Chapter Text
"I’m sorry, darling." His voice is so gentle and apologetic in her ear that Kate could cry from that alone. Neither of them care much about the potential wrinkling of her dress as Anthony slips his arms around her waist from behind, kissing her bared shoulder. "What can I do?"
"Nothing," Kate whispers, tilting her head to press her nose against his warm, smooth cheek. "It's perfect."
He pulls back ever so slightly, frowning down at her. Kate can't help the grin that breaks out across her face at his confusion. She is suddenly overcome with a rush of affection for this man who worries night and day about her happiness. This beautiful, kind-hearted, often ridiculous man who she will call her husband today.
The rain is nothing more than a slow spring patter, far from the raging storms that still shake her to the bone, but Daphne and Violet are probably having a fit over the ruined decorations outside Aubrey Hall. Poor Anthony likely expected to find her sobbing into a pillow or throwing antique vases at the wall.
"It rained when my Amma and Appa got married," she says quietly, and it is only another reminder of why she loves him when his eyes grow understanding with no further explanation. Her family is already there, in her father's poem that will be read during the ceremony and her mother's bangles that sit heavy on her wrists, but this - this serendipitous thing that they could not control, could not predict or plan for - this is where she feels their presence, their blessing, the most.
When she vows her life to him a short time later, with their clothes clinging to their skin and smiles brighter than the sun, Kate knows she could not have asked for anything more.