The Goddess of My Heart

XLIII. The Reception.

Evan

The elevator ride was quiet as I hold Apollo's ringed hand and I admire my own rings.

"I am so happy." I say.

"Me too, fy nghariad."

"I love it when you call me that."

"I love calling you that."

"Good. I would really like it if you called me that more. Especially in front of people."

"Of course."

We reach the bottom floor and everyone applauds us as we walk hand in hand to the crowd. The food's not ready so we have time to mingle. I see my grandparents and Apollo's. Laura and Dawn are here, Apollo's friend, Lexi is here.

I split from Apollo to go talk to our guests. The first person who catches me is Apollo's Granny, Kathryn but we call her Kat.

"Hello there, Evan. You looked so gorgeous in your dress." she greeted with her thick Irish accent.

"Thank you. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. I'm really glad that Apollo has found someone she loves. But it does make me feel very old."

"You don't look a day over twenty, Mammy." Kate says, her Irish accent becoming evident as she speaks with her mother.

"Thank you, spud."

I don't understand how these people can look so young. I'm being serious, Tina and Kate are fifty-six, and not a wrinkle or grey hair in sight. Their skin is flawless and their mobility is even better. They don't look old enough to have kids and grandkids. Don't get me started on Kat, either. She's about eighty-nine and looks as young as Kate. There are some pretty good genes in this family.

It makes me wonder if I'll get old and wrinkly and Apollo will still look the same as she does now.

Kat and Kate excuse themselves and I move on to the next people. It happens to be Apollo's aunties, Esther, Marley, Adrianna and Eleanor as well as her cousins, Stevie and Eddie. I had never heard of Eleanor until now, apparently Apollo had never met Eleanor until today either. I wonder why?

"I'm so happy for you and Apollo. She's the favourite niece, that I don't have." Adrianna said, making Bennie interrupt the conversation.

"Excuse me?"

"No one asked you, Benjamin." Stevie retorts.

"Auntie Esther!" Bennie whines.

"She's right, go find your sister, Benjamin." Esther dismisses. Bennie scoffs before walking away to find the sister that Esther had summoned. I'm assuming Bennie knew who she wanted.

"Apollo was always quiet at gatherings. So I used to just sit with her and read or something like that. She's definatley a presence to be around." Marley says. She pulled out a photo of Apollo and her. My wife must've been no older than ten, she looked shorter and her eyes were different, but I can still tell its her.

That's the thing with Apollo's family. Their eyes are dead giveaways to tell them apart. Obviously Kathryn and Bennie have unique eye colours but when it comes to Tina, Ruth, Billie Danny and the triplets, it would be hard to tell which one was which. But the way they look with their eyes is how I've learnt to tell them apart.

I've noticed that Tina's eyes hold love, forgiveness, wisdom and power, Ruth's eyes are stern, strict and precise, she doesn't miss a thing. Billie's eyes are full of responsibility and there's a hint of pressure and sadness behind them. Danny's eyes are carefree, flirtatious
and joyful. Hayley's eyes are kind, poised and soft. Raphie's are full of wonder and curiosity. And finally, Apollo's eyes are analytical, always looking for patterns and puzzles, full of intelligence and focus.

"Hey, you okay?" I hear Apollo's voice pull me out of my thoughts. "You've been standing alone for a few minutes."

"Yeah, I was just thinking about your eyes." I grin, leaning into her.

"Oh, well that's nice. Would you like a drink?"

"Yes please, baby."

Apollo disappears and I find myself a seat because my feet are killing me. All the excitement has got to me and I feel tired. I lean forward on the table and rest my head on my arms.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Apollo's soft voice asks from across the table.

"Yeah, just a little tired."

"I think I know what's happened. You're social battery has gone flat." Apollo tells me.

"Maybe."

"Mine has too. We have a couple of hours before food, maybe we could go have a nap before then?"

"That sounds nice. I'm really tired."

"Okay, finish your drink and I'll take you up. Let me just go and find Mama."

Apollo leaves and I sip on my drink. By the time she's back, I have finished it and we head upstairs.

I basically died when my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep straight away. But it's okay because my wife was there the whole time.

-----------------------------

We got a couple hours of sleep before Bennie knocked on our door to tell us that the food is ready.

Apollo and I straightened ourselves up, put on our sweaters and shoes before going down to the massive dining hall. We struggled to find one big enough for the whole family but we managed.

I sat at our table, which was the centre of the room, as Apollo brought the chair out for me and kissed my head. All the chatter stops as Apollo remained standing.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming, it's one of the most important days of my life and a great way to start off my adulthood. Being able to share my love for Evan with you all has made me incredibly happy, but the way she makes me happy is something else. She's my life, my person, my pride and joy. I am so glad to be able to call her my wife. So in honour of that, I hope you'll enjoy the meal because it was pretty fucking expensive."

Everyone chuckles and claps as Apollo sits down. The waiters brought out the dinner and it was then that I realised that I was starving. We had an early wedding because we're both early birds and it would mean less time to wait.

After the meal and dessert, it was time for the Reception. The music is loud and people are drunk and dancing and I get to witness Apollo's Auntie Anaheim dance horribly for the second time this year.

I see Hayley and Melissa just sitting and watching, I've seen that Hayley carries herself differently since becoming a part of the Royal Family. She's also gained the Posh English accent. She calls Tina Mama but with more stress on the second 'Ma' than the first, which is what everyone else does because of their mixed Welsh and American accents. It's strange.

Apollo's family is so lively at weddings and gatherings. I remember they were exactly like this at Jordyn's wedding and it's quite comforting to see how proud and happy for Apollo and I.

I'm in the middle of the dance floor and Rewrite The Stars starts to play. I am immediately transported back in time to when Apollo was thirteen and shy.

She appears out of nowhere and performs the dance just as she did five years ago. Not a thing has changed and I hope I can do the same.

I loved the way she held me during the dance all those years ago. She was so mature and tall, even taller now. If you would've told eighteen year old Evan that she got married to that thirteen year old who was an amazing dancer and has intelligence that was greater than the kids in your school, she would've been flabbergasted and probably in denial. She would've told you that there was no way because she's so young and wouldn't be able to love the girls. Boy, would she be wrong.