Count on Me

Chapter Nineteen: Wedding Talk

"What do you think about this?" Voula asked showing Katrina the fabric that she had found, she was sure that it would look perfect for bridesmaids' dresses when it came time for her niece to get married. 

Blinking at the blue material that was being shoved in her face, Katrina stepped back as she stared at the Chelsea blue material doubting that it would be any use to her. 

This was the same thing that had happened to Toula when she had met Ian and announced their engagement, people kept pushing for what they wanted for the wedding instead of asking what Toula wanted. 

"It's a little early for us to be planning a wedding Aunt Voula," Katrina murmured moving away from her, she wasn't going to let people push her into something that she didn't want. 

Katrina still hadn't told her parents that she wouldn't be getting married in their family church; she wasn't sure how they were going to take it. 

Mesut was determined to keep everyone happy by having a wedding somewhere beautiful and away from any religious connections that might cause them grief. 

"It is never too early," Voula dismissed knowing that it would be one of the last weddings that the family had before everyone was married off and had their own children. 

Katrina rolled her eyes as she served someone their lunch before she moved back to the counter; she chewed on her lip knowing that they would want to set down a booking on the church. 

"I won't be getting married at church," Katrina announced not sure how her aunt would take the news, it seemed to make everyone stare at her and she wasn't sure how they would react. 

Maria stared at her daughter almost shocked at what she had heard, she'd already started to imagine what Katrina's wedding would be like and already those dreams were being destroyed in a short sentence.

"Why ever not?" Voula demanded looking to Maria, she couldn't imagine what was going to happen and this wasn't something that any of them had been prepared for especially when they had all thought Katrina would be married at church. 

Even Toula had married in church with Ian who had no religious connections before he had married her; they had all assumed that the same would stand for Katrina and Mesut. 

"It's something Mesut and I decided," Katrina said knowing that it would be better this way, they weren't going to force the other to convert when they could marry without that. 

They respected each other too much to ask that and Katrina was hopeful that her family would understand why they had made this decision. 

Maria stared allowing the news sink in that Katrina wouldn't be getting married in the family church; she sat down trying to take all of this in. 

"We like the idea of a beach wedding... somewhere tropical," Katrina explained carefully, she wanted her mother to be okay with this especially since she still had to tell her father yet. 

There was no telling how Kostas would take this since he prided himself on making sure that his daughters all had wonderful weddings; even if it meant taking out a second mortgage on the house. 

Maria couldn't stop the tears from falling as she imagined Katrina getting married with just Mesut there; she wanted to see her daughter get married no matter where it was. 

"Ma..." Katrina murmured moving to hug her mother, she didn't want her to cry when everything was going to be okay; they hadn't really laid out any plans yet for their wedding only that it was going to be somewhere tropical.

Maria sniffled unable to help herself, she felt embarrassed that she was getting this upset about this; everything that she had ever dreamed about for her youngest daughter was falling away. 

"We'd fly you out," Katrina offered knowing that Mesut would want his family there as well, she couldn't imagine getting married and not having her family there with her. 

Maria didn't say anything trying to wrap her head around this, it was clearly going to be an expensive wedding if Katrina was going abroad and she had no idea how Kostas and her were going to pay for it. 

"Ma," Nick said approaching to help his sister, he honestly wasn't surprised with the news that they wouldn't be getting married in the family church. 

The only thing that mattered was that Katrina was happy with Mesut, nothing else mattered and it wasn't like Katrina would exclude their entire family from her impending marriage. 

They would just have to select people carefully when it came to the guest list, not everyone would be able to come and some people weren't going to be pleased when they were excluded. 

"I just want you to be happy," Maria whispered still a little shocked that her daughter wasn't going to be getting married at their church like she had thought.

 It was going to take a while to get her head around all of this, everything she'd been planning since Katrina was a little girl had gone out of the window in such a short space of time. 

"I am happy and I know that this is for the best," Katrina said trying to comfort her, she couldn't imagine what her father would say about this and she guessed that he would be just as upset as her mother was about this. 

It was no secret that Maria and Kostas had always imagined that all of their children would be married at their church; they had never thought that it wasn't going to happen.

Voula was silent watching Katrina talk with Maria, it was going to be the first family wedding that they had that didn't involve their church; something that was bound to cause an uproar in the family again. 

A lot of people were going to want to be there when Katrina married Mesut and if she planned a tropical wedding then there was a chance that people who didn't know of the plan would miss out. 

"Mesut is Muslim and I am Greek Orthodox... we both don't want to cause any problems for anyone so no religious ceremony," Katrina explained hoping to make this easier on her mother, she wasn't doing this to cause problems but to solve them. 

Maria sniffled taking in what Katrina was saying, she hadn't thought about it like that and she guessed that Mesut's family would also be surprised at the decision for a non-religious ceremony. 

They were all going to have to compromise and Maria couldn't be mad at Katrina for making this decision nor would she attempt to change her mind. 

"You can count on me being there," Voula announced when she saw that Maria was calming down, she liked the idea of lounging on some tropical beach before the wedding. 

It would be amazing and Voula was sure that if she started saving up now that she would have money for the trip; her husband would love the idea of a holiday as well. 

Maria looked to Voula and smiled glad that she could count on her sister-in-law, she would have to break the news to Kostas so no one else would be able to tell him. 

"So where will the wedding be?" Maria asked softly, she messed with her napkin wondering how much Mesut would allow them to pay towards the wedding. 

Kostas wouldn't be pleased if the footballer insisted on paying for everything, he had always prided himself for paying at least half of the wedding costs on their eldest two daughters weddings. 

Katrina let out a sigh of relief sensing that the argument was over and she hoped that everything else would be okay.