Chapter 19

Everyone was there by late morning, more than a hundred people. Julian and Larissa had said that they didn’t want it too big; just family and friends. But once they’d listed family and friends, and a few others had invited themselves, well, that’s what they had. What a great life, Larissa thought to herself.

When she’d arrived, her friends had clustered around her so she could walk over to Julian and drop the dress on him as a surprise. And it totally worked; he was speechless. That really worked for Larissa, exactly what she’d wanted. Then he just shook his head and gave her a wry smile. He turned to the guys he was playing kick the footy with, and said, “Guys, I’m afraid the wedding is off!” Those that hadn’t looked at Larissa did now, and they were just as gobsmacked.

Jaiden burst into laughter. “Help, it’s an emergency! Everyone, hold Julian! If we don’t stop him, he’s going to carry Larissa off and screw her right now!” He ran over and held Julian tight, and Xander joined him. “He has to wait until they’re married before he does that. Love the dress, Larissa!”

All the girls were laughing now. Julian pretended to struggle and then gave up. “You can let go, guys. I’m not going to carry Larissa off, I’m just going to tell Layna to hurry through the day as quick as possible!”

Naturally, the dress got a lot of attention from everyone. Larissa could see that everyone wanted to ask about the chains, how they hinted at bondage, but no one was game. She figured that would come later. While everyone was arriving, she worked through the crowd, hugging and kissing everyone. The weather was lovely, so they were on the lawn out in front of the barn, and were just using the barn for the food and water. People were either sitting on blankets or picnic chairs, and she sat with them, on the blanket if they were, though with this tight dress, one of her friends was with her to help her up. She did pretend to join the guys for kicking the footy, though since both her hands and her feet were constrained by her dress, that was mainly a cause for a lot of laughter with the guys. Then she saw Asha’s younger brother and Ruth’s boys throwing a frisbee around, so she joined them, and unhooked one of her hands so she could throw the frisbee with them for a while.

When everyone was there, she saw James give the go ahead signal to Layna. As she did, Sophie said to her, “This is lovely, such a great group. Doing this as a picnic is so much better than a formal wedding.”

Larissa smiled at her. “Sure is! I’m having a great time, and it’s exactly what we wanted. I better go find Julian.” She saw that James was calling the guys over, time to sit down for a second, though Julian had already stopped and was talking to his grandparents, she saw. She went and joined him, and hugged them, while Layna was getting ready.

A couple of minutes later, Layna spoke into the microphone that was hooked up to the speaker system the techie boys had set up for her. “Hello, everyone!” After a few seconds, everyone was silent. “Hi. For those who don’t know me, my name is Layna, and I work with Julian. Though I guess most of you know who I am.” There was a large cheer – obviously a large majority of people knew who she was. She smiled and said, “Figures. It’d be lovely, you know, if you can talk to me about other stuff as well as the videos. Like Larissa’s dress, for instance.” This also caused a huge cheer. “Right. Larissa’s proved that she’s not very shy. But I’m sure you all knew that already.” Much laughter for that. “So this is a picnic today, feel free to talk to people, and move around, and kick the footy, or whatever. Have a good time, please. There’s a lot of really interesting people here today, connected to Julian or Larissa or both of them in interesting ways. Julian and Larissa’s family know almost everyone, so feel free to ask them to help you with an introduction. But this picnic is also Julian and Larissa’s wedding, so occasionally, we’ll interrupt your fun with some actual wedding stuff, and I’ll tell you about that when it happens.”

“Before we get going, I want to tell you about my experience of Julian and Larissa. A group of us started a little project in science comms at uni, to make some videos about how we can do better at handling climate change and falling bio-diversity, and why we need to. The team asked me to front it, a pretty face thing.” She shrugged. “So I did. But I quickly saw that if I was going to flaunt my stuff, I needed to get the message right, and I saw that could rely on Julian for that. And this year, I’ve come to rely on Julian really deeply, in ways I never imagined. He’s a very reliable chap! And one of those ways is that he introduced me to Larissa, one of the few people who’ve lived my experience, and she’s helped me greatly. I’m not joking when I tell you that the two of them had more to do with shaping my life than anyone else this year, even my very close love, Joseph.” She pointed him out. “Joseph and I want to thank them for saving us, and I know that we are far from alone. And their whole family has totally taken us on board; for both of us, it’s our second family, and I’m really honoured to play a little role in what promises to be a really fun day.”

“Julian and Larissa said that they want you all to have a good time, and also that they want you to all meet each other. To encourage that, I’m running a little competition. The winner gets this big bottle of chocolates.” She pointed it out, where Joseph was holding it up. “To win, you have to answer this list of questions correctly, and be first. You can get a printed list from Joseph. The questions are all about Julian and Larissa, and this bit is a surprise for them. And you cannot ask James, Sophie, Xander, Steph, Jaiden or Asha these questions; you have to find it out from other people. Right, here’s the questions.”

“One: the name of someone here that Larissa hasn’t kissed.” Much laughter for that one. “Yes, Larissa really likes to kiss people, but I’m assured that there’s at least one person over the age of sixteen that she hasn’t.” Larissa looked around quickly – who? She didn’t think there was anyone left after this morning. “Two: How many collars does Larissa have? You can tell, from the dress, that Larissa likes to play at bondage, and she has some play collars – but how many? Three: the name of someone here that’s knocked Julian down.” There was a gasp of surprise. “Yes, someone here has done that.” Liam, Larissa supposed, but she didn’t remember Julian telling her that. “Four: What’s a Larissa swim?” Some laughter from those in the know. “And why did she do the first one? Five: How many times does Larissa appear on Youtube? I mean, how many vids? And six: how many times does Julian appear on a video that wasn’t created by our project? Seven: Who did the neck art that Julian and Larissa wore to celebrate their engagement? Clue: that person is here. Eight: How many honorary dads does Larissa have, not including her birth father, who’s not in her life at all? Nine: Where did Julian meet Larissa? And finally, ten: you have to get both Julian and Larissa to write something on your skin with a texta and show it to Joseph.” She got much laughter for the way that finished up.

“OK. So it’s a picnic, and have fun, but wait! James and Sophie, the mother and father of the bride and the groom, they’d like to welcome you all.” They’d come up behind her, so she handed them the microphone.

“Thanks Layna, everyone,” James said. “We’d like to welcome you all, and we’re really glad that you’re here today. We’ve got a real mix of people here – some are family for us or Larissa. Others are people that Julian or Larissa work with, and others are friends. But one strong characteristic of this year is that people have migrated from one category to the other a lot. Friends have become family, work mates have become friends, and family have become workmates. So many of you fall into more than one category, and that’s such a thrill for our family.”

“Yes,” Sophie said. “We’ve been richly blessed this year. Now before we go on, I want to explain something that some of you have already asked us about. Layna called us the parents of the bride and groom, and that was on the invitation you got. When Larissa started dating Julian, she had no relationship with her own family, so she bound very tightly to us, and started calling us mum and dad, her parents, and her brothers and sisters, to fill that void, and she worked really hard to make that as real as she could. So we’re her family, and we all love that. But then something totally unexpected happened: Larissa reconciled with her mum and brother, and built lovely relationships with them and their partners and families. At first, we were unsure how that would work for us, but Larissa said that though they were great again, we’re still her family. After all, here she is, getting married into us. And Rachelle and her family have been very understanding about that.” She smiled at Rachelle. “And Thomas and Jane and now, Bob and Mary, along with more siblings for them both. So we have this rich set of family around us, which is great. Anyway, that’s why we’re parents of the bride too.”

James smiled. “We often wondered, as Julian was growing up, what kind of girl could grab his attention, and hold it? He’s sometimes quiet, because he thinks a lot, but when it’s time for action, he’s very resolute, and ready to work very hard for things he believes in. And he has a strong sense of justice and compassion. And at the same time, he’s got an itch, a desire to be moving, to push the limits. It was our pleasure to watch our son grow into a man like that. But we wondered, what woman could match Julian and complete him?”

“And then Larissa walked into our lives,” Sophie said. “When we first met her in the park, for a picnic, we were a bit taken aback. People often are, when they meet the passion, energy, and direct openness that Larissa has, and they get the wrong impression about her. But once we got to know her better, we came to understand that she’s totally determined to follow her principles, and to shower love on everyone around her. Whether they want it or not!” At this point she grinned. “We’ve totally loved having her become part of our family, and she’s been really great for us. We’re going to tell you a story from each of their childhoods, and then about something that happened this year. One for each of them.”

James took the microphone back. “When Julian was about eight, I found him playing a game in the backyard. He had laid down some plastic from the shed, it was a river. And on one side, he had a set of building blocks and lego pieces, that was an industrial society. On the other, he had a few plastic men from a game we had; they were people of the land, and the industrial side was polluting the river they depended on for food. In the game, the ‘people of the land’ – it was never clear to us quite what he meant by that – had asked Julian to defend the river, and he’d grabbed his super-hero sword and gone to start ripping up the pipes that were polluting the river, and the robber barons had shot him for it. That’s the point I found him because Sophie wanted to know where her tomato sauce had gone, and the answer was, all over Julian’s stomach, where he’d been shot.” He had to stop at this point, and wait for the laughter to finish. “Now, is there anyone in the world who hasn’t seen Julian’s video from a couple of weeks ago?” Everyone at the picnic had seen it. Hell, Larissa thought to herself, based on the hit count, everyone in the world had seen it. “Well, you can see how he brought that to life, though the outcome was rather different. Anyway, that’s our son; it’s like he was born for the job he has. Now, for Larissa’s story, Rachelle, can you come and tell us?”

Wow, that was a surprise for Larissa; she’d never have thought her mum could stand up in a group like this. She smiled at Bob, who caught her eye. Yeah, they were really doing good things for her mum now, and her mum told the story really well, of the dog from when she was seven, and then about Harry and his dog. When she was finished, her mum added, “Larissa, I love you, and you’ve made so many people’s lives better, including mine. Julian, thanks for making my baby the awesome woman she is now, and I wish you both the best from now on.”

Sophie smiled. “Thanks, Rachelle. People have asked us, what is like, having Larissa in our family? Well, I don’t know; we’re still learning what it’s like to have Julian in our family. But Larissa is a love and joy machine who’s determined to make everything better, to rescue everyone. We’re really happy to share today with you, as Julian and Larissa become their own family, and as Larissa becomes formally part of ours. And we want you to enjoy today, so we’re going to stop now, and let you all get into the food – thanks for bringing it to share, and let the kids go back to their games.”

“Yes,” said James, taking the microphone back. He said some practical stuff about the food and then said, “but before we all do that, I’d like to make a quick prayer of thanks.”

When that was done, Larissa jumped up and called out, “Food! Julian and I are going to get some now, so if you want the good stuff, you better get there first before Julian does!” Everyone laughed, but it did get them all moving to the food.

While they were having lunch, Larissa introduced Julian to her mum’s parents, who’d been yet another last minute invitation, at the request of her mum. “Hi Grandma and Grandpa, I’d like to introduce you to my man Julian,” she said, and listened as they got to know him a little.

Soon, her grandpa was talking to Julian about the whole poisoning the river thing, and grandma hugged her and said quietly, “I really want to thank you. We’ve talked about it a lot, and we’ve decided to accept Rachelle for what she is, and I’m really enjoying being able to spend time with my daughter again. And thank you for letting us come today, to see you marry your fine young man.” Larissa smiled, and said it was great they were there, and wondered what they’d think once the dancing started. Her mum was supposed to have talked to them about that.

When she finished with her grandparents, Larissa decided to sit with Kat and Sal – just a little easier. They smiled and indicated for her to sit between them, and they squeezed up against her, just like they’d done on the beach, all those months ago. Larissa kissed them both. “Thanks for this. You know that in lots of important ways, my life is divided into ‘before I sat on the beach with you’ and ‘after I did that.’”

Kat and Sal both smiled. “You’ve brought us a lot of joy since then,” Sal said. “It helps me, you know. Sometimes it’s tough, what I do, when it doesn’t go well. I can always think of you, and how well it’s turned out for you.”

Larissa smiled. “Yes, I’m getting there slowly.”

Kat laughed. “When I look at this group of family and friends today, and the smile on your face, I think you’re doing more than getting there slowly. And, of course, we keep up with you on WhatsApp, which always makes us happy.” Larissa grinned. She’d shared a number of her crazier adventures with Julian on Kat’s WhatsApp group, and some of the adventures were because of ideas she got from the group. Sometimes from Kat or Sal. “I just put a picture of your dress on there. They all loved it, of course, how could they not? I bet Sharon enjoyed making it.”

Larissa laughed and told them about that. “And she really loved the photos of Zara,” she finished with.

Both Sal and Kat laughed. “Ah yes, those photos,” Kat said. “We thought they might be popular, and they were. Toni’s certainly got way more business out of it than she expected.”

“But...?” Larissa asked. Something about the way Kat said that.

“Oh, Zara should tell you.” Kat called Zara to come and sit with them, and asked her about it.

Zara shrugged. “I shouldn’t be surprised, really. I got a bunch of direct messages from men’s magazines, offering me a lot of money.” Larissa nodded, just like she had. “And I got a couple of messages from modelling agencies too.” She shrugged again. “I didn’t bother responding to those. But I did get an interesting message. Other than from school friends, of course – I got lots of those. An environmental group asked me to be the face of a campaign for them.” She looked thoughtful. “Maybe, if they’re legit. I’m going to ask Julian if he knows them.” She looked up and around, to see if she could spot him, and Larissa noticed her neck. She still had the art from the photos, of course, but Toni had freshened it up, and added something. Larissa asked her to keep her neck up, and had a good look. “Like it?” Zara asked.

“Wow.” Larissa was amazed. All around the bold lines, Toni had drawn a series of little hearts, each with the letters J and L inside. Stunning, that Toni could get such intricate details so clear. And truly lovely for Zara to do that. “That’s lovely. And awesome. I’m touched.” She couldn’t believe that she’d missed that before when she was thanking them for the artwork on her phone and computer.

Zara gave her a lovely smile. “You two are very special for us, you know how much. I didn’t even have to say anything to Toni – she planned the art for the photos knowing I would want something like this. We’re so pleased for you. And I’ve been waiting all day for you to notice!” Larissa laughed. Such patience, she was impressed. She shook her head. Today was very special, of course, but many of her friends had done little things to surprise her in their own way. How cool.

“Well, I’m sure glad I noticed! Thanks, it really makes me feel good. You know we love you too. Please tell Zach,” she said, since Zach was over with the guys kicking the footy. “I was hoping to meet Toni’s guy.”

Kat sighed. “Good that you didn’t ask her then. That’s over.” Larissa looked at her in surprise. “Yes, turns out, having a relationship needs more than magic sex. Who would have thought?” Larissa grinned at her, and Kat smiled back. “Yep, a good lesson for her, though she’s a bit heart-broken, since it only played out this week. But she’s going to be OK, we’re sure. She’s had lots of hugs from all us, but especially her Dad. And she’s talking about changing how she’s going about things – not going to be so fast to tumble into bed with anyone. But ... Jael’s brought her guy, she finally firmed things up with him. Want to meet him?”

Larissa certainly did, and Sal called Jael over, with her guy in tow. Tall, lean, sinuous, and evidently super fit, he did look like he could at least keep up with her a little, and he was super excited to meet Larissa. And Sal evidently approved of him, and they talked about how he was considering doing an building apprenticeship and working with Lem. So Lem obviously approved of him too. And Jael very obviously did. Yeah, she gave Jael a lovely smile and Jael jumped into her lap and kissed her soundly. And Michael, over there kicking the footy with the guys? Jael laughed and said Michael was still doing the dance with a couple of his many star-crossed fans, and maybe one day either of them would land him.

Any further discussion was curtailed because at that point Layna used to the sound system. “Julian! Larissa! Yoohoo, we need you over here!” There was plenty of laughter, and Larissa looked around. Julian was kicking a soccer ball with the younger boys, and a couple of the girls that age too. Great. Zara helped Larissa up, and she walked over to meet Julian so they could walk over to Layna together. She kissed Julian. Good: just a little hot, not all sweaty.

When they got to Layna, she said, “Right, everyone, we have to interrupt your picnic with some actual wedding stuff. Are you all having a good time?” There was a loud cheer. “Great!” Layna said. “Well, it’s time for them to actually get married. And I’m handing over to Pastor Tim to do the honours.”

She smiled, and handed the microphone over to Tim and Vicky. “Thanks Layna, and hello everyone,” he said. “It’s our absolute pleasure to celebrate Julian and Larissa’s love today as they get married.” He had to pause at this point for a strong cheer from the audience, and he smiled. “Yes, that’s how Vicky and I feel. It’s always a good day when we can celebrate a marriage, and today is wonderful.” Tim talked a little bit about Julian’s history in the church, and how the previous pastor had told him to watch out for Julian: potentially a great leader, but unfocused and unanchored. Then he talked about the leadership Julian had shown during the year, how he’d changed. Then he handed over to Vicky, and she talked about Larissa’s background and then the role Larissa had played in the church community.

“We commend both of them to you as an example of two people who bind together and make each other better, and who are stronger together. Julian and Larissa, you’re very driven by your principles. Can you tell us about them?”

Julian smiled and recited their principles. When he finished, Larissa said, “We got the idea of having principles like this and adapted our principles from what Dave and Lem told me. Thanks, Dave and Lem.”

Tim smiled. “Yes, it’s a lesson for all of us: living your life as a good example encourages other people to be good examples. Blessed are the peacemakers, so I encourage all of you to make peace, not arguments and conflict. So, today, Julian and Larissa are signing up for a lifetime of working hard to be at peace with each other.” Again, he was interrupted by laughter, and he smiled. “Right. Jesus calls you to peace, but it’s not just a matter of not getting angry with people, it’s the result of choosing to be a faithful partner who cares, understands, and wants the best for your partner. And also to be like that for your friends, family, and work colleagues.” He went on to talk about how Jesus lived that, and how Julian and Larissa would get to follow that in their marriage, their intimate relationship. When he finished up, he said, “So, Julian, you’ve chosen to take this awesome task on with Larissa as your mate. Tell everyone what you said to me when I asked you if you were sure you wanted to marry Larissa.”

Julian smiled and said, “I have a babe who is totally committed to me and trust-worthy at every level I can think of, and she’s awesome and inspires me to be the best I can be, and I’d be crazy to do anything but marry her and spend my life making her the best she can be.”

Tim and Vicky smiled and then Vicky took the microphone and said, “Larissa, your turn, what did you tell me?”

“Oh, I’ll fall apart if I don’t get married to Julian, and I don’t know how I could go on in life without my awesome man who’s my life partner. Julian is my best life.” She turned and kissed him, feeling it strongly.

Tim and Vicky were laughing, she realised. “We were warned,” Vicky said, “Don’t let them get started kissing. James and Sophie told us that if they do, they’ll probably get distracted and stop listening to us all.” She saw that Larissa was listening to her. “So if that happens, we’re going to pick random kids from the audience to come and get between you.” Julian and Larissa laughed at that. “But really,” Vicky said, “how lovely that they’re so into each other that kissing is such an engrossing thing for them.”

Tim took the microphone back. “Does anyone here think there’s any reason that they shouldn’t get married?”

There was a brief silence. Odd, Larissa had really thought that at least one of her friends would say something at this point. And if one of her friends didn’t, surely one of Julian’s mates would think it would be funny to object. Scott, for instance? But no ... though several of them were grinning at her.

“Of course, no one,” Tim said. “So a different question then. If you think that Julian and Larissa should get married, that they’re right for each other, give them a loud cheer.”

Wow, Larissa thought, the cheer that followed that was very loud indeed. Yeah, really, that was pretty much a standing ovation. Sweet, lovely expressions of joy on all their friend’s faces. Nice. Wonderful, in fact. She shared a lovely smile with Julian.

When the cheering stopped, Tim said, “Well, guess we better do this then. Julian, do you want to make your promise?”

“I sure do. I want everyone here present to witness that I, Julian David Wright take you, Larissa Ann Cooper, to be my lawful wedded wife. Larissa, I promise to love you and care for you, to make you the best you can be, and to fill our lives with fun and love, through sickness, health and offspring. I choose to tie myself to you for as long as we live.”

Wow. For all her preparations, and even though she knew what Julian was going to say, having her man make that promise to her in front of her family and friends: that really moved her deeply. To hell with it, she needed to kiss him, and she did. And Julian was right into it too. Woo, the whole thing, the audience, the dress, this was an awesome experience...

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Oh, yes, she pulled back, and found Vicky laughing at her. “How about that,” Tim said. “Kissing each other. Is anyone surprised?”

Larissa could hear laughing and cheering, and she could see a lot of smiles around her. When the noise stopped, she heard Maria say, “I’m surprised they’re not doing it more!”

Julian grinned at her, the invite clear: let’s do it some more then. But then Vicky said, “Your turn, Larissa,” so she smiled and said, “Yes. I want everyone here to be my witnesses that I, Larissa Ann Cooper take you, Julian David Wright, to be my lawful wedded husband. Julian, I promise to love you with my whole being, and to spend my life making us the best we can be, and to care for your health and happiness with all my heart. My body, heart, and soul, they all belong to you and we’re bound together for this life, whatever it brings.”

It felt good to say that in front of everyone, and Julian wanted to, so why not? She kissed him again. Kissing him in front of everyone – awesome, and she could hear them all cheering. Julian was just as into this as she was.

Then a hand grabbed the chain connecting her hand to her waist, and pulled down. Larissa really couldn’t ignore that. She stopped, and looked down, and saw Mega, holding some roses. “Lissa, stop kissing him! I’ve got flowers for both of you.”

Larissa smiled and leant down and took the flowers from Mega, and kissed her gently on her forehead. “Thanks Mega, what lovely flowers!” She picked one from the bunch, and gave it to Julian, along with a quick kiss. Quick this time – they really should let this finish.

Tim grinned at her, and said, “Wonderful! Everyone, it’s my great pleasure to introduce Julian and Larissa to you as husband and wife. It’s almost time for them to be allowed to kiss, but first, it’s time for your rings.”

Larissa smiled, because she was really looking forward to this. Julian held out his hand, and she removed his existing ring, and then he removed hers. Then Julian took the rings and handed them both to Fiona and Alan, who’d stepped forward to give Julian and Larissa each other’s actual rings. She placed Julian’s ring on his finger, and then he placed hers, and they kissed each other’s rings. Yeah, done! Then the held their hands together up high and let out a whoop of pleasure.

“Right! Now, you may kiss each other,” Tim said. There was a great gale of laughter, and then they kissed properly. This time, though, Larissa had the self-discipline to stop after not too long, and the laughter turned into cheers and a round of hip-hip-hurrah. Lovely – she would remember this moment for all her life. Her wedded life. What a wonderful life, too.

Then Tim called for silence. Once everyone was quiet, he said, “Thanks everyone for being here. Julian and Larissa would like you to know that by being here, you’re making a promise to them too: that you’re going to help them live their best life together, by being friends to both of them individually, and also both of them together. Not, you know, by intruding in their lives, just by being their friends and family. If you want to be part of that, if you want to commit to being a positive part of their married life, then I want you to say, altogether, ‘we will be with you.’ Are you ready? Ok, all of you, say,”

“We will be with you,” Larissa heard nearly all the people present say. Wow – truly awesome, she had goosebumps all over from that. What a special experience this was.

“Thanks,” Tim said, with a big smile. “That was lovely. Now, we’re going to sit down on the blanket over here and sign some paperwork to make everything formal, and then, in a few minutes, when we’re done, I’ll have a little more to say.”

Larissa smiled at him and Vicky. This was the best experience of her life. The feeling lasted as she sat on the blanket leaning against Julian, and they worked through the papers they had to sign together, with Layna and Thomas signing as witnesses. When they were done, Vicky carefully rolled their official wedding certificate, and tied it with a bow. Julian helped her up, she redid her chains, using the medium ones, and then Tim called for everyone’s attention.

“OK, all the paper work is done. Julian and Larissa are officially married, and it’s our great pleasure to introduce them to you as officially husband and wife, and they have our wishes and prayers for a happy and committed life together. I’m just going to give a prayer to that effect, and to give thanks to God for his many blessings.” When he was finished the prayer, he smiled, and said, “Okay, now it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Julian and Larissa say that you’re now allowed to take photos and post them to whatever social media you want!”