Norrington's Darling

Wedding

POV: James Norrington

Joy. Tears of joy slid down both our cheeks. It had been so long since I had held my beloved close, so long since I'd felt her in my arms. It was almost surreal to hold her in my embrace.

"Zuri, Zuri, Zuri, Zuri, Zuri." I breathed in her scent and my knees nearly gave out. Two days and then she would be mine. Two days and she would be Mrs. Norrington.

"I'm here, James, I'm here," she promised. She looked up at me with a tear-stained face that couldn't stop smiling. 

I kissed the tears from her face. "Yes," I whispered, "and I'm not letting you go. Ever."

"That might be a bit of an exaggeration, Jamie, dear," Zuri murmured with a soft laugh.

"No, it's not," I promised. And I pulled her flush against my body once more and we stood in each other's embrace on the pier, the sun warming our bodies, for several hours.

POV: Zuri Sparrow

I awoke to soft sunlight streaming in my room—the room I had lived in on many occasions before when Jack and I had been on the run from the British—and I yawned largely. I sat up and rubbed at my eyes.

The peacefulness of the morning lasted two seconds tops.

Elizabeth flung the door open and I jumped a mile, staring at her. "I only just woke up, please, calmer!"

She squealed. "I can't be calm!"

"Why not?" I groaned.

"It's your wedding day!"

That's when the apprehension coiled in my stomach. All thoughts—even of my wedding and James—had been absent from my mind when I'd first opened my eyes, but now they came crashing back with a suddenness that made my head spin.

I took a deep, steadying breath as Anamaria walked in. She gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen. "You ready?"

"I don't think so," I admitted with a shaky laugh. "I'd dreamed of this happening for years...but now that it's here I'm..." I shook my head. "It doesn't seem real. It seems like another one of my fantasies."

"Oh, don't worry, it's real alright," Tia laughed. I jumped and swiveled my head to find her sitting in the chair in front of the windows.

"Tia! I didn't know you were here!"

"Dear girl, how do you think the shades were opened?"

"Oh."

The sorceress laughed as she stood. "Come, child. You have but three hours before it begins."

"Three hours!" I groaned. "That's much too long!"

"Not to get you cleaned, dressed, and ready to go," Angele chimed from the hallway. "Up you get!"

"Some breakfast would be nice as well," I mumbled.

Anamaria laughed. "Don't worry, we're not starving you. We've made breakfast already."

"Much appreciated," I said with yet another yawn as I hauled myself up and out of bed. But before we could go into the kitchen, Elizabeth checked to make sure James was nowhere in sight. Then she hauled me into the kitchen and sat me down.

With breakfast finished, Orsel and Angele took me into the washroom where they bathed me and then helped me into my dress. Already two of the hours had passed and fixing up my hair would be a challenge that would take the majority of the next one.

"I suppose three hours really just barely is enough," I muttered under my breath, eliciting a chuckle from Angele as she first began messing with my hair.