George came in to Mary's hospital room a few hours later, as it was no early afternoon and he figured she should be well ready to get home. When he entered, he was surprised to see Wilson still in there with her. Surely, he would have gone home by now. The couple, yes- couple, looked at him with smirks on their faces. They were definitely up to something, and from what he knew about his brother and what he was learning about Mary, it probably wasn't anything good. "What's going on?" he asked, not really wishing to know the answer.
"Um…" Wilson said, stalling as he looked at Mary out of the corner of his eyes. She nodded to him, and he began to finish his sentence. "Would you want to go with us to get married?"
George looked at Mary, who smiled widely at him, then at Wilson who did the same. Were they insane? Married? This was all his fault. After all, he did push them together. "You're getting married?"
"Yup," Mary said. "Eloping actually. And, since I am assuming you came in to bust me out of here, we were wondering if you would want to come with- drive us actually. I know this little place…"
George rolled his eyes at her. "Now hold on one second. Are you two nuts?" They didn't answer him. "No," he continued, "you're in love. Which is something the same thing as far as I am concerned. Are you sure this is what you want?" They both nodded their heads vigorously as they looked passionately into each other's eyes. They were making him sick. "Exactly what went on in here last night?"
Wilson shook his head. "Nothing. We just were together- we talked a lot. Besides, Mary was moving in with me anyway, so this seems like a good step, don't you think?"
"No, but if this is what you want I'll go. Put some excitement into my life. Besides, if you two are going to screw up your lives, I might as well be there."
"We're not screwing up our lives," Wilson said.
"But thank you," Mary interjected. "It really means a lot to me."
George sighed heavily. "I'll go sign you out, then clock myself out, and then I guess we can go. But, if you two change your minds-"
"We're not going to change our minds," Mary reminded him. "I really do love him. I have for a very long time."
"Whatever," George mumbled as he walked out of the room. He knew that they were crazy, but he didn't know that they were this insane. Who does this sort of thing? They just got back together less than 24 hours ago, and now they were getting married. If that's not insane, George thought, then I don't know what is.
***
Two hours after George had initially entered Mary's hospital room, the three of them entered a small little chapel located on the outskirts of GlenOak. Most people would have easily considered the place the next town over. There was a reason they decided to go there. Besides the fact that it was the only place they could think of to get married without crying to Mary's father, it was pretty far away. No one would see them and report back to…well, anyone. At the moment, neither party wanted anyone to know. Hence the eloping- very secretive.
That considered, George should have felt honored that they asked him to be a part of the goings on. However, he felt nothing of the sort. In his eyes, this was very, very wrong, and all his fault. The only thing on his mind was that he messed up these poor young people's lives. From his wise perspective of age thirty, he could see that they were clearly making a mistake.
Apparently, George didn't know Mary and Wilson as he thought he did. Not only were they more in love than he ever could have imagined, but they were both determined to make this marriage work. Both of them had screwed up their relationship and their lives enough to have far more drive than they needed to accomplish that goal.
The wedding chapel was quaint and quiet; just had Mary and Wilson had expected it to be. It being 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the establishment was fully staffed, too, with all seven employees present. The owner, a nice but sleazy looking man, greeted the threesome at the door when they walked inside, grinning widely at the prospect of new customers. Wilson explained their intentions, and the man directed them to a counter with brochures and packages for them to choose from.
Mary sat around for a while as Wilson got everything settled for them. George told her that technically she was still on "bed rest" terms, so she shouldn't be moving or standing any more than was absolutely necessary. Wilson deemed walking down the aisle necessary, and everything else she was left out of. At first she minded, but then she really didn't care. She liked it when people did things for her, more specifically when Wilson did things for her. And on another level, it was nice to think of him planning there wedding.
She used the extra time to reflect on what she was about to do. Even after the twenty-five minutes of thought she gave to it, this didn't seem like a bad idea. She couldn't really understand why George was so wigged out about it; he wasn't the one who was getting married. She began to think of her future with Wilson- watching Billy grow up, hopefully being able to have children with him, growing old together, enjoying life and everything it had to offer. All of those things were what Mary had wanted for years now, since she and Wilson got back together when she moved out to Buffalo. Finally, after all these years, she was about to achieve her dream.
When everything was completed, the two men walked back over to where Mary was sitting. Mary took a deep breath as she stood up next to Wilson. It was time for the nuptials. Mary was starting to get nervous at this point. It was by no means cold feet, she kept telling herself, but her anxiety was getting to her a little bit. All she really wanted to do was get it over with before she was too sacred to go through with it.
She didn't have too long for her nervousness to eat away at her, though, because less than ten minutes later, the wedding march played throughout the small room on a badly tuned organ. Mary walked down the aisle, plainclothes, with George on her arm. They eventually reached Wilson, and Mary had to use all her strength to not reach out and kiss Wilson right then. She was so excited to be going through with this.
The couple looked into each other's eyes and got lost in them. They could have stood up there forever. However, the middle-aged man who was performing the ceremony was a tad bit more eager to get the show on the road.
"Wilson," he said reading his name off of a card, "do you take Mary to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do."
"Mary, do you take Wilson t be your lawfully wedded husband?"
Tears welled up in Mary's eyes. "I do."
"Wonderful. Wilson, repeat after me." The man began his schpeel, Wilson repeating after every sentence or so.
"I, Wilson West, take Mary Camden to be my wife. To have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
"I, Mary Camden, take Wilson West to be my husband. To have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
The rings were slipped on, purchased at the chapel for the occasion, and the hard part was over. The stone-faced man that stood before them actually cracked a smile. "By the power invested by me by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife." He turned to Wilson and raised his eyebrows twice, indicating something Wilson translated to be derogatory. No wonder people never traveled to this side of town. "You may now kiss the bride."
Mary and Wilson practically jumped onto each other; the passion at that moment was just so great. After their long, sensual kiss was completed, they walked down the aisle hand in hand and the ceremony was completed. They were then officially married- this was the happiest day of both of their lives to date. Even George appeared to have warmed up to the idea after seeing that they truthfully had the courage to go through with it. This might not have been a bad idea after all. This was the first one of Mary's "wacky plans" that actually turned out right.
When the ceremony itself was over, the triplet reentered George's sedan and he proceeded to drive the newlyweds back to Wilson's apartment- Mary and Wilson sitting peacefully in the back seat as George drove in the front by himself. Once they got in the car, Mary started to get very tired again, as George had predicted. He warned them that this would be too much for her, but they failed to listen. She leaned against Wilson as George drove, her spine running down Wilson's right obloquies and the back of her head resting gently on the corner of his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her loosely by the neck and his hand falling tenderly on her collarbone. As she closed her eyes, she reached both of her hands up and held onto Wilson's forearm as if it were a chin-up bar, snuggling into his body. She fell asleep against him less than a third of the way into their over twenty minute trip back home.
They finally arrived and George looked back in the rearview mirror at the lovebirds. He smiled once again, almost laughing at the fact that Mary had fallen asleep on top of his brother. He opened his door, got out of the car, and then opened Wilson's door to assist him on getting Mary out of the car. She remained asleep, Wilson carrying her, until the reached the stairs in front of the door. He jostled her too much and her eyes quickly opened.
"Wha-" she started to speak, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Shh," he said to quiet her. "I'm just attempting to carry my bride over the threshold. Go back to sleep sweetheart." Wilson leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose before continuing to carry her inside. He placed her on the bed and then walked out of the room to thank his brother and to see him out.
George told Wilson how happy he was for him- for the both of them really, since he could now see that they were truly and passionately in love with one another. Wilson thanked George once again for his helpfulness, and went to close the door. "Wilson, one more thing," George interjected between the rapidly closing front door. The door stopped, reopened all the way, and he continued. "You and Mary…you weren't thinking of…" George made a hand gesture, referencing to a typical wedding night activity.
Wilson shook his head at his brother. "First off, I'm not an idiot. Secondly, she's passed out on the bed."
"I know," he said, "but from a medical standpoint I should advise you, as I would anyone else, to wait a little bit. She just had surgery, and I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for 'disturbing things.' You have the potential to really hurt her, physically as well as emotionally over that." Wilson's face greeted George's with a blank stare. "Just give that some thought, all right?" Wilson nodded mindlessly and said goodnight to him, shutting the door fully this time.
He leaned against the closed entrance after flipping the deadbolt for the night. Nothing like that, or even about that, had crossed Wilson's mind before. George was right though; he could see how he had the potential to cause her a lot of pain. That was the last thing he wanted. He was lucky that Mary was asleep, he deduced, knowing her all too well. If she was awake, there would definitely be some pressure, and that was the last thing he needed. What would have been a hard task would become almost impossible with her coercive and sweet behavior. Wilson heard a light snore come from the bedroom and smiled to himself. He snapped back into reality and went toward the bedroom to get some much-needed rest; thank God for little miracles, as well as the big ones.
A/N: So, what do you think? I thought it was pretty OK. Not amazing, but not as bad as I thought it was going to turn out. I know that this is a little on the short side, but this is just where the chapter ended. Wrapped up a one plot line, created a new conflict- what more does a chapter really need? And, a little sneak peak, that conflict at the end will, eventually, lead to the raising of the rating of this story from PG to PG-13. I hope none of you have a problem with that.
And for all of you who commented about Mary telling her family…::smirks::. Some of the ending chapters will be very interesting to you.
Oh, and no, I am not finished with this yet. Far from it actually. The story has just begun.
Reviews are like chocolate. You can never have too much.