It took a bit of arranging, but one week after Nick woke up, they managed it. Both he and Duncan were still recovering in hospital. And as the whole family knew, nothing would stand between Hope Buchanan and what she wanted. And what she wanted was to be married to Duncan Freeman as soon as bloody possible.
Obviously they could not manage the lavish affair Hope and Duncan had originally planned. Eloise even tried to convince her daughter to postpone longer, to wait till things went back to normal and have a proper wedding then. But Hope would have none of it.
"We got shot at in the church, Mum," Hope had reminded her. "Duncan nearly died diving in front of bullets for me. I'm not going to chance anything else happening before we can be married."
"But it was all so beautiful, dear. Don't you want to have your perfect princess day? Everything all pink and lovely? Doing it in the hospital won't be the same. Duncan can't even wear proper clothes yet! Don't you want nice pictures?" Eloise asked, pointing out the possible regrets her daughter may have.
Hope was unpersuaded. "I'll be perfect and beautiful enough for the both of us. We can do a fancy photoshoot another time. Maybe for our anniversary. But I don't care if all we've got of the day are photos Matt takes on his phone. Duncan and I are getting married!" she announced definitively.
For his part, Duncan was all for it. He, like Hope, loved extravagance. But he, like his fiancée, would rather sod it all and get married as soon as possible. As he told Jen, "Me and Hope, we don't need all of that. Do we want it? Sure. That's why we planned it that way to begin with. But it's all just extra. She's really all I need at the end of the day."
She smiled at that. "Yeah, I know the feeling."
"I'm sure you do. You and Nick got married in secret," he laughed.
"Even more than that," she said, "we got married with about two weeks' notice. We were lying in bed and talking about another miscarriage I had, and Nick said we should get married."
"And you said yes?"
Jen realized she'd never actually told the whole story before. "No, I didn't say anything at all. Actually, I think I just told him to go to sleep. And then the next morning, I took a look at both our calendars and saw he had a rostered day off coming up, so I suggested that date, that I could take a couple days off and we could do it then. Nick had no idea what I was talking about, and I just said 'to get married.' And that's what we did. I got my dress the day before. We met at the registrar's office. The justice of the peace married us. We signed the paperwork, and Nick drove me to one of the very posh waterfront hotels where we spent the weekend before going back to work on the Monday."
Duncan laughed again. "I still can't believe I didn't know you got married. I didn't even know you two were together!"
"Matt was the only one who knew. But he didn't know we'd got married till we told him I was pregnant."
"Was that when you threw up on him?"
Jen blushed at that, still mortified she'd done such a thing. "Only on his shoes," she mumbled.
That just made Duncan laugh even more. "Well, then we all got to find out after that."
"Yes, all our secrets were out."
"But we all had a lot to catch up on. Still do. You and Nick have always had secrets. SIS and all."
Jen paused at that. She'd not really thought of it that way before. That she and Nick were built on secrets. To others, maybe that was true. Well, it certainly was true. But with each other… "We've kept secrets because we had to. But what it was for a long time was just our own world. He and I had our relationship and our life together away from everyone else. It's what's made us so strong, I think. For all our breaking up and getting back together before we got married, Nick and I were never really more ourselves than when we were together. We shared so much. It was just ours. And it was isolating, when we had problems, to not be able to talk to anyone else about it, but we ended up alright, I think."
Duncan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you did. You're the best couple I've ever seen. Getting to be even a little part of your world together's taught me a lot. Obviously I met Hope because of you guys, but I don't think she and I would have the relationship I have with her if I hadn't learned a lot from you and Nick."
She smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "You're a good one, Dunny. Not as full of shit as when I first met you."
"Thanks," he laughed.
Jen pulled back and took a calming breath. "Right then, you ready?"
He nodded resolutely. "Yeah, let's go."
Duncan sat up as straight as he could in the wheelchair. He wasn't able to walk more than to and from the toilet just yet, so he had to be wheeled out to the hospital chapel for the wedding. Nick should have been the one to help Duncan get ready, as he was supposed to be the best man. But obviously he wasn't in much better shape. Instead, Duncan had specifically asked Jen to be the one to take him down. He'd wanted to have this little moment with his friend, and they were both glad of it.
Jennifer wheeled him down the hall to the lift and to the chapel. Waiting there were the rest of the groom's party. Nick in a wheelchair of his own with Cody and Matt and Sam sitting in the front pew waiting.
"There's the groom!" Nick greeted cheerfully. But his attention went very quickly from Duncan to Jen. She wasn't wearing that pink monstrosity of a dress like she had for the church wedding. No one was really dressed up—Hope said she'd rather have people show up in woolen jumpers than have Duncan and Nick in hospital gowns with the rest of them in formalwear. Jen was wearing jeans and a pink hoodie in honor of Hope.
Duncan took his place up front. A justice of the peace was waiting to perform the ceremony. They greeted each other politely. Dunny turned to Sam. "Did you get it, mate?"
Sam smiled and reached to the pew behind him to produce a magnificent bouquet of hot pink roses. Duncan had asked Sam to get them for the ceremony so Hope could have one beautiful part of her day.
Jen greeted Duncan's sister, Grace, who immediately went to give her brother best wishes. Jen then went to greet her son and husband with a kiss for each of them. "You be good, Cody, and keep Dad safe, okay?" she instructed.
"Okay, Mum," her little boy replied obediently.
"And you, don't do anything stupid," she warned Nick.
"Whatever you say, Jen," he replied teasingly.
She bent down and gave him one more quick kiss for that before standing up again. "Right, I'll go see what's holding up the bridal party. Back in a tick."
She hurried down to where she'd left Hope, Danielle, Eloise, and Ella. It quickly became clear to her what the holdup was.
"You should have flowers, you twit," came a familiar voice.
"I don't need flowers," Hope snapped. "Besides, it's a hospital and all the flowers go to the sick people." The bride was talking to her phone screen, obviously on a video call with her sister, Kimberly. Kim had gone back to Sydney a few days before, but they'd promised to have her be present for the wedding this way.
Danielle took the phone away from Hope and ushered her towards their mother. Jen saw Danielle speak to Kim and explain, "She's trying really hard to not make a fuss and to have a good day despite the circumstances. She doesn't need you to remind her of all the things she's not gonna have. And the flowers are killing her. You know she almost started crying in the car when she remembered a bouquet and realized there wasn't time to get a proper one? She didn't want to get anything from the gift shop since those are for patients. So shut up, Kimmy!"
Jen did not want to get involved in any of that. She instead looked around to find the one person she wanted to talk to. "Hello, sweet girl," Jen said softly to her daughter.
Ella was sitting on the floor with a book and her SamBun clutched in her embrace. She looked up from what she was reading and smiled at her mother. "Hello, Mummy."
"Why are you down here, Ell?" she asked, bending down to be closer to Ella's level.
"Auntie Hope is being a lot," Ella replied with a precocious sigh.
Jen had no doubt that this was true, but the phrasing nearly made her laugh. "Thank you for being quiet and respectful of the grownups," Jen told her. "But I think we're nearly ready, so why don't you get up now? Are you at a good stopping place in your book?"
"One more page."
"Finish it up," Jen instructed. She watched adoringly as her daughter's bright blue eyes went back and forth over the page. Ella was so clever and loved to read. She was well beyond her age-level for her reading and her maths. Cody wasn't as much interested in academic pursuits, but he had plenty of other talents. He was incredibly creative and artistic, drawing and making up stories and creating things whenever he had the chance. Jen was so proud of both her children always, but the differences between each twin was quite remarkable to her.
Ella closed her book and stood up. "All done. Is it time for the wedding now?" she asked.
Jen looked to Danielle who gave a nod in her direction. "Yes, it's time."
The bridal party all gathered together to walk into the little chapel. First went Ella and then Jennifer and then Danielle.
Eloise walked her daughter down the aisle, even though they were all just wearing casual clothes and there weren't flowers and there was no music. As everyone watched Hope walk towards Duncan, what was missing from the wedding was immaterial. Hope's lovely face was so filled with joy and love, she looked as though she were walking on a cloud of bliss. And her gaze was fixated on Duncan.
Eloise kissed her daughter's cheek and sat down with everyone else. But the wedding couldn't start just yet. "Hope, come here," Nick whispered from where he sat in his wheelchair next to Duncan.
With a curious expression, Hope went to see her big brother. But as she approached him, he did something she really did not expect. He planted his feet flat on the ground, put his hands on the armrests of the wheelchair, and pushed himself into a standing position. Hope gasped, worried for him. But Jen watched and smiled with tears in her eyes. Nick had told her he wanted to be able to give his sister a proper hug at her wedding, to be able to stand up for her the way he'd tried to do her whole life. And that's exactly what he did.
Nick reached out to her and gave her a gentle hug, careful to avoid his stitches. "I'm really proud of you," he whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek. "Go get married, Hopey." And just as gingerly as he'd gotten up, he lowered himself back down into the wheelchair, feeling shockingly winded and wobbly.
If Hope were not emotional before, she was barely holding it together now. She went back to her place standing next to Duncan. He smiled at her and gave a somewhat exasperated sigh. "Your bloody brother stole my idea, but I think I can best him this time," he said.
"What do you mean?"
Duncan showed her what he meant. He, like Nick had done, carefully stood up. But he did not just give her a hug and sit back down. "I'm gonna marry you no matter what, but I think I'd like to stand beside you to do it."
Tears fell down Hope's cheeks as she held his hand to keep him steady.
"Oh, one more thing. A bride can't get married without a bouquet." He gestured to Sam to bring the roses forward to hand to Hope.
She was crying nearly uncontrollably now. Duncan hadn't known what Hope had said to Danielle about the flowers, but others did. A small gasp of understanding came from the phone that Danielle was still holding so Kim could watch the wedding.
"Right, now we can get married," Duncan said.
The justice of the peace performed the very abbreviated ceremony. Jen sat in the pew with her daughter beside her, watching it all. She did not take her eyes off the bride and groom, but she could feel Nick's presence across the aisle from her. She knew that he was watching, too, and probably as pleased as she was that they weren't involved in the middle of everything for once. They could just sit and watch.
Duncan and Hope repeated the vows and exchanged their rings and kissed triumphantly to the applause of their family. Duncan pulled back from her with a beaming smile. "Alright, Mrs. Freeman?"
Hope was still crying tears of joy. She laughed, and replied, "Oh yes. I just love my husband."
"Good," he replied. "Because I love my wife."
She then helped him back to his wheelchair and wheeled him out, back up to his room where they could have some time alone. It would be a while before they had a wedding night, but they didn't mind waiting a little while for that.
The rest of the family made their way out. Cody and Ella each took one handle of Nick's wheelchair and wheeled their father out with Jen to help them. The little family went back to Nick's room, just the four of them, all smiles.
For the first time in a while, since the first time Hope and Duncan tried to have their wedding, they were all properly happy. Finally, there was a happy ending.