When We Were

Eighty Eight: Not The Point

“So, let’s talk wedding planning” Marcella cooed as she swanned into the living room, placing a platter of small snacks down in the centre of the coffee table. The atmosphere had changed, after Isaac had departed, the tension which had seemed to fill the house had evaporated, and in its wake it had left something happier, a sense of feeling which was more in line with the situation that was the entire Moretti family being in one place for the first time in months. People had had questions, Marcella had asked about Lionel’s bruise, David had asked if there were going to be any changes in the shared custody arrangement between Emilia and Isaac, but after all had been said and done, both Emilia and Lionel had relaxed, in turn causing everyone around the two of them to relax.

Emilia, who’d been cooing over Felix, looked up towards Lionel who was sat with Luca, rolling her eyes at him playfully before she turned to look at her mother. “We haven’t even picked out a date yet, mama” she pointed out.

“What are you waiting for?” Marcella asked.

“Marcella” David warned, smirking around the top of his beer bottle.

“You should know that there is no stopping her, papa” Jordi chirped from where he sat on the floor, watching as Maisie crawled between him and Samia “Samia used to avoid her calls” he added impishly as he leant over, taking a cracker from the plate on the table.

Samia’s head whipped up. “Jordi!” she squeaked.

Marcella shook her head. “It’s alright, Samia” she mused “I know I can be a little overbearing. I’m just excited” she added, offering both Jordi and Emilia a pointed look when they both scoffed.

Emilia’s smile softened a little. “I know you are, mama” she mused “But to talk about wedding plans, me and Leo, we’d actually need to make some, and we haven’t yet. We were thinking about starting, but since we’ve touched down here, we’ve been a little...preoccupied” she added.

“We’d love suggestions, though” Lionel piped up from across the room “Anything that can make it easier” he added.

Marcella smiled at him. It wasn’t the first time he had tried to bridge a gap between her and Emilia. “We could start small” she mused “I mean, picking out a date can’t be that hard. You must have ideas about how soon you’d like to do it, right?” she asked.

Lionel glanced towards Emilia, and Emilia looked back at him, the two of taking a moment to discuss the question wordlessly, before they turned back to Marcella. “Soon” Emilia noted, answering for the two of them “I mean, not like next week or anything, but I don’t think we want to wait around for too long. Perhaps a year, maximum, but preferably less than that” she added, looking back towards Lionel for confirmation.

Lionel grinned at her, nodding in agreement. “The sooner, the better” he mused.

Jordi let out a laugh. “You think you can plan a wedding in less than a year?” he quipped disbelievingly.

“Why not?” Emilia asked “It doesn’t have to be some huge thing” she added.

Jordi let out another laugh. “It so easy to say that now” he quipped “But just wait until you sit down and try and put together a guest list. It never stops growing. When Sam and I got engaged, we were both so sure that we wanted something small. We want out families, but where does that stop? Take our side, for example, you’d want mama and papa, obviously, me, Samia and Felix. Do you invite all of our cousins? If you do, then they’re mostly married, so that doubles the number, then you have to think about their children. Then, you have to factor in Leo’s side and before you know it, the tiny wedding you were hoping for becomes something huge and you spend a day reintroducing yourself to relatives you’d forgotten you had” he added.

“You make our wedding day sound so miserable for you, Jordi” Samia chirped, flashing him an impish smile.

Jordi shook his head. “It was a wonderful day” he noted, his expression softening into a tender smile “I just want Leo and Emmy to be prepared. Being married is the best, I absolutely adore it, but planning a wedding? I’m so glad I never have to do it again” he added.

Samia grinned. “You keep leaving your socks on the bedroom floor, you might have to revisit that thought” she joked.

Jordi’s eye roll was exaggerated. “Not the point” he huffed playfully.

Emilia smiled at their exchange before she gently shook her head. “Is it really that bad?” she asked softly.

“It’s hard work” Samia answered honestly “And whilst you two are pretty in-sync, you will find yourselves disagreeing over the most stupid things. I almost called out engagement off because Jordi’s choice of flower was wrong and I think he probably almost left me when he saw the bill for my dress” she added, sharing a playful look with her husband.

Emilia turned, offering a slightly worried glance back towards Lionel.

Lionel greeted the furrow in her forehead with a small, reassuring smile. “We’ll have help” he pointed out “And, honestly, I don’t really care about flowers. You can choose whichever ones you want” he joked, hoping to erase a little bit of the tension which had etched itself into her features.

Lionel wasn’t under the illusion that planning a wedding would be easy, ever time the topic had come with Jordi, the other man had had a different story about how awful it had been for him and Samia, but it hadn’t quelled the desire that Lionel had to get through it sooner rather than later. He wanted to marry Emilia, no matter what it looked like. He just wanted to be able to call her his wife.

Emilia rolled her eyes at his joke, but couldn’t stifle her small smile. “Are you going to say that about everything?” she asked.

Lionel shrugged lazily, an impish smile on his face.

Emilia laughed. “I would actually like your say in this” she played along.

“Just give me the date, place and time” Lionel replied “I’ll grab a suit and meet you at the altar” he added impishly.

Emilia thought for a moment. “Next June” she announced “At the church where my parents got married, probably early in the afternoon” she added.

Lionel grinned. “It’s a date” he confirmed.
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Thanks to FootieJo for the comment :)