“ i’m gonna marry you one day. ”
For Chauncy, the most important part of life had always been about finding the beauty in things. It was why he got up early to see sunsets, it was what made him cry sometimes looking at old architecture, and it was why life by Beth's side was the best way to live. He loved all of his friends, but Beth had always been his favorite. She made the long hours of being castle-schooled more bearable, she made their more chaotic friends more tolerable, and she simply made everything better. She added light and colors and depth that he wouldn’t see without her, and that made him want her around, always.
He knew from an early age that he would do anything for Beth, and if anyone needed proof of that, there was plenty of proof; years of their early lives were recorded on hours of tape, of the two of them being thick as thieves from before they could even stand, hanging out in the library together, eating fun foods in the dining room, and of course, there were the fake weddings.
Beth held fake weddings fairly often, and Chauncy was more than often cast as the groom. He loved Beth, and he loved dressing up, so he didn’t mind it too much, especially because she let him arrange the decor to his liking. And besides, when she chose someone else like Timmy to be her groom instead, it made Chauncy’s chest twist in a very unhappy way, so it was better if that job was left to him. Besides, Beth was always a beautiful bride, and by the time they got to the end of the vows, he was bouncing with excitement to get to kiss her on the cheek in front of all their friends and family.
He’d never expected one of those many, many home videos of their little kid weddings to make an appearance at their real one, for the simple fact that he had never expected Beth to want to marry him. She could have anybody that she wanted in the whole wide world, after all. But now that they were here, at their real wedding, sitting next to each other at the bride and groom table as his father played a clip of them getting “married”, he knew that the love in her eyes when she looked at him was the most beautiful sight he could ever see. Getting that look whenever he wanted it was well worth the embarassment of everybody he’d ever known giggling at them as children, clumsily saying their vows and exchanging kisses on their cheek before their “first dance”.
And then he heard baby Beth’s voice in the clip, saying “I’m going to marry you one day”, and the entire audience cooed in joy, and he squeezed her hand that he was already holding. A year ago, he never could’ve imagined that he’d have a wedding at all, much less to the girl of his dream, but that was why he loved Beth. She was still adding color and light and depth to his life, and that’s how she’d seen the truth when he hadn’t been able to, when he’d thought he didn’t stand a chance; baby Beth had been right, she would marry him one day, and that day was today. It was exhiliarating, knowing that this wedding wasn’t the end of their fairy tale, like it had been when they were little -- now that they were grown-ups and actually together, actually husband and wife, a wedding was just the beginning.
