Three Months Ago and The Present Day
The Present Day
"Rae, I don't have to wear a suit for this thing tonight do I?" Jesse put his head round the doorway of the bathroom where Rae was getting ready to take a shower.
"No, I shouldn't think so, why? You look great in a suit, and I just love the dark blue one you wore after the wedding. Made you look wonderful, I wouldn't have wanted to be going away with anybody else."
"Hey, that was a nice thing to say, thank you. It sure was an amazing day wasn't it? And you looked beautiful."
"It was wasn't it? Even though we had to put up with the bachelor parties, all that pampering and excitement. Terrible wasn't it?" Rae smiled as she remembered
"Oh, yeah, I just hated every minute." They both laughed as they began to reminisce.
Three Months Ago
"Rae, Honey, I have to be going in about a half hour, are you sure you will be ok?" Jesse came into the morning room to see Rae feeding Eliana. "Hey, Sweet pea, how's Daddy's little angel this morning?"
"You know, you could take her with you, I'm sure Steve would happily spend the whole day looking after her." Rae smiled; she was thrilled at how much her partner seemed to love her daughter. "You know I can't believe I have to go back to work in two weeks."
"Don't think about that yet, we have a wedding and a honeymoon in between now and then. Now, I think I have everything that I need for tomorrow, most things are already at Jo's house, but you are sure you will be all right here overnight?"
"Jess, Texas will be here with me, and this is a gated community, we moved here, so we would be safe. I will be fine." Rae looked down at Eliana and saw that she was just about at the end of her bottle. She gently sat her up on her lap and began to rub her back, and then began to laugh as the tiny child made a man sized burp.
"Wow, she must get that from your side of the family." Jesse looked on in amazement. "She never does that for me!"
Rae stuck her tongue out at her almost husband and carried on gently rubbing circles on her daughter's back, but it soon became clear that she had gotten rid of all her wind in one go.
"Go to Daddy for a minute then, he's going to leave Mummy, and on the eve of their wedding!"
"Hey, I don't want to go! You're the one who said it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the morning of the wedding. I would much rather be here."
"I know that, but I want to do it all properly. And remember, I won't be on time, I know you don't have brides being late over here, but we do, and I want to do that too."
"Honey, I'll do whatever you want to make you happy. I love you, and I want to spend my whole life with you and Eliana, for always, and after tomorrow I know that's what's gonna happen."
The Present Day
"You know, Eliana slept the whole night through, and I had a wonderful evening with my friends, we laughed and joked and I learnt so much about you, Steve, Mark, even Alex. It was just great."
"Yeah, well you weren't the only one who had a bachelor party. I did too. And I had a butler at mine!"
"And he followed his instructions to the letter and kept you all sober!" Rae smiled at him as she spoke. She wasn't sure if he knew that Texas had asked Michael to make sure that after a while the drinks weren't quite what they thought they were.
"He did what!" Jesse looked angry for a minute, but then his face formed a smile again. "You know, I couldn't work out why my head still belonged to me the next day, I guess now I know."
Rae moved back into the room as she began to towel dry her hair. Her bathrobe was warm and soft against her skin and once again she felt relaxed and happy.
Three Months Ago
"Jesse, you cannot call Rae, she is having her bachelorette party, and we are having our bachelor party. It does not include having you phone your fiancée during the first ten minutes. She has a doctor, a cop and her best friend with her. She will be fine!" Steve pushed Jesse back down into his seat.
"Ok, I'm sorry, Steve, I just worry about her."
"We know, trust me, we know!" Alex smiled at him and looked around the room. Steve was taking a tray of drinks from Michael and handing them round. By the time all the drinks had been taken and drunk, Jesse and Tony were the only two men in the room who were standing apart from the group of men gathered to have a good time. There was such a difference in height that it was difficult to concentrate on anything else about them, and everyone could see that they were deep in conversation.
"…And she is fine, you're sure about that? I seem to have spent every day since she left worrying about her. I thought her life was impossible to live with when we were together in London, I can't imagine what it must be like here."
"I guess I'm used to it, to a certain extent, knowing Steve, but, yeah, it has been real hard, but I do love her Tony, and I will try to keep her safe, I promise you that."
"I know you love her, and more to the point I know just how much she loves you, and Steve seems like a great partner to have, maybe I can start to relax about her a little."
They had shaken hands then and moved back towards the group. Jesse wondered how many bachelor parties had the bride's future husband and her ex-husband at them.
David Walters stood up and smiled "Gentlemen, I hope that you don't think I am interferin' but I have arranged a little activity for us." He took out of his pocket an envelope, "in here there are tickets for all of us to go for a go-kartin' an' paintball afternoon."
"Wow, David, that's wonderful, thank you so much." Jesse stood up and moved over to Jo's brother. He shook hands with him. "I guess if you twist my arm we could be persuaded to go then."
Rae put the final plate of nibbles on the table in the living room and took her apron off. She had half an hour before her friends were due to arrive and she had something she needed to do. She went out into the hallway and picked up the phone. "Hi, Mum? Yeah, it's me, how are you…? Everything is ready, and I will send you a copy of the video as soon as I can, probably in about two days… Yeah, I wish you could be here too, and the children, but I have arranged to speak to them after the ceremony… Oh, she is just beautiful…no, she looks different to how Mara did, she is a little fairer than her, but you have the pictures I sent you…I will, Mum, she sleeps through the night, and she is taking more of her formula now, so I think she'll be ok, even though she is still so tiny… I know I was small, but she is just so beautiful…Oh, he just dotes on her, she is gonna be a real Daddy's girl…Oh, Mum, that's my security alarm…hold on a minute…"
Rae had moved over and answered her buzzer. "Hello…Ok, yes I'll let you in, hold on."
"Mum, listen, I have to go now, but I'll phone you tomorrow, I promise, just after I have spoken to the children…yeah, I love you too. Bye." Rae put the phone down and headed to the door. She felt more secure every time she realised that she was in control of who she let into her house, before they could even see it.
Rae stood in the hallway, and waited for the bell to ring. As it did she opened the door, delighted to be able to welcome her friends to her new house. "Hey, welcome to my hen night!" Rae smiled and then hugged each friend in turn.
"Welcome to what? A hen night?" Cheryl looked at her, and then realisation dawned on her. "I heard that in London, that is what you call a bachelor party for women isn't it?"
"It is, but in England a bachelor party is just as likely to be called a stag night."
"We use that too, but I think I prefer bachelor party, for both occasions, somehow it sounds more sophisticated." Amanda was hanging up her coat as she spoke.
"Yeah, me too. Hen night sounds terrible doesn't it? So, come on ladies, welcome to my bachelor party!"
Soon Cheryl, Amanda, Texas and Rae were lying back on chairs, their faces covered with different face packs, their feet soaking in warm water while they laughed and joked about the various men in their lives.
"You know Jesse's eyes follow you wherever you go when you are together, whether you are talkin' to him, playin' with Eliana, even loadin' the dishwasher. He is lookin' at you all the time." Texas laughed as she spoke.
"He is not! Is he?" Rae felt warm inside as she saw her best friend nod, and the others join in.
"Rae, he talks about you continually at the hospital, if it's not something you've done, it's something that Eliana has done, he is completely besotted…" Amanda tried not to smile too much, so that her mask stayed complete.
"Those two days you were in the other week, when you were checking up on the paperwork and things ready for when you come back to work, he must have called you fifteen times!" Cheryl had joined in the laughter, and she had felt so pleased for her friend as she saw Rae sitting there practically glowing as she listened to the conversation.
The Present Day
"You know you had a really exciting bachelor party and I had a really calming one, you were exhausted afterwards and I felt, oh I don't know, serene and relaxed, and I was the one with the baby!"
"Yeah, but you didn't have outdoor activities given to you as a present. I tell you it was wild."
"It was just as well I didn't find out about it until after it had happened, or there is no way I would have been serene and relaxed." Rae leant over to where Jesse was sitting on the end of the bed and kissed him gently on the lips, "but I'm glad you had a good time."
Three Months Ago
"David, I don't know how to thank you, this is just great." Jesse looked round at his seven friends. They were about to start a series of heats in their go-karts for the honour of winning the Travis Trophy. They had drawn lots and were going in four races with two men in each. Martin was going against Tony in the first heat, then David and Alex were paired up for the second race, he was up against Steve in the third and much to his amusement Mark was facing Ron in the last round. Everybody except Martin and Tony were standing behind a barrier waiting to cheer the first two contestants on for their five-lap race.
"Look, I'm very sorry about this." Tony's English accent was deep and strong as he looked about in embarrassment. "I am going to need a bigger cart."
"Maybe they could weld two together for you." Jesse was feeling a little more confident with this giant of a man after their conversation earlier.
"Do they make stretch go-karts?" Steve indicated to one of the staff at the side of the track. "Do you have these in a bigger size?"
"How big?"
"How tall are you Tony?" Steve looked back towards his new friend.
"Ah, about six ten."
"Six Ten! I'll go check. We do have a couple of larger karts."
It took five minutes to sort out and then Jesse could see that although Tony was still a little cramped, at least he was in a kart, where he didn't have to have his knees pressed up against his eyelids. He had a feeling Tony would do much better now he could actually see.
An hour and a half later there was just Alex and Steve left. Steve, who had beaten Ron in the semi finals, had raced ahead of Jesse straight away and never looked back. Alex had triumphed over Martin, who had easily won against Tony, even with his large kart. Now they were whizzing round and round the track in a ten-lap race and everybody else was roaring themselves hoarse.
"Go on Son, keep going, he's catching up with you." Mark was yelling at the top of his voice, although neither racer could hear a word he was saying. He turned to see Martin, who had taken over the video camera when Alex hadn't been able to do it, filming the six men as they cheered and waved at the karts rushing past them. Almost everybody had taken a turn at filming the races, and Jesse had been glad that he had been able to take some of his own wedding video.
"Go, Alex, you nearly have him, floor it." Jesse felt that if Mark was calling out so loudly for Steve then somebody ought to do the same for Alex, and it was true the young doctor was only half a kart's length away from Steve now. But the finish line came just too soon for him and Steve streaked over it the winner.
Alex had retrieved the video camera by the time the presentation ceremony took place and filmed Steve as he stood with a tiny little cup on a rostrum built for one.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Steve had said, "I can't tell you how honoured I am to be the first recipient of the Travis Trophy. I feel as if I have been waiting my whole life for just this moment. I would like to thank my mom, and my dad, the man who cleaned my kart, the lady in the ticket booth and everyone who knows me!" Then he had bowed in every direction and jumped down from the podium. As he had walked over towards his dad he had passed Alex. "And I bet you got every word of that didn't you?"
"Yes, Sir." Alex wasn't sure if he was pleased with him or mad.
"Good, it's been a great afternoon, I'm glad we have some memories to watch later."
They had all sat in the cafeteria that was part of the go-karting centre and Jesse had looked around at his friends. They were all drinking soda and Jesse lifted his glass. "Ah, Guys, I've had a great afternoon, and I would like to thank all of you for being here to make it so special, and David, what a wonderful idea, thank you."
David Walters had stood up and turned to his new friend. "It was my pleasure. I haven't had so much fun in ages. You know, I did have us down for paintball as well, but I think this is probably enough for us oldens, what do you think?"
Everybody had nodded their agreement. Now that they had all actually stopped and sat down they were feeling muscles that they didn't know they had. Steve spoke up. "Maybe it would be a good idea to head back to Jo's place and try out all those bathrooms that she has. I'm sure she won't mind, and I could sure do with a nice long soak."
Everybody had nodded their agreement once again, and an hour later Michael had been wandering happily up and down the first floor hallway quietly opening doors and laying towels on the heated rails just inside the door. He had received four very tired 'thank yous' before heading back downstairs to leave some towels and robes for the four men who had decided to use the pool instead of the bathrooms. Then he had retired to his kitchen to prepare the food for the evening meal.
The Present Day
Jesse pulled Rae onto the bed next to him. Eliana was fast asleep in the bouncy chair they had placed her in while they got ready to go. Neither of them was dressed and as she leant into him Rae could smell Jesse's aftershave and she leant her head onto her husband's chest. "Mmm, you smell good enough to eat." She lifted her head and kissed him gently on the lips and then began to listen as he started to talk.
"You know, Rae, it was a good thing that we didn't have a morning wedding planned, because I don't think I would have actually made it. None of us surfaced at Jo's place until just before eleven, and you were due to arrive at twelve."
"And Texas and I were up bright and early here, well, bright and early compared to you, but we carried on being laid back and relaxed just like the day before."
Three Months Ago
Rae had turned slightly in bed as she heard her daughter begin to stir in the nursery. She checked the clock and saw that it was just after eight. If she was very lucky Eliana would amuse herself for a little while and then fall back to sleep until nine, if she wasn't then she would be up in about five minutes. Keeping her fingers firmly crossed Rae pulled the covers up over her shoulders and shut her eyes again. The next thing she knew she heard her name being called gently beside her.
"Rae, Honey, it's time to wake up. There is a lot of pamperin' an' worryin' an' frettin' an' beautifyin' to be done before we leave for my house at twelve."
"Texas, what time is it?"
"Just after ten. I thought you would like to sleep in, on your last mornin' of freedom." She smiled as she placed a cup of tea down on the nightstand next to Rae.
"Ten o'clock, is Eliana alright, she never sleeps until ten." Rae sat up, instantly worried for her baby.
"She is just fine, she an' I have had our breakfast, she has had a bath an' is playin' with her feet in her crib right now."
"Thank you Texas, and thank you for the cup of tea, I will get up and come join you in the family room in a minute if that is all right with you."
The Present Day
"So what did you do with your morning? Neither of us had very long did we? I knew that you had arrived, because all of a sudden I didn't have the run of Jo's house any longer. Any time I wanted to go anywhere, somebody had to go first to make sure I wouldn't see you."
"I spent the morning doing all those vital things like washing my hair, painting my nails, making sure that I had enough bottles made up for Eliana, that she had at least three outfits in case she decided to puke up on the first one, those sort of things, and you were never in any danger of running into me because Texas wouldn't let me out of her dressing room until I was ready to walk to the altar."
Three Months Ago
"Texas, can I put my dress on yet?" Rae looked over at her friend, it was twenty to two in the afternoon, and Rae was hoping to get married in just twenty minutes. There was just the two of them now. Eliana was with Amanda, and she would stay with her until the service was over.
"Yes, an' then I will go an' get Alex so that he can do some filmin' in here."
Rae slid out of her bathrobe and looked at herself in the full-length mirror on one of Texas's closets. She was already in all the beautiful silk underwear that she'd purchased just the week before, and she had to admit that the exercises that she'd had to force herself to do meant that she didn't look as if she had only recently had a baby. She turned round and looked at the beautiful dress that was hanging on a hanger on the front of another closet and for a moment her mind went back to that awful day and the dress that had been hanging on the front of another closet.
Texas watched her friend as her face changed from one of relaxation and beauty to one of anxiety and fear. She moved over towards her wondering what had triggered that off, "Rae, Honey, are you ok?"
"Texas, I'm sorry," There were tears in Rae's eyes, and she tried not to let them fall and spoil her makeup but she couldn't. "Please take the dress off the door, lay it on the bed."
"But, it'll spoil if I do that." She could see that Rae was very upset and so the took the dress down and lay it across the mattress. "There it's done, what's the matter?"
"When … when he took me, and we got to his place, there was a dress for me to wear … at the wedding, and it was hanging on the closet door… I'm sorry, Texas." Rae put her head on her friends shoulder and let the tears flow.
Texas hugged her close and just let her cry for a little while. "Rae you've been through so much lately, an' been so brave about everythin', but it's understandable that somethin' might set you off today, I am so sorry about the dress, I would have made sure that somethin' else had been done with it if I'd known."
Slowly Rae began to get herself back under control and she wiped at her eyes. "I guess I had better re-do my make-up, otherwise Jesse will wonder who on earth he is marrying. Thank you, Texas, you have been such a wonderful friend, I couldn't have done any of this without you."
"Sure you could, but it wouldn't have been so much fun!"
Rae knew that she was hoping for a smile from her friend, and was delighted not only to do that, but stick her tongue out at her too. Then she went back into the bathroom to remove all her make-up and start again.
Twenty minutes later Alex knocked at the door. "Is Rae ready for me to take some shots of her yet?"
"Another couple a minutes should do it." He could hear Jo although she sounded a little muffled, so he sat down on the seat just across the hallway and waited.
"Ok, Honey," Jo had her head up Rae's skirt, and she was trying to fiddle about without turning the dress into a dishrag. "Now if I just give it a gentle tug everything should be fine." She did just that and then emerged from under the satin and lace gown.
"That's better, thank you, Texas. You didn't screw your own dress up did you?"
"No, we are both like princesses waitin' for our princes." Jo looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a very very pale pink dress; it was almost perfectly plain, with long sleeves and a slightly flowing skirt. The only fancy details were on the cuffs, which went half way up her wrists and then carried on up in a point in line with her longest finger to about half way up her lower arms. She turned around in front of the mirror and Rae smiled at her. Jo had slept in rags and now her hair fell down in beautiful ringlets, which were held back from her face with two mother of pearl hair combs, which complimented the pink of the dress. Jo purposely had no jewellery on, except a pair of pearl earrings, which had been her present from Rae as her bridesmaid.
Jo turned to look at Rae as she stood next to her. "Honey, you look absolutely stunning." Rae had looked in the mirror. Her short hair had been dried over small rollers and now had more height to it than normal, and she had a tiara in it with her veil attached. Her dress was of a dark ivory satin and had straight sleeves down to the elbows but then they began to flare out until by the time you got to the wrists they hung down like big lilies. The dress was tight in at the waist and down the front but at the back it splayed out into a huge train, which trailed across the floor in a wide arc behind her. But the most spectacular part of the dress, and the part that both Jo and Rae knew would surprise her closest friends was around her throat. The dress had a plunging neckline but only a very narrow one. The satin material went up to just under Rae's ears, but was slashed from under her chin to the middle of her cleavage so that there was no pressure on her neck. Then the whole satin dress was covered with a layer of slightly darker lace. With Rae's dark hair and eyes she was a beautiful sight to behold.
"Alex, you can come in now." Rae looked at her friend, and then turned to see his reaction.
"Wow, Rae, my God, you look absolutely wonderful." Alex put the camera down on the end of the bed and moved over towards her. "Honey, I have never seen you look so beautiful." He kissed her on each cheek and then he realised about the neckline. He looked at her and she nodded. He placed a finger gently on the neck of the dress. "This is beautiful, and you are fine with this?"
"I am, surprisingly. It was such a lovely dress, and I so wanted to wear it, but I have to tell you there is another one in the closet, just in case I couldn't do it at the last minute."
Alex smiled at her again and then went and picked up his camera. After the shots he had got of the best man and the groom, he guessed this would be a little ordinary, but both ladies looked so spectacular that he knew nobody would be bored with his film.
"Ok, I have to go an' get into my position at the bottom of the stairs, I will just fall in behind you when you an' Mark go by. An' don't worry Honey, everything will be just fine, an' you look just so gorgeous." Texas kissed her best friend on the cheek, and then before any tears could fall, she left the room.
The Present Day
"So were you nervous? I mean when you were standing downstairs waiting for me to come and join you?" Rae and Jesse were lying on the bed, it was just after five and they knew that they should really be getting ready to go out, but the memories were so special, and they wanted to talk about them, just once more.
"Yeah, I was, but more about forgetting my lines, or stepping on your dress on the way back in afterwards than anything else. Everywhere I looked I saw friendly faces, people who loved us and just wanted the best for us, that is a wonderful thing to have happen to you."
"I know, and it wasn't the only wonderful thing to have happen was it?"
"No, it sure wasn't."
Three Months Ago
"Can I come in, Sweetie?"
"Sure, Mark, I guess it's time to go is it?" Rae smiled as she heard the voice of her old friend outside the door to Texas's dressing room.
"Oh, my, you look just stunning, Rae. Jesse is a very lucky man."
"So I keep telling him. I am ready right now if you are." Rae leant over and picked up her bouquet. She had gone for very simple flowers, all dark colours, as everything else was so pale. There were freesias and carnations in deep pinks and burgundy's and then lily of the valley to tie the flowers in with her dress. Mark stood in front of her and gently kissed her before taking hold of her veil and gently lifting it over her hair and down to cover her face. Then they began to walk towards the stairs together.
Rae very carefully lifted the front of her dress and they began their descent down the sweeping staircase. As they got to the bottom Mark gently touched her hand and Rae looked at him.
"Honey, I'm afraid I can't do this." Mark looked at her as he spoke.
"Mark, what, you can't do what, give me away, are you all right, do you feel ill, I can get Jesse for you." Rae was instantly concerned.
"No, Honey, it's nothing like that, it's just that I can't give you away, because there are other people who should be doing it." Mark gently turned Rae's face and to her absolute delight and astonishment she saw her two sons, John and Patrick standing by his side, both in top hat and tails waiting to walk her through to her wedding service.
"Oh, my. Oh, Mark I don't know what to say, John, Patrick. What are you doing here? How did you get here, Mara, is Mara here?"
"Here I am Mummy. Do you like my dress?" Rae had spun round again to see her daughter standing next to Jo, wearing an identical bridesmaid dress, bouncing up and down with excitement. Rae blinked back the tears, as she looked at her three children waiting to escort her through to the man she loved.
"Do you think I could just have a few moments? I know I told Jesse I would be late, but I just need a minute to gather myself back together. Oh, my God, my children are here, all of them. Oh I can't believe it. Thank you Mark, thank you so much."
"Sweetie, all I did was stand aside."
Rae turned then as she realised who she should be thanking. "Texas?"
"Honey, this is my weddin' present to you. You are the best friend I have ever had an' I just wanted to do somethin' special for you."
Rae held her arms out and Texas moved over and they hugged tightly, then as Texas stepped back she turned with her arms wide and her children rushed in to them and for a minute there was no sound as she just let all her love flow into them and felt it returned three times over. Then finally Rae took a deep breath. "Well, I guess we had better do this, hadn't we?"
Jo signalled to the organist waiting patiently just outside the doors into the garden, and then with John standing one side and Patrick the other Rae moved out into the sunlight. She knew that behind her Jo and Mara were walking together, and in that instant she was the happiest woman alive.
The Present Day
"You just looked so radiant when you walked towards me, and John and Patrick, well they were so proud. It was a great day wasn't it?"
"It sure was, and you knew about the children coming over, how ever did you keep it a secret, and my mum, she knew too. Everybody knew except me. Wonderful, it was just wonderful."
"Honey, it is almost quarter to six, we really need to be getting a move on or we will be so late it won't be worth going."
"I'm all washed, so are you, it won't take us long. Eliana's bag is ready, I'll bet that we can be in the car and on our way in ooh, fifteen minutes."
Three quarters of an hour later, Jesse finally drew out of the driveway of their home and headed towards Malibu. It was a good job that the party was open house; otherwise they would have missed almost all of it. But he knew that when most of the guests had left there would still be the most important people in the world to him sitting around talking and laughing and just enjoying each other's company.