same time. "Everytime you make a big decision, you fret about whether it was right or not."

"I don't-" Susan began, but Peter cut her off.

"Do you love him?"

"Well, of course, but-"

"Do you love him?" Peter repeated.

Susan thought long and hard before answering. "Yes."

"Then it's right," said Peter. "You did the right thing."

"Thank you Peter," said Susan. They hugged each other.

They were interrupted by Lucy and Edmund, who had come over to congratulate Susan.

"Oh my gosh!" Lucy shrieked, throwing her arms around her brother and sister. "You got married!"

"I'm so happy for you, Su!" said Edmund, hugging them all until they were a large bundle of arms.

Susan broke away, her eyes gleaming.

"I must find Caspian," she said.

And with that, she left.

Her family looked on as Susan embraced her new husband and kissed him happily. Then they started dancing together.

"Can you believe it?" said Edmund softly. "Who would've thought Su'd be the first to get married?"

"I always figured it be you first Peter," said Lucy, nodding in agreement.

"As long as they're happy," said Peter. "It doesn't matter in the slightest."

"Yeah," the other two sighed.

They spent the rest of the reception watching Susan and Caspian, happiness and pride in their sister hosting a neverending flame in their hearts.

Peter, Edmund, and Lucy knew that the two would be together forever.

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So? How was that? I'm not sure what to write for the next chapter, but it's one of the things I'll definitely work on during the summer while I have so much free time! Please keep up the R&R if you want me to keep writing this as well as I am, because thanks to all the positive reviews, I have new confidence.

Peace and seashells!

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