Chapter 7
Wilson dropped House at the main lobby door and went to park the car. House limped to the chapel. He noticed uncomfortably that the nurses near the reception area were beaming at him. His mother and her husband were there already. Thirteen had come with her girlfriend. Foreman and his fiancé, Chase and surprisingly, Park, and Cameron and her husband were waiting. A violinist stood next to the baby grand piano and the pianist. House nodded to them. They were part of a jazz ensemble that House jammed with on occasion at clubs in Trenton and Princeton. Taub, a good photographer who had gotten better since he had two daughters of his own, was checking his cameras. Wilson walked in with his tall, red-haired girlfriend, Doctor Fiona Buchanan. The rabbi walked forward to greet House.
House and Wilson reached the front of the room. House stepped under the canopy. Rabbi Perlman took his place. Looking back to the door, House could see Chelsea Lowenstein, Cuddy's best friend, holding Rachel's hand. Rachel kept peeking around the doorframe and getting pulled back. Cuddy's sister, Julia and her husband and children, sat on the other side of the aisle from House's parents and team. Julia had threatened to boycott the ceremony, but Arlene, House's most unlikely advocate, had told Julia in the strongest terms that a family schism would not be tolerated.
The music changed to Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero, No Limit." The piano player leaned into the microphone, "My love she speaks like silence. Without ideals or violence…" The guests rose. House looked up. Chelsea walked down the aisle with her bouquet of yellow and pink roses and took her place opposite House and Wilson. With her small wedding party, Cuddy had chosen not to select bridesmaids' dresses. Chelsea wore a pink suit with a darker pink shell that almost matched the pink in the roses. Then Rachel emerged, wearing a violet satin dress with a yellow sash and bow in the back and a yellow ribbon in her hair, enthusiastically spreading yellow chrysanthemum petals until she reached the cluster of adults at the front of the room. She still had a few left in her basket when she ran out of aisle, so she giggled and tossed them in the air. She went to stand by Chelsea who took her hand.
Finally, Cuddy entered the hall on the arm of her mother. Arlene wore a splendid terra-cotta-colored suit. Cuddy's suit was a rich ivory, the jacket emphasizing, rather than concealing her bulging pregnancy. Her hair was swept up to fall in a cascade of curls down the back of her neck. She carried a simple arrangement of yellow and deep pink roses with small white flowers, all wrapped in an ivory ribbon. House caught his breath. She was magnificent. He met her gaze and they never took their eyes from each other as she walked down the aisle. Arlene delivered her daughter to the canopy and took her seat in the front row.
House hooked his cane over his arm and took Cuddy's hand. The ceremony began. He realized that he felt a curious mix of love and joy. It was his wedding. One was supposed to be nervous, he thought, but instead it was with absolute conviction that he turned to Cuddy to say the vows that he had prepared, refining the words, rewriting them, in his cell in the prison. He took her other hand, too. "Lisa Cuddy," he began. He cleared his throat and said it again, "Lisa, I love saying your name or hearing your name. I have loved you since I met you, all the way back at the University of Michigan. You were brilliant, driven, funny, sexy, and drop dead gorgeous. You still are, and if that weren't enough, now you are accomplished and successful. Now you are a mother. I wish I had been able stay with you then, because it would have saved a lot of trouble and heartache, but I can't say it was all a waste, because I love where we are now. Now, I'm not just marrying you, I'm making a family with you and Rachel and our unborn baby. I promise you that I will love you for the rest of my life. I promise to be faithful, because I will never want anyone other than the girl I fell for so long ago, more than half my life ago, and the woman whom I want even more today. I promise not to be an ass, at least, not when you need me to be there for you." He heard Wilson's soft snort of appreciation and he grinned. "Or at least, I promise to try." He got serious. "I promise to try. Lisa Cuddy, I promise to love, honor, and cherish you for the rest of my life."
Cuddy swallowed, then looked up again into House's brilliant blue eyes and at his strangely bare but compelling face. "Gregory House," she said, "I told you once that you are the most incredible man I have ever known. You were, when I fell in love with you so long ago in Michigan, and you still are and always will be the most incredible man I have ever known. I wish we had been able to stay together then, but then we might not have the family we are creating today. We've come through fire, you and I, but it has made us stronger. I love your amazing, brilliant mind. I love your sense of humor. I love how you can be serious and I love how you can be silly. I love it when you make music. I love how you love Rachel. I love you because you are the most loving man I've ever known. And I love your beautiful body. Gregory House, I promise to love, honor, and cherish you for the rest of my life."
The two turned back to the rabbi who said the appropriate blessings. They exchanged rings. Then Rabbi Perlman said solemnly, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." He dropped the wrapped light bulb on the floor by House's feet. House took his cane in his right hand, balanced carefully, and stomped the glass with his left foot. It made a satisfying crunch and pop. House leaned down to wrap Cuddy in his arms and share with her a kiss that deepened as family and friends shouted "Mazel tov!" They finally came up for air when Rachel pulled on her mother's bouquet. They bent down and lifted her up, then swinging her between them, they walked to the back of the room where a reception was being set up by the caterers.
Cuddy sank gratefully into the wheelchair and rested her hand on her swollen belly. "Are you okay?" House asked anxiously.
She took his hand and rested it on her stomach. "He's happy. He's doing backflips." House bent down and kissed her just above where her hand rested.
"We made it," he said, sounding a little dazed. Rachel skipped off to stand with Arlene.
House's mother and her new husband joined them. Blythe kissed Cuddy on the cheek. "Welcome to the family," she told Lisa. "And welcome to your delightful daughter. I've always wanted grandchildren. Pretty soon, I'll have two."
"Ah, my beautiful daughter-in-law," Reverend Bell crooned, "welcome to the family."
House and Cuddy signed the marriage license, then posed for seemingly endless photos. A light buffet was spread out on table at the back of the room with small bagels, cookies, a modest wedding cake, and ginger ale for the bride instead of champagne. House couldn't take his hands from Cuddy. He noticed she was looking tired. "I think we should go back upstairs, soon," he murmured in her ear.
"I think so too," she agreed, pulling his head down for a kiss.
They were interrupted by Wilson clearing his throat. "A few toasts, a little wedding cake, and we'll get your Lisa back to bed," he suggested.
"You've been plotting this wedding toast for months," House muttered suspiciously.
"You bet," Wilson agreed, with a grin. He tapped on a glass with a spoon and waited for the bustle to quiet down.
"Rarely," he began, "Rarely, has anyone had to wait so long to prepare a best man's toast for his best friend." He waited for the laughter to quiet down. "I have had a front row seat to this courtship. Lisa Cuddy has been my closest friend after House for many years. I am so relieved they've finally gotten their long, long off-again, on-again relationship straightened out. Their living together will certainly make my Chanukah gift giving much simpler," again, chuckles. "And," he continued, "And lower my dependency on anti-anxiety medication." He waited for the laughter to die down. "This toast may also set a record, since it follows the eulogy I gave for the groom at his funeral!" More laughter.
Wilson, with impeccable timing, continued, "Most of us may go all through life without encountering an epic love affair. Epic affairs do present difficulties, but this epic has turned into a fairy tale. Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House have achieved their happily ever after. I didn't have time to check this on You Tube, so I may misquote, but I want to refer to the scene in Star Trek in which Spock says to his Vulcan father, Sarek, 'She's very emotional, isn't she,' referring to his human mother. Sarek responds, 'She has always been so.' 'Indeed,' Spock responds, 'Why did you marry her?' and Sarek's answer was, 'It was the logical thing to do at the time.' Well, I'm not sure who is the Vulcan and who is the human in House and Cuddy's marriage, maybe they're each a little of both, but this marriage is the logical outcome of their long, long affair." He raised his glass. "Cuddy, I love you. You have always been a good friend. House, you told me not to get sappy, but I can't help myself. You are my brother. Thank God I have lived to see you two together. I wish for you a long and happy life together with your children. Mazel tov!"
He sipped his from his glass as the gathered friends and relatives of Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House echoed him, saying "Mazel tov," and drinking their ginger ale.
House, Cuddy, and Rachel stood behind the cake and placed their hands together on the knife to cut the cake, then Arlene and Blythe took over passing pieces out to all the guests. Taub was busy with his cameras, while many of the guests took pictures with their phones. Arlene handed Rachel her little, pink I-phone and she carefully took a picture of her mother and new stepfather.
House's mother walked to stand near Cuddy and House. Her eyes were damp. She raised her glass. "Over two years ago, I thought I had lost my son. I was so relieved when he and Wilson came by my home to assure me that he was alive. But I never thought we would reach a day of such joy. Now I have a daughter and a granddaughter. Soon I'll have a grandson, and yes, James, I think I have a younger son, too. And I couldn't be more pleased. I, too, wish only happiness for my family, my wonderful, suddenly much larger family." She sipped her drink, then kissed Cuddy's cheek, bent down to kiss Rachel, then wrapped her arms around House and hugged him. A little awkwardly he bent down to kiss the top of her head.
A few more toasts followed. Foreman echoed Wilson's experience, as a witness of House and Cuddy's long romance. Arlene spoke briefly and surprisingly gracefully, pointing out that few mothers of the bride could say that their son-in-law had saved her life. Chase praised both House and Cuddy as his friends and mentors, and mentioned the PPTH hospital pool on when the baby would be born. House knew that Chase had refrained from mentioning the pool about whether or not the marriage would take place at all.
Finally Wilson stepped forward again. "I think we need to let the bride get back to her room with her bridegroom. So let's give them a send off with the traditional bouquet toss and another round of congratulations!" He turned to Cuddy. "Lisa?"
Cuddy waved her bouquet and stood carefully, other hand resting on her baby-swollen belly. Then she turned her back to her family and friends and tossed the bouquet over her shoulder. There were gasps and giggles as Doctor Park caught it as it nearly hit her in the face. She looked shocked at first, but then she laughed and waved it. Chase looked down at Park, and to House's surprise, Chase grinned and put an arm around her.
Cuddy eased herself back into the wheelchair. House noticed that someone had hung a sign on the back saying "Just Married." He looped his cane over his arm and took the handles. Rachel rushed up to them. Cuddy gave her a hug. House bent over her and hugged her in turn. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at your aunt's house, okay?" he kissed her cheek. "You're my daughter, now," he told her. "I love you very much. Now you be good for your Aunt Julia."
Then House pushed Cuddy out of the hospital chapel and to the elevators. Many members of the hospital staff were waiting for them in the lobby. A cheer rose up. Cuddy had sent a memo requesting that staff members not throw rice or other traditional substances since it might get in the way of patients or visitors. Rather, the staff members cheered for the couple. House watched with admiration as Cuddy smiled and waved. He felt a little as if he were the escort of a queen. Nonetheless, he was grateful as the elevator doors closed behind them. "Cuddy," he said, voice a little thick with emotion and wonder, "We did it. We did it." He bent down to kiss her. They didn't notice the elevator had stopped at their floor and the doors opened until someone whistled behind them.
-tbc-