"Okay?" Morwenna reached over and squeezed Drake's hand, offering him a reassuring little smile. Doing his best to smile back, Drake rubbed his free hand on the leg of his newly bought suit trousers, shifting on the velvet-covered bench seat.
"Yeah, of course, I'm just...thinking about how Demelza's going to kill me. And Sam. And probably Ross."
"We don't have to do this, you know, we could just go back to the hotel - "
"No! No. This whole thing was my idea, I'm not going to call it off now. Besides, this is what you want, too, isn't it?" He paused. "Isn't it?"
"Yes, you ridiculous man!" Morwenna laughed, and any anxiety Drake might have been feeling instantly drained away. There was a good reason they were here - the reason being that he was head over heels in love with her.
He hadn't exactly planned for this - this holiday was supposed to be just that, a holiday, celebrating a a big commission he'd got, and Morwenna finishing her Master's - but once they'd arrived he hadn't been able to get the idea out of his head. Eventually, after dinner on their second night, he'd snuck down to the hotel's shop, pretending he hadn't packed enough pairs of socks. By the time he got back, Morwenna had fallen asleep on the sofa in their room so it hadn't been quite as romantic as he'd pictured, but the way she'd flung her arms around his neck after he slipped the ring on her finger had made it pretty much perfect nevertheless.
"Demelza can hardly get that upset, can she? I mean, it's not like we're drunk or barely know each other, and she's been dropping some pretty heavy hints about us getting married for a while now..."
"Yes, but I don't think she was imagining us eloping in Vegas!" Drake was quite certain that his sister probably had their wedding already mentally planned down to the last detail. She'd done the same for Sam and Emma, which hadn't exactly slowed the break down of that relationship. He loved his sister very much, but she could a bit overbearing, especially when egged on by Caroline. "Do you think your family will be okay with it?"
"Mum might be a bit upset, but she'll get over it. Elizabeth and George won't mind - George'll probably just be happy he didn't have to pay for anything! Besides, as much as we love them, we can't do this for anybody but ourselves."
"You're right." Before Drake could say anything else, a pair of door opened on the other side of the room. Just inside, he could see honey-coloured wood, and a grey marbled floor covered in white petals. Morwenna's one condition for agreeing to having the wedding here was that they absolutely weren't getting married in some tacky neon coloured place by a man dressed as Elvis, with which Drake agreed wholeheartedly. Luckily, their hotel concierge had managed to get them a cancellation at this place, which was far more elegant than Drake had ever imagined anything in Las Vegas being.
"Drake...Cairne and Morwenna Chy - Chi - help me out here, honey." The Chapel official, a plump, cheerful looking women in her mid 50s with a fantastic bottle blond beehive, gave an apologetic smile.
"Chynoweth." Morwenna replied, slowly, smiling. "And that's us!" She turned to Drake, squeezing his hand again. "You ready?"
"Absolutely."
~
"Hmmmm." Morwenna squeezed her eyes shut against the bright sunlight, cursing their forgetting to close all the blinds before they went to sleep. Then, she remembered exactly what else they'd had on their minds - and it hadn't just been the free bottle of champagne the hotel had given them as a congratulations. Lifting her left hand, she let the light shine on the rings - the plain white gold band they'd bought at the chapel, and the simple engagement ring with its small but perfectly formed stone. Drake had offered to return that if she didn't like it, but of course he'd managed to find exactly what she'd always wanted. Big flashy rocks weren't her thing.
Married! She could hardly believe it. Although Drake had sort of obliquely dropped hints that he saw marriage in their future Morwenna definitely hadn't expected him to propose on this trip. She hadn't had a single moment's hesitation in accepting, however, and she couldn't believe how happy she was now.
She only hoped their families were happy, too. She'd meant what she said last night about Elizabeth and George probably being cool with it - they themselves had got married as soon as they possibly could back home - and her mum would hopefully not mind too much. She hadn't when Morwenna's sister, Rowella, had run off to Ireland to get married. Having two daughters elope would probably make for a good story at her WI bridge nights. Amelia Chynoweth had never been one for pomp and circumstance, although Morwenna had to admit to a tiny pang at not having her mum with her at her wedding.
It was Drake's family she was more concerned about. Demelza was a lovely woman, and she'd been nothing but kind and friendly to Morwenna, but she'd had a heavy hand in matchmaking them to begin with, and her big sister instinct to well-meaningly meddle in her brother's lives didn't seem to have gone away now they were all adults. Her husband, Ross, was another thing altogether - he'd been cordial enough to Morwenna when he was home, but she sensed that whatever old bad blood there was with Elizabeth and George had coloured his opinion of her somewhat. How he'd feel about being linked to George - who she'd actually once overheard him refer to as his 'worst enemy', which was not a phrase she thought people used nowadays outside of TV shows - by marriage, she wasn't sure. Sam would support them, definitely, even if as a Vicar he might consider a Las Vegas wedding a bit frivolous.
By way of announcement they'd both sent a group text to their respective relatives last night - a picture of them standing under the Chapel's 'Just Married' sign and hanging silver bells, Drake in his quickly bought suit and Morwenna in a short white dress and silver shoes (both of which had counted as her something new, some pretty powder blue underwear purchased behind Drake's back, her grandmother's necklace and a lucky coin from the Chapel's receptionist had done the rest). Then, they'd both turned their phones off and got down to celebrating their first night as man and wife.
"Good morning, Mrs Carne." Morwenna hadn't even noticed that Drake was awake beside her. He propped himself up on one elbow, and grinned down at her, his hair all over the place and eyes still half-sleepy. She felt a matching smile creep over her face just before he leant down and kissed her.
"Good morning, Mr Carne." She replied, when he finally gave her a chance to draw breath. "How are you today?"
"Well, on the one hand, I'm the happiest man in the world." He suddenly reached out and hauled her to him, making her squeak out a surprised laugh. He kissed her quickly again, and then made a face. "On the other hand, I'm a bit apprehensive, because I've got 47 missed calls from Demelza!"
