Families

"Hey." He called out as he entered the apartment carrying a bag of groceries.

"Hey." Came her muffled reply from the couch facing away from the front door.

"So, I thought we'd have..." he trailed off as he rounded the kitchen counter. From this angle he could see she was wiping away tears. He immediately put the groceries on the counter and rushed over to the couch and took a seat beside her.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." She answered as she hugged him back.

"It's obviously not nothing." He pulled back and wiped her last tear with the pad of his thumb.

"It's silly."

"Lizzie." He spoke firmly keeping his hand on the side of her face so she would look at him.

"Ok, I was looking through one of the wedding magazines Sarah dropped by and it said to start with a guest list, I tried to write one and it really hit me that not a single member of my family is going to be at my wedding, that got me to thinking and then I remembered I had this." She indicated the small book in her lap. Jamie looked down to see it was a photo album, he gently lifted it to look at the picture it was open to. He saw it was a photo of her family, her mother, father, both brothers, both grandmothers and one of her grandfathers. Standing front and centre in the photo was twelve year old Lizzie.

"You were a cute kid." He said smiling as he studied the photo.

"Thanks, I just got a little emotional, that's all." She explained as he handed it back. She closed it and set it on the coffee table.

"Of course you did, they're your family, it's ok to miss them." Jamie sat back on the couch and pulled her close.

"I don't know how to do this." She sighed cuddling into him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Do what?" He asked confused.

"Plan a wedding when I can't have anything I used to dream about when I was a little kid."

"What did you used to dream about?"

"I always imagined my dad would walk me down the aisle, mum would be getting all emotional in the front row and I'd be wearing my grandmothers sapphire necklace as my something borrowed and my something blue." She pulled away from him just long enough to reach forward and grab the pad of paper next to the album on the coffee table and handed it to him.

"I know they can't be there, I accept that but look at what that leaves me." She pointed to the list she had written. Jamie saw it was titled "guest list" and contained three names and next to two of them were the words "plus one". He knew that she had consciously kept her circle of friends small. She had explained to him that she couldn't be good friends with someone and lie to them about her past but didn't want too many people to know. So she had ended up having a very small, very tight knit group of friends. Seeing it written down really brought home how small Lizzie's world really was.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, gently tossed the pad on the table and placed a kiss on her temple.

"It's ok, the names on that list are the best friends a girl could have and I'm marrying you, so I'm actually pretty lucky." He smiled at her optimism.

"So what are we going to do?" He asked.

"I don't know." She admitted.

"It's your wedding day you can have whatever you want, so what do you want?" He asked smiling.

"Just you." She smiled back quoting his words from the day he asked her out.

"Ok, we'll do that then."

"Do what?" She asked thrown by his response.

"We'll decide which island we're going to honeymoon on, find someone there who can marry us, and we'll get married on the beach, just you and me." He explained smiling.

"You're suggesting we elope?" She was stunned by what he had just said.

"Yeah, it makes sense, your family can't come, my family, when we tell them, won't approve and that's how our whole relationship has been, just the two of us." He finished getting more keen on the idea the more he thought about it.

"You can't really want that, it's your wedding day, Jamie they're your family." She couldn't believe he could actually want that.

"I know and I love them, but you taught me that you can't live your life for anyone but yourself, you have to do what's right for you, the things that make you happy and getting married on a tropical beach somewhere, just the two of us will make me very very happy." He explained smiling.

"You're sure?" A smile beginning to form as she searched his eyes for uncertainty.

"I'm sure." He smiled staring right back at her. She looked at him for a little longer needing to be sure.

"Ok, let's do it." She grinned finally allowing herself to get excited. He grinned back and she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

"Thank you." She whispered in his ear.

When he heard it he realised that she had really been struggling with the wedding and had probably had the same idea but hadn't though she could suggest it. Before he could talk to her about it they heard a knock at the door and pulled apart.

"That'll be Nicky." Jamie stated.

"Nicky?"

"She was hoping you'd take a look at one of her essays."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you have a degree in English."

"She knows her uncle went to Harvard right?" She grinned.

"You going to let her in?" He said looking towards the door.

"Oh right." She jumped up from the couch and crossed the room to the door, as she did Jamie headed to the kitchen to put away the groceries he had forgotten about.

"Hey." Nicky greeted as Lizzie opened the door.

"Hey Nicky, come on in." Lizzie smiled and stepped aside.

"Hey Uncle Jamie." She said as he spotted him in the kitchen.

"Hey Nicky."

"I hope it's ok I came over, Uncle Jamie said you wouldn't mind looking over my essay."

"Oh, so this was your idea." She stared at Jamie.

"I thought you might want to cultivate a relationship with the one member of my family that actually likes you." He smiled and she gave him a look.

"I don't mind at all Nicky, come on let's take a look." She led Nicky to the couch.

"Great, thanks." Nicky replied opening her bag.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it, I'm going to grab a shower, hey Nicky do you want to stay for dinner?" He asked as he crossed the apartment on his way to the bathroom.

"Sure, that'd be great, thanks." She smiled as she opened her laptop.

Jamie came out of the bathroom twenty five minutes later to find Lizzie and Nicky laughing on the couch. He smiled, happy the pair were getting along, and made his way to the kitchen. He entered the kitchen and started getting out ingredients for dinner, when Lizzie noticed she went over to him to help. Nicky followed and was about to join them when Lizzie stopped her.

"Guest's don't have to help, go, sit, relax." She added gesturing to the stools on the opposite side of the island.

"So what are we having?" Nicky asked taking a seat.

"Spaghetti Bolognese." Jamie answered as he handed Lizzie the packet of pasta. As she took it he saw she was wearing her engagement ring, his eyes widened.

"Lizzie." He indicated her hand with his eyes.

"Oh, I told her her." She replied when she saw what he was looking at.

"You told her?"

"She actually likes me, remember?" She joked.

"Right." He laughed.

"Nicky's happy for us, she even thinks eloping is romantic."

"You do?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, the two of on a beach somewhere, saying your vows at sunset, so romantic."

"Sunset?" Jamie inquired about the added detail.

"We're getting married at sunset." Lizzie informed him.

"It's more romantic at sunset." Nicky explained.

"Yeah, duh." Lizzie teased and the women laughed.

"So have you guys set a date?" Nicky asked excitedly as she went and grabbed the stack of wedding magazines from the dinning table, then went back and took her seat at the island.

"No not yet, we were planning on waiting till summer but that was when we were going to get married here in New York." Lizzie explained.

"I guess you can get married whenever you want now, all you have do is book a flight." Nicky commented as she flicked through the the first magazine.

"She has a point." Said Jamie as he tested a strand of pasta.

"There's no rush." She commented.

"What are we waiting for?" He asked as he lifted the pot off the element.

"I love your enthusiasm but we've only told one member of your family we're engaged." Lizzie pointed out as she laid out three plates on the counter.

"They're not invited, technically they don't need to know." Nicky cheekily pointed out as Jamie strained the pasta.

"Look, it's one thing to elope but to do it behind your family's back that's a whole other thing." She looked to Jamie for agreement. He didn't reply as he started dishing out the pasta.

"Jamie?" She asked noticing his hesitation.

"I don't know, Nicky has a point." He admitted as he watched her spoon sauce on top the pasta on each plate.

"You're actually considering it?" She asked as she placed the now empty pot in the sink.

"Sometimes it's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission, I'm just thinking that telling them we went away and got married might actually go down better than telling them we're getting married but they're not invited." He explained sprinkling some Parmesan on each plate.

"You really think so?" She asked him as the three of them took their plates to the table and sat.

"Yeah, maybe, what do you think Nicky?" He asked as he poured them all a glass of wine.

"You're probably right, either way, it's going to make for another fun family dinner." She grinned.

"Well as long as you're entertained." Lizzie grinned.

"Seriously though, I'm really happy for you guys." She told them.

"Thanks. You know, we do legally need two witnesses, would you like to be one of them Nicky?" Jamie asked.

"Oh my gosh I'd love too! Are you sure?" She turned to Lizzie.

"Of course, we'd love to have you there." Lizzie smiled.

"But that might make things even worse." Nicky felt compelled to point out. Lizzie and Jamie shared a look, having both just had that same thought.

"It's up to you." Jamie looked to Lizzie.

"Hey, who needs the acceptance of their fiancée's family anyway."