Judy and Keaton held their wedding in the backyard of their new home. With Keaton's head doctor's salary, they were able to purchase the house not too long after their engagement had been announced.
Of course, the entire family was invited. All living parents and siblings with most of their own children and partners were there. Judy's parents were there, as well as her brother Niall with Emma and their three old enough children. Since she was still quite close with her friends from nursing school, Judy had invited them, too, and they were glad to use the chance to catch up with each other.
On Keaton's side, just his mother was there, with his father having passed away years before. She was accompanied by Keaton's brother Herman with his wife Camilla and their own two children.
It was a lovely day for a wedding, too. The rain clouds from the early morning hours had passed, and the sun had come out to shine on the scene, as Judy and Keaton exchanged their vows and rings. Seeing his sister this happy even made Niall shed a tear, not being able to help his sensitive side. Only the children were left a little bored with having to sit still for a while, but at least the ceremony was not too long for anything other than long faces to occur, and all in all, they still enjoyed the day, just like everybody else did.
After the ceremony, the party made their way into the old animal shed that had been made up for the wedding to seat all the guests for the reception. As a welcome, tea was served to the adults, accompanied by some freshly baked macarons for all tables.
Despite the sweet treats, the children's table was still overcome with boredom, especially due to the awkwardness of sitting together with the cousin-in-laws they had only just met. It was sort of understood that Louis was going to have an eye over them, due to his age, but he would rather have been anywhere else than look after the grumpy girls and toddler around his table.
While most adults were sat with their family, Judy had decided to stay with her nursing school friends, catching up with whatever drama was going on with any former classmates they were still keeping in touch with.
As teacups were starting to empty, Judy stood up from her chair to uncover the food that was waiting on a buffet table. Preferring a private conversation over one in the bigger group, Niall decided to follow his sister into the small side room, as soon as he noticed the movement in the corner of his eye. Good wishes for her marriage were in order, and this was as good a time is it got.
Niall awkwardly stood behind his sister, as she was uncovering the last of the plates, but she quickly turned to him, once he made his presence known. After all these years, the two were still very close, and Judy happily pulled her brother into a hug to thank him for his well-wishes.
Judy wanted to use the opportunity to catch up, too, and Niall made use of it, as he started rambling on about his life as a father of four and the subsequent worries. Of course, Judy did not mind listening to her brother's woes. She had really been doing it ever since they were children. And most of all, she was always there to give him advice as much as she could, or at least try to cheer him up.
In fact, with her help, a sincere smile of hope started growing on Niall's face. There was always room for improvement, and any step towards it would get him closer to it, too, as Judy made sure to remind him.
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[TRANSCRIPT]
Judy: "I've gotta go check on the entrées, girls. Don't dig up gossip without me!"
Niall: "Excuse me, I'll just go give Judy my proper congrats."
...
Niall: *clears throat* "I haven't had the chance, yet, but... Congratulations on your union!"
Judy: "Oh, don't worry about it. I saw your happy tears! Now come and give your sister a hug!"
Niall: *laughs* "Of course, Jude."
Judy: "Enough about me, starting to get tired of that. How are you doing?"
Niall: "Well, I guess things are going better. Bonding with the children comes a lot easier to me now. Though Emma's much closer with them than I am. I just don't see them as often as she does. And I'm not sure I can ever properly repair things with Louis. I wasn't the best father to him, though I try to be."
Judy: "Hey, it's gonna be alright, Ni. Trying is already a big step forward. And you've not taken a look at the champagne, yet, so there's that."
After dinner, despite the little fit Louis had thrown about unborn baby, Emma still made sure to tuck the girls lovingly in their beds, while Louis had already gone to sleep by himself. Just as Ruby and Dorothy had drifted off to sleep, the doorbell could be heard ringing from downstairs. Emma stayed with the twins just a bit longer, while Niall greeted the late night guest.
Niall put on a brave face, not wanting to make any issues going on in his life to visible to others, but a smile easily appeared on his face, when he saw his sister through the glass. She had always made sure to call, but it had been a while since they had actually seen each other, with work and family taking over the majority of their time.
As Judy pulled him into a tight hug, Niall noticed a man he had not seen before still waiting behind the door. He had been stood just behind Judy until now, and Niall was putting two and two together about why his sister had really come by this late in the first place.
Emma quickly got herself freshened up, before running downstairs to see her best friend. The two of them jumped into a greeting hug, screaming of excitement. Thankfully the house was big enough for it not to wake up the sleeping children upstairs.
The joy of seeing her friend was too distracting for Emma to notice the man sitting on the sofa to her left. But, when Judy waved her hand in front of her face, she noticed the engagement ring shining at her, and the excited screaming between them resumed. It was only interrupted, when the strange man cleared his throat, drawing Emma's attention to the person who was going to be her friend's groom soon. Immediately, she had all of the questions, how they met, how long they had been together, and more.
Actually, Judy had met Dr. Keaton Shaw through her work as a nurse. She and some other nurses had attended a training at the hospital he worked at, as it had been running low on staff recently.
Judy had been very active in the training, keeping the conversation going with further questions, and Keaton's passion about his field of work had been quite charming to her. After all, she was just as passionate about it, which was why she had even chosen her profession.
As the work together went on, the two of them had been growing closer and closer. It was not long when Judy built up the courage to ask Keaton out to meet outside of work, and he had been more than happy to.
Considering the implications of their work relationship, they had kept things secret between them for a while. In the early days, they often snuck off to Keaton's office for a quick snog between shifts. The thrill of that had only helped to deepen their relationship even further, and after a while, Keaton finally got down on one knee to ask Judy to become his wife.
With this big step taken, it was time for the couple to make their relationship public. Their first stop for this was, of course, the house of the McGregors. Before anyone else, Judy had to let the people closest to her, her brother Niall and her best friend Emma, know about the engagement.
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[TRANSCRIPT]
Emma: "And to you a good night, too, little Dottie."
*doorbell rings*
Niall: "I'll get it!"
Emma: *whispers* "Sounds like someone's at the door. Wonder who it is?"
Niall: "Oh, it's Judy!"
Judy: "Are you gonna let me in or not?"
Judy: "Sorry to drop by this late in the evening."
Niall: "No, it's good to see you! And, uhh...?"
Judy: "Oh, yes!" *giggles* "I might have come here for a reason, actually."
Niall: "Let me guess, it's got something to do with the man waiting outside."
Judy: "Mayyybeee..."
Niall: "Well, the kids are sleeping, so why don't both of you come on in and tell me what's the story?"
...
Emma: "JUDYYY!!!"
Judy: "EMMAAA!"
Emma: "Gosh, I'm so happy to see you! But what brings you here this late?"
Judy: "Gee, there was a little summat... I just can't remember what it was..."
