Chapter Text
“Good evening everyone… My name is Bette Porter. I am the older sister of the groom, David Porter. And as of a couple hours ago, also Tina Kennard-Porter’s sister.” Bette focuses and draws in a heavy breath, then exhaling when it seems that she has been winded by what she had just said.
“They say love is when you find the person that you have been dreaming of your whole waking life. Others say it’s finding that right person in a bar who is fighting the same battles as you, and deciding to make it work despite it all. And in the eyes of my brother, I have seen that those two things are true. Tina is the love of his life. Period. I have never seen him more smitten than with any of the girls he has ever dated and if we’re being truly honest here - I’ve never seen him more together. Ever. Would he be able to afford paying for a luxurious wedding like this if Tina wasn’t the woman he’s marrying? I don’t think so.” Laughters erupt and Bette glances at his brother, giggling while holding his now-wife’s hand so tightly. Tina, the beautiful blonde, on the other hand, is doing her best to laugh as well. Covering her mouth as she chuckles but also doing her best to avert her eyes from the figure of the beautiful brunette who is giving out her speech for her husband and herself. Her husband. David is, on paper, everything a woman could ever dream of. So when he proposed on one fine autumn day, Tina couldn’t say no. It’s not that he doesn’t love him, she actually does, very much. But not in the way that her stomach churns when he’s standing a few inches from her, exchanging breaths and sending her synapses on fire. Not the way her brain feels like her body is inebriated every time she smells his scent. And certainly not the way he makes her feel so warm that the passion drives her crazy at night that her imagination just runs wild when she’s alone in her apartment, thinking of all the could-have-beens and what-ifs. She doesn’t love him that way, because she loves someone else in all those ways.
Bette’s voice continues to echo throughout the reception hall, her stories eliciting laughter that scale from faint to boisterous. At some parts, a few were sobbing where she shares David’s childhood and how he has always promised their mom Kit that he will find the right woman for him and make her the happiest ever, but only next to their mom obviously.
“And lastly… To Tina. My new sister. I am very thankful for you for coming into my life, into our lives. I already know David will make you the happiest woman in the world, so I’m not going to wish for that anymore. Instead, I’m going to wish that you shine your light onto everyone that ever crosses your path, the same way you cast a light unto my life in my darkest days. Thank you, sis, and may your love be eternal for one another. Please spare each other pain, and put forgiveness and acceptance at the center of your lives together. Cheers!” Her voice almost shakes but she reins it all in, up until the last sentence. Sometimes, love is knowing when to let go.
Bette raises her flute of champagne as she ends her speech, downing almost the whole content of the glass, and faces her brother and sister-in-law to hug them both. Tina’s hands caress the back of Bette’s bronze skin and the brunette does her best not to flinch, feeling the familiar energy that the blonde has always uncovered from her, making her feel things she never thought she had the capacity to.
“I love you, too.” The bride of the night lightly whispers into the brunette before they pull away, hazel eyes looking into deep browns talking unspeakable truths that no person other than the two of them would be able to understand. They have their own language, their own signals that deem undecryptable to other souls that are not part of the one that they are sharing. Two half souls that are meant to be together as one, in whatever capacity, that’s what Bette Porter and Tina Kennard are.