After that, we kissed again, and a laugh went over the crowd again until Peter finally gave up and simply proclaimed our kissing bodies husband and wife. I ignored the thunderous applause and the sensation of several bodies standing and clapping; I already knew we were husband and wife. Teren and I kissed, smiled and hugged. Finally we tore our attention off of each other, long enough to take in the crowd of well wishers.
I didn’t know a lot of them, only having heard of them through family stories my mom told, but some were familiar and I smiled warmly at them. At the people I loved, I smiled brightly - My mother, her eyes a red, watery mess. Alanna, her eyes so pink from her pink tears, that she almost looked like she had an infectious disease. Imogen, who was clapping at us and swallowing repeatedly. I could tell she was forcing herself not to cry; vampires cried pure blood, and although that trait had faded away by the time it had diluted to Teren, it was still pretty obvious in the 50% vampire that was Imogen. Beside her, her bare arms wrapped around her daughter, was Halina. No tears were on the vampire’s cheeks, nor did she seem to be holding back any, but her face beamed at us as she hugged Imogen.
After another moment of the clapping, Teren took my hand and led me down the carpet path placed over the Plexiglas floor above the pool. Along the sides of the carpet, I could see the pool water glowing blue, lit from the bulbs beneath it. Combined with all the candles and the twinkling lights above, the space was well lit, and no trace of a glow was in Teren’s eyes as he shook hands with my relatives, no glow but a happy one, that is.
The music shifted to a happy beat as Teren and I drifted over to the barbeque area of the patio, where the tables of food were being set up. People congratulated us and gave me hugs. In fact, I hugged so many people that my automatic response to someone walking in front of me was to grab them and enclosed them in a teary embrace. Teren thought that was pretty funny, since I didn’t even know the majority of the people’s names.
Between the bustle of talking to strangers and having my sister shove some food in my mouth, some sort of teriyaki beef that was to die for, the folding chairs were swished off the pool, and the red carpet rolled away. As I noticed people starting to dance on the huge Plexiglas floor, I also noticed that the lights under the pool had started shifting to different colors in time to the music. They pulsed red and then blue and then a really beautiful green. I smiled around a mouthful of food at the beauty of my fairytale wedding. And I hadn’t planned any of it really.
I firmly embraced and thanked every in-law I could find after that. With tears running down my cheeks, I even told Halina I loved her. She smirked at that, raised an eyebrow to Teren, and then proceeded to bump and grind a couple of my cousins on the dance floor, her super short, strapless dress, riding even higher up her toned thighs.
I pulled Teren out to that dance floor, and much to my mother’s dismay, we danced all night long. People were so entertained by the environment and the food and the music, not to mention the wine and the huge hot tub that a few brave souls jumped in, that no one really noticed that we skipped over the cake cutting, just serving the slices instead, and no one gave any champagne toasts, we didn’t need them anyway. Well, my mom noticed, trying to get me off the floor several times to do the “formally correct” wedding things, but I ignored her, only hugging Teren tighter as he twirled me around the see-through floor, and telling her we’d do it later. Of course, I had no intention of doing that, as my husband couldn’t eat or drink, and I was not about to subject him to another round of blood-chucking on our wedding night. I had much more appealing plans for him than that.
Eventually, Mom let it die, Alanna helping with that by keeping her occupied on the floor with her and Ashley. When it was horribly late at night, the revelers finally started dispersing. I cried and hugged each one, telling my third cousin, Tyra, that I loved her and we’d get together soon, even though we’d never hung out before and I wasn’t even sure of her last name.
When just a handful were left, and Teren and I were sleepily slow dancing, Hot Ben and Tracey came up to us. Teren stopped our movement and we broke apart, both of our eyes on Ben. Tracey, oblivious and slightly tipsy, congratulated us both and gave us each long hugs and sloppy kisses on the cheeks. After pulling apart from Teren, which made Ben clench his jaw, she slurred, “It’s getting cold out here.” With a grin she added, “You should go upstairs before Teren turns into a Popsicle.”
I giggled at that, but stopped when I noticed the pale look on Ben’s face. Teren extended a hand out to the side of the pool and asked Ben to talk to him for a minute. Ben swallowed, but eventually nodded, looking around at all the human witnesses before he did so.
I sighed at his reluctance to be alone with him, and without seeming like I was eavesdropping, which I was, I turned to Tracey, who muttered to me, “Did you see Ben during the ceremony?” She shook her head, her now freed blonde curls dancing, “You’d think he was getting married up there, by how nervous he was.”
I giggled self-consciously as Tracey frowned at her seemingly reluctant to commit boyfriend. I was pretty sure that that wasn’t the case, since Ben adored Tracey, but I couldn’t really explain the reason for Ben’s nerves to her, so I didn’t comment. Luckily I didn’t need to, as a beaming Ashley joined us.