Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Fifty: The Lopes Wedding

6th of May 2006 - St Cyriac's Church, Lacock, Wiltshire

"You know what they say about a woman in red at a wedding," whispered a voice approaching Adeline from behind, their head ducking down to whisper in her ear as a smile formed on her face as she turned to face Simon. 

She truly hadn't expected to see him here especially as from what she had heard when she had arrived home last week, Harry and Chelsy were very much back together again. 

"No," Adeline replied with a shake of her head, she couldn't think of any negative connotations to the colour that she was wearing to Laura's wedding; she had even sent her step-sister a picture of the dress and she had more than approved of it. 

Laura had even gone as far as to lead Adeline the diamond earrings that she was wearing saying that they tied the outfit together. 

"They've slept with the groom," Simon told her scandalously, an amused look on his face as he tried to sound firm but failed miserably in doing so; he had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing at the horror on her face. 

Adeline huffed at his amusement, rolling her eyes and she gave his arm a bit of a tap with her clutch unable to believe that he would bring something like that up. 

"Bride or groom?" Adeline asked as the crowd slowly made it's way into the church, her eyes sweeping over the other guests and she didn't see anyone else that she recognised yet. 

Harry was supposed to be here already, he had left Highgrove before she had and yet there had been no sign of him since she had arrived and she hadn't even caught a glimpse of Chelsy which meant they were running late. 

"Groom, I am here to represent the family, who are old family friends," Simon replied unsure why his parents hadn't been able to attend, although he suspected that his father was using this as an excuse to nudge him towards finding a women of the right breeding to consider starting a family with. 

Simon saw no reason to rush these things and his mother encouraged him to take his time, she would not have him rushed as she was to take a trip down the aisle anytime soon. 

The Countess of Munster had been only seventeen when she had married the Earl, her parents pushing her into the match with a man ten years her senior and she'd never quite forgiven them for that.

Anne FitzClarence was a woman who loved her four children more than anything else, so much so that she refused to allow her husband to force them into unhappy marriages that would only end in upset. 

Simon couldn't help but smile at the thought of his mother, it was her that he and his three siblings favoured in looks rather than their father; a great source of upset for his father who had hoped for strapping boys that looked like him. 

"I hear that you completed your officer training with Harry," Adeline said recalling that Simon had followed her brother into the military rather than attend university. 

Harry having finished his training in April before he continued on his path with hopes of being deployed, he had spoke rather eagerly during dinner about his hopes about being allowed to serve. 

"I did, we've both been assigned to the Blues and Royals," Simon replied with a nod of his head, although he wouldn't say it aloud that he was convinced that his assignment had something to do with his best friend. 

Harry had on more than one drunken occasion rambled about how he wasn't sure that he'd cope without Simon as his best friend; the man being the only person in his life that understood him. 

"Congrats," Adeline said smiling, a knot forming in her stomach at the thought of him deploying to an active warzone; it felt different to the dread that she felt when she thought about Harry doing so.