Part 2 of 3

The day of the wedding dawned bright and sunshiny just as Ally had hoped it would. Unable to sleep any longer, she climbed out of her big four poster bed and moved over to the window seat. She was soon imagining what her life with Jason would be like. She was scared the marriage wouldn't last but she was determined that she would never walk away from Jason the way her father had her mother. She would fight for her marriage and her family the way Sam Fowler never had.

She didn't know why she was thinking about her father so much lately but there it was. He should have been the one walking her down the aisle - not Cameron - but she realized now that it was all a pipe dream. She wouldn't likely ever see Sam again...

She sighed and turned away from the window just as the door opened and her grandmother strolled in, already dressed in a blue dress and high heels. Even in her late seventies, Rachel Hutchins still cut quite a distinct figure with her towering height and her thick dark hair that had never seen a lick of gray thanks to a bottle of ever-present number 405 russet brown. Rachel swooped over to Ally and gave her a big hug. "Good morning, lovely girl," she said. "Oh no. Are those tears I see? I hope those are happy tears."

Ally dabbed at her face, not even realizing she had been crying. "Yeah, happy tears ..."

Rachel nodded. "You don't have to put on a show for me. Tell me - do you have cold feet?"

Ally promptly shook her head. "No, actually not at all. I just wish my dad could have bothered to send an R.S.V.P. and say he was coming. I really hoped for once he would put me first and be here to walk me down the aisle."

Rachel smoothed down Ally's bed-rumpled hair. "I know, dear. Sam - oh Sam, I don't know what happened to him. He used to be the grounding influence for your mother and now she's the mature one. She's not nearly as flighty as she used to be -"

"Who are you calling flighty?" Amanda's voice came from the doorway.

Rachel turned and looked at her daughter without the slightest hint of embarrassment on her face. "I meant you. You've matured and I'm very proud of you, Amanda."

Amanda smiled widely. "Was that a genuine compliment from Rachel Cory Hutchins?"

Ally looked between her mother and grandmother. "Do I have to referee you two on my wedding day of all days?"

Amanda pooh-poohed the question. "Of course not. Mother and I are much better off than we used to be. Once she learned to accept Cameron as a permanent fixture in my life and started to see me as less 'flighty' ..."

Rachel waved her hand dismissively. "Oh get over here, you silly girl," she said and embraced Amanda. "It's your daughter's wedding day and neither of us will dare ruin it for her."

"You'd better not," a voice came from the doorway. Ally turned around and spotted her best friend standing there with a hand-held hair drier in her either of her hands. "I have these babies and I'm not afraid to use them if anyone ruins Ally's special day."

Rachel shook her head. "Good morning to you too, Remy."

"Why thank you," Remy said with a wide smile. "As maid of honor it's my prerogative to be bitchy and order people around."

"Don't mess with her," Ally warned with a smile.

"Damn right," Remy said and moved into the room, lightly hugging Ally around the shoulders. "Your hair is atrocious and your wedding is in two hours. It will take some doing but I think I might be able to rescue it."

Ally laughed and soon enough, the wedding preparations were in full swing.

XoXoXo

Paulina and Joe Carlino walked onto the grounds of the Cory Estate holding hands and looking every bit the happy couple. Paulina was obviously pregnant - close to bursting as she put it - and Joe kept asking her if she was okay. She kept saying she was fine, just fine, and could her husband stop worrying about her? She may be nine months pregnant but she wasn't going to give birth right there on the lawn during the ceremony. Amanda and Ally might never forgive her and Rachel definitely wouldn't. While it was true Rachel and Paulina mostly got along now, they still had their catty moments and Paulina could easily envision Rachel accusing her of going into labor just to upstage the beautiful bride.

"Let me get you a drink," Joe said once he and Paulina had taken a seat in the back row (this was for the reason that Paulina might have to run to the bathroom at any minute being that their little bambina was always pressing on her bladder now).

Paulina smiled. "Do you think that's such a good idea? I mean, alcohol and a baby -"

Joe chuckled. "I meant water or something. You look hot and tired."

"The sun is awfully bright, even under the gazebo, what can I say?" Paulina said. "All I need is my husband and to make it through the ceremony without having to pee twenty times and I'll have it all."

Joe smiled and leaned over, kissing her forehead. "Remy's gonna be here. You ready to see her?"

Paulina smiled. "Yeah. We made peace again after our fight last weekend. It was so petty too. She thought I was putting too much pressure on Dante to be what I want him to be - her words - and I disagreed as usual but we are in a better place for every fight we have I think. We after all these years are getting used to each other. I'm me and she's her - a restless hippy soul - and that's okay by me."

XoXoXo

Carl Hutchins stood under the shade of a juniper tree, casually sipping a scotch on the rocks, watching the proceedings. Everyone was in a tizzy over the wedding and he was supposed to be helping people find seats but he preferred to just be a voyeur on the activities today. He normally liked to be in the thick of things, stirring up all kinds of devious trouble, but he figured at his age, he should perhaps start slowing down a bit. Rachel was always bothering him about cutting down on the liquor and taking care of himself, but he had determined long ago that he was going to enjoy his later years as much as he could.

He spotted the nervous-looking groom walking onto the property, trailed by a gaggle of his squabbling relatives. He reasoned they would all fit in just fine. The Cory-Hutchins' family was nothing if not contentious too at times. It was sometimes a wonder how they made it through the holidays without murdering each other but they always did and were somehow stronger for it.

Carl smiled as he noticed his own beautiful bride of many years walk out of the house and move over to him. "Carl, liquor? Already? It's barely noon," she chided.

"Rachel, dearest, its one drink and it's my way of getting through the day. You know big social occasions are hardly my natural habitat."

Rachel smiled. "Oh please. I can remember plenty of times you tried to command a room - even by force."

Carl chuckled. "Indeed. But I've grown a bit, Rachel. I'm older and I like to think wiser."

Rachel nodded. "I like to think that about myself too. I hope I'm not still the angry, resentful girl running around trying to make everyone love me. Because I didn't have a father to call my own. Thank the Lord Ally is exactly the opposite of me at her age."

"You had much more humble beginnings," Carl pointed out.

"Yes I did. And now I have it all. What more could I ever ask for?"

XoXoXo

"It's wedding march time," Remy announced commandingly as she finished fluffing Ally's long train. "You ready?"

Ally nodded. "Yes, yes I am."

"Where's Cameron?" Remy asked. "Shouldn't he be back? He said he was going to just check on the group downstairs and would be right back but -" Remy broke off as she noticed Ally's bright blue eyes go wide. "Al?"

Remy whipped around to see Cameron and another man, a tall dark-haired man with a bushy handlebar mustache move into the room. "Who's that?" Remy asked, lightly jabbing Amanda in the side. Amanda had the same shocked and awed expression on her face.

"That's ... That's Ally's father," Amanda answered. "That's Sam Fowler."

TBC