A/N: Hello lovely readers/reviewers! The story continues- finally. Sorry this update took so long, you guys. I know I've said it before, but I really didn't mean for it to. And also let me just send out a guarantee that this isn't going to keep dragging on- Heath will either be back in the next chapter, or the one after that...but I'm gonna shoot for the next chapter just because I know it's probably what you've all been waiting so patiently for. I appreciate it and your lovely feedback more than I can say. Enjoy the update and thanks for the love--Jess

Chapter Thirty Seven: The Wedding

Cat and Edgar were married one month later, at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

Cat had wanted something simple and as little time consuming as possible. The gardens suited her perfectly; it was a quiet, peaceful spot that accommodated no more than two hundred people, which suited her fine. Together with the caterer, wedding planner, and florist, they were able to put the whole thing together in a matter of weeks.

Cat chose a simple dress, despite protests from Isabella and Linda. She wore her hair loose, streaming down her shoulders in loose curls, with only one white rose wound around a strand of her hair.

All in all there were just over one hundred guests; closest of family and friends, of which the Lintons had many.

Following a ceremony among the roses, the reception took place on the Lily pool, among the lights of soft candelabras, and a made up dance floor by the side of the lake. All in all, it was beautiful.

The wedding day was the first in weeks that Cat saw Edgar look truly and completely happy. He almost looked like his old self; warm, and at ease. He'd even begun to laugh and joke the way he used to in the past few days. He was putting on weight, which was good because in the weeks in the aftermath of Gregory's stroke, he'd lost too much.

"I love you." He'd said to her when they were having their first dance together at the reception. It was his favorite thing to say to her- whenever Edgar told Cat that he loved her, his face seemed to light up. His eyes took on that unconditional tenderness that he saved only for her. When Edgar said 'I love you' it sounded more as though he were making some kind of vow, rather than just stating how he felt.

Cat smiled up at him, feeling satisfied to see him so happy, "I love you too," she answered, and she meant it. Edgar was a steady, kind man. A good one. He had been so strong during all of this, and never once took his pain out on anyone besides himself. Perhaps she didn't love him in the way that he deserved to be loved, but she did love him in her own way.

He needs me, she had realized, He needs me to support him. He needs me to love him.

Her eyes briefly left his and went over to Ellie, who was sitting at the wedding party table. Harry was in her lap. She'd chosen to bring him with her, rather than leave him again back home. He was already bigger than Cat remembered; soon he would be crawling. He could already sit up and roll over on his own, Ellie boasted. To Cat, he was the spitting image of an Ernshawl; dark hair, dark eyes. Full lips, high cheek bones. He was going to look just like her father when he got older, that she could already tell.

Later on, when the party had settled down into the sit down dinner, Isabella stood up from her seat at the head table, lightly clinking her knife against her champagne flute, "Alright everybody, I'd like to take this opportunity to propose my maid of honor toast!" She smiled and cleared her throat, looking down at Cat and Edgar, "Guys, I just want you to start off by saying that I love the two of you so much. I look at the two of you and I see a two people who are crazy about each other. These past few months have been…pretty tough." She began getting visibly emotional, her eyes watering, "Losing Dad wasn't easy on any of us…but you two managed to get through it stronger than ever. You give one another comfort, friendship, respect, affection, and love. You're lovers, but you're also best friends- and that's just the way it should be. I just can't believe my little brother found his true love before I did!" Everyone laughed, "But I'm glad that he was lucky enough to find her- because from seeing the two you together, I know that happily ever after can come true for me too…" she reached up and carefully dabbed beneath her eyelids, laughing shakily, " Edgar, I know you'll be a good husband- you learned from our dad- who was the best. Catherine, thank you for coming into my brother's life. You light up his world, and I know he loves you more than anything." She raised her glass, "To the bride and groom!"

"To the bride and groom!" Everyone repeated, drinking from their glasses, then going into hearty applause.

It began to subside when the best man stood to make his toast, but suddenly, there came the sound of a single pair of hands clapping, and loud, hooting,

"Whooooo! Yeah! To the bride and groom!"

Everyone turned around in their seats towards the sound of the obnoxious cheers, Cat looked, and her stomach fell.

Henry was standing a few feet away from the cake and guestbook table. He wore a rumpled tuxedo that was open at the shirt, the tie loosened around his neck. There was a five hour shadow on his chin, and a bloodshot look in his eyes. He had a champagne flute in his hand.

Even from across the garden, Cat could tell he was drunk. She exchanged a pained look with Ellie, What do we do? her gaze asked.

Henry staggered through the path of tables toward the dance floor, still whooping,

"Yeah!" he cried out, his voice gravelly, "Let's all down our glasses to the 'perfect couple'! Love and happiness to Cat and Edgar!" he raised his glass hurriedly, spilling champagne over the rim. Laughing, Henry faced the crowd of tables set before the bridal party table, making his voice loud and projecting,

"As brother of the bride, I would just like to propose a little toast to my baby sister in honor of her wedding day…even if I wasn't invited to the ceremonies!"

Cat was sitting very still in her chair. It was true that she hadn't bothered to invite Henry to the wedding. From what Ellie had told her beforehand, he hadn't seemed all that interested in coming. He still drank, he still ignored Harry, he still neglected his own personal care. What would he care that she was getting married?

Edgar's hand around hers tightened, and he murmured, "Do you want me to-"

"No." she whispered back, "If you try and stop him, he'll just make an even bigger scene. I know him."

Henry was still laughing mockingly, studying her with an ironic tilt to his head, "So now you're a regular married woman, huh Cat?" he asked, "That's great. I mean it. It's all really swell. Edgar's a damn nice guy. You couldn't do better. You're both good looking, make good money, live in a mansion, have great careers. Isa-Isabella's right. It all looks like the makings of Happily Ever After… There's just," he raised his index finger, "There's just something I don't really understand and maybe- maybe you can help me out here, huh?" He wiped the back of his hand across his nose, sniffing loudly before taking a long sip of champagne, "Whatever happened to you…and Heath?"

Cat sucked in a sharp breath, and through the touch of his hand, could feel Edgar tense up. Henry was beginning to walk closer to their table, his steps slow and crooked due to his obvious intoxication.

"C'mon, Cat," he was saying roughly, "I asked you a question. What happened to you and Heath? Heath and you? I'm a little confused here, and maybe I'm a little off but…last time I checked Heath was the unlucky son of a bitch that you were in love with. Am-am I right or did I miss something here?"

Cat felt her face flood with heat and she sat very still in her chair as she heard the low murmur that arose among the wedding guests. Edgar's hand was squeezing hers even tighter, "Henry, I think you should go now." He said quietly. But Henry ignored him, only walking closer to the table. He bent down a little, trying to stare into Cat's lowered face,

"What happened, Cat? Hmm? You two have another fight?" He shook his head a moment later, "No, no, that's not it. You two fought before, you always got over it. What else could it be? Were you trying to make him do something romantic? Sweep in here and carry you away like some kind of prince? No…that's too sappy for you, isn't it? You're not the romantic type." He paused, tapping his chin with his free fingertips, "Okay. So that leaves money. Now I can admit, money's always a good reason- even to do something as stupid and pointless as this. Modeling can only last so long, and it's nice to still have that cushion of financial security, isn't it? Make sure we still get those Gucci shoes for Christmas, right? Money's a damn good reason when you put it that way. Problem is…we both know it's not the real reason, don't we Cat?"

She dared to raise her eyes and meet his gaze. Henry smiled and gave a small laugh,

"There it is! Look at her face! Hot damn, if looks could kill! Shit, I must have hit it right on the nose that time!"

"Henry, I want you to leave," Edgar said firmly, "Now."

"Alright, alright, Cat." Henry was already saying, "Now, I get it. Now we're getting somewhere. That means that it must have been because he left you. He skipped out, and you didn't like it, did you? The shoe never feels that good when it's on the other foot. Now you're throwing your little temper tantrum- you'll show him, huh?" He laughed again- a harsh and mirthless sound,

"You figure fucking Edgar wasn't enough- no, you'll marry him too. That'll get old Heath right where he lives, won't it?" There were small gasps of shock from some of the guests, as the murmurs increased. Cat continued to stare at him, as from underneath the table , her knees began shaking and her heartbeat quickened.

Edgar abruptly stood up from his chair, coming around the table and grabbing ahold of Henry's arm. Two of the groomsmen flanked him and moved to aid him in surrounding Henry. Edgar's face was as tight and hardened as his voice as he said, "Alright, that's enough. I want you out of here."

Henry finally seemed to acknowledge his presence and smiled at him wryly, "You know Edgar, I gotta hand it to you. You're taking all of this really well, better than a lot of men woulda taken it. I mean," he gave another harsh chuckle, "You can just….ha ha..you can just look at her and see she's in love with another man, can't you? Isn't it," he turned out a little and let his drunken gaze sweep across the wedding guest tables, "Isn't it obvious to you people? Can't you tell?" he laughed again when he was met with nothing but appalled silence, then turned back to Edgar, "But that's, that's really big of you. And I mean it, it is. There's not a lot of men who would even fuck another woman who always has another man in her eyes, much less marry her! It makes you wonder who she really thinks about when all the action's going on, doesn't it? What's really making her so excited? What really makes her so hot?"

Edgar jerked Henry roughly by the collar, "I said, that's enough," he muttered, and tried to begin to lead him off the floor with the others. Henry though, suddenly shoved the other two men off of him, and jerked himself out of Edgar's grasp,

"No, don't do that, Edgar. Don't take the easy way out. Why don't you try being a man and facing the truth? Boy, that'd be a real change of pace for you, wouldn't it? No more hiding behind the thick wallet or Mercedes Benz. Strip all that shit away and you're really not all that impressive are you? Hell, after that, all you are is pretty damn pathetic. God forbid you lose all that cash one day and Heath has a few bucks. That'd make you find out what the deal really is, wouldn't it? That'd make you find out what it was like to be Him all those months…"

"Shut up…" Edgar murmured quaveringly. His face had seemed to pale and that weariness he'd had for so many months after his father's stroke had seemed to reappear almost immediately.

Henry made a sound of astonishment, as though he had made a great discovery, "Ohhhh, now that's it! That's what it really boils down to, isn't it Edgar? Being Him. That's what you want, isn't it? If you could just get five minutes of that, then you'd really have it made, wouldn't you?"

Cat seemed to finally find her tongue, "Henry don't!" she cried out to him warningly, but he ignored her,

"Ohhh, don't coddle him, Cat. Don't lie to the poor guy. You do that too much. I mean, you're married now, the least you could do is have a little respect and be honest. You could've at least told him he'd never be Heath to you, no matter how much shit he buys you, no matter how many vacations you get to Arbua, no matter how hard and rough he fucks you 'cause he thinks that's how hard and rough old Heath knew you liked it-"

"Son of a bitch!" Edgar suddenly shouted, pulling back his fist and smashing it against Henry's jaw. As her brother went straight to the ground from the force of the blow, Cat stood straight up to her feet, rushing out and around the table. The groomsmen were already hastily trying to hold a breathless, fuming Edgar back from Henry who was still lying on the floor, laughing emptily.

Cat ignored the gasps and little cries of appalled shock from the guests and went to her brother, kneeling down on the ground next to him, taking him by the arm. "Henry, c'mon," she demanded sharply, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice, "Let's go. Get up and lets go!" She looked up and saw Ellie at her side. They exchanged a quick, grim glance before Ellie went to Henry's other arm to aid her. They had to practically lift him up from the ground, as he was so intoxicated, he stumbled several times in trying to get to his feet. Somehow, they managed to get him up and led him off the dance floor and off to a secluded part of the garden near the parking lot.

"Go and get someone to call him a cab," Cat instructed Ellie, "He can't drive back to wherever he came from, not like this."

"Alright," Ellie agreed, but hesitated, "Are you gonna be okay?" she murmured. Cat avoided her gaze, nodding numbly, but not saying anything. Ellie went back towards the party, leaving her alone with Henry, who lay on the grass, his eyes half closed as he mumbled unintelligible words to himself.

Cat knelt down, eyes shooting daggers at him as she struggled to compose herself. She shook him brusquely by the shoulder, "Wake up." She demanded, her voice like ice, "I said wake up, Henry! Look at me!"

He groggily cracked his eyes open. They wandered blindly for a few moments before focusing on her. A crooked smile turned up his lips. Cat wanted to slap it off his face.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" she asked, "What makes you think you have the right to just show up t my wedding and humiliate me and Edgar like that?! What give you the right?! You're just a bitter, cowardly drunk who can't even take care of himself, much less his own son!"

The smile seemed to fade from Henry's face, but that didn't stop him from continuing, "You're not okay…are you, Cat? You can tell that to Edgar, Ellie, all the rest of these people…but we know you're not okay, don't we? We both know you haven't been okay since the first day you stepped foot in New York."

"You don't know what you're talking about-" she tried to say, but he cut her off,

"You didn't count on it being this hard, did you? You thought you were tough enough to live without him for a while. That he needed you- and not the other way around."

Cat could feel the grittiness forming behind her eyes and the tightening sensation return to her throat. She tried to swallow and nearly choked, "Henry…don't…" she murmured. He only went on talking as though he hadn't heard her,

"And now the walls are closing in, aren't they? You're seeing yourself being buried in this little trap, this grave you dug for yourself. You can close your eyes and pretend it's not there- but that only works for so long, doesn't it, Cat? Sooner or later, you're going to suffocate."

Her eyes were welling up, and she blinked furiously to banish the tears away, "Stop."

"Just get the guts to walk away, Cat. Just do it. You know I don't like it…but at least I can admit it. You're only living a half-life if you're not with Him."

Two tears fell down Cat's cheeks. She dashed them away. "Henry…" she said his name through gritted teeth, "Heath...is dead. Do you hear me? This is the only life I have left. He's dead!"

Henry stared at her in silence for a few moments. He pushed himself up until he was sitting upright on the ground, then shook his head, "You don't really believe that, do you Cat? Not deep down. You can fool Edgar in thinking you've bought into that- but you know it's not true…don't you? Late at night, when you're lying awake in and bed and all is so quiet that you can hear what's going on inside of you- that's when you can just feel that's he alive, can't you? You can't even explain it to yourself, but you just know he's out there somewhere." He looked into her face and chuckled again. But this time, he managed to raise his hand up and brought it to her face, gently stroking her cheek with his fingertips, "I know, Cat." He whispered, "I know…"

Cat was crying now, and this time didn't bother to wipe away the tears. She let her head fall forward until it hit Henry's shoulder, her fists clenching his shirt as she began to quietly weep. She felt one hand on her back, and another one stroking her hair. Her arms shifted so that they were encircling his neck and she clung onto her brother as she cried, letting him hold her. She really believed that it was the very first time they'd ever embraced each other like this- the first time in their entire lives…

"The cab's on it's way." Ellie's voice from behind her startled Cat, and she quickly pulled out of Henry's arms, wiping at her eyes,

"Cat, why don't you go back to the party, I'll sit with Henry. It's your wedding day."

She nodded in agreement, "O-okay. Thank you, Ellie." She rose somewhat unsteadily to her feet and wiped at her eyes again. "Tell the cab driver to take him to a hotel. Then get him a plane ticket back home- have everything put on my charge card."

"Are you sure?" Ellie looked at her uncertainly, but Cat nodded again,

"Yes, do it." She started to walk away, but halted in her steps at the sound of Henry's voice calling after her,

"You're not crazy, Cat. He's alive. You know he is. And you know he'll come back someday. You know it…"

Cat bit her lip hard to keep from bursting into tears anew. She wavered a little on her feet, but managed to steady herself and walk back in the direction of the wedding party without another word or glance behind her.

After the wedding, time seemed to go by in a blur for Cat.

She buried herself in work- it didn't matter what kind of work, so long as it kept her busy.

Work could mean going to various modeling jobs for the agency. She wasn't going to Europe anymore but that didn't mean that there wasn't plenty enough within the country to keep her busy. She did photoshoots, runway shows, go sees and publicity appearances just as she had before.

Work might mean spending time with her mother in law to try and keep the older woman from sinking into a depression from her husband's death. She and Isabella coaxed Linda into attending Broadway plays, art openings at Isabella's art studio and other social functions. She played the part of the dutiful daughter as well as she could, and it did seem to help.

And work could also mean being there for her new husband- ensuring he didn't overwork himself as both the new head of Gregory's company, and the head of his family. She didn't have to do much physically speaking- Edgar wasn't the type of man who liked to discuss or display his grief too openly. What he most required and appreciated was the kind of quiet support and love that Ellie had urged Cat to give him. So she tried to do just that. She stayed up for him when he worked late. She let him make love to her when he wanted to, and even forced herself to like it most of the time. She suggested that the two of them go away together every once in a while to one of the Linton's various cabins or condos in vacation spots around the world. She tried to keep her mood as light and at ease as possible, so as to keep his at the same level. And eventually, Edgar did get better. He began to smile again, then laugh. They began going out again together, and he was pleasant and humorous as he had once been. Every day he got a little better, and before long Cat was confident that he as well as the other Lintons were on their way back to a semblance of their normal lives.

Of course things weren't exactly as they had used to be. Due to Edgar's new position, his time at work had dramatically increased, as he spent much of his time sitting in meetings or attending conferences, or meeting with other high level corporate executives for numerous engagements. Cat knew that Edgar hated all of it, but said nothing, knowing he wouldn't leave it anyway. He felt a too strong responsibility to his dad to ever do that.

For herself, Cat gave very little thought. She buried herself so deeply into the work and duties of being Catherine Linton, the famous supermodel and Catherine Linton, the wife of Edgar Linton, that she hardly allowed herself any opportunity to think about the life she'd once led as Cat Ernshawl- the girl who'd answered to no one but herself.

After a while, it just became easier that way. Thinking about the previous life she'd led didn't do anything but cause her to think of Heath- which only tempted her to sink back down into the pit of depression she'd begun to try and climb out of.

The only time she allowed herself to think of just what had happened to Cat Ernshawl was late at night, when she was lying in bed, curled onto her side with her eyes closed to the rest of the world. That's when she remembered the girl she'd used to be- the girl who had allowed herself to slip away into a shell of who she once was. The girl who was still in love with the boy who'd stolen her heart the moment she'd seen him in the back doorway of her kitchen…

Every summer, she went back home to The Heights for a few weeks, pretending that it was just for a visit with Henry instead of an occasion to give him money and ensure that Harry was being at least decently taken care of. Each time they went it nearly broke Cat's heart to see the ever worsening condition of her old home.

The house had always been old, but now Henry was just letting it run to neglect, allowing the paint on the outside to peel, the wood of the porch to rot, the furnace to break down, broken windows to be unmended, and so many other things. When they visited Henry was for the most part, the Henry they'd always known. The change that had come voer him at Francie's death however, had still not gone away. There was still that dull, hollow look in his eyes, that completely detached tone to his voice that never ceased to make Cat paranoid for her brother's state of mental health. He never wanted to talk about Francie, and barely seemed to notice Harry's presence. He never would openly accept the money that Cat brought with her every visit, but she noticed that when she left it on the table by the door, he never removed it either. She figured that he saw it as more for Harry than anything else.

She pitied him. There had never exactly been love between them as kids and there was little chance of that changing now. But nevertheless, she couldn't completely abandon him or cut him off. Perhaps it was because Cat knew that doing a thing like that would have broken her father's heart. Whatever her reasoning, she always made sure that Henry would at least be able to keep the house, and The Heights, Joe still working there, unchanged as ever. For some reason, he was also one of the things about her old home that she never wanted to see changed. Cat never wanted to imagine not having The Heights to come back home to. Ever.

For five years Cat adjusted to her new life. They were slow and difficult years, and some days were hard to get through, but get through them she did. Eventually she became used to her life, and though she didn't like it, the routine of it all gave her a measure of security that was comforting.

Cat came to expect nothing else from her life than what she got now. She asked for nothing more from it. In her mind, there was nothing to wish for.