Chapter 3
The moment Paul opened the door, Stephanie let out a scream of firght along with an audible gasp coming from her husband. Paul pulled Stephanie close to him into his arms while the guest looked on in terror, at the sight in front of them. Hanging from a tree branch was a symbol of a upper-cased 'T' with a lower-cased 'x' in the middle of it.
"CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT!" Vince McMahon, the father of the bride, ordered.
"EVERYONE BACK INSIDE!" Paul demanded.
Everyone rushed back inside the church in a panic. In this time of fear, nobody knew how such a catastrophe started except for one person. They were all frightenend to notice that the culprit of this heinous activity was watching the madness unfold and the chaos ensue. Undertaker saw the whole thing while he was perched in the tower of the church. How he enjoyed his handy work. He enjoyed it so much. He watched the symbol burn a little longer until a few men came back with fire extinguishers in an attempt to put the fire out. He watched a little while longer until the firefighters showed up and thats when Undertaker left in hopes he would not be spotted.
After all was calm and quiet and the guests had gone home, Paul was walking inside the church with his brother-in-law Shane McMahon looking for Stephanie. It wasn't long until the 2 men found her with her father Vince sitting in the congregation room. Paul and Shane stood at the door watching the Vince comfort his daughter in the back pew.
"Dad," Shane said. Stephanie and Vince look up from their seat of the back pew. "Could I talk to you for a moment please?"
"Sure." Vince pats his daughters head, then rises from the pew and walks towards his son and son-in-law.
"How is she?" Shane asked his father.
"Shaken up a bit. I think we all are." Vince turned his attention to Paul. "Why don't you go talk to her, Paul?'
"OK." Paul removes his tie and coat sitting them aside on a table top to his right. Shane and Vince walk away as Paul makes his way to Stephanie's side. "Steph, are you alright?" he asked in a gentle, comforting voice.
"I don't know, Paul" she answered her lips quivering. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel." Paul sat down beside her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her to him gently, so she could rest her head on his right shoulder. "This was supposed to be one of the best days of my life. It was supposed to be the wedding of my dreams, Paul. And now..." She couldn't fininsh her sentence cause the tears began pouring from her eyes breaking into a sob. She leaned closed into Paul shoulder letting the tears fall. Paul sat there rocking her gently, He caressed her hair telling her everything would be okay. A few moments later, she was able to speak again after the tears subsided for the time being. "Who would do such a thing to us Paul?"
"I don't know, Steph. But one thing I do know is this; and I want you to look at me when I tell you this." She looked up at him with reddened eyes. "I will do my absolute best to keep you safe and free from any harm that might come your way. I will make sure that nothing, and I mean nothing happens to you. And you can add that to the vows I gave you this morning. Do you believe me?"
She looked deep into Paul's eyes; eyes that were full of love, truth, and care. "Yes Paul...I believe you."
She kissed him passionately. She knew she felt safe in his arms. Paul promised to protect her and that was exactly what he would do. Not only was that a vow to his wife, that was also a vow to himself.