Janessa's view

I'm glad Serene is going to Lucy's. She always has fun with her friend. And she needs to recover, and we can trust Lucy to monitor Serene. Plus, I can bug Mom now without Serene being there to stop me.

As soon as we arrive, Mom heads to the kitchen to start on whatever we're having for supper, while I head to my room and throw my bag onto my floor. Dude is asleep on my pillow, so I scratch his head. His tail thwaps up and down in his sleep. I smile before going back to standing in my doorway, tapping my fingers on my arm. I run through my classes in my head, asking myself if I have any homework. Nope, nope, noppers, noppity, nope, nuh-uh. Great!

I skip back to the kitchen, plopping myself onto a chair and propping my elbows up on the counter. "Hi, Mom."

She glances up at me from the (delicious-looking) cheese pasta, amused. "No homework?"

"Yeah..." I sigh wistfully, tracing a small design on the countertop. "And it's pretty boring without work to do..."

"You could read a book, you know." Mom teases.

I stick my tongue out. "I mean, it'd be so much more interesting if I just, y'know, hear a story from you..."

She laughs. "I'm assuming you know which story you want, as well?"

I shrug, sighing loudly again. "I mean, I hadn't really thought about it..."

"What am I going to do with you, Janessa?" Mom smiles at me, returning her attention to the pasta, stirring it a few times before putting it into the oven and snapping her fingers, giving a warm blue glow from it.

"Okay." She wipes her fingers on her shirt (I love my messy mom---at Evie's house she insists we use napkins) and sits down across the counter. "What do you want to hear about?"

I eagerly lean forward. "Dad's proposal!"

Mom snorts, covering her mouth. "That isn't what I thought you were going to say, but I'm honestly not surprised. All right, then. But no interrupting!"

"I swear." I put a hand over my heart, then lean forward again, watching her intently.

Mom smiles at my full attention, something I rarely give. "Okay. Well, your father and I had been dating for a few years. It was nearly three years after Ben proposed to Mal, and your father asked me to go to Isla's announcement ball. You know, the ball that proclaims her safe arrival and one-month survival into the world."

I nod happily, having seen plenty of pictures of the day.

"Anyway, it was this huge deal, Evie was swamped making dresses so much that I offered to help on any of the blue ones. While I was there, maybe two days before the ball, Evie was checking her phone when she let out the most obnoxious noise I have ever heard or will ever hear in my life. I looked over at her, and she just grinned that grin, you know---the I know something you don't know and I am going to lord it over you grin."

I nod again, feeling the usual anticipation whenever Mom tells this story.

"It didn't seem odd until the day of the ball, when not only Evie but pretty much every girl, including Sera, did everything in their power to make sure I was going to that ball. I'd gotten so sick of them by then I was considering cancelling, but I didn't want to let down Mal and Ben, so I sucked it up and went.

"After arriving with Carlos, I was thrilled I had come. Baby Isla was so cute! Everyone adored her, and seeing Mal and Ben away from a paparazzi-filled hospital was a relief."

"Why didn't they have a hospital in the palace?" I realize.

Mom glances at me reproachfully, but doesn't say anything about my interruption. "It never occured to anyone to build one in there, I suppose. Kinda silly. Anyway, the ball went great for the most part, besides the one blow-up from Isla where she accidentally used magic to make a paparazzi's camera turn into an angry baby minotaur."

I snicker, remembering the legendary video, where you can just see baby Isla looking oh-so-innocent in the background, cooing at her mother while a photographer is being chased by a purple minotaur in a diaper.

By now, Mom's so engrossed in the story she doesn't even scold me. "Everyone cleared out pretty quickly then, which I don't think bothered Mal or Ben much. After that, your ridiculous father told me that Ben wanted to meet us for something important and classified. Me being me, I jumped to conclusions and thought something must've happened with the Isle. The barrier being down still felt so new, and we had the occasional villain-outburst, so I followed him to an empty conference room. When no one was there, I started getting suspicious, but then Carlos closed the door behind me. The moment the door shut---"

"Candles. Snowdrops. Ring." I say dreamily.

Mom smiles, broken from her trance for a moment. "Candles lit instantly, courtesy of Endora, snowdrop petals everywhere, because he knew they were my favorite flower, and then he got on one knee and reached into his pocket..." She smiles dreamily here. "And pulls out the smallest box you've ever seen, with the most simple, gorgeous ring." Like always, when she says this, her right hand starts fiddling with her ring on her left hand.

Mom's engagement ring is a little simple, but seriously fits her. It's made with a silver band, a tiny, shimmering ice gem surrounded with miniscule diamonds. It's melded together with her wedding ring, a gold one with silver curlicues etched in (Dad welded them together as a gift---she worried she would lose the engagement ring if she wasn't wearing it).

"Then he starts talking, saying the sweetest things about how we met, and how he'd never forget how I looked to him, meeting for the first time. That I was the only one for him, and he'd never had a doubt about it except to wonder if he was the one for me."

Here she kind of flushes, looking embarrassed. "And, me being me, realizing what was happening, I interrupted his speech, hitting him on the shoulder and shouting, "You scared me! I thought we were being attacked!"

I giggle. "And Dad never finished his speech, because you grabbed the ring from him and said yes before he even realized what happened."

She nods, smiling down at the ring. "Yes, and I only found out later that pretty much all of our friends helped him orchestrate the whole thing, and he'd written the speech word for word and showed it to me a few months later."

"I've read it." I grin at her. "Dad is a serious romantic."

She laughs. "Yes, he is, and I'm surprised you've read it! When?"

"Dad showed it to me a few weeks ago. I can't believe you framed it."

"Well, it was sweet, and I wanted to remember it since I never actually got to hear him say it!" Mom's laughing so hard now she's nearly crying. "It's not my fault I used to be naturally suspicious!"

"Yeah, between getting bullied, the coronation, getting kidnapped, Cotillion, losing your powers, nearly dying, paparazzi, the attack on Auradon, well, attacks, and---" I say, counting it off on my fingers.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Mom grabs my hands, putting them down. "I had an exciting life."

"No kidding." I snicker. "I hope I never live up to that."

"I hope you don't either, kiddo." She ruffles my hair. "I sincerely hope you don't."

EDIT: This is what Ellie's wedding outfit looked like! Couldn't figure out where else to wiggle it into this chapter XD------Top left is engagement ring, bottom right is wedding.

___________________________

So thanks to Disney+, I've finally seen "Hamilton". And... I hate to say it, but I don't think it lives up to all the hype it gets. It was good, yes, I enjoyed it. But it certainly wasn't my favorite ever, or even in the top. I kinda of despise listening to long soundtracks, and since this one is ENTIRELY SONGS, it's hard for me to listen to it. I've picked out a few songs I like, and that's it. I just don't like rapping, or whatever it is that they do in a lot of those. Plus, Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't fit that role very well. His voice was really high-pitched and sounded babyish compared to the rest. He didn't have a lot of level with his rapping bits, and it just sounded like "WAHWAH-WAH-WAH"... Idk. I guess I'm just weird.

Anyway, sorry for ranting. Hope everyone enjoys their day!