I had been planning our wedding from the first week I arrived at Charming manor. Prince had begged me to recreate the dress I had worn at the ball, but white. I thought that the request was very touching, so I had called forth my fairy godmother. I talked with her occasionally, but she was very busy so I didn't bother her too often. My outfit consisted of a white dress, white gloves, white bow, silver shoes, and dangling earrings.
It was going to be a beach wedding, the one nearby. Prince and King were going to be wearing their formal outfits that they had worn the day of the ball (apparently King's was practically identical to his son's).
So I was giddy with joy when the morning of my wedding arrived.
Well, nearly giddy.
After all, I still had to fix the toilet.
Then I traveled to the kitchen where I washed my hands I began my normal morning ritual of preparing a smoothie. Strawberry this time. I smelt my B.O. emanating from me.
King was seated at the counter with his cup of coffee, trying to tell me about his previous date over the sound of the smoothie maker. Ever since his wife had died, Prince had set King up with tons of women, but occasionally King made a few of his own dates, being a charismatic fellow.
"She's quite a bit younger than me," King explained loudly as the smoothie maker whirred. "Her name is-" but he was cut short by a specifically loud roar. "I actually met her a while back," King considered, "But I've only recently considered pursuing her."
I made a face, pouring the sludge into a cup. "Dad, seriously now. How much younger is she than you?"
"Oh, about your age I'd say. But love is love, Cinderella," King said.
"Dad!"
"What! It's true! Aren't you at least going to ask me how my date was?" King asked.
I rolled my eyes. "How was your date?"
"Well," he said happily, taking a big sip of his coffee, "I finally went over to her place. She has a bed with green sheets and pink leopard spots. She had celebrity posters, magazines, an alarm clock, and a lamp. Unfortunately, her bed was only big enough for one."
"Father-in-law!" Saying that was the equivalent of saying King's full name.
"She returns my feelings, though! Because I suggested that she try a bigger bed, maybe mine, and she responded with-"
"TMI!" I said, laughing. "Way too much info, thanks!" I checked the time. "Anyway, we both better prepare for the wedding!" I gulped down the remainder of my smoothie and King slurped the last bit of his coffee.
A few hours later, I had showered, shaved, plucked, groomed, applied makeup, and did my hair, and was properly suited up. Prince and I walked over to the beach. We had wanted a very private, low-key wedding, without paparazzi, so we had hired very few services. Prince's only family was his father, and I felt that I needed to invite my step-mother and step-sisters, so I did. Prince and I arrived early, and ate before the wedding. I wasn't sure why, but apparently that was part of Prince's family's traditions. There was a little table set up with cookies, sushi, flowers, plates, and sauces. Prince had asked a family friend to do these preparations.
I grabbed a cookie and sat next to Prince, where we both enjoyed this strange wedding food. I was wearing my engagement ring. I was to wear it until the time where we exchanged proper wedding bands. Prince and I had gone shopping for the perfect wedding rings.
"Should the others be joining us?" I asked Price, feeling a little creeped out. This wasn't my ideal wedding plan.
Prince looked up in surprise. "Could you phone my dad? He's supposed to alert everyone else when to come."
So I whipped out my cell phone (that Prince had bought me) and telephoned King.
While we waited for the other guests to arrive, Prince and I lit a fire (we made sure to keep a bucket of water nearby) and made s'mores. I caught my fiancé warming his bum to the fire, and I couldn't help laughing at his silliness.
Anastasia and Drizella arrived in the gowns I had made for them for the ball. Other people seemed to be sporting Asian apparel, strangely enough. Once all of our guests arrived (only about twenty), we began to eat dinner. People had brought their own food, probably expecting that we wouldn't have much to provide. We ended up having a feast of roast beef, gravy, potatoes, beans, salad, soup, tofu, and lots of other sides. People brought wine, water, milk and beer, but no soda, thank goodness. For desert, we ate chocolate mousse cake, cookies, and vodka chocolate. We were all feeling a bit tipsy by the time the ceremony started.
Just before Prince and I walked over to the heart-shaped arch, I noticed step-mother had aged. She looked a lot less sharp, more tired and weak than anything else. She was dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt, even though it was relatively warm out. She, like many of the other elders, was clutching a cane as she hobbled along.
"What happened?" I asked Anastasia incredulously.
"After you left, someone had to do all the housework, right?" Anastasia said, her voice brittle and unfeeling.
"How come you guys didn't help?"
"We did. But I guess even the little bit she did was too much for step-mother," Anastasia said sulkily before sauntering off.
It wasn't my problem. I was tired of being the pack horse.
"Hon," Prince called, and I made my way towards the arch. I had no father to give me away, and I had decided that I would prefer to walk down the aisle alone to honour him than have someone else give me away. I remember my dad telling me when I was a kid how he would be sad yet proud to give me away. I felt it best to walk alone.
Prince and I stood facing each other, waiting for the minister to step forward to read to us. I caught sight of Girbits in the crowd. He waved at me and I smiled back. Lots of people were roaming about because of a lack of chairs. I ignored this negative factor.
The minister arrived in the nick of time. Any longer and I would've said the vows without him!
After reading from his book, the minister looked up at us, and I knew I had to pay proper attention. I had been lost in Prince's sea of chocolate brown eyes.
"Prince Charming," the minister croaked, "will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to love her, comfort her, and honour her, and forsaking all others, keep you only unto her, for so long as you both shall live?"
Prince nodded. "I will."
He repeated the same process with me. Then it was a repeat-after-me type thing. Prince went first. Then me. "I, Cinderella Casmin, take you, Prince Charming, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, through thick and thin, to love and cherish, from this day forward."
The priest smiled at us happily. "Ring-bearer?"
An elder man who was apparently Prince's distant cousin stepped forward holding a cushy red pillow with the rings laid out on them. We took our rings in unison.
"Place the ring on the bride's finger, and say, 'With this ring, I thee wed.'"
Prince slid the ring onto my fourth finger on my left hand. "With this ring, I thee wed."
The priest nodded to me. "Place the ring on the groom's finger and say, 'With this ring, I thee wed.'"
My fingers fumbled with the ring for a moment, but then I took Prince's left hand in mine and slid on the ring. "With this ring, I thee wed."
"Let these rings be given and received with as a token of your affection, sincerity and fidelity to one another," the minister continued.
King, who was standing close by, clenched his hands together in praise. He was smiling happily.
"In as much as Prince Charming and Cinderella Casmin have consented together in wedlock and have witnessed the same before this company, and pledged their vows to each other, by the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
"You may now kiss the bride."
And he did. We had lots of practice beforehand.
There were cheers of celebration, and lots of tears shed. Prince swept me up in his arms and spun me around. I was crying, but tears of joy, for once. I noticed King hugging someone. As Prince set me down, I whispered into his ear, "Do you see that?"
He nodded. "But it doesn't matter. I need to take care of urgent business."
"What's that?" I said in surprise.
"I need to have a little fun with my wife," he growled. I giggled and kicked off my high heels. Prince and I held hands while running down the beach, right alongside the water. We heard cheers and whistles from various crowd guests.
We made good use of our 'fun time'. Afterwards, lying in bed, virginity free, we talked about it. It. Then we went on to more matters-King, our lives ahead, I was now a princess, etc. It was all so normal, and all so perfect.
"I love you, Mrs. C," Prince said.
He said it with so much sincerity that I wanted to swoon. "I love you, Mr. C," I said.
The next few weeks as newlyweds was amazing. We made love all the time, spontaneously, too. We tried new ways in new places. King volunteered to stay with his girlfriend. He said it was true love. Occasionally he would drop by when he missed us, though.
Prince was very hands on. He enjoyed doing physical labour, and didn't mind chores that much, either. He was a welcome change from my steps, for sure. One time I walked in on him cleaning the toilet in his underwear, and I was just so overwhelmed that I turned him around, pulled his boxers down and made love to him right there and then.
This morning, three weeks after our first time, Prince prepared waffles for me. While I waited for him to finish cooking them, I went to find King, who had stayed over for the night. I found him in the washroom, talking to himself.
"You okay, dad?" I asked with concern.
He looked up, startled. "Sorry, my dear. I'm just practicing a speech I have. Not only do I need to write and memorize the speeches, I need to put real emotion in the proper places, so that I'm not just saying words," he explained.
I nodded. Then, with a pause, I said, tentatively, "Will Prince have to do that... eventually?"
King nodded. "Once I pass away-which could happen anytime soon, quite frankly-Prince will become a king and take my place. He's been trained for this his entire life. And you'll be the Queen, so you'll have to make speeches as well."
"Yes," I said slowly, "I was aware of this when I accepted Prince's proposal, I think. It's crucial to the survival of the country."
King smiled. "I'm glad to know you know of its importance. Now, I think I can smell Prince's cooking. Let's go down and help him-eat it!"
I munched on Prince's waffles. They were tasty, but I didn't want to hurt Prince's feelings by telling him that next time, I would make them. Honestly, I thought that I could make better waffles. They were still yummy though.
As I sat in my nightie, eating waffles prepared by my husband, I realized that it was time to start something with my life. I hadn't heard back from my singing agency, but they had sent me a ten dollar paycheck, no note or anything. I had cashed it in, disappointed. I had obviously done a poor job.
After I finished up my waffles, I emptied the dishwasher, then put the dirty dishes away. While I was putting a dish away, I suddenly felt quite nauseous. I ignored it at first, but then my stomach burbled and I could tell I was about to vomit. I dropped the dish I was holding onto the counter and raced towards the toilet. Thankfully, the lid was up, and I opened my mouth just as the projectile vomit came out. I leaned down over the toilet and heaved some more. It was green and slimy and chunky and I threw up again looking at it. I started crying, as well, because when you vomit you cry. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't see my upchuck, and held my hair back with one hand so I wouldn't dirty it. I held myself up with the other hand because I was so weak I wouldn't have been able to other wise. I proceeded to spit up a bunch, trying to get the taste out of my mouth.
"Is something wrong?!" Prince cried, bursting into the bathroom.
I looked up at him. My hair and face probably had vomit on it, I was crying and just felt horrible. But instead of looking disgusted, Prince looked sad and compassionate. "Cinderella! Oh, no," he said, and knelt next to me. I sat on my bum and he held me from the back, rocking me and smoothing my hair. He kissed my head and soothed me until I stopped crying.
"Do you think it was from the waffles?" I asked, finally getting up and flushing the toilet. I didn't feel like throwing up, but I still felt weak and a bit queasy.
"It's possible, but my dad and I haven't gotten sick, so maybe not," he said, worriedly. "Are you okay now?"
"I think so," I said sadly.
"Go up and have a shower," Prince said firmly, "That should make you feel better. I'll clean out the toilet, all right?"
Too tired to fight back, I trudged upstairs, pulled off my clothes and stood in the shower. How did I even deserve such a sweet man?
After my shower, I slipped back into my pajamas and went back to bed. When I woke up hours later, I felt totally recovered and ready to face the day. In order to repay my kind husband for his care, I fixed up the toilet, which was broken somehow. Mid-way through, I felt a tiniest bit queasy, but just passed it off. It was nothing I couldn't handle.
While looking through drawers later, I came across some of my pads and tampons and realized that my period was due in two days, which would probably account for my nausea. I explained it to Prince.
He was relieved that I hadn't gotten anything contagious, and laughed with me about it. Prince said that he marveled at the fact that I PMSed very rarely. I told him that there was nothing to be crabby about anymore, regardless of hormone swings.
"Even so, we've neglected something, Cind," Prince said brightly, "We haven't bought you new clothes!"
And so Prince and I traveled to the mall. Lots of people stared at us, and even a few spoke up and told Prince how they were so very respectful of him and his father and so forth. Quite a few girls gave me the death stare. This didn't go unnoticed by Prince, and he said, "Maybe it'd be better for you to shop on your own and I'll pick up lunch. I have a horrid sense of style anyway." I laughed, since it was true that some of the things he wore were really ridiculous.
Once I had picked up new purchases, I met Prince and we dined in the mall cafeteria, laughing and tossing french fries at each other. Once we got home, he requested that I show off at least one of my new outfits for him, so I did.
Black wedge heels, nylon socks, tight jeans, and a simple gray t-shirt with a cardigan over top. I also wore two silver bracelets, and a necklace Prince had given to me a while back. I wore earrings Prince had also given to me, a dash of makeup, and had let my hair down and put a braid over it. Comfortable, yet stylish. Prince whistled as I walked out, so I rewarded him with a big fat kiss.
King told us that he was going to propose to the girl he loved. Prince and I were so startled. We hadn't even met the girl! Nevertheless, King said he was going to do it tomorrow, in the garden in front of our house.
"Isn't that a bit unromantic?" I said dryly.
"Nonsense! She told me that her favourite place to be is in our front garden, because she loves gardens and she loves to be near me!"
I shrugged, before saying, just to make sure, "And you're sure she's not after your money, dad?"
"I can never be sure. How could Prince be sure that you weren't after his money?"
I blushed. "Okay, I see your point. Good luck, then! I'll be spying on you from the upstairs window!"
"Take pictures, if you must!" King said with a laugh.
The first thing I saw happen the next night was King kissing the young woman. She was wearing the same clothes she did at our wedding. I looked away as they kissed. I didn't want to miss anything, but I didn't want to invade their privacy.
By the time I looked back, King was already knelt down on one knee, the open box held before him. His girlfriend let out a high-pitched shriek and screamed "Yes!" very excitedly. I opened the window I was peering out of slightly so that I would be aware of what was going on.
King slid the ring onto his girl's finger, then they stood up and embraced. "My dearest," King said, slowly, "Do you want to get married right here? Right now?"
"What do you mean?" she replied. I noticed something vaguely familiar about her voice.
"I can figure out the paperwork later, but we don't need a priest. We can say the vows and exchange rings right now," King said,
"Don't we need a witness?" The woman said.
"My daughter-in-law will be our witness. She's watching us now, if I'm not mistaken."
"What?!" The woman cried, astonished.
King's face grew pink. "Don't worry, I asked her too! Not to be creepy, but if you agreed and we needed a witness..."
King and I waited, nervous for her reply.
"Of course I agree, silly!" She said, and he grew pink with pleasure.
I noticed Prince come up behind me as King extracted two more rings out of his pocket. Prince put his arm around me and kissed me. "I love you," he said, obviously reminded of our wedding.
The two of them traded vows that King had evidently learned by heart. Maybe that was what he had really been practicing in the bathroom. They traded rings. Prince held my hand, fingering the ring on my hand, as King slid a ring onto his fiance's hand.
The woman did the same for King. They embraced, now married, then started kissing passionately. I turned away, into Prince to give them their alone time. A single tear emerged from Prince's eye. I kissed it away. He looked down at me. I kissed him gently, then we held hands and went downstairs to congratulate the happy couple.
"Congratulations, dad!" I said, hugging King. I looked around. "Where's your wife?"
"She just went to the washroom to change," King said, his eyes sparkly.
I knocked on the door. "Come in!" The woman trilled. The voice was nagging at me, the familiarity... I walked into the washroom to find her admiring her new wedding ring. I gasped as my eyes made their way to her face.
"Becky?"
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