Chapter Nineteen: A Goblin Wedding

Soft notes fluttered on the breeze, announcing the arrival of the bride. All heads turned as Sarah marched slowly, gracefully down the aisle of white garden chairs toward the podium underneath the peach trees. The goblins watched her pass through human eyes, tilted their heads with human necks, and perked up their very human ears. Sarah couldn't help noticing from the corner of her eye how their smiles faded into blank looks, staring into the distance as if listening to some sound far off in the distance.

The Goblin Queen's panic nearly flooded into smile as she met Jareth at the podium.

"Please be seated," the Wiseman began. The front row, which consisted entirely of Sarah's family, sat. "We are gathered here today..."

"Did you see that?" Sarah whispered from the corner of her mouth.

"Yes, I saw." Jareth whispered back sharply. "What do you want me to do?"

"...in holy matrimony..." the Wiseman droned on before them, the hat watching the bride and groom intently.

"I don't know," Sarah hissed, "just don't let my family see anything!"

Jareth glared down at her without turning his head toward her. "You know we can't spare the energy."

"...marriage is an important step in life..."

Sarah's sparkling peep-toed shoe lashed out at the Wiseman's ankle. "Skip to the end," she mouthed.

"...er?" The Wiseman leaned closer. "What's that?"

"Skip to the end!" Sarah whispered with more volume.

"Oh, uh, er, well, it's not traditional – ouch! – but I suppose I can make an exception." The Wiseman cleared his throat. "Do you, Jareth, take Sarah Williams to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

The Goblin King took a deep breath and straightened. "I do." His voice rang out clearly over the silent audience.

"And do you, Sarah Williams, take Jareth to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," she answered immediately, loudly, firmly.

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." The hat mumbled something inside its tophat disguise.

Jareth turned to Sarah, took her face in her hands and pressed his mouth against hers. Sarah tossed her bouquet over her should and wrapped her arms around him while the front row cheered. She broke the kiss almost as soon as it had landed and turned immediately to her family, waving at them to follow her.

"Come on! The reception's going to be in the dining hall." She grabbed Toby and carried him all the way down the aisle and into the castle, her relatives following behind.

Jeremy paused, the last in line, and stood next to Jareth for moment. "What are they doing?" He asked, watching the other guests stare oddly at the air in front of their faces.

Jareth took a deep breath. "They're listening to a mortal human wish me to take away a baby."

"What?" Jeremy jumped back, lost his balance, and caught himself on one of the chairs. "Right now? Can't they just ignore it? This is Sarah's wedding, for crying out loud!"

"Yes, right now." Jareth yanked his coat off and laid it over the back of a chair. "No, they can't ignore it." Before his eyes, the humans melted into their true goblin forms and vanished. "And, in case you had forgotten," he gave Jeremy a cold glare, "this happens to be my wedding too." Then Jareth was gone as well.

"Aye carumba!" The hat crowed, finally having freed itself from its costume prison. "How do you think they will fix it?"

"Hmm?" The Wiseman tried to look up at his hat, crossing his eyes in the process. "Fix what?"

"The wedding!" The hat squawked back.

"The reception!" Jeremy jumped up and ran off through the gardens, into the castle, and through the large oak door, to a large room with a long table where everyone was sitting silently, staring at him expectantly. "Uh," he glanced at Sarah, who nodded at Jareth's empty seat and mouthed 'help'. Jeremy cleared his throat. "Jareth just had to go take care of some urgent, uh, accounting thing. Very important business client. Couldn't wait. He, uh, said we should just start without him." He forced a smile and went to sit down next to his wife.

"Thank you, Jeremy." Sarah stood, distracting everyone's attention away from the empty silver plates in front of them. "I'm sure that Jareth will join us as soon as he can. In the meantime," she glanced at the plates and willed them to fill themselves with garlic chicken breasts, broccoli, and garlic toast, "I wanted to thank you all for coming, and for all that you've done for me," she glanced at the goblets and willed them to fill with wine or sparkling cider, depending on the drinker, "and for welcoming Jareth into the family with wide open arms. Um, his family had to go and, um, take care of another family thing, so they won't be able to join us for the reception, but I promise you the food's good and the company we do have is the best anyway." Everyone made mild approving noises politely. "So, thank you so much again, for all your love and we love you so much." She sat down with a smile and everyone clapped.

Robert Williams cleared his throat and stood. "It's traditional, I believe, for the father of the bride to give a speech at the reception. I won't be long, because I don't like eating cold chicken." This elicited scattered laughter from the other relatives. "Well, Sarah was always a beautiful girl, but now she's grown into a ravishing woman." He raised his cup, "I would like to propose a toast to the most handsome couple I have ever seen in my life." He turned to Sarah as everyone lifted their goblets. "If your children are even half as beautiful as you inside and out, they will be the greatest philanthropist super models this world has ever seen." Grinning, he took a sip of his glass, to the quiet chuckles of a few people and a number of disapproving glares.

The side door opened just as the conversation began to pick up and people had started into their meals. The Goblin King joined his wife at the head of the table with a tired smile and dark lines under his eyes.

"How is everything?" Sarah asked tensely.

"Fine." Jareth squeezed her hand between them. "Middleweed's got it."

"And the other one?" The Goblin Queen inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Hoggle."

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her family.

A high-pitched gurgling laugh tinkled into the room, and every head turned to stare at the door Jareth had left slightly ajar. A dark-haired baby boy was crawling across the floor, burbling and giggling to himself as if he knew the best secret joke in the world.

"Sam!" Jareth leaped out of his chair and scooped the child up.

Sarah caught Irene's raised eyebrow and felt her face flush scarlet.

"He's just my nephew." Jareth explained to everyone. "Sorry about that. I promised to watch him today and I thought he was asleep just now. I'll just put him to bed." With a brief, stiff bow, Jareth swept through the door, leaving Sarah alone with her slightly suspicious family.