Wedding Bells in Oporto

"Sounds like a good place to do it - plenty of room for folks to come an' see," Cotton said, pausing in his sewing to look up. "Hope this one don't go the same way the last one did," he said, looking back down and giving it another coupled of turns of thread.

"The last what?" Maggie asked in surprise. "You been married before, Gabe Cotton?"

"Good. There then? " Pye looked at his pack. "Could you.. watch that fer me. I 'er have to go out for a bit, n' I don't want nobody thinking I went for good so, I'm leaving this here." He spoke hurriedly. "But I really do.. But.." too many but's when he was trying to explain, make sense. ".. I will be back soon. Just...could you?" He had his coat on, and that was mostly what he needed anyway.Maybe a bag or maybe not. His shako too, but this he had on his head too.

"Last button," Cotton said, blinking in surprise. "No, I ain't bin married afore. I'd've tole you, if'n I had bin." He grinned at Pye. "You leave that there, an' it'll be safe as houses."

"Thankee, Gabe." Pye leaped to his feet, having finished his tea. "And thank you, miss. For the tea!" With a quick nod he had gone to his back pack and then placed the mug into it. He could wash it later. He knew it was a sloppy thing to do, a poor decision he would not have taken ever before. But it was just tea, water, and he would deal with it later. But now, he had a much more important mission.

Before anybody else woke or noticed, he was gone, having disappeared as silently as if he'd never even been there.

"He went off in a hurry," Maggie laughed.

"He did. Don't think he could move much faster if you set his coat tails on fire," Cotton said. "Here, Joe lad. Would you throw that water out for me? I've got one or two other things to do, an' I dunno when I'll get time to do 'em all."

"Arright," Cavender said, abandoning the last of his tea.

"Did you bring back that towel of mine?" Maggie asked.

"Aye. It's here," he said, reaching to pick it up from the back of the chair where he'd dropped it.

She hung it up in front of the fire again, inspecting the embroidered "Evans" at the edge. "Guess I'll have to change that soon enough. Make it say 'Cotton' after today. Maggie Cotton. Margaret Cotton. Can you imagine changing your name? Strange, after having the same name all me life."

"Men don't change their names. What's the sense in that?" Cotton said, biting off the thread and putting his sewing things away. "Margaret Cotton... that's me ma's name, y'know. It's nice - though nobody calls her that. Everyone calls her Meg." He grinned. "Reckon you'll get used to it quick enough, though."

"I forgot that was her name!" she exclaimed in surprise. "I hope she'll not mind. I hope she'll approve of me. And your dad and your brothers and sisters and all. I've never had a big family like that!" She suddenly looked a bit worried at the thought. "Even Jem didn't have any brothers or sisters. It was just him and his parents, and me and my dad. His mum was like another mum to me when mine died. I'll have to write and tell her, and my dad too I guess." Strange how everything ended up so differently than she had planned. Not bad, but strange. It still took a bit of getting used to.

"Oh, they'll like you," Cotton said. "We mostly agreed on folks we liked an' didn't like - I mean, we all seemed to like the same folks. Not in the same way, o' course." He didn't know how his family would be able to disapprove of Maggie. "I think... I hope Jem's folks will be all right, if it was just him an' them." He couldn't imagine not having a house full to bursting with people. Just having himself and his parents... He tried to picture it, and failed.

Maggie was about to answer when she heard a familiar unhappy braying outside. "Is that my donkey? It sounds like my donkey!" She rushed to the window to look, and then went to the door and poked her head out. She grinned and turned back to Cotton. "It's Jenny and Joe, Joe Newbury. And my donkey!" And she ran outside to meet them.

(From 24th May, south of the Douro)

One donkey sounded very much like another, in Cotton's opinion. He pulled on his jacket and followed Maggie out to see the new arrivals.

"There's my girl!" Maggie cooed, rubbing the donkey's nose affectionately. "And just in time! We're getting married today! I mean - you two are both just in time. Because me and Gabe are getting married."

OOC - Maggie anticipated this post.

IC -

They were on the right side of the river at last. Newbury had become increasingly annoyed with the donkey, until he was of the unflinching opinion that donkeys were more aggravating creatures than women.

But they reached the house that was temporarily home to the 60th, much to his relief. Their arrival was greeted by a delighted Miss Evans, even, with Cotton following her. Newbury tugged at the brim of his shako at their approach. "Mornin', Miss Evans, an' Cotton," he said with a grin. "Glad we ain't missed anythin'."

"Today," Cotton added helpfully on the tail of Maggie excited words, grinning at Joe Newbury. "She ain't marryin' no donkey, neither." He shrugged. "No, you ain't missed anythin' yet. We'm only goin' to be jumpin' the broomstick, though."

"You're getting married today?" Jenny exclaimed. "Well that's - I didn't realize - What can I do to help?" And the two women immediately engaged in a womanly conversation about ribbons and bonnets while Maggie took charge of her vexed animal.

"Women!" Cotton said, his gaze following Maggie. "C'mon, Joe, there's water on the boil for a cup of tea - you look as though you need it."

Tea. Newbury needed no urging to follow Cotton inside. "That'd do nice," he said gratefully.

"Thought it might," Cotton said, rinsing his own mug out and filling it with fresh tea and held it out to the other rifleman. "Get yourself on the outside of that. Hope your side ain't too bad?" He thought it was Newbury's side that had been wounded, anyway

"Thanks," he said, accepting the mug. "It ain't hurtin' too bad. Made it through loadin' Maggie's donkey up all right anyway."

Just how they'd managed that successfully in the end... Newbury shook his head and took a swallow of tea. "How's you?"

"You did that - with your side the way it is?" Cotton shook his head in disbelief. "Well, so long as you ain't made it any worse." He poured himself a cup of tea in someone else's mug. "I'm fine. Can't quite believe I'm gettin' married today - an' pretty soon, at that, too."

Newbury shrugged. "Wasn't too bad. Jenny helped." He couldn't help but grin. "We made it in time, then, didn't we?"