Disclaimer: The following story is based on characters from the television series "Walker, Texas Ranger," of which I own no part. I may also reference various movies or songs, which I claim no ownership of. If you recognize anything, it does not belong to me. These chapters are written solely for entertainment. I make no profit from them.
Author's Note: Greetings! This is my version of Season 10, Episode 5. Sorry it took so long to post. I decided to take a slightly different line with this story for a lighter tone, but that also made it more difficult to write, and real life was not on my side. This story holds to the adage "art imitates life." I hope knowing this will make reading it more enjoyable. A big thank you goes to my beta, moviemom44. I greatly appreciate all your help. For those who reviewed my last story, please accept my sincerest thanks. I always enjoy hearing what others think of my writing. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy this most recent installment.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Title: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Chapel"
By: T.M. Hoagland
Chapter 1: Sunday
"Good sermon, Brother Martin," commented Trivette as he shook the pastor's hand on his way out of the church. Erika was right behind him and they were followed by their friends, having decided to attend services all together this Sunday morning.
"Thank you, Jimmy," replied Martin in a smooth baritone voice. "So, Saturday is the big day. Are you getting nervous?" The jovial smile on his round, tan face was framed by a full, well-trimmed salt and pepper beard and matched by the friendly sparkle in his hazel eyes. His sturdy frame was easily five inches taller than Jimmy, and he had a distinct air of authority.
"Can I just plead the fifth for now?" replied Jimmy with a chuckle. The pastor laughed at that as he slapped Jimmy on the back before Jimmy continued with, "You know my partner, Walker, and his wife Alex and daughter Angela, and you've met Gage and Sydney. This is Max Bowen, a fellow Ranger, and our friend Sam Dawson. This is my pastor, Martin Friendly."
"I'm pleased to meet you both," Martin stated as he shook their hands. "Is the rehearsal still set for Friday, Jimmy?"
"Yes, sir," he answered.
"Sounds good. You all have a good day now."
With a genial wave the friends walked away to their vehicles.
"So we're still having lunch at the ranch, right?" questioned Alex. Everyone agreed as they piled into the cars.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The sun shone down on the friends, bright and warm in the clear, late July sky, as they all gathered around the picnic table in the Walker's backyard, talking and laughing together and enjoying sandwiches and a variety of salads for lunch.
"So do we still want to leave the cars here and carpool while we go out?" queried Alex as the meal began to wind down.
"That would probably work best," replied Walker. "Max offered to take us guys for Trivette's bachelor party. Are you ladies still taking Sydney's Jeep?"
"That's the plan," answered Syd.
"Well, it's almost 1:30," put in Gage as they began to stand and clear things up. "I reckon we'd best get going soon."
"Yeah," added Jimmy with a sly grin. "I'm looking forward to this."
"Honey, you never did tell me where they were taking you," posed Erika to Jimmy.
"Oh, I didn't?" he returned as he smiled wide and his eyes got big. "They're taking me to the Men's Club to see some dancers."
"What?!" Erika demanded.
"Wait a second," cut in Sam with a questioning look. "They didn't get you a private engagement?" Then with a sigh and a shake of her head while turning for the house to follow the other ladies, she continued, "That's what I lined up for Erika."
Jimmy's face fell as he looked between the four women. "What are you talking about?" he asked as he trailed after them.
"Looks like Erika's going to have more fun at her bachelorette party," contributed Syd with a straight face.
"Yeah, who would have thought," added Alex.
"Hang on, you guys," Jimmy stated as he tried to stop them. "I was just teasing her, you know. We're really just going to Six Flags."
Sam turned to look at him with a guilty expression as she responded, "Oh. Well, just forget what I said then."
"What do you mean by that?!" exclaimed Jimmy with a worried look.
"Jimmy," Erika asserted as she took his arm and turned him to look at her. "The engagement she lined up is at the spa. You know, massages, facials, that sort of thing."
"Oh, good," breathed Jimmy with relief as the four women began to laugh.
"Jimmy, you're such an easy mark," teased Alex as she patted him on the shoulder.
Everyone worked together and the lunch items were put away in short order. Then they all moved outside to the vehicles.
"So, are Joe and Marta looking forward to watching Angela?" Walker asked Alex as he kissed his baby girl goodbye while she grinned at him from her car seat.
"They are," Alex told him as she buckled Angela into the middle of Syd's backseat and turned toward him. "We're going to take her there first. I think I have everything for her."
"Well, you ladies have fun," Walker told them as he took her in his arms. Trivette and Gage followed suit, kissing their fiancée's goodbye, and none of them noticed the lingering gaze and smile that passed between Sam and Max. Then the guys climbed into Max's Jeep while the ladies got in Syd's, and soon they were all headed out to their separate parties.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Sam, this was such a good idea," declared Erika. "I'm glad we had my shower yesterday, and can take some time now to just relax." The four ladies were all in a warm room laying face down on massage tables with individual masseurs attending to them. She and Alex were on one side of the room and on the other side Syd and Sam were facing them.
"Yeah," added Syd. "I think I want to do this for my party, too."
"I was thinking," Sam told them, "maybe we can make this a regular girl's day out, say once every couple months, if y'all are interested."
"I could go for that," replied Alex, as Syd and Erika chorused their agreement.
"So, are you all packed and ready to move, Erika?" questioned Syd.
"Pretty much," she answered. "Most of my things are going into storage for now, of course. Jimmy's place isn't big enough for all my stuff and his, and we're still looking for property to build on, so we don't want to move to a new house yet if we can avoid it. But Tuesday is the last day of the month and I need to be all out of my apartment by then. It will be nice to not have moving to worry about for the rest of the week. And I think Daddy's looking forward to having me stay with him for the last few days before the wedding."
"You still want me to meet you in the morning?" asked Sam.
"Sure, as long as you don't mind," Erika returned. "I really appreciate you offering your help and your truck."
"No problem," stated Sam. "If we get as much of the little stuff out of the way as possible it will be easier for the guys to help with the big things after work."
"Whatever the case, it's going to be a full week," continued Erika. "I'm glad I got this week off from work."
"Speaking of the guys," put in Alex, "I hope they're having fun right now."
"I'm sure they are," rejoined Syd. "You could see the excitement on their faces when they left the ranch, like a bunch of boys playing hooky." The ladies all shared a laugh over that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The four men laughed and talked as they walked through the park while evening approached. They had already ridden several rides and played a number of games.
"Hey, where do we want to get supper?" queried Gage as he looked around.
"You can't be hungry," replied Walker, half in disbelief. "You've gotten food at nearly every vendor we've passed."
"That was just snacks," Gage retorted defensively.
"You and your hollow leg," rejoined Jimmy.
"You've had almost as much as he has," put in Max.
"Well I'm not the one talking about where to get dinner," countered Jimmy.
Their banter was suddenly cut short by a commotion behind them. They turned to see a group of eight boys in their late teens coming up the path, talking loud and being rowdy. As they passed by a middle aged couple, one of the boys neatly lifted the man's wallet while the others harassed his wife before they moved on.
"Here we go again," Walker quietly stated as the boys approached them. "You do know you're going to have to give that back?" he directed at the pickpocket.
"What are you talking about, old man?" demanded the evident leader as he stood toe to toe with Walker.
"You're friend here just stole that man's wallet," Walker went on. "Not that you didn't know that. He's going to have to give it back."
"Now that's a pretty serious accusation," the boy loudly protested as he looked around at his friends and saw them circling around the four men. "And even if it were true, I don't think you can do anything about it." The boys had begun to jeer at them in agreement with their ringleader.
"Take it easy, boys," Trivette told them. "We're Texas Rangers. It would be wise to cooperate."
Then the pickpocket began to stealthily move in on Jimmy and reach for his pocket.
"Hey!" Gage called out to the boy before he could steal from Jimmy. "I guess you don't realize that that would be a really bad idea. You're already going to have to give at least one back."
Suddenly Max grabbed the arm of another boy who was reaching for Gage's wallet. He shook his head as he commented, "Looks like we've got more than one with sticky fingers. I guess we'll have to have you all run in and searched."
"Get 'em!" yelled the ringleader as he swung at Walker, who easily dodged and grabbed the boy by the back of the neck to propel him into another and knock both to the ground as a fight erupted. Another boy swung at Jimmy, who ducked so that the young rogue instead struck one of his accomplices. Then Jimmy threw a quick jab to the ruffian's head and sent him sprawling. One swung at Gage, who caught him in a chokehold and proceeded to dispatch another with a kick to the head. Two charged Max at once, but he caught them at their collars and knocked their heads together twice, effectively dazing both. In less than a minute the gang of rowdies had been subdued. Someone had notified security of the disturbance and they were already running to the scene. Walker identified himself and his companions and explained to the security officers what had happened as the boys were taken into custody.
"Why does this always happen to us?" posed Gage as he looked at Jimmy in bewilderment. "We can't go anywhere without somebody doing something stupid."
"And why do they always try to fight?" put in Max.
Jimmy just shook his head and then held his hands out as he looked up at the sky. Like he was addressing God, he simply said, "Why? Why?"
"Sorry, Trivette," stated Walker as he turned to face him. "I guess we'll have to cut this short and go in to give statements."
"Aww, man," Jimmy groused as he hung his head and followed the others back towards the car. "We can't seem to finish a bachelor party. I hope yours turns out better, Gage."
"Maybe we should really go to the Men's Club for me," posed Gage. "We keep teasing the ladies about it. Maybe if we did, nothing would interrupt it."
"Yeah," stated Walker with a slight chuckle, "nothing but Sydney. And something tells me I'd rather face an angry bear." Then Jimmy and Max joined him in a laugh while Gage stopped and paused in thought.
"You're right," Gage finally concluded with a shake of his head. "Bad idea." The four men laughed again as they climbed into the Jeep.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The ladies were sitting around the dining table drinking coffee and talking when the men returned to the ranch house. The extension was in the table so that three chairs were on either side, and one chair sat at each end. The men came in to find Syd sitting on one end of the table, with Alex and Sam sitting across from each other on either side of her, and Erika on the other side of Alex. Walker moved to Alex to kiss her in greeting while Jimmy and Gage kissed their fiancée's as well. And they all took notice when Max sat beside Sam and casually draped his right arm across the back of her chair and his left arm over the empty chair beside him. Yet nobody said anything when Sam subtly leaned back against Max's arm, rested her elbows on the armrests of her chair, and clasped her hands in front of herself.
"So, how was your visit to the spa?" Jimmy asked Erika.
"It was wonderful," she answered.
"Very relaxing," said Syd.
"We've decided we need to do this more often," put in Alex.
"Did you boys have fun at Six Flags?" queried Erika of her fiancé.
"Yeah," Jimmy replied, "until we ended up at the police station."
"What happened?" exclaimed Alex as she looked up at her husband.
"We just ran into some teenage boys who were a little too big for their britches," Walker told her.
"They were harassing people and picking pockets," contributed Gage. "One tried to lift Trivette's wallet and another tried to get mine."
"Then when we stopped them they picked a fight with us," added Max. "I guess they figured that since there were more of them they could take us."
"Why do they always fight?" Syd posed with a shake of her head.
"Fight or run," stated Jimmy, "usually both."
They talked for a few more minutes until they heard a plaintive cry from Angela come through the baby monitor.
"That's our cue to go," declared Erika as she rose and hugged Alex goodbye. "We'll see you tomorrow."
The others said goodbye to the Walkers and made their way out of the house. Then Jimmy and Erika told their friends goodbye and climbed into his car to leave.
"Syd, I know it's getting late," Gage began as they followed Sam and Max to the vehicles, "but I'm kind of hungry. We missed supper because of that fiasco at Six Flags."
"Not that you didn't get plenty to eat while we were there," put in Max.
"But that was like three hours ago," said Gage.
"Why don't we go back to C.D.'s?" offered Sam. "I need to check on things there anyway. Then Gage can get something to eat, too."
They all agreed to that, and then Sam and Max went to their vehicles while Gage and Syd climbed into her Jeep.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was a very light crowd at the grill when the friends arrived. The four sat at their usual table, Gage and Syd on one side with Max and Sam across from them. The guys both ordered burgers while the ladies shared a plate of cheesy fries. They talked about the upcoming weddings while they ate and when they were done Gage and Max decided to play a game of pool.
"So what's with you and Max?" Sydney slyly asked Sam.
"We're just friends, Syd," Sam replied with a slight smile, though her eyes were watching Max and she could not keep a slight rosy shade from her cheeks. "I mean, we haven't even known each other for two months yet."
Syd grinned at her as she said, "That may be, but you two sure seem a little more than friendly sometimes. Like when he wrapped his arm around you at the Walker's."
"He was just stretching out," retorted Sam in defense. "He stretched his other arm out over the other chair, too, you know."
"Sure he was," Syd returned indulgently. "Is that why you leaned against him?"
"That's not what happened," Sam stated in measured tones. "I just settled into my chair because I was tired of leaning on the table."
"Right," returned Syd in a teasing manner that clearly indicated she was not at all convinced.
"So how are your plans coming for your wedding?" queried Sam in an all too obvious attempt to change the subject.
"We're getting there," answered Syd. "I'm trying to remember that no matter what happens or what may go wrong, at the end of the day we will still be married. That's the only thing keeping me from losing my sanity." Both the women laughed at this and continued to talk about the plans.
Before long the guys had finished their game and were coming back.
"I think it's time to head out," stated Gage. "We've got an early morning tomorrow."
"Good idea," agreed Syd.
With that the four made their way to their vehicles. Sam hugged Syd goodbye while Max exchanged a handshake with Gage, and then Syd and Gage went to her Jeep. Max turned to Sam and smiled.
"Good night, Sam," he said softly. "See you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely," she replied, returning his smile. "Good night, Max." With that they climbed into their respective cars and left.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To be continued….