Millicent had mentally prepared herself for this night. She rehashed the worst possible scenarios, and braced herself to either handle them calmly and sarcastically, or to take them outside, to save the reputations of all involved. Of course, when she got there, she hadn't had to worry so much. She extended her congratulations to the newlyweds, briefly conversed with those who were willing and ignored those who weren't. Nobody was openly hostile - though, to be fair, who would be stupid enough to lose their composure at an event like this?
But everything was going well. People were polite-to-friendly, she was dressed nicely (red, she decided, was definitely her colour) and actually looked halfway decent in it, and with the ambience and the champagne, things seemed better, as if she wasn't a single mother, a high-profile divorcee, hadn't blown up her life in several directions back in school. She had all the uncomplications of a schoolgirl, with poise she never had. And fuck anyone who was going to ruin that.
Leaning against a banister casually, she took a slow sip of her drink, looking rather cocky for a recently-single person at a wedding. She scanned the crowd for familiar - or at least interesting - faces, because what else was one supposed to do? She knew enough that these sorts of things were first and foremost for hobnobbing with the Right People.
And that's when she saw him, purposefully striding onto the patio, looking for all the world like he owned the place. "Someone's pleased with himself," she quipped, a split second before she realised just who she was talking to - and though she didn't let down her guard, she discreetly set her glass down before she managed to snap the stem.