Thanks to AKA Parfait and PirateRN for the reviews!!
6. Sand
It was a Friday. And by definition Fridays were supposed to be one of the nicest days of the week.
Yet, her day so far had not been pleasant.
She burned her hand making tea that morning, spilled on her skirt, her hair was a disaster, and her mascara had finally given up the ghost.
And here she stood in one of the finest showrooms in London with her father and fiancé looking at flower arrangements. After extensive research, she had selected a shop to complete the head table's centerpiece.
She wanted it long and flowing, curling along the table's length and brushing the floor along the front. Perhaps something with small white flowers, pale colors so as not to dilute the rich cream table cloth.
The concoction they stood before was most certainly not flowing.
Sticks, for that was all you could really call them, stuck straight up from a glass vase of course sand. Tall, twisting auburn feathers and some type of dried leaves completed the look.
Their guide, a short woman with pinched features, was rattling off a commentary on how the feathers were among the finest available, hand selected and placed.
Thankfully, Governor Swann was not impressed either. He leaned instead towards an off-center arrangement of vibrantly colored flowers nearly as large as his face. Elizabeth did not care for either.
When he strode towards it, the guide trotting after him, she fell behind and moved close to Will. "What do you think?"
He looked back at the stick arrangement. "I think it's fitting if we were pirates."
"Pirates?" Elizabeth's eyebrows lifted. "And why is that?"
"Sticks, for damage control. Just in case a wedding brawl broke out."
His face was perfectly serious, sending Elizabeth into soft laughter.
"Feathers for the ladies, leaves for putting out the fires, and the sand…well, it would serve as some type of tear gas."
Tears had gathered in the corners of her eyes and her sides ached from the effort of keeping her giggles quiet. "Tear gas?"
"Indeed. For there is always rum at a pirate wedding. Alcohol can make people do the strangest things and we don't want the refreshments going up in flames." Will directed her towards the next floral exhibit as the Governor and their guide had moved far beyond them.
"You sound like Jack."
Will smiled at the mention of his good friend, the eclectic and ever quirky Jack Sparrow. "Well, it would be Jack to mourn the loss of liquor."
They passed a round bowl of roses. "I don't think I could imagine us as pirates."
"I can." Will eyed a prickly jar of tropical flora. "We'd get into all sorts of trouble, nearly die multiple times, perhaps get arrested, escape, travel to the edge of the earth, and possibly fight a sea monster."
"Sounds like quite the adventure. And would we marry?"
"In one of the world's greatest and most infamous sea battles." He winked.
"Elizabeth?" The Governor's voice now sounded very far away.
Still laughing, they increased their pace and Elizabeth called, "We'll be right along, Father."