@deedsplit
Rey remembered the day she was wed to Matthew Solo. It had been a warm, sunny summer day in June. She wore a lovely dress made of lace and silk that her mother and sisters had painstakingly made for her as a wedding gift. She remembered how her heart thudded in her chest like a drum as she walked down the aisle.
Their fathers had arranged the match and she had only met Matthew twice in chaperoned meetings, but she recalled a feeling of hope that settled over her as she reached him at the altar. Matthew had smiled widely and perhaps a bit mischievously at her as if they have a secret jest to play on their guests.
She remembered thinking, I could love him. This man. She could love him as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed her lips delicately.
There was no such feeling this time around. This second wedding. The church was empty save for a few people that would stand as witnesses and she wore a plain pearl colored dress. The man at the end of the aisle was a Solo too but he did not smile when Rey reached him. Instead he grimaced and tensed up when she placed her hand on his arm. Not for the first time, she wondered why Ben Solo thought that proposing marriage to her, his late cousin’s widow, was a great idea.
It had to be out of some sort of pity or some false sense of honor. Any other time she would have declined and scorned any proposal that was born out of them but she had someone else to think about now. She glanced over her shoulders to look upon Elise. Her sweet daughter, who was quietly watching the ceremony with her nursemaid. This was all for Elise, she reminded herself.
She tried not to sound so tense when she said, “I do.” She tried to sound like a part of her actually found pleasure to this whole situation but she cannot find it in herself to pretend not when the man beside her took no measure to hide his own tenseness and displeasure.
I didn’t ask for this. She wanted to scream at him. I didn’t want your ring or your pity.
But she kept it inside and kept her face straight as the priest gives them their final blessing. She was Mrs. Solo once again. This was all for Elise, she thought as her new husband leaned over, his hand cupped her jaw and a certain dread filled her. She might bite him if he dared kiss her lips but he turned her face and placed a barely there peck on the high of her cheek.
Better get used to the feelings of discomfort and tense silences, she decided. This marriage would be full of them.