Bonded and Bred Ch. 21-23

Then there came two girls, who were distant cousins of James, and who were sitting on the edge of her bed, and chatting together, and there was his step sister, Leila as well, a shy and timid girl, who Laurie took under her wing, along with Toby her little son.

These four young women were to be her bridesmaids, and Toby would be the ring bearer.

"Right then all of you," Trudy suddenly clapped her hands a couple of times to attract everyone's attention. "Claire and Cassie, your mums are going to be doing hair and makeup shortly, and I think that they want to get the bridesmaids done and sorted so that they can dedicate their time to the bride."

The cousins both laughed together, but slid of the bed obligingly. "Mum runs a beauty salon and Aunt Harriet rents a chair from her," Cassie explained for anyone who might be in ignorance. "They often sell their services for special occasions like this, but mum does like to rule the roost given half a chance!"

Paula and Harriet were two delightful older ladies and very talented in their chosen profession as it turned out.

The four bridesmaids were styled and made up within a couple of hours leaving a full hour to dedicate themselves to Iris, who squirmed and fidgeted her way through hair, makeup and nails, but went in looking ordinary – if that was ever a description that could be aimed at her, and came out looking stunning and romantic and ever so slightly mysterious.

Iris's bedroom erupted with, "Oooh's," and "ahhh's," when the bridesmaids first saw her so nicely made up.

"Oh, Iris I love your hair swept up like that!" someone said enviously. "It's such a gorgeous colour – your hair is!"

They gathered around so that they could get a better look at its intricate curls and swirls, and Iris thought that she would fall down with dizziness at any second as they continued to coo and twirl around her.

"But now for the dress!" Aunt Trudy suddenly declared with an air of smug satisfaction.

She shooed everyone but Laurie out of the room, and Iris heaved a sigh of relief, as peace once more descended around her, and she sank down weakly onto her bed.

Laurie gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze. "It will soon be over and then you will have enough memories to last a lifetime," she promised softly.

Iris smiled up at her. "That is certainly the hope," she said, "although I thought that I would feel more nervous than I do?"

"What's to feel nervous about?" Trudy asked as she took the plastic cover sheet off the dress. "You love him, he loves you, you are worthy of one another, and it is the right thing for both of you," she crooked her finger to her niece as she carefully unzipped the dress. "This today is – like Laurie said, the thing for happy memories, but tomorrow will be all about the two of you and that's what's really important!"

Iris nodded in agreement as she carefully stepped into the dress, and Laurie stepped up to help gather it up onto her shoulders.

Between the three of them they managed to get her into the garment and get it fastened and hooked up tight, and then the crown and veil were the finishing touch – or almost the finishing touch.

"Oh here," Trudy suddenly said, "You need the something old and new and borrowed and blue." She opened up a box, which held a string of pearls.

"These belonged to my great grandmother," she said gently as she held them up.

"The pearl earrings, I purchased yesterday, to make them as new as I could get them." she fastened the clasp at the back of Iris's neck as Iris hooked in the delicate pearl drops.

"There you go, Iris, my eighteenth birthday present from daddy, for the borrowed," Laurie said as she placed a gold bracelet on her sister's wrist and fastened the clasp.

"Thank you – both," Iris said feeling close to tears. "But what about the something blue?"

Aunt Trudy chuckled. "It's a gift from your husband to be, he insisted that it was a tradition that we should absolutely keep to."

She held up a blue frilly garter for her to admire, and Iris felt the colour flood into her cheeks.

"He thought that I could not hear him, when he muttered something about taking great delight in getting it off you again at some point!"

Aunt Trudy looked positively wicked as the colour deepened in Iris's cheeks, and the glitter in her green eyes was something close to awesome.

She had that glitter again when she walked down the aisle with her father, and when James turned to look at her, and their eyes met and locked, it was a foregone conclusion to every changeling present, that this couple would bring security to their kind, that when the time was right they would issue the next generation of shape shifters, and they would be strong and beautiful, just like their ancestors.

As the newly married couple gazed into one another's eyes, everyone could see that they were indeed Bonded and Bred – and soul mates for life.

The end