June 4, 2012
7:00 p.m.

There was no way in hell that Riley was ready for this. Right? Right. No, wait, wrong! Wrong. He was twenty-two now; he was ready for this step. It was just his parents who didn't think he was -- well, his mother, more accurately. She'd spent so much time trying to convince him to break with the Vow's contract that eventually he'd come to the conclusion that, as much as it hurt to keep it from her, he just couldn't have her at his wedding. He didn't want to say that having her beg him not to do it would change his mind, but... well, he couldn't deny that he'd always been his mother's son. It was just the way things worked, him being the youngest of five.

In any event, his older sister Zoe was, he decided, cool enough to know about the wedding without trying to thwart it or outing him to their parents, so he'd invited her out; she was the one that advised him to stick with a simple solitaire for the joint wedding-and-engagement ring for Katherine, since he didn't know what her style was. Or rather, as Zoe had put it, "You're a fashionisto, but how the hell do you know if she is or not?" That, combined with the fact that his infant niece had been starting to get whiny, was enough to cement the decision for Riley,

In any event, now he was standing at the altar in the chapel of Evergreen in the suit he'd worn to his oldest sister, Audrey's, wedding, with a diamond digging into his palm as he held on tight to the ring. His bride wasn't here yet, and he glanced out at the audience, where Zoe gave him a little reassuring nod as she shifted the weight of her sleeping daughter in her lap. Yeah; okay. She was right. It would be okay. There was no way this Katherine Atwood would stand him up.

...Right? He couldn't help but experience a few moments' doubt, even as the music started up and the chapel doors opened. He smoothed back his hair (which he'd gelled into a sleeker, more fashionable style, rather than his usual messy curls) with his free hand, and watched the doors a little anxiously, just praying that his voice wouldn't crack when (if?) he said his vows.

This was it.

Today was the day Katherine Atwood became Mrs. Kate (a quick check of the letter; though she’d immediately memorised the name of her soon to be husband) Spencer. Riley Spencer. She hadn’t been given a lot of information about the guy and hadn’t met him prior to the ceremony, a decision she was seriously regretting; seriously what the hell kind of stupid idea was that. In this day and age who the hell didn’t meet their fiancé until their wedding day, that’s the kinda of shit that happened in the 1800s, not 2012. But she’d made her decision and now she had to live with it.

Checking her appearance in the mirror one final time, the redhead touched up her lipstick and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her dress. She’d decided against the idea of a full on bridal gown; she had actually gone and tried a couple on, but every time she did it felt weird, forced. This wasn’t exactly your typical, every day wedding- or well it was in this town. But she’d gone elsewhere and found the simple white dress she was wearing. Although not a full on gown, it simple, yet elegant, formal but not over the top.

Why was she even doing this? She’d never been one of those girls who were desperate to get married and have a husband she didn’t think that it was mandatory to have a husband to have a child and she didn’t love Riley- didn’t know Riley, yet here she was; at the local church, doing the finishing touches for her wedding day. A knock at the door tore her attention from the mirror and to their appointed wedding co-ordinator as she popped her head in the room, her gaze running up and down Kate, making a mental judgement on everything from her shoes to way she wore her hair. Well screw her, it was Kate’s wedding not hers.

Following the other woman to the heavy church doors, Kate fingered the ring she’d bought this Riley guy as went. She didn’t know the kind of style he liked; if he wanted something fancy and exciting, or something simple. Going for simple, Kate had figure that, should he not be happy with her choice they could always exchange it or something. The doors opened and her stomach dropped, oh god she was more nervous than she expected she would be. What was wrong with her? Slipping the ring on the little finger on her right hand to keep herself from playing with (and ultimately losing) it, Kate stepped into the fair sized churched glancing around the few faces that were there until her blue eyes finally landed on Riley.

Oh.

He looked.... young, very young and, as much as she’d expected he may be a little younger than her (she’d not met many thirty-two year old Rileys) he looked like teenager- oh god she hoped she hadn’t taught him, and mentally ran through her mind to see if she recognised the name. But, hey, maybe he was much more mature, old beyond his years or something. Hey, there had to be some reason they were paired... Unless she’d been given the wrong time in her letter, “Riley?” She asked once she reached the alter, a nervous, polite smile flickering at her painted lips. C’mon, give the kid a chance.

When Katherine showed up in the doorway, Riley had the curious sensation of both having the wind knocked out of him and being drenched with a sudden cold sweat at the same time. She was... well, the only words that came to Riley's mind at the moment were 'va-va-voom' and 'holy shit,' and while he'd never actually been in a church before, he was fairly sure that neither of those statements would be appreciated more here than they would've in the synagogue he'd attended sporadically during his adolescence.

She was... well, she was older than he'd expected. Not that he was terribly shocked to see that; he was on the young end of marrying age, and he didn't really see an issue with marrying someone a couple years older. But she... well. He was suddenly flashing back to high school and the secretary in the principal's office, though Ms. Stephens hadn't quite had such fabulous... assets. He felt his throat go a little dry, and he swallowed against it anyway. Older, but unfuckingbelievably hot. He wasn't entirely sure that even Hunter's advice had prepared him sufficiently for a woman like this.

Good God those curves.

When she spoke, he extended his right hand to her; she seemed about as nervous as he was feeling, which had the strange effect of calming him down (at least, y'know, a little bit). When he spoke, it was even more quietly than usual, since when he spoke softly, it tended to sound a little bit more... well... adult and manly. Besides, it was almost silent in the chapel now, except for the soft music playing, so she wouldn't have trouble hearing him (he hoped). "Katherine," he said in response to her speaking his name. "Ready to do this?"

Because he was. He thought. Yes. He was feeling a little more confident, now that he'd actually seen her, though part of him was wondering if she'd be disappointed that he'd been matched to someone so young, and another part was hurriedly trying to tally up just how many experience points his one-night-stand (courtesy of Hunter's excellent skills as a wingman) racked up.

Walking down the aisle, Kate could see, as well as feel, Riley shift his gaze over her form and in all honesty, there wasn’t really much new there. Over the years, with the... assets she had been... blessed with, there was rarely a shortage of heads being turned, of catcalls and wolf-whistles, and she had just eventually, over time gotten used it, it’s what happened, there wasn’t a lot she could do. But him... For some reason, this made her nervous. What if she wasn’t what he wanted... Well then I guess we’d break up, like any other relationship... simple (it can’t be a good sign that she was thinking that walking down the aisle). Kate had no shortage of confidence, she was comfortable in her body, she was aware that a lot of men found her attractive and found no shame in this confidence, why should she? But today she found herself wanting to... To please her husband, not in a 1950s Good Wife’s Guide kinda way, but she wanted him to be proud to be able to point her out and say ‘yeah, that’s my wife’.

Looking a little closer to the guy herself, and reaching for his hand she couldn’t deny the fact that he was... cute. Yeah, cute was a pretty actuate description of the guy in front of her, as she reached for his hand Give the kid a chance she thought again, the phrase going around in her mind like a new mantra. Just get to know him a bit, give the kid a chance. Shaking her head subtly trying to dispel the thoughts, she had to stop thinking that! This whole ‘kid’ thing had to stop now!

Offering the k- Offering Riley a small hand squeeze to offer a little support not only to him, but for herself as well as she looked him in the eye made a split decision. To Run.

I’m kidding, she didn’t run. Looking Riley in the eye, Kate made the decision to but her doubts and her fears to the back of her mind. No, this wasn’t what she was expecting, but she probably wasn’t what he had been expecting either, and she’d signed the contract when she signed up for The Vow, this was what she had paid for, “sweetie, enough of that formal sh-“ the minister cleared his throat, “stuff,” the red head corrected, “Kate is fine, and yeah. Yeah I think so” she added turning to face the minister and playing with the ring still on her finger- so much for that plan.

Play it cool, act natural, be confident. Hunter's rules for behavior around women (at least, women you want to seduce -- and Riley figured marriage was close enough to seduction for the same rules to apply) swam through his head as he gave his wife-to-be yet another smile. He was distinctly aware of the fact that he was checking her out in a way that probably would've earned him a smack from Zoe, if she was close enough to do so -- but at the same time, he knew that Katherine was doing the same. Well, maybe not EXACTLY the same, since Riley didn't cut quite the same figure, but she was looking him over, anyway. It only made sense; this was their first meeting. They wanted to see what the other was like.

And from what Riley could see, his wife-to-be was stunning, confident, mature, and so unbelievably out of his league that he couldn't imagine even Hunter making a run at her and expecting success. In other words, he was in way over his head.

Well, at least when she replied to his question, it was with a positive response. Kate. He liked it. It was short, simple, had some bite to it, wasn't weird -- though with a traditionally Hebrew middle name like Amichai he probably shouldn't be casting stones at people with unusual names any time soon. "Kate," he repeated obediently, giving her a smile as if to say, 'All right; I'll remember that.' And hey, she wasn't running away, right? That had to bode well. At least, it couldn't bode badly. "Let's do it."

As the minister began on the traditional vows, Riley tried to listen, but mostly failed -- he kept glancing over at Kate and wondering things like, How does she like her coffee? Should I still kiss her at the end of this, even if this is the first time we've met? Will we share a bed tonight? Oh god, do I have condoms if we do? Can I sneak off to CVS? Should I even be thinking this, or am I totally jinxing myself? Is she allergic to anything? It almost caught him by surprise when the minister prompted him to say his part; he cleared his throat a little nervously and gave her a smile, trying to remember to be confident and act natural. Or was it act confident and be natural? Was there even a difference? Augh.

"I, Riley Amichai Spencer, take you to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both live."

Judging by the look in her almost-husband eye as he looked at her, Kate was pretty sure he approved of what he saw, but to be honest she hadn’t had a lot of complaints from the men she’s come across, some women had said a few less than pleasant things throughout her time but at this point it was just water off a ducks back now. Who gave a fuck if the girl down the street didn’t like the way her husband was looking at her, Kate hadn’t done anything to ask for his attention, and she wouldn’t do anything with it. Flirt, sure flirting was harmless, flirting was fun, but it was very unlikely that it would go any further than that their issues were with their husbands- not Kate.

But this was getting off topic, it wasn’t important now. What was important was the man standing next to her, in his suit, with his little smile. What was important was the man before her, dressed in robes, reading from his bible, and the words he was saying that, truth be told, she wasn’t really paying attention. She wasn’t a religious woman, never had been, doubt she ever would be. Her family had never been particularly religious either, although her mother had been turning to God more and more as the years went by.

Kate couldn’t help but wonder about the man she was marrying, about his history and his family, where were they? Surely they didn’t want to miss their son getting married. Granted there were a few people in the church, but no one who looked like they would be his parents. Well, she hadn’t seen any from the brief look she’d had while walking down the aisle, who knows maybe they were there and she just hasn’t seen them. Unless... Unless they had died, and Riley had been orphaned, or maybe he had been put up for adoption and didn’t know his parents. There were a lot of different, believable options. Maybe his situation was similar to her own, and he just wasn’t close the them.

Her thoughts briefly flicked to her father- someone she hadn’t thought about in a long time (or so she said, in reality he was on her mind a good deal) and she wondered what he was doing (although she’d always, always insist she didn’t care what he was doing) did he know his daughter was getting married? Did he care (probably, last time she saw him he’d been desperate to have a relationship with her again)? Oh crap, she was going to have to tell Riley about him at some point wasn’t she? And she quickly wondered how long she’d be able to keep the secret to herself before it became a necessity to tell her husband. Hopefully it’ll be a long time, as long as possible.

Forcing the topic to the back of her mind, Kate took a deep cleansing breath. The wedding, concentrate on that.

She could feel his gaze flick back to her every so often and was unable to stop the corners of her mouth curl up ever so slightly. Yeah, he approved. Following the Minister’s gentle coaching the redhead turned to face the younger man as he said his vows... Amichai, what was that Hebrew? It sounded Hebrew. A quick glance back at the Minister as he spoke again, this time the words for Kate, herself to say.

Here it goes...

“I, Katherine,” screwing up her nose in distaste at her own middle name, “Alice Atwood, take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both live." That wasn’t too bad. The minster nodded approvingly, looking back at his notes (seriously, in this town he still needed his notes?!) before asking for the rings to be blessed.

Well, this was it. They'd said the vows now; exchanged the words that bound them together for life. As young and relatively inexperienced as Riley was, he took the idea of marriage seriously; after all, he had his parents to live up to, and Graham and Lucy Spencer were practically an institution (or should be, anyway). That was another part of why he'd signed up for the Vow in the first place -- it wasn't just because he couldn't get women to believe that he didn't prefer dick. There was also that pressure to find the perfect woman, because he knew that whoever he married, it would be forever. It wasn't a religious thing; the only people in their family who took Judaism halfway seriously were his dad and his brother Ezra. It was just... the way Spencers did things.

He couldn't help but smile when she made a face, presumably at her name -- at least, he couldn't think of what else it might be, unless he had something on his face. (Oh god please let him have nothing on his face.) It was a little old-fashioned, but he kind of liked it. Katherine Alice, who preferred to be called Kate. His wife's name was Katherine Alice... Spencer? Would she take his last name? That was definitely something to discuss after the wedding... But for now, the priest was blessing the rings, and Riley took Kate's and slid hers onto her third finger. It was simple, a small diamond in a Tiffany setting on gold ring, but classy -- at least, that's how he rather hoped she'd view it. There was no pressure at all when picking out the ring for a spouse you've never met, nope. He offered his hand for similar treatment a moment later.

Then it was the moment of truth. "You may now kiss the bride," he said, and Riley looked at the redhead in front of him a wee bit nervously. All of Hunter's advice on how to handle women with confidence and look sure of yourself few out the window -- he was just left with a distinctly unhelpful ohshit ohshit in his own internal voice. He took a step closer and reached out to rest a hand on her arm -- not the most romantic place, but he wasn't exactly sure he was comfortable sweeping a woman into his arms in front of a man of god, or doing it at all, really. He leaned down as needed, his eyes open but heavy-lidded, and moved to brush his lips softly against those of his wife.

Unable to stop herself, or try and wait for even a few seconds as soon as the ring was comfortably on her finger her gaze immediately dropped to view it. It was simple, not big or fancy, or a big spectacular ridiculously expensive thing. But it was perfect, Kate would never have liked anything over the top, or garish, or overly expensive- she’d just be paranoid she’d lose it- she had a tendency to put down a necklace or bracelet only for it to never be seen again. It was a well known hazard in the Atwood family. But this ring... This ring was lovely, “it’s beautiful,” she told him, “I love it, thank you.” And she meant it, if she were to choose her ring it would have most likely been very similar to the one resting on her finger now.

Now, his go. Taking the simple white gold band form the minister, she took Riley’s and gently slipped the ring on his finger, pleased with herself at getting the right ring-size for the husband she’d never met. Kate had chosen a simple band herself, mostly because it was safe, if he didn’t like it then fair enough, they’d change it, or get engraved or something. She had, however, chosen to have the date engraved on the inside, although not an overly romantic person, Kate couldn’t get the idea of having the date they both met and were wed engraved on his ring out of her mind.

And that was it; they’d said their vows, exchanged their rings, they were married, she was a wife. She had a husband. It was a really weird thought, and she took a second to look at her husband and see if it felt different. It didn’t really but she figured it would be one of those things that she would gradually... what? Move into a wife role? Feel more what, wifey? What? She didn’t know, should she feel different now? Maybe it was because she didn’t really know Riley all that well, perhaps if they’d had a relationship before it would be different now.

Which was a point, who was Riley Amichai Spencer, and what was he expecting from her? Did he want a good little housewife, who would keep the house nice, look after the 2.5 kids and bake cookies? (He was rather young, so she seriously doubted that he had that mindset- but regardless, it wasn’t happening, it wasn’t her).

”You may now kiss the bride.” The words cut off her thoughts before she could really get started with her tangent, and she looked up at her new husband, he was significantly taller than the redhead, regardless of her heels, a bubble of curiosity forming in her stomach. She couldn’t help but wonder about this bit, what his kiss would be like, fiery and passionate, sexy and seductive (although she wasn’t exactly... getting those vibes from her), or nervous and gentle (most likely). Kate could tell he was nervous, which was strange, it wasn’t like she was going to attack him, or bite (unless he wanted too (and even so, she wouldn’t here; although not religious herself it felt wrong to things such things in a holy place)), nor was she going to shatter into a million pieces at the slightest touch.

Breaking their eye contact to follow his arm down to where his hand rested on her arm, her lips quirked into a little smirk, yeah he was definitely nervous about this whole thing. Oh well, if he needed a little encouragement, encouragement she could do. As the redhead also took a step forward, reaching up to gently cradle his jaw with her left hand, the diamond in the stone sparking in the light in the church, Kate easily deepened the kiss, her own eyes slipping closed as her lips moved against Riley’s. Well, if it was a first kiss, they might as well do it properly.

When the two finally parted, Kate let their gaze meet again, offering another smirk in his direction, “well Riley, it’s certainly nice to meet you.”