"Me."
"Back off. I deal with Magistrates every day. I don't need you acting like one where my love life is concerned."
"Don't tell me to back off, because I won't. I don't want our mother getting hurt, and I certainly don't want you getting hurt." She touched my arm. "El, have you forgotten that I was the one who witnessed what losing Danielle did to you, and that I knew you were in love with her and always would be?"
I shrugged off her grip. "So what's your problem? Why aren't you happy for us?"
"Because I don't believe this is genuine," she said, waving her hand between me and the toilet door Danielle had disappeared behind. "At least not from her side."
I sighed. My sister meant well, but she also meant to stick her nose where it wasn't wanted or needed. "Look, thanks for your concern, but it's not warranted. Danielle and I are happily navigating our new relationship. Our relationship. Meaning her and I. Not you, or Mum. So please, keep out of it."
The toilet door swung open and Danielle breezed through like a warm, spring morning, her dress flowing with her confident steps, her eyes sparkling just as bright as the sporadic crystals dotting the lace.
"Ready to head back?" she asked, once again linking her arm with mine.
"Sure am." I offered my other arm to my sister, but she just huffed and rolled her eyes before turning on her heel and heading back to the table.
"Everything okay?" Danielle whispered into my ear as we followed behind.
"Yeah. Just Laura being Laura."
"She hasn't changed much at all."
"Nope."
"Poor you."
I laughed. "Yeah. It's like what I always told you when you were sad about being an only child."
"Siblings are overrated. Just ask a killer whale," she said before giving me the chance to say it.
I laughed again. "You remember?"
"Of course. Mind you, I always thought you meant that the whales killed their siblings and that's why they didn't have any."
"No. They have siblings. They just fuck off when they are born."
Danielle snort-laughed, loud, and I swear my heart skipped a beat. She'd done it a lot when we were kids and was always so embarrassed by it.
I placed my hand over hers. "That always was and always will be one of my most favourite sounds in the world."
"Oh, shut up." She smiled sheepishly, as we stopped at the table.
I winked and pulled her chair out.
"Just in time," Mum said, excited. "It's starting." She rubbed Laura's arm. "Here we go, sweetheart."
The chandeliers above dimmed, and the emcee introduced himself, explaining to the patrons in the room what the program for the evening would entail. Laura's presentation was third on the list, right after dinner was to be served.
We listened to the first presentation, and I casually leaned back and draped my arm over Danielle's chair, my fingers lightly tracing circles on her shoulder. She fidgeted at first, even kicked me under the table, but her skin was so soft; I couldn't help myself.
"So," Laura said, before forking some quail into her mouth, "how'd you and Danielle get back in contact after all these years?"
"Facebook." My answer was short, sharp and quick.
"Of course." Laura nodded, smiled at Danielle, and took in another mouthful.
I glared. If she thought she could successfully cross-examine the cross-examination king, she was sadly mistaken.
"So how long had you been seeing each other before you got engaged?" she continued to probe.
"About six or seven months." Again, I didn't lie; that was the approximate time it had taken before I proposed to her with the Cheezel.
"Huh," Laura said, poking her fork back into her entrée.
"That long?" Mum exclaimed. "Why didn't either of you say anything?"
"Because we didn't want to."
I smiled at Danielle, the kind that told her I could handle this, that she was safe and to trust me.
She smiled back and picked up her glass of wine. "We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for the time being. That's all."
"That's fair enough, dear. We all need our privacy."
"So where's your ring?" Laura mumbled, nodding toward Danielle's hand.
Danielle looked at her ring finger, twiddled her fingers, and giggled. "I ate it."
I laughed. "Yeah, she did. I've been meaning to buy her an inedible one ever since."
"But I like the edible ones. They're tasty."
"What on earth are you two talking about?" Mum asked.