Disclaimer: Not mine
A/N: Only 3 chapters left. Can you believe that? I loved writing this chapter. It was fun fun fun. Please review. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you! Hope you enjoy.
I shifted uncomfortably as we entered the Madame Malkin's. The near summer heat was suddenly diminished as we entered the air-conditioned robe shop. The last week had been hectic, filled with wedding preparations and today we were looking for a perfect white dress robe for the bride. I hated this.
It was June 8th, exactly seven days since Maddie had come home with the news. I had always thought Nick was a nice kid but now I hated him as much as I hated lima beans. Stan's 17-year-old sister was getting married before me. Why did they even want to get married now? They were both young, and they've just been engaged why did the wedding have to be exactly 3 weeks from now? How the hell did Nick afford such a big ass diamond?
I have always been a patient person, but I was sick of it. I wanted to be married, NOW DAMMINT! Maddie had giggled like an idiot flashing her stupid ring all over the place. She had told us the second after she got off the bus, not even bothering to give us time to gather the thoughts of her arrival. Stan, who I expected to sulk and punch Nick, had accepted his future brother in law with a hug and a smile. Bastard.
Maddie oohed and aawed at every robe we passed as we went row by row deeper
into the shop. Why anyone would want to have a magical wedding was beyond me. Her dad's family couldn't come, being the muggles they were, so why go to all the trouble?
Maddie had grown more mature since I last saw her at Christmas, she went to her dad's for Easter, and she looked so much prettier. She was absolutely glowing with love for Nick. It made me want to vomit. Stan's sister couldn't stop smiling and neither could her betrothed. I on the other hand spent the last week moping and sulking refusing to even talk to Stan. I was 27 and still unmarried. I only had 3 years left until I was 30. I sighed as Maddie went to try on the robes. Mum had been too happy for her blood daughter to pay attention to my own internal crisis and Amelia had gone with Paul to visit her parents, so I was left to handle my own problems. My diary was even no solitude for me and so I cried in the shower and was moodier than usual.
Maybe I was pregnant I thought joyfully the day before. Mother Nature thought it would be funny by letting me ride the cotton pony this week instead. Freaking hilarious. Maddie came out of the dressing room with that stupid smile on her face and a pretty embellished white robe.
"I like that one," I said trying to be pleasant but only sounding sarcastic.
"Oh I don't know," Maddie said twirling in front of the mirror. I tried to hide my grimace. What did it matter what she wore if she was so beautiful anyway? If I ever got married I would have to wear pounds of make up and an elegant dress to distract from my pure ugliness. Where was chocolate when I needed it?
Mum also nodded in approval but Maddie went to try on some more dresses. In the end we spent 3 hours picking out a dress at Madame Malkin's only to have Maddie go to the first dress we had picked out for her. We apparated to Mum's house as the sun set. The sky glowed with pink as we entered the house. We went to the kitchen and found all 3 of the boys drinking butterbeers to fight the heat.
Nick and Stan were laughing at some joke while Abby and Tyler were playing gob stones. I missed Abby, very rarely did we see each other now and I knew she was bored out of her mind. I was in a way grateful to Maddie for having this wedding and bring Stan's family together again. Abby caught sight of me and gave me a hug. I smiled at her. Over the past months she had grown considerably, she was now to my bellybutton and she seemed to be getting plumper. Tyler seemed like me, to be sulking.
"Hey," I said to him grabbing a butterbeer and sitting next to him.
"Hey, don't you just hate all this wedding stuff?" He said taking a swig from his butter beer. I nodded my head so fast I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. "I knew you wouldn't like it either. You and me are like peas in a pod." He said clenching the bottle and turning to me. I heard Nick's guffaw from across the room but decided to ignore him.
"It's good your sister's getting married though, don't you think? Even if you don't like the preparations," I said and felt guilty about the way I had been treating Maddie suddenly. I wasn't as bad as Tyler I hoped, yet I really doubted it. I hadn't even congratulated her.
"I guess, but once Maddie leaves then I won't get to see her as much," He said softly and I let out an audible 'aaaw'.
"Just because your sister isn't here doesn't mean she doesn't love you, Tyler." I looked over at him with a small smile. He was angry because he would miss his sister. Aww.
"I know. I know. But I won't get to see her as much is all," He looked so vulnerable as he said this and I could tell he was beginning to get embarrassed. Before he had the chance to move away I wrapped him in a big hug. He gasped and let his hands hang limply at his sides as I hugged him tight. After a while, I pulled away and sat down quickly. Tyler's face was beat red and he looked like was in shock. He was so cute.
"Hey you gu-" Stan said coming over to us. Tyler jumped out of his chair and stared at his brother him in horror.
"She hugged me, I swear!" Tyler said and I couldn't help but giggle forgetting about ignoring Stan. Tyler however seemed deeply offended. "I'm so going to get you back for this," He said and disappeared into his room. Stan and I roared with laughter. I stopped abruptly when I remembered I was supposed to be grumpy. Stan stopped with me and we stared out of the kitchen window to watch Nick, Maddie and Mum mentally prepare where everything would go.
"Are you mad at Maddie?" He asked me quietly. I sighed, if anything Maddie was the person I was least mad at.
"No, just at myself," I told him truthfully we stated outside at the setting sun and I then and there swore to myself that I would stop being such a mean person. I should focus on other peoples happiness rather than my own. But, damn, I still wanted to be married first.
The weeks slipped by with one wedding preparation after the next. Thursday was when we got the flowers, Friday the cake. On the Monday before the Sunday wedding, Amelia returned with an armload of presents.
"I guess I couldn't stop thinking about you everywhere I went so I bought you a present for most of the stores we went to," She said as I examined the loaf of white bread she had just given me. I laughed and hugged her tight. I had missed Amelia deeply for the past two weeks. I spent a whole girl's lunch informing her on everything that happened. She even gasped at the appropriate times. I knew I missed her for a reason.
"So that's why I've tried to be pleasant and helpful this past week even though I'm insanely jealous," I finished up and took my first bite of my food even though it had been sitting there for 20 minutes. She just smiled at me. Why was she smiling at me?
"That's splendid," She said smiling.
"Splendid? I just told you that I am having an emotional war within myself and yet you think it's splendid?" I said in shock. I thought she was on my side! She seemed to agree with me when I told the story.
"Well, I've got new too, you see. Paul and I are trying for a baby," She said excitedly and the bit of sandwich I was eating fell out of my mouth. A baby?
"Like…you're pregnant?" I asked her in shock as jealously raged within me.
"Well, not yet, but hopefully soon," She said and smiled at me. "You see, I've always loved children." She smiled her radiant smile.
"You guys have only been married for a few months, are you sure you want kids already?" I said doubtful. I knew first hand how having a kid led to the downfall of my parent's marriage. I would want to wait at least a year before I had kids. I sighed, that is if I ever got married. It would probably take a year and a half to plan the wedding, a year after being married, and 9th months for being pregnant. Even if Stan proposed today I wouldn't have kids until I was 30.
"Yes well, yesterday was our 5th month anniversary of being married, so even if I got pregnant now I wouldn't have the baby until after our year anniversary. It works out good." She said surprisingly calm. I wouldn't have thought that Amelia would get a little zany about things like this but she was composed. I couldn't help but notice the dreamy look in her eyes.
"Aw," I said and finally it hit me. If Amelia had kids now, I would forever be able to be known as 'Auntie Brooke.' I giggled at the name and we had already picked out several names for the nonexistent baby when we really should have been concerned about the summer camp opening in two weeks. I reached the house and found a note from Stan saying he was at work. Stan, oh Stan, I thought in my mind. I tried to mentally tell him to propose to me. I knew it wasn't going to work though. He had been so tired lately and we had hardly seen each other. I wondered what we would name out kids. Stan Junior? I laughed out loud and walked to the bedroom to take a nap.
I arrived to the Shunpike's house on the day of the wedding and found it how I had expected, pandemonium. Stan, who standing next to me, immediately took off to the backyard to help with setting things up. I walked down the hall to Maddie's room and I found her surrounded by her sister and mother all crowding around closer to her. I hung up my dress and looked over at her, expecting some last minute crisis but instead I found her smiling and laughing to her mother and sister. She didn't look nervous at all and had no cold feet. In fact I saw some rather fuzzy socks around her small ankles. Her white dress robes flattered her well, her pale skin looked radiant against it when she saw me looking at her she smiled at me.
"You're gorgeous," I said and gave her a weak smile. I felt like crying all of a sudden.
"Mum, Abby, I need to talk to Brooke alone please. Out! Out!" She said smiling and pushing her family out of the room. She leaned against the door and smiled at me. "I thought they'd never leave." She said and smiled. I don't really know what happened but somehow Maddie had collapsed on the floor. She began heaving big sobs as I stared on in shock. Her makeup!
"They haven't put the makeup on yet," She reassured me when she'd recovered just as I had awkwardly started to pat her back. I just stared at her. She was so calm. What had happened? "You must think I'm crazy but Brooke, I don't have any friends and I just don't know who to tell. I'm so scared that we're doing the wrong thing," She said searching my eyes. It felt so weird to be asked love advice when really I relied on Amelia before I made any decisions.
"Well, you love each other so of course you're doing the right thing even though you may seem a little young. You two really are cute together." I said as truthfully as I could as Maddie broke into another sob.
"We do… We are in love! Really we are but we were going to wait a few more years to get married, I wanted to be a writer first. I wanted to focus on my career. But Brooke, I'm pregnant. We just found out two months ago. Nick was so good really he was. He immediately proposed and I said no at first but then I changed my mind and here we are. I just want to know if I'm doing the right thing," She said and started sobbing again. I stared at her mollified. Stan's perfect little sister was pregnant.
"I thought you were waiting…" I said trying to keep my voice light so as not to make her cry any harder.
"We were but…you know how it is. It just happened, and I brewed up a potion to take but I guess it didn't work." She said and looked at me again as if I had all the answers.
"Well," I started unsure of how to proceed. What if I was in Maddie's shoes? "You do love each other don't you? You were going to get married anyway and now it's just a little earlier than you planned. You can still be a journalist. It's good you're doing this. It is Maddie. You didn't say yes just because of the baby did you? You said yes because you want to be with Nick for the rest of your life, right?" I asked her. She nodded slowly and looked at me for an answer. "You do!" I told her and she nodded faster now.
"I do love Nick. It doesn't matter that we're young. We'll make it work! Yeah!" She said standing up suddenly confident and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Does you mum know about the circumstances?" I asked her. Mum would have to know, she must have. Did Stan?
"I haven't told her but she knows. I just need to make an announcement after a month or so." She said shrugging. Mum must have told Stan and that's why Stan and Nick got along so well, because they had to. Of course. Mum and Abby reentered the room soon after and seemed unfazed by Maddie's red puffy eyes. Mum delicately put makeup on her daughters and began to cry silent tears.
"My baby's getting married. Oh Maddie. Your leaving me so soon and starting your own family," She said as she put down the lip stain she had just used on me. Ok, so Mum definitely knew. Abby hugged her Mum and she calmed down considerably. I took Abby's hand and we walked down stairs together to the backyard and I took my place beside Stan while Abby received her basket of roses. I looked over the small crowd congregated where Abby's snow people once stood. At the end of the long aisle was a small gazebo where the minister stood. The white chairs looked beautiful and the natural wildflowers perfected the whole look.
"I hope my wedding is this beautiful," I said before I could stop myself.
"I promise it will be," Stan said after a pause. He leaned to over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I would have deepened the kiss had the cue for us to leave had not been right then.
From where I stood as Maddie's Maid of Honor, I could see Al and his family and I couldn't wait for the reception to talk to him. I could see Amelia and Paul whom I'd invited last minute. I saw Stan's father standing off to the side surprisingly and a couple I suspected to be Nick's parents. The ceremony was beautiful and the priest did wonders with words. I was sobbing softly when he pronounced the two "bounded for life". Maddie who had been an emotional wreck earlier had not shed one tear and kissed her new husband with a smile on her face. I caught Stan's eye from where he stood as Nick's best man. He gave a wink and a smile that I quickly returned.
The reception was beautiful. We had held it inside of the house, the furniture turning into white chairs outside and wildflowers hung everywhere. There was a small cake but because of the small attendance only lasted a few hours. Al and I had a great talk about the Minister of Magic's new laws for equality in the Wizarding world. He was so funny. Although we didn't fully agree on politics we never seemed to keep smiles off of our faces. After getting out of the bathroom I walked up to Al again and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and I realized I hadn't tapped Al at all but Paul. Paul blushed a deep scarlet when he realized I had made a mistake.
"That uncle of Stan's is pretty cute, I think," Amelia told me later and I couldn't help but laugh. Stan and I, instead of being separated like I thought we would be, were stuck together for most of the reception. We answered for each other and I was suddenly conscious of his hand on my lower back. After not having sex for 3 weeks I really just wanted to go upstairs and rip his clothes off.
When finally Nick's parents, the last to the leave, had apparated away, I realized that Nick and Maddie were nowhere in sight.
"Where are they?" I asked Stan in confusion.
"When you were in the bathroom they ditched, they're probably in the middle of having a sex romp in their new house. I can't believe I even thought about that," Stan said and shuddered. The thought was a little disgusting to me too. "She's pregnant," Stan said softly.
"I know," I whispered back looking over at Mum who was picking up after her nonexistent guests. "Did Mum tell you?" Tyler and Abby had disappeared outside for a game of quidditch and I watched them from the kitchen window,
"No, I just knew. The second she got off the bus. She had never looked that happy. The way they rushed the wedding too, I figured it out. I'm not that oblivious you know," He said and I could tell he was proud of himself. "I felt like I was on GSI." I laughed.
"It's CSI, darling. Now how about we blow this joint and go back to our place so I can ravish your body?" I said as delicately as I could so Mum couldn't over hear. Stan nodded and we disapparrated before Mum could even know we were gone.
The next morning, 3:12 to be exact, I knew things were back to normal. No longer would we have to pick out seating arrangements. It would just be Stan and I. I shuddered and pulled him closer to me. He obliged and kissed my temple.
"I love you." I whispered and ran my fingers through his hair.
"I love you forever and ever," He said and twisted his head down to kiss my collarbone. Merlin, if he loved me that much why didn't he just marry me? Merlin! "I'm just waiting for the ring," I heard Stan say. Wait, what the hell was he talking about? Did I say that out loud? "You're really out of it when you're sleepy." He said and I blushed a deep red. I had said that out loud, hadn't I? "Yes, you did," Stan said and laughed. We fell asleep again in each other's arms with the promise of tomorrow on our lips.