Page 47
Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure, the sequel, etc.
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Chapter One:
"Are you sure asking Ian to be a groomsman is a good idea?" Abigail asked. She and Ben had been discussing their wedding for quite some time, and this day, the discussion locale was their living room.
"How much harm can he do at a wedding, Abi?" Ben asked in response. "Perhaps I should ask my best man."
"Huh, what?" Riley asked, looking up from his computer.
"What do you think about Ian joining the wedding party?"
"He tried to shoot me!"
"There we go," Abi whispered.
"I want him back on our side!"
"I rest my case." Ben got up to leave when Riley stopped him.
"Is Ian even out of jail?"
"Yeah, actually. Released last week." After a pause, "Thanks for your help."
"Yep."
AAA
"Now, Kelsie, do you have any specific security concerns?" Agent Sadusky asked the blonde haired girl on the other side of her desk.
"Not really," she replied, not yet mentioning the odd visions she'd been having about a man in a red uniform.
"Alright. Is there anything specific you want us to know?"
"Have a seat." Slowly, carefully, and in detail, Kelsie Williams described the man that had haunted her dreams from almost day one, and the odd vision out-page forty-seven. All the while, Sadusky listened attentively, taking notes here and there, even.
"Why do you see a page in a book one time, and an eighteenth-century British soldier the rest of the time?"
"Beats me."
"In your vision, did page forty-seven...say anything?"
"Not that I can remember. I haven't had the vision since."
"I see. That's all I needed to know. Thank you."
"Thanks for stoppin' by," Kelsie called after him as he left. Wow, she thought. The wedding of the century and she was in it. Hey, maybe that foreign exchange kid from high school will be there. "Ian Howe," she whispered to herself, allowing the words to flow over her tongue. Each time she so much as thought of him, the old feelings she'd had came back, full force.
Abigail knocked on her office door, distracting Kelsie from her musings. "Come in."
"Did Sadusky talk to you already?" she asked.
"Yeah, absolutely."
"You're good to go?"
"Yep, a hundred per cent."
"Okay, just checking."
"Have fun, and take a day off, would ya? We don't want another Bridezilla trying to create what already is the wedding of the century."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, good idea. Good idea. I'll do that."
Not that Kelsie thought she would.
AAA
After spending roughly two days total dress shopping, Kelsie had managed to escape the company of the other bridesmaids and Abigail, her boss and the bride. What a day. They'd finally settled on a light periwinkle silk for the dresses, designed to show a little off, complete with scarves to match. It had taken Abi a lot longer to settle on a dress for the ceremony: a white, beaded, torso hugging thing with a mass of tule for a skirt.
AAA
Ben was pacing back and forth the day of the wedding as his groomsmen, led by best man Riley, looked on. "Sheesh, Ben, bundle of nerves much?" Riley asked.
"This is it, Ri, the big day," Ben replied.
"Ben, if you don't mind, I'd like to get our order straight," Ian said, breaking Ben's pacing spell. "Riley, myself, Joseph, and Carl, correct?"
"Riley, you, Carl, Joseph."
"Thank you."
"Okay, people. Places! Five minutes to the ceremony, let's move it." The groomsmen walked single file out the door in reverse order, followed by Ben. "You'll do fine," Riley reassured his best friend.
"Thanks. I really can't thank you enough for your help these past few months."
"Don't worry 'bout it. It's the best man's job." To the others, he shouted, "Okay, pair time!"
Ian thought to himself, Life-altering indeed, as he stepped into place right beside Kelsie. Kelsie? She was here? How?
"Ian! Wow," she whispered.
"Fancy seeing you here," he replied.
Right next to Ian, where she'd always dreamed of being. Kelsie had almost attained that dream during that time Ian had spent at her school, but then there was Ella, Queen of Bunker Hill High School, Lexington, Massechussets.
"Last time I saw you was at prom that year you were here," she whispered, right before the ceremony started. They walked down the aisle to the tune of the music and split accordingly as the last pair finished the walk and in came the groom, Ben Gates. A few minutes behind Ben was a cute little five-year-old throwing petals into the air, and right behind her was Abigail Chase, soon to be Abigail Gates, at least, if neither one left the altar.
"Who gives this woman to be wed?" the preacher asked.
"I do," a fifty- or sixty-something woman said as she stood and then sat down again. Heavy German accent.
"Repeat after me," he said to Ben. "I, Benjamin Franklin Gates,"
"I, Benjamin Franklin Gates,"
"take Abigail Chase,"
"take Abigail Chase,"
"to be my wedded wife,"
"to be my wedded wife,"
"to have and to hold,"
"to have and to hold,"
"in sickness and in health,"
"in sickness and in health,"
"come hell or high water," Surpressed chuckes spurred through the witnesses.
"come hell or high water,"
"till death do us part."
"till death do us part."
The preacher then turned to Abi and said, "Repeat after me. I, Abigail Chase,"
"I, Abigail Chase,"
"take Benjamin Franklin Gates,"
"take Benjamin Franklin Gates,"
"to be my wedded husband,"
"to be my wedded husband,"
"to have and to hold,"
"to have and to hold,"
"in sickness and in health,"
"in sickness and in health,"
"come hell or high water,"
"come hell or high water,"
"till death do us part."
"till death do us part."
"By the power vested in me by God and the state of Massechussets, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." So, Abigail Chase and Ben Gates kissed, and they were Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Gates. Best man and maid of honor followed the couple, followed by Kelsie and Ian, and the other two couples, and, as a rule, they diverged to their separate suites.