Siobhan laughed, thinking about it. “Marry Theo Bear?” She asked, looking across Emily’s room, seeing the loppy bear in his cute tuxedo and dopey stitched smile. But she didn’t immediately say no.

She had always dreamed of her wedding. The pomp, the ceremony, all of it. Not so much who she would be married to, or what married life would be like, just the wedding. It was too bad she couldn’t practice, to feel what it would be like, before it happened for real.

“Wouldn’t work. We would need a venue, guests, and an officiant.” Siobhan said, and that gave Emily a pause. It was fun to watch her friend work, to get this excited over something so silly. Marry a teddy bear, Siobhan rolled her eyes as she thought about it.

“The gameroom is big enough. We can hang up lights to make it more magical, and it has a bit of a chapel vibe with that big window. Plus, its where all my and Mark’s toys are. They’ll be your guests.” Emily snapped her fingers, “Mark had a pirate captain doll! Ship captains can marry people!”

“I’d need a dress.” Siobhan said, plucking at her oversized sweater, “I’m not getting fake married in this.”

Emily’s eyes went wide, “Wait, no, actually!” she said, jumping, “I still have that dress from that ‘my size’ Barbie!” She rushed to her closet and began rummaging through it furiously, until at last hauling out a plastic doll in a wedding-like gown. Well, on her it was a gown, on Siobhan it might be more of a short dress.

“Do you throw anything away?”

“No, never. Actually, hang on!” Emily said, spinning around again. More digging as Siobhan laughed, and laughed some more when her friend pulled out a red yarn wig, something she recognized from a Halloween costume a few years back.

“You want me to wear that?”

“Only a doll can marry a teddy bear. Besides, it would look so cute on you! So, do you want to do this?”

Siobhan sat back, thinking, dreaming. This was the kind of thing they would do when they were kids. It was more elaborate, but it was the same idea. And maybe that was what convinced for Siobhan. Life had just been so hectic as she grew up and adjusted to college and living away from home.

“I do.”

They spent the next half hour in a hectic rush. Emily grabbed Theo Bear and rushed him to the gameroom, the place where they used to play as kids. Siobhan put on her dress, finding it snug, and the top button didn’t clasp. But it worked well enough, and looked better when she dug out some costume gloves and white tights. Then, she sat on the floor and did her makeup, even adding dollish circles on her cheeks, making sure everything was perfect. When she was done, a living toy stared back at her. A toy about to married off.

When the time came, Emily stood behind her, her Maid of Honor, as “Here Comes the Bride” filled the air. The doors opened, and Siobhan’s breath caught. Dozens of old toys stood in rows, standing, waiting. She imagined they went hush as they saw her.

Then, her eyes went to Theo. He smiled at her, and she began to blush, really blush, beneath those doll circles. Stepping down the aisle, everything was becoming real. The toys felt like they were her sized, watching her with smiles and joyful tears. The pirate captain with his one eye smiling proudly, waiting. When she took Theo Bear’s hands, it felt like he was helping her to stand, instead of the other way around.

Siobhan looked into those beady black eyes, full of joy and mirth, as Emily began to recite wedding ceremony in the voice of a gruff pirate. After a moment, all Siobhan heard was the pirate speaking of marriage and love.

Then came the time: “Siobhan Anette O’Brian, do you take this teddy bear to be yer lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do,” she said. Those two words felt so heavy with importance that they felt real. Staring at Theo, there was an odd shifting in the world, like something was happening.

“Then, I now pronounce you Mr. Theo Bear and Mrs. Siobhan Bear. You may now kiss the doll.”

It took her by surprise when Theo leaned in for the kiss, pressing his muzzle to her lips. It took her breath. And it did something more. As Siobhan wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck, she felt the wave, like a warm rain falling upon her. Changing her. She felt lighter on her toes, softer in her skin. As Theo pulled away, she knew she had changed. Not just from a woman into a wife, but from a woman into a doll.

Her mouth falling open, Siobhan stared, realizing just what she had done. It was all meant to be pretend. But somehow, she pretended so hard that the wedding became real.

She was a wife, and a doll, until death do they part.