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Ed had expected the morning of his wedding to have a bit more pomp and circumstance, but so far it felt rather…normal. Simple, quiet. It was slower than their usual Saturday mornings, as Ed was usually rushing out for his 8 a.m. class with the four and five year-olds, but he still kept forgetting that in just a few hours he and Stede would finally be married.
The venue wasn’t too far from their house and it seemed silly to stay at the hotel last night, so they didn’t. Ed considered making a huge, fancy breakfast this morning to celebrate, but they were staying at the hotel tonight, so he didn’t want to have a lot of cleanup.
Simple and quiet it was then, and maybe that was for the best.
The baked oatmeal for him, Stede and Alma was in the oven, and he’d pop Louis’ waffles in the toaster once that was out. Now he was cutting up fruit while Stede and Alma worked on the Wordle, which was apparently tricky today, and Louis sat at the table watching videos of airplanes landing. He actually couldn’t remember the last time they’d had such a slow Saturday morning together, so maybe this was all the pomp and circumstance they needed.
It had been a little over five years since he and Stede met, and while it had admittedly taken them a while to get past the courting stage, for reasons both inside and outside of their control, once they were together it just felt right. Like it was meant to be. The road to the wedding hadn’t been without the occasional bump of course, but the biggest hurdle had been tracking down Stede’s elusive ex-wife, Mary, for long enough to finalize the divorce.
Five years ago she got up to feed Louis in the middle of the night, telling Stede to go back to sleep as she crawled out of bed, and he hadn’t seen her since. All she took with her was her passport and a few hundred dollars, and the only explanation was a note hastily scribbled on the back of an envelope left on the kitchen counter next to a can of baby formula.
When he and Stede decided to get married they’d had a hell of a time tracking her down until Alma let slip that she’d found her YouTube channel, but after a few terse emails and several months of back and forth between lawyers they got the divorce finalized. The last headache was the custody of the kids, which they were unfortunately still going back and forth on. Ed wanted to adopt them more than anything, but Mary had been dragging her feet on signing the rest of the paperwork for some reason, despite not seeing or speaking to either of them since disappearing.
Thinking about it started to make Ed frustrated again, but he took a deep breath and looked back up at his family. Even if they didn’t have that piece of paper yet those were still his kids, and in a few short hours he’d be married to their dad.
Life was good, and today was going to be perfect.
Just as Alma declared victory on the Wordle, the doorbell rang.
Ed made eye contact with Stede, who was just as confused about who would be ringing their bell at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday, but he stood and went to answer with Alma and Louis hot on his heels. Ed looked down at the oven timer, which still had a lot of time left, and followed them as well.
“Thank you!” He heard Stede say before shutting the door. He looked up at Ed and shrugged. “Looks like someone paid for first delivery on a last minute gift!”
Stede was carrying a rather large box. It was maybe 2’x4’ and about 6 inches thick. It was covered hand-drawn rainbows and hearts and champagne glasses clinking and the words Just Married scrawled across the back.
He carried it towards the living room and set it down and as soon as Alma got a look at it she gasped. “It’s from mom!”
“What ?” Stede asked, finally looking at the return address.
Ed was behind him in a flash and sure enough, it was sent by none other than Mary Allamby. Stede stared at her name for a moment and then turned to look at him with an annoyed, exasperated expression which was reserved almost exclusively for her.
Stede didn’t hate her. Her childhood had been pretty awful and they’d both been guilted into a marriage that neither one wanted, so he understood why she'd taken off, but he’d never forgiven her for how much she’d hurt Alma. Louis had no memories of Mary and had nothing more than occasional, mild curiosity about the whole thing, but Alma still loved her. Alma still missed her. She often talked about baking cupcakes with her and helping paint Louis’ nursery together before she left, and she got sad seeing other mothers and daughters together in public.
“What is it? Open it!” Alma yelled, clawing at the box.
“Hold on, I’ve got it.” Stede said calmly, though Ed could tell he was on edge.
Ed took a seat next to him on the couch and pulled Louis into his lap. Stede ripped off the rainbow-colored duct tape and opened the box to reveal four, flat items wrapped in brown paper, each with one of their names on it.
Mary had never sent the kids so much as a birthday card, so this was quite strange.
Stede looked like he’d seen a ghost, but before he could properly react Alma grabbed hers and began tearing into it. She tossed the paper to the side, revealing a small painting of a ladybug. The canvas was stretched over a wooden frame–the sort of thing you could buy at most arts and crafts stores–and was no bigger than a standard sized piece of paper.
Alma was silent as she stared at the painting, running her fingers over the heavy brushstrokes.
“There’s an envelope on the back.” Louis noted as Ed took in the shape and size of the rest of the packages. It looked like they were all getting some new artwork.
Alma flipped the painting over and opened the small, green envelope and pulled out a card with watercolor flowers painted on the front. Stede took the painting from her while she read.
“What’s it say, Bug?” Stede asked, delicately, using the nickname she’d had since she was a baby.
Alma looked up at him with a mixture of sadness and confusion on her face, and Ed just wanted to wrap her up in the biggest hug. She still held onto the hope that one day her mom would come back, so he couldn’t imagine what was going on in her head after this sudden, out of the blue contact.
“If you want to share, of course. You don’t have to.” Stede added, always mindful of the kids’ privacy, but Ed could tell that he wanted nothing more than to rip it out of her hands.
Alma took a deep breath and looked back down at the card. “To my sweet Alma June,” She began. “I hope that you’re happy and thriving. Never let anyone dull your sparkle. I think about you whenever I see a ladybug. Love you always, Mom.”
Ladybugs had always been a thing for Alma. Her nursery had been ladybug themed, and she still loved anything with a ladybug on it. Ed thought about her whenever he saw one now too.
“Well, that’s…that’s very lovely, isn’t it?” Stede said, trying his best to sound positive and upbeat, though Ed knew that as soon as the two of them were alone he’d have a good rant.
“Yeah.” Alma said quietly as she flipped the card over to look for more, but that was it. She put the card back in the envelope and took the painting back from Stede. “What did you get, Lulu?”
Stede handed the wrapped gift with Louis’ name on it to him, which was the same shape and size as Alma’s, and after considering it for a moment he opened it with much less enthusiasm than his sister. His painting was of a bright blue tree frog, which made sense. Louis’ nursery had been jungle themed and Mary had painted a huge mural of greenery and animals on one wall. He hadn’t retained a love for his nursery theme like Alma had, and was more into planes and trains and boats and trucks these days, but how would Mary have known that?
Louis didn’t have much of a reaction to the painting, and quickly flipped it over to retrieve and open his card. He barely looked at it before wordlessly handing it to Ed to read, since they were still working on learning the alphabet.
Ed cleared his throat, quickly glanced at Stede, and then read it aloud. “To Louis, my sweet baby boy. I hope that your cute little giggles have turned into consistent, raucous laughter. Never be afraid to take a leap of faith. Love you always, Mom.”
“What does that mean?” Louis asked as he stared at his painting, running his fingers over the brushstrokes like Alma had.
“She wants you to be happy and brave.” Stede said as he took the card from Ed for a closer look.
“Okay.” Louis said, clearly ready to get back to his iPad.
“What’d you guys get?” Alma asked as she scooted closer.
Ed’s painting was a bit bigger than the kids’ ones, but nowhere near as big as Stede’s.
Stede, who loved a present even if it was from his estranged ex-wife, looked at Ed and raised an eyebrow. “Do you mind if I open mine next?”
Ed chuckled and squeezed Stede’s knee affectionately. “No, go ahead.”
Stede quickly ripped it open revealing a funky painting of a lighthouse. It was beautiful, but instead of a more traditional style of painting like the kids got, it was made up of a bunch of different, solid-color shapes.
“I think this was where we got married.” Stede said as he looked at, which, if true, Ed found a little odd to send on the morning of their wedding. What was the goal here? Was she going to turn up and object? Did people really do that?
Ed plucked the card from the back of the painting and traded with Stede, setting the large painting on the floor. Stede opened the card and furrowed his brow as he read, eventually shaking his head as he looked back up at everyone.
"Well ?” Alma asked, looking like she was two seconds from snatching it from him, desperate for every ounce of information she could glean about her mother.
“Stedey Pie,” He began, which made both kids laugh.
“Is that what she called you?” Alma asked as she inched even closer to him.
Stede sighed, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. “Yes.” He said, his response thick with a strained affection for her. He often said he thought they could have been good friends in another life. “I don’t think it was always a term of endearment, but yes. That’s what she called me. Stedey Pie,” He continued. “Congrats on getting hitched again! Hopefully it’s rooted in love this time around, you deserve that. Cheers, Mary. P.S., I told you you were gay.”
Ed, Alma and Louis all laughed at the post script, and Stede just shook his head as a bright pink flush spread across his cheeks.
“Yeah yeah, I know.” Stede lamented, his mood a bit lighter now. “The closet was made of glass. Come on Ed, what’d you get?”
Ed shuffled Louis over to Stede’s lap and then opened up his gift. It was a dark, moody painting of a ballet barre and mirror, which Ed loved. “Guess she did her research on me!” He laughed as he flipped it over, but instead of just a card there was a large manilla envelope taped to the back as well. He set the painting aside and held the card in one hand and the big envelope in the other. He shared a confused glance with Stede before opening the smaller envelope first.
“Ed, congrats on the wedding! I’m glad Stede was able to find someone who tolerates his snoring. Please take good care of my babies. Take them on adventures and encourage them to let their freak flags fly. We only have this one life to live. Cheers, Mary.”
Ed handed the card to Stede and opened up the envelope, already fairly certain of its contents. “Oh shit.” He said as he pulled out the small stack of documents.
“Five dollars!” Both kids yelled in unison.
“Add it to my IOU.” Ed said, almost under his breath, as his eyes darted around the page in front of him.
“What is it?” Alma asked.
Ed sniffled and blinked back some tears as he handed it to Stede, leaving this explanation up to him.
He looked it over as well, and then cleared his throat before turning to Alma. “It’s the custody paperwork we’ve been waiting for.” He said, trying to be truthful with the kids as usual. “Your mother has, well…she’s legally given up her rights to you two, which means that Ed can adopt you now.”
“Cool!” Louis said, jumping to his feet. “Can I go back to the kitchen?”
Stede nodded, and as Louis disappeared down the hall he held out the stack of documents to Alma, offering her the opportunity to look if she wanted to. She hesitated for a moment before taking it, but then quickly started flipping through. When she reached the end she looked up at Stede, and then at him, and then back down as tears began welling up in her eyes. Suddenly she sprang to her feet and tossed the paperwork aside before sprinting up the stairs towards her bedroom.
When the door slammed Stede stood up and shook his head. “I’m sorry. She loves you so much .”
“I know she does, and don’t apologize. This is a lot.”
“Let me go talk to her.” He said before taking a deep breath and heading to the stairs.
Ed wondered if he should follow him, but he wasn’t sure there was anything he could say to ease her pain at that moment. He was elated about the custody paperwork, but he knew how conflicted she must be. He just hoped that she didn’t spend the rest of the day sad, though he wouldn’t have blamed her if he did.
He made his way back to the kitchen and checked on breakfast before grabbing his coffee and taking a seat next to Louis.
“Is Alma okay?” Louis asked, not looking up from the video he was watching.
“Yeah Lou, she’ll be fine. She’s just a little sad.”
“She’s always sad about mom. Did you know she has a YouTube? It’s about her art and stuff. And her van. Alma watches it a lot.”
“I did know that, yes.” Ed said as he put his arm around him. He’d refrained from watching any of her videos at first, but one day when he’d been home alone he finally gave in.
Mary Allamby was funny and smart and passionate and talented, and he saw a lot of her in both kids, but especially Alma. He still didn’t understand how she’d been able to just leave them behind, especially since she clearly still loved them, but he imagined it had something to do with her own parents.
Ed had only had the misfortune of meeting the Allambys once. They’d turned up at the studio one day to try to talk to Alma in the midst of their own custody battle with Stede, but after Zheng threatened to put them through a window and Annie threatened to call her wife who had an affinity for knives, they left pretty quickly.
”Your mom's a really good artist.” Ed said before taking a big sip of coffee. “Do you like your frog painting? If you don’t want to hang it in your room we can put it somewhere else in the house, but I think it’d be nice to hang it up.”
“No, I like it. I want it in my room. It reminds me of my room at the old house.”
Ed smiled as he pictured Louis’ nursery in his head, and sitting in that antique rocking chair and cradling him in his arms and falling in love with him before he and Stede had been on a date. They’d moved to this house when Louis was barely three though, so he was surprised he remembered it. “Do you remember the mural on the wall over your bed? With all the plants and animals? Your mom painted that, and there were some tree frogs. We took a bunch of pictures of it before we moved.”
“Yeah. There was a tiger too, right?”
“Mmhmm. Right over your crib.”
Just then he heard footsteps approaching the kitchen and looked up to see Stede and a puffy-eyed Alma.
“Sorry.” She said, quietly.
“Please don’t be, I’m sure I’ll have cried at least a dozen times before the day is out. Do you want some breakfast?”
She nodded, and Ed got to his feet to finish everything up.
Alma was still a little down through breakfast and on the ride to the venue and while getting ready, and Ed’s heart just broke for her. The paintings were a lovely gesture from Mary, and he appreciated that she finally signed the rest of the paperwork as an apparent wedding gift, but the timing wasn’t the best.
She seemed to perk up once the ceremony began though, and she was smiling all through his vows, which were to both Stede and the kids, promising to love them and care for them for as long as he could. Spirits were high all around during pictures, and through dinner, and now it was time for the speeches.
As Stede’s best man, Lucius was up first, which Ed was dreading. He’d been Stede’s au pair when they first started dating, and he’d been more than aware of what was happening on those weekday mornings when he took Louis to the park while Alma was at school (Their only real alone time in the early days). While he was certain Lucius would say something very sweet and loving in the end, he was also certain that it’d be paired with a few embarrassing anecdotes.
Ed sat back and took a long sip of his drink, ready to jump under the table and hide if necessary.
“Hi everyone!” Lucius said cheerfully as he took the mic from Frenchie, who was DJing. “I’m Lucius and I’m Stede’s best man and and unpaid life coach! I’ve been working on the speech that’s folded up in my pocket for five very long years, and I can’t wait to share some never before told tales from my days as a manny, but first I have a little surprise for the newlyweds. Alma? Come on up.”
Ed and Stede looked at each other.
“Did you know about this?” Stede asked under his breath, and Ed shook his head no. He tangled his fingers together with Stede’s as Alma walked across the dance floor to Lucius, holding a piece of paper. She grabbed the microphone from him and spun around with a huge, cheesy grin on her face.
“Hi!” She started, speaking a bit too close to the microphone at first, which was met with a smattering of laughter from the room. Lucius pulled the mic away from her mouth and then told her to keep going. “Uncle Lucius helped me write this speech, he wanted me to tell you all that. Anyway I’m Alma, and my dads got married today!”
She looked over to them and smiled, and Ed could feel the tears welling up yet again.
“When we met for the first time we were all really sad.” She continued. “Except for Louis, who was just a baby, but he cried a lot like the rest of us so he fit right in.”
There was another round of laughter and Ed looked over to Lucius, who seemed pleased with himself for that joke.
Alma, who had the room wrapped around her finger, carried on. “We were all still sad for a while, but at least we could be sad together, and then eventually we started feeling happy again! Before meeting Ed my dad didn’t laugh a whole lot, but now he laughs all the time and we all have so much fun together, so I’m very excited that they’re finally making it official.
“I love that they try to make everything fun, even trips to the dentist. I love when they dance together and make dinner together. I love when they take turns showing Louis and me weird old music videos from the late nineteen hundreds on YouTube.”
More laughter erupted, this time coupled with some groans from those in the audience suddenly feeling rather ancient. As the laughter died down she looked up and scanned the room, eventually landing on Stede.
“Dad,” She started, smiling at him before looking back down to the paper. “I know that things haven’t always been easy the past few years, but you’re the best dad ever and Louis and I love you very much and we are both so happy to see you so happy.”
Ed squeezed Stede’s hand and then took a deep breath as she looked up at him. “Ed.” She began, before referring back to her notes. “I’m so glad that Miss Anne realized that you two were perfect for each other. You’re tied for the best dad ever, even though your swearing IOU debt is in the thousands.” She paused for a moment and looked straight up at him. “And I’m really happy that I get to be your daughter.”
All Ed wanted to do was sprint across the dancefloor and give her the biggest hug and tell her how much he loved her, but she wasn’t done yet, so he stayed put.
“When Uncle Lucius and I were talking about the speech he asked me what I thought you guys were the best at, as a couple, and I said talking to each other. You talk through everything and are very patient with each other, even when you disagree, which is good to see. I think if you keep talking to each other, you'll be together forever.”
She turned to Lucius who handed her what Ed hoped was a champagne flute full of ginger ale and she held it up. “So cheers to my dads! I hope you keep making each other happy for many years to come!”
Everyone cheered and toasted and after handing the mic back to Lucius she ran over to them and they all hugged, and even though she was almost too big for it, she sat in his lap for the rest of the speeches while Louis sat with Stede. The rest of them were all wonderful and funny and touching, especially the ones from Lucius and Annie, but for Ed, nothing could beat Alma’s.
When it was finally time to dance he and Stede stood up, leaving the kids in their chairs.
“Hey.” Ed said to Alma, before walking away. “I gotta go do this whole choreographed first dance thing, but as soon as we’re done I want a dance with you, all right?”
"Can I pick the song?" She asked, a bit deviously.
Ed, sure that he would regret this, nodded. "Yeah yeah, do your worst. Love you, Al.”
“Love you too, Ed. You can call me Bug if you want to, by the way.”
And suddenly Ed was trying not to cry again. Bug had always been Stede’s nickname for her, and he’d never wanted to overstep. “Do you want me to call you Bug?”
She shrugged. “If you want to.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. And tou can call me Papa if you want to. You don’t have to, but you can.”
Louis called him Papa, but Alma had always stuck with Ed, which he didn’t mind at all, but while they were having this conversation he figured he’d throw it out there…
“Love you, Papa.” She said, trying it out with a little laugh. It might take some getting used to.
“Love you too, Bug.” Ed responded, which felt good. It felt right.
Just then Lucius’ voice started booming over the speakers. “All right, it’s time for our love birds to share their first dance with you! They’ve been keeping it a secret, but Annie sent me a video from the security cameras at the studio and you all are in for a treat!”
Ed rolled his eyes, unsurprised that Annie and Lucius had been spying on them. “All right, I’ll see you after for our dance.” He said before finally going to join Stede.
It had been a long day and it had been full of surprises, but he was excited to dance with his husband, and then with his kids, and he was excited to keep on dancing with them no matter what the universe had in store.