He watched her from the other end of the table, all day the sun had illuminated her, like a halo of gold. Everyone had been watching her, how could they not? With that smile and that laugh, she was perfect, but then, she always had been.
It was dark out now, through the windows he could only see stars… and Emma. His Emma. She caught his eye and smirked. She adjusted her dress and he wish she wouldn't because everything was just right.
She turned away, not captivated by him anymore.
It was now or never.
He stood up quickly, too quickly. His stomach was empty but for the two glasses of champagne he'd skulled nervously at breakfast.
"Go on…" someone encouraged in the background. It could have been Emma, but he knew it wasn't.
"Ah, thank you", the whole room snapped to attention, there must have been more than 100 of them. James Pillsbury wiped his brow and cleared his throat.
"Thanks for coming today, all of you. I know it means a lot to Emma and William that you could make it". There was a chorus of shouting from the back table, those kids that Emma doted on.
He watched his new son-in-law smile with pride, gently leaning into bump shoulders with Emma, who bit her lip and stared ahead.
They'd agreed last night he wouldn't make a speech, "Just enjoy the day, Daddy" his daughter had said, in flannel pyjamas, patting his hand. And he'd agreed it was best to keep his mouth shut.
But he just couldn't. Not since this morning when he'd walked into the spare bedroom and seen Will polishing his shoes with shaking hands.
"I thought you'd still be sleeping off all that tequila from last night", James had stood with his hands in his pockets.
"Couldn't sleep. Besides Em will never get over it if there's muddy shoes in the photos" he laughed even know they both knew it wasn't a joke.
"... She really loves you…"
"I know James, but I think you need to know something…", Will stopped cleaning and relaxed his hands.
"What's that?"
"I love her more… more than she could possibly love me…and she'll never even know it. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make her happy, you have my word".
Will was listening to his words now as the long day was falling into a blissful night.
His daughter nodded, all kinds of sparkly things glittered from her hair. 'It's okay' she mouthed, taking her husband's hand, she sat back a little bit in her chair.
"When Emma was born, her mother and I knew right away that she was special. I mean… you should have seen her… she must have been about five, she would put on her mother's rubber gloves and try and clean the dirt out of the flower beds… we thought the dog was digging up the yard until we saw her one afternoon with a bucket trying to clean each rose petal". Hushed laughter swooped the room, he watched Emma flush and Will pull her closer. God, she was all grown up.
"Our Emma has always tried to help other people, that's why she's so good at her job. When she was growing up she used to care too much and for a long time we worried", his voice broke, damn, why did it have to do that?
But he had just worried so much. He worried when they first visited her in Lima and she spent all her time at work and the only calls she got were from some Glee Club Director who wanted to rope her into chaperoning.
He worried a few summers back when she turned up of their doorstep with tear stained cheeks looking under fed not wanting to talk about it.
And then there was the day she'd emailed from Vegas and James had replied with a bellow down the phone line, even though he'd never raised his voice at her before.
"Married? How could you? … Who is this 'Carl'? Look, I know you've been down lately but Emma, marriage! I mean that's…. this isn't right!"
"…I'm sorry you feel that way Daddy…"
"Don't give me that psycho babble speech. You're too special to run off and marry some stranger-"
"He's not a stranger!"
"He is to us and I think deep down you know that! If this was someone you'd really want to spend the rest of your life with, you would have told us… and you wouldn't be in Vegas right now Emma, that's not you!"
He sucked in breath. Emma was so many wonderful things, but she was complicated, she always would be.
James raised his voice again to fight through threatening tears, adjusting his tie that match her dress perfectly, just the way she had planned.
"…We first met Will at Christmas time, the poor kid was so nervous he barely said a thing for three days. I told Emma she should take him to the ER and get his head checked" he chuckled under his breath and looked up in time to see Emma kiss Will's temple.
"You're a good man Will… and I know I promised never to repeat this, but we're among friends here" James felt himself smirk and saw the colour drain from Will who sat stiffly now with Emma and her confused smile.
"About a year ago, Anne and I got a knock on the door late one night, and there's Will bent over, sweat all over himself and all out of breath. Well you can imagine, it was quite a shock!".
James remembered standing stunned and still. It must have been close to 3 am.
"Are you alright Will? Come inside"
"I can't stay. My car ran out of gas on the freeway, I was hoping you had a jerry can and some gas?" he gasped in-between breaths.
"….You drove all the way from Ohio to borrow some gas?"
"No, actually, I came because I want your permission to propose to Emma. And I have to make it back to Lima by first period tomorrow… my freshman have a test" he was still breathing heavily, but James notices the light in his eyes.
"Emma doesn't know you're here?"
He shook his head. "She thinks I'm teaching a continued education class in the next town over".
"So.. You drove all night to get here?... what's the hurry?"
"…She's ready. I've been waiting…. Forever but I didn't want to spook her after…. Everything… but she's ready. This morning she was pouring my coffee and she said 'if we get married she might have to keep her last name so the labels our mugs don't get confused at work'…. And she didn't mean to say it… but she did. I'm going to ask her tomorrow... Well today I guess. I'm going to ask her today!". He was euphoric and James had to take a breath and blink to keep up.
"I'll make you a deal Schuester. You have my permission…"
"Thank-"
"I'm not done. You have my permission, of course you do, but you are not driving across the country tonight and get yourself killed on the freeway in that pathetic clunker of yours. You'll stay here tonight" James was impressed by his own assertiveness.
"…But-"
"Tell Emma… oh I don't know… tell her you've got food poisoning… God knows she won't want to be anywhere near you then".
As Will heard the end of a story he already knew so well in his head, he applauded James, his father in law and confidant.
Emma gasped and Will heard it loud in his ear and because he was her husband now, and this was there best day together so far, he cupped her face and kissed her. Her hands on his chest made him stop.
She'd deny it later, but Will knew she never suspected a thing. In fact he remembered the phone call he made from her childhood living room and the way she'd begged him to come home, nausea be damned, 'I don't care if you're vomiting, let me come get you' she'd pleaded 'I know how you get when you're sick', while James stifled a knowing laugh from the sofa.
He'd gotten down on one knee in the park three days later, and of course her parents were the first to congratulate them at the other end of the line.
"… They do some crazy things these two, but they always do it because they care about their work, about their families and especially about each other. So, I ask you to raise a glass to the bride and groom… and I personally want to thank you Will, you make our Emma so happy".
