Sunbeam

23) The Wedding

Kezia has never felt more uncomfortable, she was watching John's ceremony, for some reason Grace had been invited and was standing beside her, and then not even a minute later Polly had arrived with Ada and Bea. She was now stood in between Grace and Beatrice and she felt very tense. Her discomfort was distracting her from the fact that Ada was there, at a family event.

Johnny Dog was completing the mixing of the families blood, slicing into both John and his new wife's hands.

"You were so insistent on asking about your sister yet you still haven't even looked at her," Bea whispers, and instinctively Kez turns her head and looks down at her, her eyes then flicking to Ada who was beside Bea, staring forward at the ceremony.

"She's focused on the wedding, it's not like she's looked at me either," Kezia responds quietly.

"You're a fool if you think you weren't the first person she looked for when she arrived," Beatrice says in a hushed tone.

Kezia doesn't respond, turning her attention back to John and Esmé who were sharing their first kiss as a married couple whilst the audience erupts in hoots and applauses, Kez joining in by slowly clapping her hands.

Once the noise quietens down and the crowd disperses a little to start drinking and partying, Ada steps out of line, coming to stand in front of her older sister, "hey, Kez," she smiles.

Kezia stares down at her for a moment, before opening her arms up to embrace her little sister, "you haven't been eating properly. You're pregnant, for fucks sake."

"It's lovely to see you too," Ada remarks, sinking into her sisters embrace, "you were right, it's not all candy and rainbows."

"You said candy and rainbows?" Bea laughs, quieting down when both sisters look at her, "right, private conversation, not the time, I'll go fetch some drinks."

"What's happened, Ada?" Kez asks.

"We're broke, Fred's annoyed, always calls me a fucking Shelby even though I'm a Thorne now," Ada scoffs.

"Is that why you haven't been eating? You don't have money?" Kezia queries, "fucking hell, Ada, you should have come to me, you're carrying a child, you need to take better care of yourself, and Freddie needs to get his head out of his arse and take better care of you aswell."

"Can we not talk about Freddie? I know your views, and I don't want to think about him today," Ada pleads, "I'm with you, I'm with Bea and Pol, I just want to enjoy myself."

"Okay," Kez agrees, placing a kiss on her sisters temple, "I don't bring it up today. But you best believe we're talking about this tomorrow, even if I have to visit Freddie's shoebox of an apartment."

"What did we just agree, Kez?" Ada sighs.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Kezia says.

"How've you been? Pol says you've been acting weird," Ada states.

"Pol won't understand," Kez replies, "no one will, and I can't tell you."

"I'm your sister," Ada responds, "if nobody understands you, Kez, you know I will do my hardest too. Lay it on me, what are you dealing with?"

"There's a woman, Ada," Kez admits.

"That's great," Ada smiles.

"No, no it's not. She's scared. She's scared to be with me, scared to admit she loves me," Kezia says, "scared of what could happen to her, I've told her there's nothing I wouldn't do to keep her safe, but it's no use."

"Are you in love with her? Is it the woman that left the tie?" Ada questions.

"No, it's not that woman, I fucked up with that," Kezia says, "when she told me she couldn't love me, I got very very drunk and made a mistake by sleeping with the woman who left the tie, which by the way was Grace."