Contrarily Bold: Griffin and Lila's Wild Wedding Night

The excitement of the wedding was with us all day. From the ceremony, to the festivities, to the lovemaking. The first time a man and woman lay together as husband and wife is a sacred thing, a momentous occasion.

*But it's over now,* I thought as I awoke in bed alone. It wasn't that I wanted him to stay. It was just odd to wake up next to nothing but my own skin. I rolled over and glanced at the clock. It was noon already? A shame we didn't sleep in longer, I had hoped to wake up alongside Griffin again after he left. It took me a moment to recall that he left this morning. He set off on his journeyman's path, journeying through the land, making his way to his lord's estate where he'd work for a few years before being sent out as an adventurer or knight or whatever he wanted to be. His father was Lord Blackstone, one of the most powerful men in this area of the country, so if he asked for it, Griffin might be given a title, like Baron Blackstone himself had been given by King Philip himself!

*Oh who cares about all that,* I thought as I got out of bed and walked into my room where I dragged my clothes from my wardrobe and put them on. *Griff will be back here tonight.* Part of me wondered what would happen when he did return though, *Would we have another wedding night? Would we...court?* That seemed silly even for thinking about it aloud, and besides, it wasn't like there were any rules about this sort of thing that I could remember. After all, people were married all the time just after they met or even while they were still children! Why couldn't they wed when they first knew each other? Except...I suppose no one else thought of marriage like that, so Griff probably wouldn't either if I told him about it.

I dressed quickly and headed downstairs where my mother was waiting for me with a smile on her face. "Good morning, dear," she told me cheerfully as she poured some hot tea for me into a fancy cup that she always used for special occasions. "I'm glad you're up early," she said as she handed me the drink, which smelled amazing.

"Why?" I asked her curiously while taking a sip of what turned out to be some kind of cinnamon apple tea which tasted heavenly enough to make me moan happily after doing so.

She laughed lightly and smiled at me again, "Because you're going to help me with something today," she said and then clapped her hands together excitedly in front of her chest before continuing on giddily with how she'd been working on something secret for three days now and couldn't wait any longer to show it off!

Three days? *Three days?* Hadn't Griffin only left yesterday? How did she have something ready for today? And why hadn't she talked about this earlier? Was this something she'd planned before our wedding even happened?! My thoughts ended when my mother told me that I needed to get ready because we were going shopping soon!

*Oh joy,* I thought sarcastically as I followed my mother along through town towards the place she usually went shopping at, which was easily one of my least favorite places in town because it was always crowded with annoying people who stared at you weirdly if you didn't buy anything or if you just looked bored while they bought their expensive things or if they talked loudly in public. But if Mother wanted to go there, then that's where we were going.

As I anticipated, there were plenty of people wandering around looking at stuff ranging from fairly cheap things like apples and breads to very expensive things like jewelry or clothing made out of silk! Which was frustrating because I liked pretty things but couldn't afford them since Mother never let me spend money on anything except food.

Despite my irritation, I focused on the reason we were there. If Mother really wanted to show me something here, then fine! No problem! We could look around for a bit until whatever it was she wanted us to see showed up.

The sun had set by the time we arrived back home once our shopping trip was over. Once inside, my mother led me upstairs towards my bedroom, telling me how nice everything looked and what a fine job Father had done making sure everything got set up properly before leaving us alone last night. *What does she mean by that? Why does Father have anything to do with this anyway?!* But despite wondering why Father would have any part in decorating my room with whatever Mother gave him money for last night when we went shopping together today, I followed along quietly behind her until we reached my room where everything had indeed been decorated beautifully.

Inside, Mother closed the door behind her and moved forward while talking excitedly about the surprise, describing how amazing the outcome was and that it would definitely be