Chapter 10
Cam and her parents arrived at the courthouse in a car that her father had hired. Cam appreciated how sweet her father was, he knew she didn't want anything over the top but he wasn't about to have his little girl arrive at her wedding via taxi.
She and her mother had searched everywhere for the perfect dress. They had finally found an elegant floor length satin dress with an over lay of eggshell colored lace. It reflected her perfectly. At first glance the dress was simple, even conservative, but the deep v cutting down the back, revealing the Celtic artwork on her lower back, told a different story completely.
Cam and her parents ascended the steps to the courthouse and made their way to the room where the ceremony was to be held. Standing in the room where the ceremony was to be held she was struck by the irony of where they were getting married. Not twenty-four hours earlier had her soon to be husband stood in a room not unlike this waiting to be arraigned. As if her new life was suddenly brought into focus for her she had to laugh when she thought about how it might look to John Q Public for Taylor, Matty, Chris, and Marbles to be walking into the courthouse dressed in suits. She chuckled as she wondered if one of the beat reporters might think a major trial was underway.
"Are you nervous sweetheart?" Her father asked as he paced the room for the hundredth time.
"No Daddy. Are you?" She smiled back at him.
"Don't you laugh at me young lady… it's a father's job to be nervous on his daughter's wedding day." He joked with her as he crossed the room and kissed her on the cheek. "When are they supposed to get here? He's not going to be late to your wedding is he?"
"Mom told him that he wasn't supposed to see me before the wedding, he's probably just trying to time it so that he can do as she asked. Its gonna be fine, I promise."
The thick, heavy, solid wood door creaked as it was carefully pushed open. Cam's heart skipped a beat in anticipation.
"Oh, sorry sweetie, it's just me." Her mother apologized entering the room. "I just ran into a very dapper looking group of young men out in the hall, one in particular is very anxious to get in here."
"What's he waiting for? Is he on his way in Ma?" Cam felt butterflies in her stomach and wondered why she was suddenly nervous.
"Apparently Chris spoke with the judge's clerk and she is going to come let them know when the judge gets here so that they can come in then." Cam had to laugh at the magic Scarpa charm at work again.
Cam and her parents sat in a nervous silence for about 5 minutes before the judge's door in the back of the room opened and she stepped in.
"Good morning, you must be Cameron?" She walked towards Cam and extended her hand. "I'm Judge Wagner, nice to meet you. Are we still waiting on the groom?"
Just then the large wooden door that led to the hallway creaked open and Chris stuck his head in. "We ready?"
Cam was so excited all she could do was shake her head yes. The door swung open fully and in stepped Chris followed by Marbles, Matty, and finally Taylor.
Cam met Taylor's eyes and was surprised to see that the tears she felt building in her eyes were matched by the tears she saw welling in Taylor's eyes.
"And this must be the groom?" Judge Wagner broke the silence. "Are we ready to get started?"
"Yes, your honor, I think we are." Matty spoke up slapping Taylor on the back.
Snapping out of his trance Taylor broke his gaze from Cam and turned to the judge. "Yes ma'am, we are ready."
"Cameron and Taylor come on up here," she led them to the front of the little room, "Please turn to each other and join hands."
Patti quickly handed her daughter an antique handkerchief to wipe the tears before they could fall and smudge her makeup. Cam dotted her eyes and smiled at her parents as she took Taylor's hands.
"I understand you have written your own vows?" The couple nodded in unison. "Alright then, Cameron please go ahead."
"Taylor, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life." Cam recited the words they had written together.
"Taylor, I believe it's your turn." The judge said turning towards him.
"Cameron, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life." Taylor fought to get the words out through the lump that had formed in his throat.
"Do we have rings?" Judge asked Taylor. Matty quickly stepped forward, untied the small velvet bag and placed the two bands in the judge's outstretched hand.
"Cameron, do you pledge to love Taylor and throughout your years together to be honest, faithful, and kind to him? Do you pledge to give to him the same happiness he gives to you, and to respect him for who he is, not who you want him to be?"
"I do." Cam replied as she slide Taylor's band on to his left hand.
"Taylor, do you pledge to love Cameron and throughout your years together to be honest, faithful, and kind to her? Do you pledge to give to her the same happiness she gives to you, and to respect her for who she is, not who you want her to be?"
"I do." Taylor answered as he placed Cam's ring on her finger.
"By the power vested in me by the state of New York I now pronounce you husband and wife! I think you know what comes next." Judge Wagner smiled at the couple.
Taylor slowly leaned forward, placed his right hand behind Cam's head and pulled her towards him. Cam, normally self conscious about public displays of affection in front of her parents, met Taylor's kiss with all the passion of their first kiss.
"I love you," Taylor whispered as he pulled away from her embrace.
"I love you too." Cam smiled back at him. The two turned to meet the applause of their now joined families.
Present Day
Cam watched as Lucy, the overly chipper nurse, and an orderly worked on getting Taylor set up in his new room. The room was much larger than the ICU room had been. This was regular room that was set up to hold two patients. Matty had convinced the hospital administration that for Taylor's safety he needed to be the only patient in the room. There had been guards on the entrance to the ICU while Taylor was up there but now that he was in a regular room where the general public could come and go as they pleased Matty had plans on round the clock guards on Taylor's room.
"Alright then Mr. Reese you are all set. I've written my name along with the names of your doctor, and the medical assistant assigned to you on the board at on the wall over here. Your call button is the red one here on the side rail; please don't hesitate to call us if you need anything." Lucy smiled at him as she re-tucked the end of his bed and headed for the door.
"Whoa, hang on." Taylor caught her as she tried to make her escape. "You gonna take this thing out or am I?" He asked pointing to his IV.
Lucy looked to Cam, pleading, then back to Taylor. "Mr. Reese, as I've explained to you, I do not have the authority to decide if and when the IV can come out. You're doctor should be along shortly, you can discuss it with him then."
"You let him know that he had exactly 15 minutes to get in here or I'm ripping the thing out!" Taylor let all his annoyance with the situation bubble to the point where he could summon all his strength to put some gravitas into his declaration.
"I will do my best to convey your… insistence to Dr. Grant." Lucy lost her smile and backed out the door.
"Taylor, it's not her fault you know?" Cam eased her way to the head of his bed. "She's just doing her job."
He let out a low growl followed by a loud sigh. "I know, I'm just so fucking sick of this shit… I'm sick of lying in the bed, sick of sleeping all the time, and sick of not knowing what the fuck is going on half the time." He put his head back on the bed, closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing instead of the IV he wanted to rip out of his arm.
"I know baby, we'll be going home soon enough. Right now you just need to…"
"Cam, I love you, but I swear to Christ if you are about to tell me be patient and rest I will rip this fucking thing out and walk the fuck out of this room."
Cam had to fight the tears she felt instantly forming. She actually bit her tongue to try to stop from crying. She knew that laying in that bed went against every fiber of Taylor's being and she couldn't imagine how frustrating it must be for him to have to lay there and depend on other people to take care of him.
"Don't think that just because you just got out of ICU I won't put your ass into that wall if I hear you talk to her like that again!" Matty had slipped in the room when he saw the nurse and orderly leave. "She has been sitting here for DAYS worried about your ass; she watched your fucking heart stop TWICE and had to decide if you were going to stay on a FUCKING VENTILATOR! You don't get to snap at her and you don't get to take shit out on her! You get to lay your ass in that bed and do what the doctors tell you to do! Understood?"
Taylor lifted his head and opened his eyes and looked from Matty to Cam. He opened his mouth to take Matty's head off when he saw the tears in her eyes.
"Oh… shit… babe, I'm sorry… I didn't mean… fuck… come here. Please don't cry." Taylor reached for her with his good arm.
Cam made her way to his side and slowly placed her head on his shoulder.
"I'm an ass, I told you this shit is messing with my head. I'm sorry you had to go through this, I'm sorry that you were scared. I will do what the doc tells me okay? Look at me."
Cam lifted her head and wiped her eyes. "I know you're frustrated Taylor, I just don't want you to push yourself too hard. I love you."
"I love you too." Taylor pulled her into a kiss then quickly pulled back when he felt a tear in his chest causing him to gasp.
"Oh my god! Taylor are you okay? Matty get a nurse!" Cam panicked.
"I'm fine… I'm fine, I just moved wrong… Matty I'm good really." He looked from his wife to his friend doing his best to be convincing.
As Taylor began to reach once again for Cam the door to his room creaked open and in came Lucy. She had a nervous smile on her face as she pushed a cart towards Taylor's bed.
"I spoke with Dr. Grant, he wanted me to let you know that he would be by later tonight to see you. In the mean time he wants you to have another dose of the pain medication along with your antibiotic. He is hoping that he will be able to cut the dose on the pain meds tomorrow but he wants you to get a good night's sleep tonight and tomorrow he wants to try some food and maybe even some walking." The poor girl looked like she was bracing for a fight as she finished delivering the doctor's wishes.
Taylor looked from Matty to Cam then closed his eyes and leaned his head back.
"Thank you Lucy that will be just fine." Cam smiled as she tried to put the girl at ease.
Lucy injected both of the medications into Taylor's IV then quickly checked his vitals and left the room.
Although not by much Taylor was stronger than the last time he had received the pain meds. He was determined that he was going to get some answers from Matty before he slipped back into the drug induced sleep he fought so hard against the last couple of days.
"Cam, I know that I can't have any food yet but would you mind getting me something to drink and maybe something to read? I'm gonna lose my mind before too long."
"Taylor, you can't have anything other than ice chips right now, you know that. If you want to be alone with Matty just say so. I'll head down to the cafeteria for a little bit."
"I love you, you know that right?" Taylor smiled weakly, starting to feel the effects of the meds.
"I love you too. Matty, don't let him push himself. I expect him to be asleep when I get back." Cam instructed as she leaned over and kissed Taylor's forehead.
As soon as the door clicked shut Taylor turned his gaze to Matty.
"What the fuck happened Matty? I can't remember shit… last I remember I got a call from Scarpa about a break in at the Church street warehouse." Everything after that was a flurry of pieces of sounds, thoughts, dreams and feelings.
"I wasn't there Taylor. Chris called me right after he called you. He had been down near the warehouse looking at some real estate with Sammy when they saw some activity. Sammy knew the warehouse was supposed to be clean and closed, they got closer to the back entrance and saw Pete going in with two guys they didn't recognize." Matty waited for Taylor's reaction.
"Fuck… I told you… I knew I should have taken care of that little fuck…" Taylor felt himself losing his battle against the pain killers. He pushed himself up as close to sitting as he could manage in hopes that the adjustment would make it easier to stay awake.
"You gonna pass out on me Reese?" Matty asked his friend.
"Tryin not to…" Taylor drawled. "Did I go down to the warehouse? I must've… was that little prick waiting for me? Fuck Matty… why can't I remember a damn thing?"
"I think you were heading there but you never made it. I got to the warehouse and met up with Sammy and Scarpa. I asked if you had already come and gone. They thought you had come with me… I knew at that point something had happened. I tried your phone and it went right to voicemail. I sent Chris to your building to see what he could find and before he could pull out of the parking lot a van pulled up, opened the door and threw you out. They must've thought you were dead. They were trying to send us a message. While we were with you Sammy saw Pete and company leaving the warehouse."
"They were… connected… that fuck… he set me… up… I know it Mat…" Taylor trailed off as his head fell back to the mattress only to pop back up. He readjusted his position and took a deep breath. "Matty, you need to call… Tommy… Pete knows… about… he's gonna try to… fuck, I can't think right now… let me just close my eyes for a minute…"
"I'll be here when you're ready Taylor." His response was met by a loud snore.