The days leading up to the wedding were frenetic for both Caroline and Nicola. Caroline was like a one-armed paperhanger at work without Beverly's assistance. Nicola not only had to travel to Germany, she had to attend meetings to prepare for her meetings in Germany.

By the time the day of the wedding arrived, both ladies were tired and in need of time to power down together. They had barely spoken because the phone connections from Germany were spotty. Nicola called Caroline Friday night to tell her she got home safely and they had a brief conversation about arrival times and clothes for the wedding. Caroline assured Nicola she had the picnic basket well in hand and then had to ring off to attend to Flora.

Caroline arrived before Nicola and decided to take a nap while she waited. She didn't hear Nicola enter their room or feel her crawl onto the bed beside her. Caroline woke about a half hour later and was surprised to see Nicola sound asleep to her left side. She leaned over to kiss her awake.

"Caroline. Mmmmm. I don't know how I fell asleep. I came in to find you in the Land of Nod and laid down in an attempt to wake you up without startling you. Last thing I remember was thinking how beautiful you looked while you were sleeping. I must have drifted off the minute my head hit the pillow. I'm sorry."

"You never need to apologize when I find you in my bed," the disheveled blond said as she scooped Nicola up in her arms.

"You do realize it's raining, right? Guess we can't go for that hike after all. What ever shall we do instead," Nicola teased. Caroline wasted no time giving her the non-verbal answer she desired.

After they woke for the second time, Nicola, in her best Yogi Bear voice, asked, "Yo Boo Boo. Where's that picnic basket? I'm starved."

"Oh, what a great idea. I think an indoor picnic is what I preferred anyway, if I'm being honest," a very satisfied Caroline said with a wink.

As they nibbled, Caroline filled Nicola in on all the people from Sulgrave she knew would be attending the wedding. There was so much detail that her head was swimming. In an effort to lighten the conversation she asked, "Is there a quiz at the end of this teach?"

"Yes, but if you play your cards right, I promise to grade on a curve," a now refueled Caroline said as she took Nicola's wine glass from her and leaned in to begin studying the curves of her new favorite subject again.

About fifteen minutes before the ceremony was to start, the ladies headed down to take their seats. Nicola fidgeted with her dress as her nerves were getting the better of her. Caroline, who was equally nervous, kept fingering her necklace. Neither was ready to be on display and felt very self-conscious as they walked to the party room. Fortunately, Beverly was by the door as they entered and gave them a hearty welcome. "I'm pleased to meet you, Nicola. I've seated you with my cousins rather than any of our Sulgrave colleagues. I figured you can mix and mingle as you wish during cocktails but you would get a break from them at dinner." Before either had a chance to respond, Beverly was summoned by her son and had to step away.

The service was lovely and the cocktail hour flew by. The Sulgrave staff in attendance swarmed Caroline and their curiosity was obvious but there was no air of disapproval to be found; they were kind and welcoming to Nicola. Caroline was relieved and felt the knot in her stomach go away by the bottom of her second gin and tonic.

The surprise of the evening happened when they sat down for dinner. Just as the speeches were about to begin, Beverly's cousin and her date rushed in to take their seats beside Caroline.

Caroline and Nicola were as amazed to see Madeline and Angela as they were to see the blondes. Their delay was caused by a small fender bender they had on the way to the wedding. Their delight at seeing familiar faces made them quickly forget the accident and settle in.

"How did I not know you were coming to a wedding this weekend Nikki," Angela pondered.

"It's because I haven't seen you since Monday a week ago and because I don't tell you everything," Nicola responded. "Then again, I didn't know you were going to a wedding either."

"What a small world," Caroline chimed in. "Let the party begin!"

"What we need is a little champagne to get things started," said Madeline to no one in particular as she rose to make her way to the bar.

As the reception rolled on, the four were in their own little world, talking, laughing and just plain enjoying themselves like they had been friends for years. Caroline was so relaxed that she forgot all about her colleagues from Sulgrave a couple of tables away. Had she looked over at them, she would have seen smiles and looks of approval caste in her direction. No one was more pleased than Beverly at the sight of Caroline laughing and smiling again.

By the end of the night, Beverly made her way over to Caroline's table and collapsed in the chair beside her. "Caroline. Caroline. I'm so glad you're here. Be happy Caroline. I want to see you happy." At that moment Caroline thought she sounded more like Gillian than her staid and reliable assistant and it made her smile to see her so relaxed.

At some point during the evening, Beverly lost her shoes and it was at that second she realized it. She called out to her husband, "Larry, where are my shoes?" He scooped them up from the edge of the dance floor and came over to her. As he bent down to put them on her feet, he said to Caroline, "I think I'd better take her up. She has clearly enjoyed herself more than usual tonight and I'll bet she'll feel it all in the morning." Then he turned to look at Nicola as well and added, "We hope you enjoyed yourselves. We're both so pleased you could celebrate with us Caroline and Nicola."

"Thank you both for including us. Nicola and I had a wonderful time. I expect we'll see at least one of you at breakfast. Do you need a hand?"

"No. I've got her. Night."

Caroline and Nicola said goodnight in unison and then chuckled at the sight of Beverly being all but carried out of the room by her husband. "I've never seen her like that before but now I really want to see her at breakfast to see what she remembers. It was fun to see her that free."

They then turned and said their goodnights to Angela and Madeline after making plans to meet for breakfast. As they walked to their room hand in hand, Nicola simply asked, "Nightcap?" "Yep," came Caroline's quick reply as the best part of their evening began.