With Hands to Hold | ✔

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Spiraea woke with an excited start on the morning of the ceremony. She felt cold without Vincent beside her, as she had tossed and turned the whole night but the realisation of what the day would bring was enough to shake her out of her groggy mood.

The night before, Vincent had gone back home to their cabin along with Sean, Ellis and Max. Spiraea missed the cabin, it had been nearly three weeks since she had been home. It made her giddy to think the next time she was there, she and Vincent would be married in the eyes of the pack.

Emilia had explained that it was part of the tradition of the ceremony that the couple spent the night apart, it was only due to special circumstances that Vincent and Spiraea had been living together before being joined in the eyes of the pack first. So, Spiraea stayed with Emilia and Larissa.

It still very early, just after six in the morning, but the girl could still hear the audible hustle and bustle of people downstairs. She pulled on a pair of warm slippers with the intention of investigating, they padded quietly against the wooden floorboards as she walked downstairs and into the kitchen where the sound originated.

Emilia was in the kitchen, preparing a huge breakfast, whilst Larissa sat babbling with her breakfast all over her face. Then there was Marianne, who sat nursing a mug of coffee- that is until she saw Spiraea. Once the two saw each other, Marianne let out a squeal of excitement before running over to her friend to engulf her in a massive hug.

"Oh God! You're getting married!" Marianne squealed, she pulled away her eyes misting with tears as she looked over the woman before her. Things had changed so much, Spiraea had changed so much. "I'm so happy for you."

"I'm happy too," Spiraea whispered sincerely. "I almost can't believe it."

"Believe it girl!" Marianne hugged her once more.

"Alright you two, today is going to be a busy day. Breakfast is a must!" Emilia broke up the display with a warm smile to them both. She put down two plates at the table for the two girls complete with scrambled eggs, sausages, toast and some sautéed mushrooms.

"Mama D'Leau will be here later to help with your dress, I'll pick up your bouquet and Marianne will do your hair..." Emilia read off the list she had made earlier.

"Thank you," Spiraea nodded with a smile. She had expected the day to be full of chaos, but so far it had been utterly calm. All she could think about was Vincent, she wondered if he was awake, and what he was doing. She wondered if he was thinking of her, if he was just as excited for the ceremony as she was.

She could hardly wait for the rest of the day, she was so ready to be his, for him to be hers, in every way possible. It was long overdue.

***

The house was chaos. Vincent had woken to Max's fussing some time around six, he had picked him up and tried rocking him to calm him down but it didn't help. Sean and Ellis had also woken once the fussing turned to full blown wailing. The pup had a set of powerful lungs on him for sure.

After rummaging around the kitchen, the three men realised that all the baby bottles were at Emilia's or the pack nursery. Max hadn't even been back to that cabin since before Vincent had taken his trip; they were unprepared. Sean decided to go to the nursery to get some supplies from Kate, whilst Ellis and Vincent stayed with Vincent.

Ellis was able to calm Max, and had carefully fed him water and a mashed banana. With Max content in his uncles arms, that left Vincent to prepare breakfast- which simply put was a complete disaster. He suddenly wished he had Spiraea with him, she would have a heart attack if she saw her precious kitchen in its current state.