Wedding Plans
The smell of burning breakfast fills the James' townhouse early morning.
"Dad, Wake up! Wake Up!", yells a very worried Hallie Parker. "Something's burning! DAD!"
"What! What happened! What!", a very half asleep, but still very handsome, Nick Parker yells back as he jumps off the living room couch. "Wait a second, what's that smell?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Hallie, now frustrated, runs into the kitchen with Nick who by now has woken up. But hey, did he really have a choice?
"Nick, put the top on the frying pan and turn it off!", shouts a tall, slightly bald butler named Martin.
"What is all this anyway, Marty.", says Nick while coughing and shuting off the stove at the same time.
"Eggs Benedict, ala Martin." Martin replies, also coughing.
Hallie stands there watching both men cough to death. "Eggs What?!?!"
"Poached eggs, with side a ham, biscuits, holiday sauce, most of which is on the counter," he says while pointing to each item "and the ala Martin part, caviar."
"What's going on in here?" Says Elizabeth James, while walking in with Hallie's twin sister Annie.
"Well, I can answer that for ya Mom," answers Hallie looking very paranoid at the men behind the counter, "Well are old buddy here Emeril," she remarks while pointing at Martin, "decided to make us some breakfast, that for some particular reason, has about a million things to cook, when he lost control of everything and they started burning, then yours truly, tried to wake up old Rip Van Winkle here," she says, this time pointing to a very embarrassed Nick, "But, he just kept on sleeping, until finally, I screamed, woke him up, so that this townhouse wouldn't burn down!!!"
Annie quietly started giggling. "Now, calm down Honey, everything's fine now. We'll just go grab some breakfast elsewhere. Martin, clean up this mess right away before it gets worse, and Nick start getting ready, I need you to meet me at work today. Oh and Annie, do you mind grabbing the paper......and make sure to give the paperboy a tip. And Hallie, ask Chessy, what she wants to wear.....you know for the wedding."
"But...Honey...Liz....Mom...." All four start at once.
"Well, Go!" Elizabeth answers, also, now paranoid.
"Nick, I'm are leaving for the studio! Are you still meeting me there at two?" Liz yells up the stairs.
"Uh...Yeah, I might be a little late though. Me and the girls, are gonna spend the day together, probably looking for school supplies. We're taking Sammy too." Nick answers while running down the stairs.
"The girls and I..."
"Yeah, that's what I meant..."
"Why are you shopping now?"
"I just figured we were gonna be busy planning, and thought we might as well get it over with and out of the way."
"All right....just don't forget to come to the studio. I need you to try on your suit."
"Suit?!?!"
"Just come alright."
"Okay...see ya then." Nick bends over and gives Liz a kiss before she goes.
Pandemonium strikes Elizabeth James' Designs. "So what's his name? What's he like? Where does he live? How'd you meet him?" With so many questions all at once, Liz starts to feel dizzy.
"Come on Elizabeth, tell us!!" Pleaded Fiona and the Elizabeth James' staff.
"Fiona, in all the years you've been my secretary have you ever been so impatient!" Answers Elizabeth.
"Yeah, but in all those years you've never been in love! Will you please just tell us something!"
"Okay, Okay.... His name is Nick, we met a long time ago, he lives in Napa, he has great sense of humor, and he's romantic in his own sick-twisted way.....Happy?"
Everyone stares at her like she's absolutely crazy.
"What? I told you....."
"Well, that's not exactly what we were thinking...we want the dirt, the scoop, the 4-1-1, the blood and gore of it all....."
"Sheesh...if you really want to know what he's like, he's meeting me here at two."
"Will you introduce him to us?"
"YES!!!"
"Well, can you at least spill something about him?"
"Fine, we met on this ocean liner twelve years ago. We were both single and around the same age so we started dating, I guess you could call it, and then one night he popped the question, we got married, and ten months later we had Hallie and Annie. We got divorced and never talked to each other again. Then the girls met at summer camp by coincidence, switch places, and tried to get Nick and I back together. At the time he was engaged, and then he dumped her. Then, I left for London and he came after me."
"How romantic...." The whole staff awed, this time Liz looked at them like they were the ones crazy.
"You all are rather pathetic when it comes to romance...."
Fiona was the first one to answer, "Look who's talking....."
----------------------------------------------
Back in the James' townhouse, Nick was just putting a leash on Sammy, the Parker's dog.
"Alright girls, we're ready to go."
"Okay Dad!" Both girls shout at once.
As the girls arrive, Nick opens the door as the threesome (or foursome if you included Sammy) all walk out the door.
"So where, exactly are we going?" Nicks asks as he fidgets with the bronze lock on the door.
"Uhhh.....There's a grocery store up the street, I guess we can go there." Says Annie.
"You lead the way." Nick answers as they reach the sidewalk.
"Okay. So Dad, when's the wedding?
"Yeah, when is it?" Hallie pleads.
"I dunno." Nick answers not knowing either.
"You kidding right Dad?" They stare at him awkwardly.
"Oh, come on, Dad! How could you not know the date of your own wedding?"
"I dunno. Me and your mother haven't gotten there yet."
"Your mother and I." The girls say at once.
"Why do you guys keep doing that?"
"Dad, forget about it. Back to the wedding." Hallie says changing the subject.
"Yeah, okay."
"Do you even know where it's going to be?"
"Of course I know where it's going to be. It's going to be on the QE2 again."
"Cool. So how come you don't know when." Annie asks.
"We've been through this already, Annie, I don't know anything."
"Can you at least tell us what day you're thinking of?" Hallie asks.
"We want to get married before the school year starts, but we don't want to rush anything like last time...."
The girls look at each other. "Look where that got you." They say at once.
"Anyway, we also want the whole family and our friends to be there. And when it's on a boat for six days, I think we should give them enough notice. PLUS, we also want it to be on our original marriage date, January 8th. But we want to get it done before school so it's on the record, and we don't have to worry about it. BUT we don't want you to miss the first day of school, AND since I'm the soccer coach I have to be there a week before school starts for tryouts."
"Geez Dad....You're confusing us."
"Sorry I asked...."
"How do you think I felt when your mother threw that and her own batch of stats at me last night....."
The twins look at him as if he went through a lot of pain.
"We do have some ideas, but we`re really not sure if we`re going to use them. One of civilly married before school with just family and then have which is getting another ceremony on the QE2 on January 8th with family and friends...."
"That's awesome, Dad! Two weddings!"
"Yeah, awesomely expensive! Plus, you know how much money I spent on Meredith?" Nick answers opening the door of the grocery store.
"She wasn't worth it, that's for sure...." Hallie mumbles grabbing a cart inside.
"And you save money on the wedding gown anyway, which usually costs a fortune, and on suits..."
"No, we still have to rent those...."
"That's not what Mom said. She said she'd just design them so you won't rent them."
"She said she was going to start making tuxedos, and all accessories, and become a sort of "wedding central". She said she's even going to hire a wedding planner. Apparently, this wedding`s given her a lot of inspiration."
"Really....hmm.....Well, okay, maybe I don't know what's going on."
"Do you even know what the wedding color is?"
"No."
"Geez...."
"What? We got engaged last night! Give us sometime to plan, will ya...."
"Mom's been planning. since last night, and she`s gotten tons of stuff done. She even designed her gown already. It's really pretty."
"Then ask your mother these questions. So what do we need again?"
"Urghh...."
"I know you told me last night but, remember, I have a short term memory."
"Fine. We need pencils, notebooks, lined paper, a ruler, a calculator, markers, and a trapper for keeping it all in."
"Right. So what do we have so far."
"Pencils, lined paper, markers, and trappers." Annie answers checking the cart.
"So we need calculators, notebooks, and rulers."
"Okay. Oh Annie, did you talk to your friends yet about you and your mother moving to Napa with us?"
"Actually, I did talk to some of them. They all think it's really cool, even though they won't see me anymore."
"Who said you won't see them anymore?" Nick asks kinda puzzled.
"No one....just I thought....."
"Didn't your mother tell you we would visit London at least once a year..."
"Cool!"
"Alright. Now I think we got everything...." Nick says checking his watch.
"Why? What's the hurry?"
"I promised your mother I'd meet her at her office at two o'clock today."
"Yikes Dad! It's already one thirty!"
"Don't worry, I know a short cut to her office....."
"Cool. Oh and Annie....."
"Yeah Dad?"
Nick looks kinda embarrassed to be asking.
"Do you know any place where I can get some flowers....."
The girls smile. They know who those are for....
"Yeah, it's on the way there."
After paying for their supplies, Nick, the girls and Sammy, head out the door on their way to Liz's studio. They drop the supplies off at the townhouse and are on their way. They stop at a cart a block from the studio to buy some flowers. After much arguing over which to buy, Nick carries a big bouquet of daisies, Liz's favorite flower. They call for a taxi to the studio. At exactly two o'clock, they make their way on to the steps of the studio. Nick takes a breath, and......
Finally, after all that waiting it was two o'clock. Fiona and everyone else in the studio had been looking at the clock above the door for a good three hours.
"Finally...." Fiona sighs.
"Well, of course it took long, you just sat there for three hours waiting."
"Well-," Fiona is cut off as she hears a dog barking very loudly at the studio door.
Everyone freezes, staring waiting for Liz to open the door. After what everyone thought was hours, Liz opened it. Nick and the others stood there, waiting for her to say something.
"Come in guys."
Nick, Hallie, and Annie step in. Liz's staff stare at Nick, again waiting for someone to break the ice. So Nick did.
"Hi honey." Nick says as Liz sees flowers.
"Oh Nick! They're my favorite!" She throws her arms around him.
Fiona, Finally breaking out of her trance, makes sure she gets a proper hello.
"EhhhHemmm....."
Liz breaks the embrace, "Oh Nick, this is Fiona, my secretary."
"Hi there!" Nick smiles and takes one of the daisies out of the bouquet. He gives the rest of the bouquet to Fiona, and gives the single one to Liz...
"Thank you...." Fiona answers blushing.
"Told ya....." Liz smiled, smelling her single daisy.
After Liz introduced Nick to the rest of the staff, Nick took out her measuring tape and started taking measurements for Nick's tux.
Back in a meeting room, Hallie and Annie go over their own plans for the wedding.
The smell of burning breakfast fills the James' townhouse early morning.
"Dad, Wake up! Wake Up!", yells a very worried Hallie Parker. "Something's burning! DAD!"
"What! What happened! What!", a very half asleep, but still very handsome, Nick Parker yells back as he jumps off the living room couch. "Wait a second, what's that smell?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Hallie, now frustrated, runs into the kitchen with Nick who by now has woken up. But hey, did he really have a choice?
"Nick, put the top on the frying pan and turn it off!", shouts a tall, slightly bald butler named Martin.
"What is all this anyway, Marty.", says Nick while coughing and shuting off the stove at the same time.
"Eggs Benedict, ala Martin." Martin replies, also coughing.
Hallie stands there watching both men cough to death. "Eggs What?!?!"
"Poached eggs, with side a ham, biscuits, holiday sauce, most of which is on the counter," he says while pointing to each item "and the ala Martin part, caviar."
"What's going on in here?" Says Elizabeth James, while walking in with Hallie's twin sister Annie.
"Well, I can answer that for ya Mom," answers Hallie looking very paranoid at the men behind the counter, "Well are old buddy here Emeril," she remarks while pointing at Martin, "decided to make us some breakfast, that for some particular reason, has about a million things to cook, when he lost control of everything and they started burning, then yours truly, tried to wake up old Rip Van Winkle here," she says, this time pointing to a very embarrassed Nick, "But, he just kept on sleeping, until finally, I screamed, woke him up, so that this townhouse wouldn't burn down!!!"
Annie quietly started giggling. "Now, calm down Honey, everything's fine now. We'll just go grab some breakfast elsewhere. Martin, clean up this mess right away before it gets worse, and Nick start getting ready, I need you to meet me at work today. Oh and Annie, do you mind grabbing the paper......and make sure to give the paperboy a tip. And Hallie, ask Chessy, what she wants to wear.....you know for the wedding."
"But...Honey...Liz....Mom...." All four start at once.
"Well, Go!" Elizabeth answers, also, now paranoid.
"Nick, I'm are leaving for the studio! Are you still meeting me there at two?" Liz yells up the stairs.
"Uh...Yeah, I might be a little late though. Me and the girls, are gonna spend the day together, probably looking for school supplies. We're taking Sammy too." Nick answers while running down the stairs.
"The girls and I..."
"Yeah, that's what I meant..."
"Why are you shopping now?"
"I just figured we were gonna be busy planning, and thought we might as well get it over with and out of the way."
"All right....just don't forget to come to the studio. I need you to try on your suit."
"Suit?!?!"
"Just come alright."
"Okay...see ya then." Nick bends over and gives Liz a kiss before she goes.
Pandemonium strikes Elizabeth James' Designs. "So what's his name? What's he like? Where does he live? How'd you meet him?" With so many questions all at once, Liz starts to feel dizzy.
"Come on Elizabeth, tell us!!" Pleaded Fiona and the Elizabeth James' staff.
"Fiona, in all the years you've been my secretary have you ever been so impatient!" Answers Elizabeth.
"Yeah, but in all those years you've never been in love! Will you please just tell us something!"
"Okay, Okay.... His name is Nick, we met a long time ago, he lives in Napa, he has great sense of humor, and he's romantic in his own sick-twisted way.....Happy?"
Everyone stares at her like she's absolutely crazy.
"What? I told you....."
"Well, that's not exactly what we were thinking...we want the dirt, the scoop, the 4-1-1, the blood and gore of it all....."
"Sheesh...if you really want to know what he's like, he's meeting me here at two."
"Will you introduce him to us?"
"YES!!!"
"Well, can you at least spill something about him?"
"Fine, we met on this ocean liner twelve years ago. We were both single and around the same age so we started dating, I guess you could call it, and then one night he popped the question, we got married, and ten months later we had Hallie and Annie. We got divorced and never talked to each other again. Then the girls met at summer camp by coincidence, switch places, and tried to get Nick and I back together. At the time he was engaged, and then he dumped her. Then, I left for London and he came after me."
"How romantic...." The whole staff awed, this time Liz looked at them like they were the ones crazy.
"You all are rather pathetic when it comes to romance...."
Fiona was the first one to answer, "Look who's talking....."
----------------------------------------------
Back in the James' townhouse, Nick was just putting a leash on Sammy, the Parker's dog.
"Alright girls, we're ready to go."
"Okay Dad!" Both girls shout at once.
As the girls arrive, Nick opens the door as the threesome (or foursome if you included Sammy) all walk out the door.
"So where, exactly are we going?" Nicks asks as he fidgets with the bronze lock on the door.
"Uhhh.....There's a grocery store up the street, I guess we can go there." Says Annie.
"You lead the way." Nick answers as they reach the sidewalk.
"Okay. So Dad, when's the wedding?
"Yeah, when is it?" Hallie pleads.
"I dunno." Nick answers not knowing either.
"You kidding right Dad?" They stare at him awkwardly.
"Oh, come on, Dad! How could you not know the date of your own wedding?"
"I dunno. Me and your mother haven't gotten there yet."
"Your mother and I." The girls say at once.
"Why do you guys keep doing that?"
"Dad, forget about it. Back to the wedding." Hallie says changing the subject.
"Yeah, okay."
"Do you even know where it's going to be?"
"Of course I know where it's going to be. It's going to be on the QE2 again."
"Cool. So how come you don't know when." Annie asks.
"We've been through this already, Annie, I don't know anything."
"Can you at least tell us what day you're thinking of?" Hallie asks.
"We want to get married before the school year starts, but we don't want to rush anything like last time...."
The girls look at each other. "Look where that got you." They say at once.
"Anyway, we also want the whole family and our friends to be there. And when it's on a boat for six days, I think we should give them enough notice. PLUS, we also want it to be on our original marriage date, January 8th. But we want to get it done before school so it's on the record, and we don't have to worry about it. BUT we don't want you to miss the first day of school, AND since I'm the soccer coach I have to be there a week before school starts for tryouts."
"Geez Dad....You're confusing us."
"Sorry I asked...."
"How do you think I felt when your mother threw that and her own batch of stats at me last night....."
The twins look at him as if he went through a lot of pain.
"We do have some ideas, but we`re really not sure if we`re going to use them. One of civilly married before school with just family and then have which is getting another ceremony on the QE2 on January 8th with family and friends...."
"That's awesome, Dad! Two weddings!"
"Yeah, awesomely expensive! Plus, you know how much money I spent on Meredith?" Nick answers opening the door of the grocery store.
"She wasn't worth it, that's for sure...." Hallie mumbles grabbing a cart inside.
"And you save money on the wedding gown anyway, which usually costs a fortune, and on suits..."
"No, we still have to rent those...."
"That's not what Mom said. She said she'd just design them so you won't rent them."
"She said she was going to start making tuxedos, and all accessories, and become a sort of "wedding central". She said she's even going to hire a wedding planner. Apparently, this wedding`s given her a lot of inspiration."
"Really....hmm.....Well, okay, maybe I don't know what's going on."
"Do you even know what the wedding color is?"
"No."
"Geez...."
"What? We got engaged last night! Give us sometime to plan, will ya...."
"Mom's been planning. since last night, and she`s gotten tons of stuff done. She even designed her gown already. It's really pretty."
"Then ask your mother these questions. So what do we need again?"
"Urghh...."
"I know you told me last night but, remember, I have a short term memory."
"Fine. We need pencils, notebooks, lined paper, a ruler, a calculator, markers, and a trapper for keeping it all in."
"Right. So what do we have so far."
"Pencils, lined paper, markers, and trappers." Annie answers checking the cart.
"So we need calculators, notebooks, and rulers."
"Okay. Oh Annie, did you talk to your friends yet about you and your mother moving to Napa with us?"
"Actually, I did talk to some of them. They all think it's really cool, even though they won't see me anymore."
"Who said you won't see them anymore?" Nick asks kinda puzzled.
"No one....just I thought....."
"Didn't your mother tell you we would visit London at least once a year..."
"Cool!"
"Alright. Now I think we got everything...." Nick says checking his watch.
"Why? What's the hurry?"
"I promised your mother I'd meet her at her office at two o'clock today."
"Yikes Dad! It's already one thirty!"
"Don't worry, I know a short cut to her office....."
"Cool. Oh and Annie....."
"Yeah Dad?"
Nick looks kinda embarrassed to be asking.
"Do you know any place where I can get some flowers....."
The girls smile. They know who those are for....
"Yeah, it's on the way there."
After paying for their supplies, Nick, the girls and Sammy, head out the door on their way to Liz's studio. They drop the supplies off at the townhouse and are on their way. They stop at a cart a block from the studio to buy some flowers. After much arguing over which to buy, Nick carries a big bouquet of daisies, Liz's favorite flower. They call for a taxi to the studio. At exactly two o'clock, they make their way on to the steps of the studio. Nick takes a breath, and......
Finally, after all that waiting it was two o'clock. Fiona and everyone else in the studio had been looking at the clock above the door for a good three hours.
"Finally...." Fiona sighs.
"Well, of course it took long, you just sat there for three hours waiting."
"Well-," Fiona is cut off as she hears a dog barking very loudly at the studio door.
Everyone freezes, staring waiting for Liz to open the door. After what everyone thought was hours, Liz opened it. Nick and the others stood there, waiting for her to say something.
"Come in guys."
Nick, Hallie, and Annie step in. Liz's staff stare at Nick, again waiting for someone to break the ice. So Nick did.
"Hi honey." Nick says as Liz sees flowers.
"Oh Nick! They're my favorite!" She throws her arms around him.
Fiona, Finally breaking out of her trance, makes sure she gets a proper hello.
"EhhhHemmm....."
Liz breaks the embrace, "Oh Nick, this is Fiona, my secretary."
"Hi there!" Nick smiles and takes one of the daisies out of the bouquet. He gives the rest of the bouquet to Fiona, and gives the single one to Liz...
"Thank you...." Fiona answers blushing.
"Told ya....." Liz smiled, smelling her single daisy.
After Liz introduced Nick to the rest of the staff, Nick took out her measuring tape and started taking measurements for Nick's tux.
Back in a meeting room, Hallie and Annie go over their own plans for the wedding.