Chapter 9
Mr. Darcet Senior and Georgie arrived a week before the wedding. They rented a house nearby for themselves and William as they didn't want to stay with the newlyweds when they returned from their honeymoon. William and Lizzy enjoyed hanging out with "the rest of the Brits", as they called them.
Usually when planning a wedding, the phrase "I didn't see that coming" would portend unhappy events. But, of course, our dear couple were anything but usual. No, there was not a ten tier cake and they did not arrive on matching white horses, but a lot of the rest of the event was a bit out of the ordinary.
Starting with the very beginning of the day, Lizzy and William's plans left everyone in awe. The wedding party met at the Bender's house at 9 AM to board antique buses for the ride up to the wedding venue. The invited guests met at the high school they had attended to ride in comfortable tour coaches to be shuttled up to the park for the start of the service.
The service, though civil, included religious readings that had special meanings to the bride and groom. Instead of throwing rice or rose petals at the couple after the ceremony, everyone was given a bottle of bubble liquid to fete the couple. The catered luncheon was well received and was probably the most traditional decision they had made. The trio providing the music was made up of William and Lizzy's classmates from high school who were starting to get recognized for their easy jazz repertoire.
Even the cake was a bit unusual. Lizzy had contracted with a Danish bakery to make a Danish layer cake with layers of custard and raspberry jam between the layers of delicate white cake. She had Georgie send a copy of a picture she had seen in one of the photo albums they looked at in London. As best as they could, the baker decorated the cake to match the one that William's parents had at their wedding, 30 years ago. It was William's turn to say "I didn't see that coming." His dad had tears in his eyes when the baker carried the cake into the reception tent. It made them all feel like Mrs. Darcet was with them in spirit.
After a month long honeymoon (everyone saw that coming) the newlyweds settled down in London to work studiously and settle in as a married couple. William was surprised that Lizzy didn't mind living with his dad and his sister. As she said "This house is large enough to never see them, if we didn't want to. They give us our privacy, but it's nice to have someone to spend time with when you're busy."
Lizzy's new job was everything she hoped for. She was doing research with a couple of PhDs and couldn't ask for a better start to her career.
About six months after the wedding, William and Lizzy were home alone for dinner, a rare occurrence. After having his favorite dessert, Lizzy handed him a small box, wrapped up in a blue bow. "It's not my birthday and I know I haven't missed our wedding anniversary. Is it some other anniversary that I missed? Our first date? Our reconnecting at your flat? Our first fight?" he winked "our first make up?"
"No. Open it." Lizzy said with a sly grin.
William carefully undid the bow and opened the box. Inside was a six inch long piece of white plastic with a little window on one end. With two pink lines inside. William stared at it. Then he stared at Lizzy. She had a smile a mile wide on her face and she nodded at him. He swept her up into a passionate kiss. "Well, I didn't see that coming!" he laughed. Then he narrowed his eyes and quietly whispered to her "although I should have."
The End