Cielizzy Week: Day 2 Wedding
Sorry I’m a day late on this. Will try to write out Day three for the next part asap. This is a short story for @cielizzydefencesquad
Cielizzy week: Day 2: Wedding
Nervous. Why was she so nervous? This wasn’t the time for that. Lady Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford sat, hands folded properly on her lap, in her family’s carriage as they rode through the streets of London. Dressed in a white gown with light purple flowers carefully embroidered onto the dress she nervously peeked out and looked at the bright sunny street. People were busy bustling about, not noticing the carriage heading for the church. Edward, who sat beside her, dressed in a dark blue suit with tie nudged her slightly.
“Stop fretting Lizzy. You’ll do fine.”
She looked away from the street scene and over to her brother, a smile slipped onto her lips. “Do you really think so?”
“I don’t think, I know,” he said simply and looked away for a moment from his cute younger sister. She was adorable dressed in the white bridesmaid dress that their cousin had purchased for her. “Now, stop worrying. You’ll be just fine.”
Elizabeth smiled brightly and seemed to ease up some. Her eyes moved over to her mother who seemed preoccupied with something, although she glanced over and smiled softly at her daughter. Alexis on the other hand was wiping his eyes as he seemed to blubber some next to his wife.
“You’re growing up so fast Elizabeth,” he told her and sniffed when she asked what was wrong. “You look so lovely. Not that long ago you were small enough that I could carry you in my arms, and now you’re a beautiful bride…”
“She’s not getting married yet,” quipped Frances, and shook her head. “She’s only a bridesmaid today dear. Calm yourself, your god daughter is going to see you. Are you ready to give her away?”
“Ah, yes, of course!” Alexis took the kerchief out of his breast pocket and wiped his eyes. He too was dressed up for the occasion in a black morning coat, dark vest with a lavender buttoner and a lighter gray waist coat with a sharp looking lavender bow tie as requested by the bride. Both Frances and Edward were in their Sunday best with a hint of the lavender color to their attire out of respect for the Bride’s wishes.
Frances handed her husband a new handkerchief then looked at Lizzy directly. “You remember what you learned at the practice?”
“Straight back, walk slowly, head up, and do not look more elegant then the bride. Be humble but also smile slightly, and stay in a straight line as you walk and hold onto the groomsman’s arm, don’t look left or right and try to keep pace to the music.” Lizzy recited and her mother nodded, pleased by her daughter’s attention.
“I think that’s all of it,” Frances said as the coach reached the church. Outside there were people walking in readying to get seats. The other bridesmaids and their families were there as well, each dressed in the same white gown with lavender flowers lightly stitched onto them. As Lizzie’s father helped her and then her mother out of the carriage, she caught sight of a dark cape blowing slightly in the warm wind. A familiar face came into view and Lizzy stared with surprise. Ciel stood out like a black storm cloud amidst the billowing white of the bride’s party. As usual he was dressed in his dark colors, only this time it was violet in nature, and he had a more elaborate suit on. Sebastian, standing beside him, gave a nod to aknowledge that he’d seen the family.
Lizzy made to move towards him, wanting to say hello, but her mother quickly caught her by the arm and fixed her veil.
“You’re needed in the church, my love. No time for greetings. I’ll say hello to Ciel for you inside.”
“What’s he doing here?” Lizzy asked as her mother made sure the flower crown and veil sat and stayed pinned to her daughters golden updo. For a change Lizzy had her hair swept up at the sides, and layers of ringlets cascaded down from the back.
Frances shrugged, “He’s the Earl, it’s custom to invite noble houses to weddings. Some come, some don’t. He chose to come to this one.”
“He doesn’t know Miss Gwendoline though, does he?”
“No, I believe he does not,” Frances admitted as she ushered Lizzy up the stairs of the church. “But that’s neither here nor…” she and Lizzy paused upon seeing the scene in the bridal area of the church… “There.”
Both women blinked hard at what they saw. Alexis was trying to comfort the bride who was sobbing, and the groomsmen were looking unsure of what to do. The bridesmaids were aghast and the groom was furiously yelling at the best man, who was trying to calm the groom down as he furiously waved his finger, pointing at a man that was slouched in a chair snoring.
Frances took one look at the scene and cleared her throat gaining everyone’s attention. Lizzy hid a smile behind her hands. Her mother was, after all, the Aunt of the Queens watchdog, if anything she knew how to get attention in a room.
“What in the world is going on here?” she asked upfront, and then looked at the Best man, a noble Lizzy only knew as Sir Hardy. “You there, John, what is the matter with that man?”
“He’s gone and gotten himself drunk, cousin Frances,” John said shaking his head as the groom went over and shook the man hard by the coat. John grabbed him and pulled him back. “Confound it Westly. You can’t just shake him like that. He’ll vomit on you. You don’t want this day ruined.”
“But we don’t have the right number of groomsmen,” Westly insisted and looked over at the bride. He let out a long sigh. “Gwen, must we have the ten?”
She nodded, “It was a request of my mother, for luck, she’ll be upset if I don’t have the same number as her wedding to my father.”
The groom let out a long sigh again. Lizzy had heard the story before. Gwendoline had lost her father several years before during a boating accident on the Atlantic where he’d gone fishing with friends. Her mother was a supersticious woman who believed that luck came by numbers, and that in order for Gwen to have a happy wedding she need ten bridesmaids and grooms, or else the wedding wouldn’t go through.
“What do we do Cousin Alexis?” Gwen sobbed onto the Marquess chest as he tried to calm her down.
“There, there, Gwen, you’ll get married today I promise.” He tried to sooth her and looked to his wife and daughter for some guidance. Lizzy glanced at her mother.
“Who can we get at such a short time?”
“We could probably use an usher, but then that would be short and Hilda would have another fit on that,” Frances muttered to herself, when Lizzy was struck with an idea. She grabbed a boquet and hurried out the door from the back room her mother telling her to wait, she didn’t.
Walking quickly, almost at a slight run, she burst through one of the back doors away from the main aisle. Guests were already taking their places and she scanned the pews for a familiar face. The tall black hair of Sebastian lingered near the back corner, hiding out away from most of the crowd. Lizzy knew that where Sebastian lurked Ciel was never far behind.
She quickly and quietly made her way over, ignoring the glances of the guests who found her sudden appearance rather odd, and sat down next to him. Ciel had taken a seat near the back of the church, alone. He’d done so, she assumed, so he could leave right away once the ceremony was over.
At first he made no motion to indicate he’d noticed her until Sebastian cleared his throat, “You look lovely, Lady Elizabeth. Don’t you think so, young master?”
Ciel didn’t quiet look at her, for a moment, then turned to face her and turned away again just as fast, covering a red tinge that had moved up his cheeks. “You look well Lizzy. What are you doing here? Isn’t this breaking protocol.”
“Ciel, I need your help.” She whispered and he cocked his head, then turned to face her looking worried.
“What’s the matter?” there was that serious look to his eye again, the one that he always got when he was thinking of things. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up. “Lizzy! What on earth are you doing?!”
“We have to get to the back of the church. Mother will fill you in on the directions that the bride wants,” Lizzy explained as she yanked him to his feet, much to the shock of the other guests. She ignored this, at the moment and Sebastian stepped lightly between her and Ciel.
“I must ask, my lady, that you kindly explain what’s going on. The young master has nothing to do with this wedding and is merely a guest here, and it seems rather rude of you to just pull him along like this.” He bowed to her slightly and Lizzy flushed some, embaressed as the guests gaped and whispered at her. She smoothed out her dress and tried to look as dignified as possible, keeping her voice low.
“We need another groomsman,” she explained to both of them and Sebastian looked amused as Ciel looked on confused.
Elizabeth crinkled her gloves on her hands as she looked around, noticing that people were starting to talk more and kept her eyes down, “One of the grooms men looks…what was that word that Cousin Matilda said her sister gets when she gets too much drink in her?”
“Sloshed,” suggested Sebastian and she nodded. He chuckled, “I see, so one of the groomsmen is too drunk to go on, and you need the young master to replace him. How…charming.”
Ciel huffed, “No it is not. I don’t even know the bride or groom.”
“Then why did you come?” Lizzy asked incredulously. “I know that sometimes noble families are invited to the weddings of some retainers to the royal family but...I didn’t think you were one to…”
“Well the Young master felt that it was a nice day to travel, and he heard that you were going to be in the wedding party and wanted to see what the fuss was all about…” Sebastian stated and Ciel looked mortified, flashing daggers at his demon butler.
Lizzy felt heat creep up her face, “I…I um…well, tha…Thank you Ciel that makes me very happy to hear that.” She said and he gave a slight nod of welcome, although clearly he wasn’t too thrilled with Sebastian opening his mouth up. Lizzy though forced herself to ignore the heart beats that were quickening in her chest. “But…there’s no time for that. Please, I’m asking you, could you please stand in?”
“Do I really have a choice in this,” he asked and she gave him a pleading look. Ciel gritted his teeth, huffed, “Fine,” and then walked quickly before her as Lizzy gave him a grateful smile. All the while the dark butler trailed, whispering comments to him.
“How sweet of the young master to be so willing to step in and help. I’m sure the daily papers will be pleased to report on this in the society pages.”
“Knock it off Sebastian.”
“She does look quite stunning though,” he teased him about Lizzy as they hurried along to the back of the church, Ciel trying to ignore the facts. He’d noticed Lizzy right away, out of all the girls there she was like a perfect rose among a bunch of peonies. He couldn’t help but stare, if not for her being there he would have skipped the invite, but Frances had mentioned that it was Alexis’s goddaughter and then told him that Lizzy was going to be in the bridal party. Sebastian had suggested they go, as a show of good faith, and to his surprise Ciel had not expected Lizzy to look so grown up.
They wandered into the back of the church were Frances was waiting. Before Ciel could protest he was whisked away from Sebastian, who held his cloak, by a group of four older young women who at once cooed about how cute he was.
“Sebastian!” he called out as they dragged him away.
“Fear not, my lord, I’m sure that this will be quiet interesting a lesson for you on the decorum for your own future wedding,” Sebastian called out as the door was shut, and chuckled seeing the poor boy being mauled by the bridesmaids as they fixed his suit for use in the wedding.
“Aunt Frances what exactly…don’t touch me!...What’s going on?!” he begged her as he pulled back from the women who seemed to pout. Frances glared at them sending them scurrying back to the bride’s side. She bent over and fixed his jacket.
“As you can see,’ she motioned to drunken groomsman, “we have a bit of a problem. You’ll walk down with Lizzy. If you please Ciel, it would be a favor to me and to her.”
He sighed, “Alright Aunt Frances. I’ll do what I can.” She nodded and then escorted him over to the bride, and the groom, who were talking quietly in the corner.
“Gwendoline, Westly, I would like to introduce you to your new groomsman, Earl Ciel Phantomhive. Earl, this is Westly Sonderhim, and Alexis’s goddaughter Lady Gwendoline Harrington.”
“A pleasure to meet you both,” Ciel gave courtesy to the two adults. He looked between them and then focused on the bride. “Is there anything that I need to know before this starts?”
Gwen looked happy to see the young boy and patted his cheek, something Ciel did not find endearing.
“Well, simply put, you just need to walk slowly down the aisle with Elizabeth, then stand with her off to the side during the ceremony. Once that’s finished, escort her back out of the church, and that’s it.”
Ciel raised a brow, “That’s all you need me to do, are you sure?”
She nodded, “Yes, that’s it. It’s quiet simple. Don’t go too fast, or slow, and look forward. Oh and one arm should be linked with hers and the other…”
“At my side, I’m sure,’ he said slightly bored by it all. She nodded again.
“You’re very clever for your age.”
Ciel gave a weak smile, but took the compliment, even though it felt more like an insult to him and Frances hurried him over by Lizzy. “Is she always that condescending.”
“Only to you it seems,” Frances said bluntly. “And it was meant as a compliment Ciel, do try to take it as such.”
“I’m almost fifteen now, Aunt Frances,” he pointed out as they walked over to Lizzy, “I’m not a child …”
“And neither is she,” Frances motioned to her daughter who was trying to seem polite to the young men in the grooms party as they flirted with her. Ciel clenched his fist. What were they doing with his fiancée? He could see that she was wearing heels this time, and the dress curved to her figure more than her normal outfits did. If her face wasn’t the normally cheerful one that she always had, he wouldn’t have recognized her at that moment.
Feeling what he couldn’t describe, jealousy, annoyance, Ciel didn’t know, he walked over and cleared his throat loudly. One of the men looked down at him, “What is it boy.”
“I believe Lady Elizabeth is to be my partner in this, and I would like you to step away from my Fiancée.” He said in the coldest tone that Lizzy had ever heard him use. His eyes narrowed as the groomsmen moved back and Lizzy smiled at him, grateful, that he’d come beside her.
“I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take their comments.” She said taking his arm as he offered it.
“You don’t have to, you know. You’re engaged to me,” he pointed out and again looked away. Lizzy giggled some and he relaxed until she joked.
“You know it’s almost like we’re getting married.”
“Lizzy!” he felt his face flush and tried to recover. “There’s a time and place for such things. And here and now is not that time or that place.”
“Sorry,” she said softly and smiled, “Ciel, thank you.”
“For what?” He stared at her and tried to ignore the beating of his own heart seeing her like this. Lizzy grinned happily.
“For being willing to stand up to this wedding with me. For dealing with all this. I know this isn’t something that you like to do, or deal with, but thank you again.”
Ciel shrugged, “It’s nothing to big, besides, if you didn’t ask I’m sure Aunt Frances would have.”
He felt her squeeze his hand, “I’m glad I’m walking down with you though. I won’t feel as nervous.”
Ciel nodded, “Me too. Or embarrassed.”
“Ciel, do you think, one day we’ll be able to walk down like this?” she asked quietly. He gave her hand a pat as the ushers came over to line them up.
With that the duo got in line and together walked arm and arm down the aisle.
