The Cherished Wife by Chweety

them a reassuring smile. "Peter's my brother. You've probably heard of him, right? He's tight with Charles and the gang."

"I'm Jennifer. I'm guessing we haven't met before, so let me introduce myself!" Jennifer said cheerfully, taking a seat next to Noelle after handing her a glass of wine. Though she was chatting with Noelle, her gaze drifted over to where Charles and his friends were, offering "Ah! Nice to meet you, Ms. Lennon!" Noelle replied with a warm smile, nodding. She felt more at ease and raised her glass to clink with Jennifer's.

Ever the easygoing one, Jennifer lifted her glass to meet Noelle's. "Hey, drop the 'Ms. Lennon', will you? It's way too stiff. Just Jennifer is fine-that's what everyone calls me."

"Sure thing, Jennifer!" Noelle agreed with a nod. "Then you can call me Noelle. That's what my friends call me!"

"Got it!" Jennifer, always one to get straight to the point, chatted with Noelle for a bit and then noticed something different about her than the usual crowd. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know Charles?"

Jennifer was not trying to snoop around-it was just that even though they were not super close, her brother Peter was tight with Charles, which meant she was pretty friendly with Charles too. Whenever they bumped into each other, she would always shout a friendly "Hey, Charles!" She thought she had the scoop on most things Charles, but his wedding? That was news to her.

figured out she was

and I go way back, and we've actually been hitched for quite some time. We just skipped the big party and didn't make a fuss about it, so not a lot of folks are in the loop. How we got together? Well, that's a tale for

"Only the crew here today knows about us being

Jennifer replied. She knew the ins and outs of their social circle. "If you guys want to keep it on the down-low, that's cool. These days, it's all about marrying who you want, and it's nobody else's

my

now. You know, tying the knot is a big deal for families, and there could be some

had gathered into two groups and

Peter, Yoel, and Bob huddled around one table, while Steven took the head seat at the next, flanked by

drifted to

He caught her look, and their eyes

en