When We Were

Smoothing out a strand of Maisie’s dark hair, Lionel quirked a grin, his eyes catching sight of Emilia who was across the room, still greeting their guests who were slowly but surely filling the venue around them. The number had swelled, after a relatively small attendance at the actual ceremony, the amount of people that had received invitations to the reception was much larger and it meant that Lionel had almost been relieved when Marcella had placed Maisie into his arms and told him that she had needed a nappy change, grateful for the chance to take a couple of minutes away from the crowd.

Shifting Maisie on his hip, he watched Emilia hug a couple of her cousins in greeting before he felt a clap against his shoulder, something which caused him to peek over his shoulder, rolling his eyes at the cheesy grin that Jordi wore. “Why do you keep smiling at me like that?” he asked as he turned back to watch Emilia.

Jordi followed his stare before he looked back at Lionel’s face, shaking his head amusedly. “Am I not allowed to smile at my favourite brother-in-law?” he chirped.

Lionel smirked, sparing a look up at his brother-in-law. “You’re being weird about it” he quipped “I’ve been with your sister for three years” he pointed out.

Jordi scoffed. “I’m just happy for you, Leo” he quipped “And for my sister. Don’t take this the wrong way, and certainly don’t run off and tell her that I said this, but I think a lot of people in this room doubted that we’d find ourselves here, at least with someone that wasn’t…you know who” he added.

Lionel’s expression grew a little dark at the mention of Isaac, but it lightened almost instantly when Maisie spoke. “Mama” she babbled.

Both Jordi and Lionel looked up, watching as Emilia walked towards them, her face lit up with a goofy smile.

Lionel couldn’t stop himself from grinning back at her, something which made Jordi playfully roll his eyes before he stepped forwards, scooping Maisie out of her father’s arms. “I’ll take this one and check on Luca” he said “Go and be all cute with your wife, hombre” he teased.

Lionel rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue as he stepped towards Emilia, greeting her with a soft kiss which earned a soft ripple of applause through the crowd around them. Leaning back ever so slightly, he gently tucked a flyaway hair off of her face before he touched a kiss to her forehead. “I was just coming to find you” he murmured.

Emilia gently straightened his tie as she shook her head, smiling down at her feet. “You were not” she mused “You practically jumped at the chance to change Maisie’s nappy when my mother came over. You just wanted to avoid our guests” she pointed out.

Lionel watched her fix his tie before he caught one of her hands, gently pressing a kiss against her palm. “I would have found my way back eventually” he noted.

“Eventually” Emilia repeated impishly “After I had done most of the work” she added.

Lionel laughed gently before he dipped down, stealing another soft kiss which Emilia couldn’t help but smile into.

~#~
“So, at last, I have the microphone”

Emilia rolled her eyes, already shaking her head amusedly at Jordi who had just climbed to his feet, taking the microphone out of Lionel’s hand. The reception was in full swing, dinner had been served and people seemed to be in good spirits, and it made Emilia smile. They hadn’t obsessed over every detail, the planning process, whilst long and drawn out, had been relatively straightforward, and Emilia had loved seeing it all come off. She had loved that since she had set foot inside of the church, the annoyance and upset that Isaac had caused had simply been wiped from her mind, replaced with a sense of happiness and warmth.

Lionel squeezed her hand as he leant in close. “It might not be so bad” he whispered “He’s you big brother after all” he added.

“That’s what I am worried about” Emilia replied quietly.

Lionel offered her hand another squeeze. “It will be over quickly” he noted

“I know my little sister is worried about this” Jordi continued, sparing a quick look and grin over towards Emilia “She seems to think I have an arsenal of embarrassing childhood stories that I want to share with you all. I mean, I could tell the one about the first time she wore make up and ended up looking like a clown. Or the one of how she broke one of our father’s favourite vases just to prove to me that she could do a cartwheel. She couldn’t, but she was absolutely determined to prove me wrong” he quipped, earning a smattering of laughter.

Grinning to himself, Jordi took a second before he turned to look at Emilia, his expression softening. “I could tell a lot of stories” he noted “Not only about Emmy, but about her new husband too. I mean, three years ago, at my own wedding, he couldn’t even remember her, and now look at them. They’re married, and they’ve got a beautiful little family, and I don’t think I could be happier for them both. Emilia, I am so incredibly proud to have you as my baby sister. You are…you’re so much stronger than I know you’d ever give yourself credit for. You lost yourself for a while, but then this guy shuffled awkwardly into your life and it just…it just worked and I sincerely hope it works for a very long time to come, because you deserve it. Leo told me a story a while ago. It was one of the few things he remembered about Emilia from when we were all kids. He told me about how she used to look at our parents’ wedding album and gush about how she’d find herself a prince” he quipped.

Emilia hid her face, her cheeks flushing a dark shade of pink despite the grin on her face.

Jordi laughed. “Don’t look so embarrassed, Em” he quipped “You’re not the first little girl to dream of finding herself a prince charming. She failed on one key point, though. When she was a little girl, she used to insist that she would never end up with one of my friends, but look at you now, Em. Not only is he my friend, I’m his best man” he boasted.

Lionel laughed into his glass of champagne, watching as Emilia laughed happily.

Jordi leant down, collecting his glass of champagne from the table. “I can see that Emmy is getting ready to tackle the microphone out of my hand” he quipped “So I will wrap this up. Emmy, Leo, I love the two of you, and I love the little family that you guys are making around yourselves. I’m so glad that me and my wife, Sam, decided to stick out noses in and put you together at our wedding. None of us would be here without my wonderful intervention. To Lionel and Emilia” he chirped, toasting his glass.

Everyone around him followed suit before he stepped over, wrapping Emilia in a tight hug. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked.

Emilia hugged him back tightly. “It was lovely” she mused “Thank you, Jordi” she added.

Jordi leant back, tucking her hair off of her face. “Congratulations, baby sister” he mused.

Emilia just grinned at him, hoping that the sensation of happiness that filled her in that moment lasted for a very long time.