'you look beautiful' Jack said to his daughter as he walked into the bride room of their church. He couldn't believe that the day had finally come. For months they had been planning this in between work and family business, and now here they were, with Jack Hudson about to hand his eldest daughter Blair-Rose Hudson over to another man, to look after and protect for the rest of his and her life. Today was the day that Blair got married.
Jack looked at his daughter from where he stood in the door way of the bride's room. Blair-Rose was almost the splitting image of her mother Sue. The only differences being that Blair-Rose had deep brown hair just like her father and instead of her mother's hazel eyes she had her father's deep brown ones. Blair-Rose was tall with long legs and a thin but not too thin body. which was currently covered in a beautiful long white strapless dress, that was covered in vines and small flowers, all done in the finest gold thread that Jack had ever seen. Blair's hair, normally straight was curled and pulled back in to a half ponytail, on top of that sat the silver leaf style tiara that Sue had worn at her and Jack's wedding. Flowing down over Blair's back was the very veil that her aunt Tara had worn for her wedding to her uncle Bobby. It fell to the floor and had a small piece on the front that was currently covering Blair's face.
All in all if Jack didn't know better he would say it was his lovely wife Sue standing before him not their eldest daughter. Jack was wounding how this beautiful angel could be his daughter when he heard her call his name; walking in to the room Jack headed over to Blair.
'Dad do you think I'm doing the right thing?' Blair said as her father drew closer. Jack stopped startled, where had this come from? only yesterday night Blair had been telling him how much she was looking forward to this day, to finally being Mrs Robert Wilkinson, and now here she was having second thoughts.
'where did this come from?' Jack said as he took his daughter's hands in his own. He could see her face well through the sheer veil that covered it.
'it's just...' Blair started '...it feels kind of weird wearing a wedding dress and mum's tiara, and knowing that I'm going to soon be married,... and that out of everything I ever wanted for my wedding,.. there's one big important thing missing' Jack was taken back at that, when Blair had come home and said she and her boyfriend Robert Wilkinson were getting married, Jack had handed her a check book for an account he had set up on the day she was born, and had told her to use the money in that account to get whatever she wanted for the wedding. 2 days ago she had turned round and told him she had everything.
'what do you mean something big is missing sweetheart, I thought you got everything?'
'you can't buy this thing dad!'
'well what is it?'
'Mum'
At that word Jack understood. Blair had always told him that it was her dream for her mother and father to be at her wedding. While Jack had been able to make it Sue however had not. Jack felt his heart twist in knots at the thought of his beloved late wife Sue Hudson. It had been 7 years since Sue had died in a car crash, that not only took her life but left Bobby in a wheelchair for the rest of his, and left the best team in the FBI in tatters. It had taken Jack almost 4 years to stop grieving for Sue during that time he also had to work and take care of their 4 youngest children who were still in high school.
Now 7 years on from that fateful day Jack had finally moved on. while he wasn't dating and he didn't think he ever would, he had finally excepted that Sue was gone and that God had called her home to heaven to be one of his angels.
'She would be so proud of you right now Blair, in fact I know she's proud of you, cos she's right here in this room standing next to me wondering just what we did right, to make god bless us with 7 of his most beautiful and handsome angels.'
'Dad!'
'I'm not lying Blair' Jack said pulling his daughter into a hug. When he pulled back he started talking again. 'You and your brothers and sisters are and will be forever mine and your mother's angels. you could be 86 and have great grandkids, and look like an old crone but you and your siblings will still be angels, in mine and your mother's eyes'
'your dad's right Blair' said a voice from the doorway, both Blair and Jack turned to look at the newcomer. Sitting in his wheelchair in the doorway was Jack's best friend and Blair's honorary uncle Bobby Manning. Seeing that he had got their attention Bobby spoke once again.
'if Sue taught me anything while she was on this earth, it's that the ones you love never truly leave you because they never leave here, or here' he said pointing to his head and heart one after the other. 'your mum would be so proud of the woman you've become, that she would agree with your father that you are an angel...' Bobby wheeled himself into the room a bit more before saying ' ...a gun carrying, badge wielding, ass kicking FBI angel, but an angel none the less'
Letting go of her father's hands Blair walked over to her uncle and bent down to give him a hug and a kiss. When she stood back up she turned to Jack and said 'I miss her so much, she was more than my mother she was my best friend to, I don't think any one will ever completely fill the hole that her death left in my heart, but I know that my wedding to Robert is the first step in filling some of it.' Blair turned once more and headed to the window seat where her bouquet of red and white roses sat.
once she had picked it up she wrapped a blue ribbon around the ends and headed towards her father. while she had been busy Bobby had backed out the room and headed in to the main part of the church to take his place next to his wife Tara and their 4 kids. When Blair reached her father she looked him in the eyes and said 'I'm ready' Jack held out his arm and felt Blair wrap her hand around it. He led her out of the bride's room and over to the double doors that led to the main part of the church, as they drew close Jack's second oldest daughter Emma turned and began her long walk to the front of the church. Once she had arrived the music changed, and Jack led Blair down the aisle to the man waiting for her at the altar. As they reached the end of their long walk Jack noticed the empty seat that sat next to his in the front row of the brides side. It was the chair that Sue would and should of been sitting in. After giving Blair's hand over to Robert, Jack sat in his chair watching as Blair and Robert took their vows to love, honour and cherish each other till death do they part. As he watched them, he saw out of the corner of his eye a beautiful gold and blue butterfly land in the centre of Sue untaken seat. Jack turned his head a little and smiled at the butterfly, before watching it fly up and over the young couple at the altar.
Jack didn't need to be told who that butterfly was, because he knew there was only one person it could be .
Up in heaven Sue Hudson nee Thomas stood at the edge of a cloud watching as her oldest ran out of a church holding the hand of her new husband and laughing as the wedding party threw rice at them. Sue smiled down on them but the one person she watched the most was Jack. She couldn't wait for the day they where rejoined, and as she watched him she saw him look up at the sky and she saw him say the very words that he had told her on their wedding day.
'I love you sue now and till the end of time'
