Together

Don't Worry

Hmmm, what does that title mean, I wonder? This one might make you all a bit angsty, so read at your own risk. ;)
Please don't hate me for doing this. Love you all- enjoy, comment, and vote xx
-ab

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December 23, 2025

Patrick

"Well," I whisper to Harper as we stand in the lobby of the registry office with our family, "what now?"

"I don't know," she replies. "Do we go home? Or we could go out somewhere to celebrate?"

All that I know is that, right now, I just want her to be near me. I want her skin to be touching mine, just as it is right now, with our fingers intertwined, and her head resting on my shoulder. Her hair, which she straightened with her friends this morning, hangs down, so I start to mindlessly play with it, twirling it around my fingers.

"Can we take you kids out for lunch and tea?" Harper's dad asks.

"Cooper," her mom scolds, "don't call them 'kids.' They just got married, for god's sake."

"Audrey, this is our daughter that we are talking about. She's always going to be my little girl," he replies, causing everyone to chuckle, except for Harper, who blushes a bright red.

"Dad..."

"Oh, whatever," Cooper rolls his eyes. "I believe that lunch and tea was in question... everyone's invited."

Harper and I exchange glances, before I nod. "Sounds like fun."

"We will come, too," Taylor offers, linking her arm through Joe's.

"Elizabeth? Richard?" Audrey asks.

"Why not," Richard remarks.

At that, all of us leave the registry office and walk down the street to this little restaurant which Cooper and Audrey have apparently been to before, and insist that we all simply must try.

"They really just don't fancy taking the tube," Harper whispers to me as we are walking, with a laugh. "This was probably the first place that came up on a Google search."

I smile and chuckle a bit.

Once we make it to the restaurant, we are seated. It really is all very nice. The food is quite good, too.

After we all sit around for a few hours, Audrey checks the time on her phone. "Cooper," she whispers, "we need to be going to your appointment."

"What?" Harper asks, looking up at them.

"It's nothing, love. Just a little meeting, that's all. We figured that since we were going to be in London, and we wanted to give you two some alone time on your wedding day, anyway, that this would be an alright time to schedule it," Audrey assures her daughter.

I believe the story, but Harper doesn't seem to. "Mom..."

"Sweetie, it's nothing for you to be concerned with," Cooper promises.

"Then why won't you tell me what it is?"

I realize that she does have a point.

"Mom... Dad... tell me what's going on."

"We have to go," Audrey announces, standing up. Our bills have already been taken care of by the couple.

"Mom. Tell me where you're going," Harper demands.

I give her hand a little squeeze. "Let it go, love."

"No," she says.

"Fine," Audrey sighs. "Can we swing by your flat this evening? I guess that we were going to have to tell her eventually, Cooper."

"Tell me... what?" I can tell that fear is swallowing my wife whole.

"Just, don't worry about it, alright?" Audrey says. "We will talk later."

After that, Audrey and Cooper hurry out of the restaurant, off to wherever it is they're headed.

We all sit there, staring at each other.

"I swear to god," Harper mutters to herself, "that woman is going to drive me out of my mind."

"Hey, don't worry, love. Whatever it is, I'm here with you. Just like we said in the vows, alright? I meant every word of it."

"Thanks," she gives me a small smile. We stick around with my side of the family for a bit longer, but I can't pretend to notice Harper's decrease in peppiness after her parents leave. I don't blame her. Whatever it is that she's going to find out tonight, her parents clearly didn't want to tell her today.

They didn't want to ruin our wedding day.

"Well," I state, as the conversation starts to die down, "I think that it's about time for Harper and I to head back home and start relishing in the married life."

I stand up, and she follows suit. We give hugs to Taylor and Joe, then each of my parents, then we leave the restaurant and take the tube home.

For the entire train ride, Harper is silent. This isn't how it's supposed to be. She's not supposed to be worrying like this, especially on her wedding day.

"What do you think it is?" Harper blurts, once we are in the safety of our own flat. I see tears forming in her eyes for the second time today, but this time, it's not for a good reason.

"I'm not sure," I admit. I want so desperately to be able to tell her that everything is going to be alright. I can't do that, though.

What I can do is hold her while she cries, so we do just that. I sit her down on the couch, go to grab her a glass of water, then pull her into my lap and position her so that her head is resting on my chest.

This isn't how it's supposed to be.

It's our wedding day, for god's sake. It's supposed to be the happiest day of our lives. Instead, we are here, curled up on the couch while my wife cries in my arms.

"Harper... can I take your mind off of this somehow? With a movie or something? Glee?"

"I don't know," she sobs.

"Can we try?"

"I guess," she sighs.

A few hours later, we have moved on from Glee and are halfway through The Sound of Music, eating a frozen pizza, when we hear a knock on the door.

"Well," I tell her, pressing pause on the telly, "you'd better get that, don't you think?"

"I guess," she nods, looking pale as she drags herself off of the couch to answer the door.

Sure enough, her parents are standing on the other side.

"Hi Harper!" Audrey exclaims, with a smile on her face. "How's married life going for my little girl?"

"Fine," she mutters. "Come on in."

Her parents are still trying to be smiley as I watch my wife offer them a drink, but the tension in the air is anything but happy.

What I can't let Harper see is that I'm just as terrified as she is for what's set to happen next.