"Mary Lizard!" Leo shouted as he ran across the lobby. He launched himself into the arms of the willowy brunette who had just entered, pulling a wheeled suitcase.

Mr. Bobby grinned as he watched the small boy enthusiastically greeting the newcomer, as did Mouse, who followed Leo at a more sedate pace.

"Hey, sis, hope you had a good flight," she said as she hugged the taller girl. This entailed hugging Leo as well, since she was still holding him.

"Yes, good flight, nice ride in the private car service, so thanks for that," she replied.

"Is this your sister, Miss Mouse?" Bobby asked, removing his hat.

"Yes, this is the sister closest to me, both in age and heart," Mouse replied, continuing to smile. "Mary Elizabeth, our doorman, Mr. Bobby, without whom this place would go straight to hell."

"You don't have to introduce me," Mr. Bobby scolded gently. "I was just going to say that I could see the resemblance, you see. And you don't have to call me 'Mister,' either," he added, shaking his head.

"I'll stop calling you 'mister' when you stop calling me 'Miss Mouse,' Mouse retorted with a grin. "I've told you and told you, makes me sound like Minnie at a business meeting."

This made Leo laugh, as usual.

They were all still laughing as they got off the elevator.

"You should've told Mr. Bobby that you like to be called Mary Lizard," Leo said. He thought his future aunt's nickname was the coolest thing ever.

"Well, Mary Lizard's more of a family nickname, you know?" she told Leo with a grin. "Only blood relatives and special people call me that." They entered the apartment and Mary looked around with appreciation.

"Is that me?" Leo asked with apprehension. "Am I one of the special people?"

Mary knelt down so she could look in Leo's eyes. "You are the special-est, Leo, my man," she assured him. "I love it when you call me that."

A little later, they were settled in the family room, Happy at their feet, Merry and Chrissy in their laps, sipping iced tea, chatting. Leo was doing a puzzle on the coffee table.

"So, Henry doesn't care that you don't want a big wedding?" Mary asked.

"I think a hundred fifty people is pretty big," Mouse replied with a grin.

"You know what I mean," Mary said, nudging her sister's foot with her own as they faced each other on the couch. "He's a New Yorker, a big time photographer, he must know tons of people. He doesn't care that you're not doing a big thing at the Plaza or whatever?"

Mouse shook her head. "This is his second go, anyway," she said. "He had one of those the first time. Josie was an English socialite, a model and everything? They did some big thing in London, press and Earls and actors and all that stuff." Mouse nodded, taking a drink. "I think he likes the idea of a 'country wedding' in Virginia, you know? He doesn't have any family, and god knows I've got plenty, so I think it works out just right."

Mary looked searchingly at her sister. "And you really don't want bridesmaids and all that?"

Mouse shook her head again, decisively. "I want Henry and Leo, and I want my family. I want you next to me, and I want a kick ass dress. I want tons of good food. And that's about it." She shrugged.

Mary smiled and mimicked her sister's shrug. "Okay, then. Every bride should get exactly what she wants. And if you don't want throngs of people, then there's no reason why you should have them."

"Mary Lizard," Mouse said as she poured herself more wine. "I have eight siblings, six of whom already have children and significant others, not to mention aunts and uncles. If that's not a throng, I don't know what is." She held her glass up. "Cheers."

"Cheers, Mouse," her sister replied.

*************************

The next day, Henry stayed with Leo while Mary and Mouse went to her appointment for her wedding dress fitting.

"Have fun," he called as they left. He gave Mouse a little wink as well.

Mouse gave him a dour look as she closed the door.

"Wow, fancy," Mary said to her sister, sotto voce, as they entered the fashionable atelier on Fifth Avenue. They were told that someone would be with them shortly.

"I know," Mouse reponded. "Henry and I went around and around about this."

"What do you mean?" Mary asked. She couldn't imagine Henry and Mouse arguing, about anything. "Are you saying you fought?" She put her hand on Mouse's arm. "Come on, Mouse! Henry adores the proverbial ground you walk on!"

Mouse rolled her eyes. "Henry's paying for the dress," she told her sister.

Mary pursed her eyebrows. "Why? Isn't that usually the bride's family's responsibility?"

"I know, right?" Mouse responded helplessly. "But Henry said that it was ridiculous that poor Mike and Carol had to go through this six times, and that he absolutely didn't mind to do it."

"But Mike and Carol chose to have nine kids," Mary pointed out. The Cameron children were forever embarrassed by this fact. "And six of them happened to be girls. That's no one's fault but their own, right?" Mary paused and accepted a glass of champagne from someone who worked at the atelier, a very chic young woman dressed in stark black and white from head to toe. "Through their own stupidity and lack of restraint, they were landed with six girls for whom they should have to provide wedding dresses. I think that's reasonable," she concluded with a nod.

Mouse, sipping her own champagne, nodded agreement as she looked around the scary studio. Everything looked too beautiful and expensive to touch.

Yikes.

"Well, whatever," Mary finally said, grabbing a second glass of champagne. "Henry can definitely afford a nicer dress than Mike and Carol could afford, so let's have fun, hm?" She turned mischievous eyes to her younger sister.

They were led to a small room, where they discussed fabrics, cuts, lengths, veils, everything but cost. Mr. Gardener had been very clear about this; Ms. Cameron wasn't to know the price of anything.

"So, Mary Lizard, do you mind if your dress is purple?" Mouse asked her sister while some sample dresses were being pulled. "I only care that you're my maid of honor, you know? And I'm not having any brides maids or anything, and I wouldn't care what you wore, but things should match, and Leo really loves purple, and he's going to be in the wedding..." Mouse trailed off, looking at her sister, who was two years older, quite beautiful, and very, very dear to her.

"Mouse, of course I don't mind," Mary responded, getting tearful all of a sudden. "I'm so incredibly happy for you, and I'll wear whatever you want me to, I will," she assured her sister.

"Jesus, Mary Lizard, how much have you had to drink?" Mouse asked, laughing. "I just asked about the color of a dress, it's nothing to cry about!"

"You're so mean," Mary responded, leaning on Mouse's shoulder. "I'm just happy for you," she reiterated.

"Okay, okay." Mouse patted Mary's back. The assistant had appeared with yet more champagne. Mouse's eyes widened in alarm and she motioned her away over her weeping sister's shoulder. "Coffee?" she mouthed instead, making sipping motions, raising her eyebrows.

The assistant nodded her understanding and disappeared.

By the time Mouse finally tried on some of the dresses, Mary had more or less sobered up, though she was still extremely emotional.

"Oh, Mouse, you look so beautiful!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together.

Mouse had appeared in an ivory dress with flowers appliquéd along both shoulders and the bodice, and down the full skirt. The veil also had appliquéd flowers, of course.

"It just doesn't feel like me, though," Mouse complained.

The next dress was white, with lacy accents in pale pink, with a similar color scheme for the veil.

"You know," Mouse said, plopping down next to her sister, still wearing the wedding dress. "I'm kind of thinking I want to go with some color for my dress. Would that be terrible?"
Mary looked at Mouse. "No, I guess not," she said. "You always were the quiet rule breaker, you know?" she said fondly, smoothing some of Mouse's hair behind her ear. "Remember when Grammy and Grampa wanted a picture of all of us all dressed up, and it was such a big deal to get everyone together, and you wore your Wizard of Oz ruby slippers but didn't tell anyone?" She laughed at the memory. "And the photographer didn't notice until after the proofs came back? And the picture was almost perfect." By now Mary was talking to everyone in the room. "Except that you could totally see Mouse's feet, in those horrible, sparkling red shoes!" Everyone laughed.

"So," Mouse asked, looking around in the poufy dress, "what do you have that has a little color in it?"

The efficient staff sprang into action, pulling things in Mouse's size, and an hour later, her choice had been made. Her dress was white, but with pink and magenta floral patterns in the hem, giving it a nice pop. It was strapless, but Mouse was just small enough in the bust to make it work, though if she'd had to run in the dress, it would've been another story.

Mary's dress would be similar, though shorter, and in a more purple theme, to match Leo's bow tie, and Henry's cummerbund.

The girls emerged onto Fifth Avenue in the late afternoon sunshine, satisfied and starving.

"I feel good," Mouse declared. "I never was a white lace kind of girl, you know? And I'm glad my dress doesn't have white lace on it."

"It's perfect," Mary agreed. "It couldn't be more you, and you look outstanding in it, too." She gave her little sister a squeeze as they crossed Fifth and headed north.

They texted Henry and Leo, and had the guys meet them at 5 Napkin Burger for dinner.

"Oh my god, nothing has ever tasted so good," Mouse enthused as she ate.

Henry smiled at her. "Shopping makes a girl hungry, I guess," he said. Mouse just nodded, reaching for her shake.

"Mary Lizard, are you married?" Leo asked as he ate his French fries. This was something he'd begun asking all the adults in his life since Mouse and Henry had gotten engaged.

She shook her head. "We've have been thinking about it, though," she admitted. She smiled at Mouse as her sister looked at her in surprise.

"Really?" Mouse asked. "You never told me that! You guys have been talking about it? When?"
Mary shrugged. "When Esmé finishes her graduate degree next year, probably?" She smiled. "We were kind of talking about it, then we heard about you, and one wedding a year is enough, you know?"
Mouse hit her sister's arm. "I hope you didn't put things off because of me?" She turned to Henry. "Do you remember I was telling you about Esmerelda? Mary Lizard's girlfriend? They met at Georgetown a couple years ago when Esmé was an exchange student, and they've been together ever since. She's getting her master's degree from the University of Barcelona, and has the most gorgeous accent."

"So how does that work?" Leo asked, looking back and forth between Mouse and Mary. Mouse smiled at his milkshake mustache. "If you're both girls, do you both wear pretty dresses?"
"If we want to," Mary replied, leaning forward to wipe his mouth. "That's the nice thing about weddings, Leo, is that you can pretty much do what you want." She bopped his nose gently when she was finished, making him grin.

"But no one's gonna look prettier than mommy," he declared, turning his smile Mouse's way. "She's the most beautiful girl in the whole universe!" He turned confidently to his father. "Right, daddy?"
Henry smiled at his son, then turned to kiss Mouse, biting off the fry that was half in her mouth. "Absolutely right," he agreed, nodding. The whole universe, without a doubt."