Chapter Text
St. Lawrence church was beautifully decorated for a wedding, which was nearly ready to start. The guests were all seated and the bridal party was ready to walk down the aisle. All that remained was rounding up the two youngest members of bridal party, something the groom and the father of the bride were trying to do.
"There you are," the groom, Kanan Jarrus, said as he scooped up the flower girl, his seven-year-old adopted daughter Sabine. "Where's your brother?" he asked referring to his bride's seven-year-old son.
"There," the little girl said pointing to the room that the bride was waiting in.
"I'll get him," said the bride's father.
While Kanan took Sabine back to her place in the bridal procession and then made his way to the front of the church, the father of the bride made his way to the room where his daughter was waiting and where his grandson was supposedly hiding. He knew that his grandson and new granddaughter weren't hiding to stall the wedding, both were excited about getting a new parent and sibling; they were just having fun. His daughter Hera looked up as he came in and he smiled at her.
"You look so beautiful," he said.
"You said that nine years ago," she said.
"And it's just as true now as it was then."
"Is everyone ready?"
"Yes. I just came to get a certain little rascal."
His grandson peeked out from behind his mother.
"I want to play," the seven-year-old said.
"Ezra," Hera said, kneeling down so she was eye level with her son, "you can play after the ceremony...with your new sister."
"You promise?"
"I promise. But you know what that means; the sooner the ceremony starts, the sooner it will be over and then you and your sister can play."
♡♡♡
The ceremony proceeded as scheduled. The groom, ringbearer, and groomsmen were all wearing white summer suits with yellow ties and yellow roses on the lip of their jackets. The bridesmaids were all wearing yellow, A-line, strapless dresses while the maid of honor's dress had a shoulder strap on the left side and all of them carried bouquets of yellow roses. As for the bride, she was wearing a beautiful strapless A-line gown in pearl white with her long, brown hair pinned up. Next to her was the flower girl wearing a child version of her gown.
Of course, for a pair of seven-year-olds (or, to be more exact, six-in-a-half-year-olds), the ceremony was much too long. They wanted it to be over so they could play. However, they both understood what this wedding meant. Once the ceremony was over, they would both have a complete family not one parent and one grandparent.
Kanan had adopted Sabine over six years ago when she was seven months old. The daughter of two of his colleagues at the college, she had lost both of her parents in a tragic car accident and Kanan had taken her in. Not long after that, his mother Depa moved in to help him raise Sabine, knowing full well how difficult it is to raise a child alone. She had raised Kanan by herself after his father was killed during Desert Storm when Kanan was just four-months-old.
Ezra, exactly two months younger than Sabine, had never known his father. He had been a police officer and was killed in the line of duty. It had been several weeks after the funeral that Hera learned that her first husband had given her one last, precious gift: their son. When her husband died, she had moved back in with her parents and, two years ago, after her mother died from cancer, she had moved from New York to Michigan with Ezra and her father Cham.
Hera and Kanan had met on a blind date when a pair of mutual friends (who happened to be married to each other) had invited both of them to a concert at the Fisher Theater. Both Kit and Aayla had said that Kanan and Hera need a night out and that they had two extra tickets to see Gordon Lightfoot. Hera and Kanan had been surprised to learn that they not only lived within a half mile of each other but also attended the same church and sent Ezra and Sabine to the same school. After only a few weeks of dating, they knew that they were meant to be together.
♡♡♡
When the ceremony was over, the guests and bridal party made their way to the reception at Shelby Gardens just off of Van Dyke Avenue. The beautiful banquet hall had several rooms available and they had been given the largest to accommodate their party. Decorated in white and yellow, it fit the summer wedding theme perfectly, even if it was only May 26th.
There was an open bar and dinner was served buffa style allowing guests to decide how much or how little they wanted. Dinner consisted of a choice between roast beef or roasted chicken as the main course with green beans with garlic, bowtie pasta, parmesan roasted redskin potatoes, and a tossed green salad with a choice of house Italian or ranch dressing.
After everyone had the chance to have one helping of dinner (the food would be left out and restocked for a good part of the night so gusts could go back for more if they wanted), the DJ started his set. The first song was, of course, the first song that Kanan and Hera would dance to as husband and wife and the couple had chosen Lost in This Moment by Big and Rich. After that was Hera's dance with her father to I Loved Her First by Heartland followed by Kanan's dance with his mother to I'll Sand by You by The Pretenders.
"Alright, everyone," the DJ said. "Before we open that dance floor to everyone, we have one more special dance as requested by the bride and groom; a brother/sister dance for their children."
Ezra and Sabine stood in the center of the dance floor, holding hands the way they'd seen their parents do earlier. When the song started, it was We Are One from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. After Sabine and Ezra had their dance, the dance floor was open to everyone. The guests divided the reception between talking, dancing, drinking, and having a second (or, for some, a third) helping of dinner, the assorted house desserts that were being served, and, later, the wedding cake, which was a four-tier red velvet cake.
It was closing in on one-in-the-morning, when everyone finally called it a night. Sabine and Ezra had both fallen asleep behind the head table and woke up slightly when their grandparents took them home. Kanan and Hera were staying at a nearby hotel since they were leaving for their honeymoon early the next morning.
♡♡♡
A week after the wedding, Sabine and Ezra were looking out the front window of the house waiting for their parents to return. While Kanan and Hera were away, Cham and Ezra had helped Depa and Sabine move their things (and Kanan's) into the colonial where Hera, Cham, and Ezra lived.
"Guys," Depa said to her granddaughter and new grandson, "waiting like that won't bring your parents back any sooner. Their plane hasn't even landed yet. Why don't we take Chopper for a walk at Riverland Park? I'm sure by the time we get back your parents will be home."
Chopper was the dog Hera had gotten for Ezra not long before she and Kanan met. A seven-year-old boarder collie/duck trolling retriever mix, Chopper loved to go for walks; especially at Riverland Park. The Clinton River flowed through it so there were always geese and ducks there (except in the winter, of course). The park was also home to other wild animals, including deer and raccoons, so there were a lot of interesting smells for a dog.
While Riverland Park was within walking distance, Depa opted to drive there. Not only did she not want Chopper or her grandchildren to be too exhausted on the walk home but to get to Riverland Park involved crossing both Clinton River Road and Riverland Drive; not something she wanted to do by herself with a dog and two young children.
It was a nice summer day, not too hot or too cold, so there were lots of other kids at the park. In the hope of not only taking their minds off of waiting for their parents but also exerting some of their boundless energy, Depa let Sabine and Ezra play at the second play structure in the park, just across the path from the bridge that lead over the Clinton River to the Nature Center. Ezra and Sabine had wanted to go to the Nature Center but Depa told them that they couldn't because of Chopper.
At 2:30, Depa took Chopper and the kids back home. As they pulled in front the house, a gray Saturn Ion was in the driveway.
"Hey, guys, look who's home," Depa said as they entered the house.
"Mom," Ezra said excitedly.
"Daddy," Sabine said with equal enthusiasm.
Both children ran to their parents who hugged them close.
"We missed you," Ezra said.
"We missed you, too, baby," Hera said. "But we brought you both something."
"What?" Sabine asked.
"Souvenirs," Kanan said.
Going to his carry-on, Kanan took out two bag and gave one to Ezra and the other to Sabine. Inside Ezra's bag (which was blue) was a carving of a sea turtle painted with Polynesian designs. Inside Sabine's (which was purple) was a doll dressed as a hula dancer. While both children thanked them for their gifts, Hera took a box out of her carry-on. Opening it, she took out a glass statue of four dolphins, two adults and two calves.
"This is for the family," she said placing it in the curio cabinet.
At the base of the statue was carved a single word: 'Ohana (Family).