CHAPTER 25

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"Mark, the alarm," Jackie coughed, turning over onto her stomach. Mark sat up groggily and reached for it, shutting it off instantly. "What time is it?"

"5:30. I gotta go get Roger and Mimi from the airport. Their flight's coming in around 6:30." He pulled the blankets back over Jackie and stood up, changing into his pants and a sweatshirt. "Go back to sleep."

"Do you think you can get some Tylenol from on of the drugstores in the airport? My head's killing me," she asked, coughing again. "And maybe some cough medicine?"

"Sure. I'll see you later. We don't have to be into work until 9, so get some sleep," he added, kissing her on the cheek.

"Mmhmm."

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"So how was your trip?"

Roger handed Mark the other duffel bag and shrugged. "It was okay. The shortest trip to another country I've ever been on."

Mimi smiled and leaned against him as they walked through the terminals. "We weren't even there for a full 24 hours. We spent a combined 24 hours on a plane for 12 hours in Argentina," she laughed. "Where's Jackie?"

"She's home sleeping. I think she's coming down with something. I promised I'd pick up some meds for her," he replied, waving the pharmacy bag in front of him. "I replaced your Tylenol bottle too, Rog."

Roger smiled. "You mean I was out already?"

"Jackie said you only had one left, and she took it."

"We'll need those when I out drink her," he smirked.

"Yeah, okay," Mimi snorted, burying her face in Roger's shoulder.

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"God, it's finally warm in here," Mimi said, dropping her bag onto the floor.

"Yeah, thank god for that," Roger added.

Jackie walked out of the kitchen, holding a mug of coffee in her hand. It was after 8, and she was still in her pajamas. Her eyes were a little puffy and she looked visibly pale. "Hey guys."

"Hey, you don't look so good," Mimi said, studying her from across the room.

"Yeah, you don't." Roger walked over to her and placed his hand on her forehead. "You're kind of warm."

"I'll be okay. It's probably just a cold or a flu—or something. Don't come near me, I don't want you getting sick," she scolded him, pushing past him. "I gotta go get dressed for work."

Mark sighed. "I'm going to take these to her."

"She okay, Mark?" Roger asked, taking of his shoes.

"Yeah—she'll be fine." Mark left and closed their bedroom door behind him.

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An hour later, Mark and Jackie had left for work, meaning the loft was completely empty and Roger and Mimi's plans for the day were up in the air. Mimi walked out of the kitchen yawning, handing Roger a glass of water and his pills.

"Take 'em, and sit down. I have to tell you something."

He looked up from the lyrics he was working on and shrugged. "Okay."

"And don't tell Mark this right away."

"Okay."

"You know when you were on the phone at my dad's house in Buenos Aires? When I was talking to my mom in the living room?"

Roger nodded and glanced back down at the paper he was working on. "Yeah, why?"

Mimi cleared her throat and bit her lip. "Well, she…uh…gave me something."

"Like what?" he asked, only half listening to her.

"Like a check for $400,000 dollars."

"WHAT?!" Roger exploded. His pencil rolled onto the floor. "A what?"

"My father left me $400,000 to my name," she tried again, meekly.

"$400,000…holy shit. That's a lot of money," he said, shaking his head. "What are you going to do with it? How did you—"

"I told you my dad was a doctor, right? Well, turns out he played the stock market pretty well and had some huge investments in oil companies around the world. I didn't have any idea until my mother sprung the money on me."

"Jesus."

"What do you want to do with it?" she asked, sitting down on the couch next to him.

"It's your money, Mimi, I'm not making decisions for you—"

"But we're getting married soon, and the money's going to be half yours," she reminded him.

"Yeah."

"So I was thinking on the plane that we should use some of it for our wedding, some to get ready for the baby, and some more to turn this place into a real loft," she suggested. "Then the rest we can just save in our bank account."

"But we don't have a bank account that I know of. Mark has one, but I sure as shit don't have one."

"So we could get one. I'm sure it's not that hard," Mimi laughed.

"So what do you want to do about the wedding?" Roger asked, running a hand through his hair. "Have you thought about it, because I'm up for anything."

"I know this is going to sound crazy, and ridiculous, but you know that really huge church in Manhattan? Saint Patrick's Cathedral?"

"Yeah, my grandma goes to church there. What about it?"

"My mom used to take me and my sisters there when we were little, and I was thinking, that since we're both Catholic—you are Catholic, right?"

"Yup."

"…we could get married there? If you don't want to, then that's fine, we could always go for something smaller, I don't care, but I've always thought that church was beautiful with the architecture and the stained glass windows and I promised myself that I would try to get married there—"

Roger smiled and kissed Mimi before she could continue. "That's fine, but you better call to reserve it like…today," he teased. "That place gets filled up really fast. Between Sunday masses, it's fucking insane. We'll have to get married on the off hours."

"Okay, so we have the place, and I guess we'll figure out the time when I call today. What do you think about May?"

"May's a go. It won't be too damn cold, but it won't be too hot either. So none of us will be sweating our of our tuxes and dresses."

"Good, because by that time I'll be six months pregnant and I can guarantee you my back will hurt twice as much as it does now," she said, running her fingers along his tattooed arms.

"What about the bridesmaids and ushers and all that?"

"I think I'm going to ask Maureen to be my maid of honor, and then have Jackie and Lisa as bridesmaids. What about your sister? And Marissa as flower girl?" she questioned, curling up into his lap.

"Yeah, I could ask her about that. Mark's going to be my best man. That kid has put up with more of my shit than I ever gave him credit for," he laughed, resting his hands on her swollen stomach.

"Good. Then I guess Collins and Dan could be ushers?"

"Yeah. We need one more though. What about that guy Matt, Lisa's boyfriend slash father of Noah?"

"Yeah. Don't know him, but I'm sure I will eventually."

"Looks that way. Mark told me they're moving in downstairs."

Mimi laughed as he kissed her nose. "Okay, so we have the location, and the wedding party. I'm going to need a dress that'll fit, the girls are going to need bridesmaid gowns, Marissa's going to need a flower girl dress, and you boys are going to need tuxes. Maureen can help me with that."

"Okay, and Collins too—with the tuxes I mean," Roger laughed. "Not the dresses."

"Although I'm sure that Dan will be able to find us some discounts on the dresses."

"What about the color of the dresses?"

"I was thinking a lilac color for the girls. Marissa's will be white. She'll look so adorable," Mimi squealed.

"Yeah, she will. She looks just like Lindsey."

"She does. Okay, so I'll call the church, set up the date and time and the rehearsal the day before. What about the rehearsal dinner?"

"Do we have to?"

"It's a tradition. We could always have it at the Life. I'm up for that," Mimi answered, pulling the blanket over her legs.

"Fuck, hotel reservations. Which one? Maybe the Plaza?"

"That place is expensive."

"I want everything to be perfect for you," Roger said.

"I know, but it's just a hotel. It doesn't need to be perfect."

"Mimi."

"Okay, you win. What about Le Marquis? Or the Waldorf-Astoria?" she suggested.

Roger made a face when she mentioned the Waldorf. "Too antique. Why don't we go for Le Marquis?"

"Sure." Mimi grabbed a spare piece of paper and the pencil off the floor and started making a list. "Okay, so place, wedding party, the hotel, and dresses. Rings?"

"I'll take care of yours," Roger grinned. "I've already got one picked out."

"When did you find the time to do that?"

"Hey, I'm not telling."

"Fine. I still have to look around for yours," she laughed, pinching his cheeks. "Roger Davis, you are just too cute!" she gushed, teasingly.

"Hey," he chuckled, pushing her hands away. "You forgot to add sexy."

Mimi rolled her eyes and glanced back down at her list. "Marriage license."

"I'll deal with it."

"Okay. Honeymoon?"

"Hold off on that for a second. Do you still want to go to Hawaii this weekend?" he asked.

"Well…honestly, not really. I'm kind of tired, and plus now I have to plan the wedding. Maureen needs to fly back up here still."

"So why don't we see if we can talk to Collins and push it back until the 19th, right after the wedding? We could leave Monday morning and still take the two weeks, if you wanted? Whatever you want babe."

"That's fine. It makes more sense, anyway. I'll just talk to the doctor and make sure I'm okay to travel, which I'm sure I will be."

"Okay. So we'll do that," he added, stealing the paper from her and adding it to the list.

"Limos. We're going to need two. One for me and the girls, one for you and the guys. Then after the wedding we'll just take one ourselves and everyone else will ride in the other."

"Yeah."

"Okay, now here's the big one. Who do you want to invite?"

"Umm…well I guess the guys from the band—Travis and his girlfriend, Wes, Lori, and their baby Amber, and Evan. My mom, I guess, because if she found out I was getting married at Saint Patrick's cathedral and didn't invite her she'd kill me. My grandma, my brother, his wife and kids…I guess Heather and her boyfriend. I really don't want that many people. What about your family?"

"I don't want a lot of people either. I guess my mom, Carl, Carmen, her husband and daughter, Isabel, and Veronica. I'll probably fly my aunt Sofia and my uncle Juan up here, and Celeste. Actually, I kind of want her in the wedding party, if that's okay with you?"

"That's fine, but then I guess I could add Wes as another usher because it would be uneven."

"Yeah. Okay," Mimi scribbled that down as well. "Invitations?"

"Hmm, yeah. Let's get Maureen to write them out. It'll give her a thrill."

"Yeah, it would, but let's just make sure she doesn't invite a ton of people. She was telling me the other day that she's going to have 500 people at her wedding. Could you imagine? Holy shit," Mimi laughed. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"That sucks for her. I still can't believe she's engaged to that guy Chad after only 3 months."

"Neither can I."

"What about inviting Mark's family? That's only fair, considering Lisa's in the wedding and all."

"Yeah. What about Joanne?"

"I guess, although there'd probably be some tension between her and Maureen."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Roger retorted, grinning.

"That's it for now. Let me just get on the phone with the church and see what I can work out. My head hurts now," she remarked, grabbing the phone off the coffee table. Roger flipped on the TV and surfed through channels while he waited for her to get off.

"Hey Roger, they said Sunday, May, 18th, is open. Either 2 or 6 PM. The ceremony lasts about an hour," she asked him, covering the mouthpiece of the phone.

"Uh…I guess 2 PM then. That's fine," he answered. Mimi nodded and continued taking a few more notes on the paper before hanging up the phone.

"Okay. So we have it reserved for 2 PM on the 18th of May. We have to meet with the priest once or twice ahead of time, but he'll call as the wedding gets closer. I gave them the loft number and address."

"Speaking of the loft, what exactly did you want to fix up around here?" he asked, glancing at her curiously.

Mimi rested her hands on her hips and looked around. "The heating, definitely, because we'll need it for next winter. I'm not raising a baby in a freezing loft," she said, defensively. "Plus I'm not suffering through the last part of my pregnancy when I'm huge and miserable in a stifling loft in the summer either. Maybe we can install central air conditioning and heating?"

"No complaints there. I've caught way too many colds from the lack of heating in this place," he said.

"Plus the fucking water heater in the bathroom. We could use another one—maybe replace the old one and just add two 40 gallon ones instead. Then we could…carpet the whole place, repaint the walls, and get the fucking power generator fixed. I definitely want to fix up the room over there as the nursery—paint it and carpet it too. I don't know—let's talk to Mark about it," she suggested.

"How much do you think everything's going to cost?" Roger asked. "You don't have to do this. Really. Seriously Mimi."

"I'm not sure, but believe me, I want to do this. I'm not letting $400,000 sit in a bank account collecting dust. Sure, the majority we'll save, but we'll be much happier in the long run. All of us," she joked.

"You know what I just thought? The apartment next door has been vacant for months. Maybe we could knock the one wall out and connect our place with that one—this way Mark and Jackie could pretty much have their own place and we could have this side. Especially with the baby and all—I'd feel kind of bad about keeping them up all the time," he added.

"Not a bad idea—I'm not good with the plumbing and wiring crap—especially the heating and air conditioning too. Maybe you and Mark could make the phone calls for that. I don't even know where to begin with that shit." She walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets, grabbing a bagel and taking a bite out of it.

"Don't you think you should ask me if I want a bagel?" Roger questioned innocently.

"Oh. Sorry honey, do you want a bagel?" she asked sarcastically, holding out the half bitten one to him.

"Not…that one."

"Loser." She laughed and kissed him as he grabbed a bagel over the shoulder. "I mean, I love you."

"Nice try."

"Roger."

"I'm kidding. I love you too."

"That's more like it."

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Jackie flipped through a few folders on her desk, trying to figure out what she needed to catch up on. She had cleaned out her inbox—even a few old emails from Natalie—and had spent the whole morning on the phone with Mr. Richards again. This time, he was bitching that he wanted 50 copies of a script for his company.

"I'm going to kill that man," she moaned, coughing loudly. She grabbed the Tylenol bottle off of her desk and poured two into her hand before downing them with her coffee.

"I think we're all going to kill him," Mark smiled, dropping two more folders onto her desk. "Christina wanted me to give those to you."

Jackie rolled her eyes and scanned them. "Oh thanks," she added sarcastically.

Mark looked concerned, and placed his hand on her head. "How do you feel?"

"Horrible, but I have to get this shit done, and then I have to go to rehearsal tonight to figure out what the hell we're supposed to do with the shows," she said.

"Maybe you should just stay home?" Mark suggested, kissing her on the forehead.

"I wish, but I really have to get caught up."

"Do you want to go out for lunch?"

Jackie shook her head and looked back down at the folders. "Not feeling up to it."

"Okay. I'll see you later." He kissed her a final time before leaving her office.

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Mark entered the loft again around 2 PM, taking off his scarf. Roger was sitting at the kitchen counter, still working on lyrics, and Mimi was walking up and down the room talking on the phone with a stack of papers in her hands.

"Hey," Roger greeted, sticking the pencil behind his ear. "Jackie didn't come with you?"

"Hey, uh, no, she's still at work, and then she's going to dance around 4. She probably won't be home until 8 or 9."

"Oh, okay," Roger stood up and stretched out, pulling his arms over his head.

Mark loosened his tie and poured himself a glass of juice. "What's Mimi doing?"

Roger laughed. "She's planning a wedding."

"Whose?"

Roger grinned and looked at him stupidly. "Ours, jackass. Whose else's?"

"Hey, she could have been helping Maureen with hers," he said, defensively. "And when exactly where you going to tell me that you were engaged, let alone planning a wedding?"

"I don't know. I kind of proposed to her the weekend we were in Scarsdale, and then she started talking about it with me this morning. Sorry," he apologized.

"Some friend you are," Mark joked. "Who's she on the phone with?"

"Maureen, I think. She's trying to get her to fly up here to help her out, considering she's the maid of honor, or whatever."

"Jesus, you guys planned everything out already? Like what?"

"We're having at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on May 18th. It's a Sunday, at 2 PM. Yes, before you get all bent out of shape and pouty, you're the designated best man, meaning your unofficial job is to make sure I don't get drunk off my ass at the bachelor party and to keep things under control."

"Oh gee, thanks," Mark added, laughing. "No one can keep you sober."

"Mimi can."

"To think she's going to have to put up with you permanently now, she has to be a saint."

"Shut up. Do you want to be the best man or not?" Roger said, glaring at him.

"Somebody forgot to take his Midol today."

"Can you guys keep it down," Mimi shouted, still conversing with the phone.

"Sorry," they both grinned.

She hung up the phone a few minutes later and headed into the kitchen, where Mark and Roger were busy cracking on each other and eating. "Okay, so she's coming this weekend."

Roger sighed and groaned. "This weekend?"

"Yeah. Why?" Mimi said, staring him down. "Roger, I can't fucking plan a wedding by myself. You and Mark aren't going to be much help."

"I think she forgot to take her Midol," Mark whispered under his breath. Roger started cracking up and almost choked on his beer, high fiving Mark over the table.

 Mimi walked away from them silently and retreated to the bedroom, slamming the door so loud it echoed throughout the whole place.

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By Thursday, everyone from Collins to Joanne to Roger's band had heard the news of Roger and Mimi's engagement. How everyone knew exactly, was another question, but when you had Maureen Johnson as maid of honor, word traveled fast—even if it was from Los Angeles.

By 10 AM, Mimi had stepped out of the shower and pulled on an old band shirt and sweatpants, ready to relax. Mark and Jackie were struggling through another day of work—especially Jackie, who looked progressively worse since Monday. Roger was at band practice, and although he had promised to be home for lunch, she highly doubted it.

Turning the heater up a little as she walked back to the couch with a cup of coffee, she heard the key turn in the door.

"Anyone home?" Collins asked, whistling as he walked in the door, a folder in his hand.

"C'mon Collins, you're in the way," Maureen squealed, dashing through the door and over to Mimi.

"Maureen, you're here!" Mimi laughed as Maureen gave her a tight hug.

"Sure am. Got a super early flight this morning and Collins collected me from the airport. Surprise!"

"Yeah, you know what they say…when the wedding planner's a rockin', don't come a knockin'," he joked. Maureen dropped her suitcase by the couch and plopped down next to Mimi.

Mimi glanced at Collins curiously. "I thought the saying was when the bed's a rockin', don't come a knockin'," she giggled, giving him a hug as well.

"Dan asked me to drop these paint samples off for you. He said he'd be over here as soon as he gets off of work. He's pretty psyched about the redecorating."

"Thanks. I can't wait to hear what he thinks for each of the rooms," she smiled, flipping through the samples on her lap. "Mo, where are you staying?"

Maureen flipped her brunette curls over her shoulder and shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Benny bitched me out about holding the apartment downstairs."

"You could stay here and take Lisa's bedroom. She's in Scarsdale with Matt anyway, but she's supposed to come up next weekend to stay with us," Mimi added.

"Thanks hon. So are you ready to get this show on the road?"

"I guess. There's so many things to do, plus with redoing the whole apartment, and getting ready for the baby, I don't really know where to start," she laughed.

"Well Dan is taking care of the redecorating, as long as he has your okay," Collins said. "Plus I can deal with the tuxes and the hotel reservations, speaking of which, I need the master guest list to set up."

"I'm pretty positive that the only people staying in the hotel are the ones in the actual wedding party. Mark and Jackie are going to have the same room, Maureen and Chad, you and Dan, Lisa and Matt, Marissa and Lindsey…I'll get back to you on it," Mimi answered.

"No problem."

"So what are your plans today Meems?" Maureen asked, stealing Mimi's coffee cup and taking a swig out of it.

"Nothing that I can think of."

"What do you think about dress shopping?"

"Seriously?"

"No, I'm kidding," Maureen laughed sarcastically. "Of course sweetie. Cinderella's fairy godmother isn't going to swoop down and get you ready overnight."

"Haha. Funny, you are. That sounds fine, but where?"

"I have a few places in mind. We could go into Jersey and hit up David's Bridal."

"Sure. Let me just go grab my coat and we'll go," Mimi said.

"Wanna come Collins?"

"Why the hell not? I've got nothing better to do than grade papers," he shrugged.

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"What about that one?"

Maureen handed Mimi another dress off the rack and held it in front of her.

"I don't know. The bottom is too poufy," she said, shaking her head.

Collins laughed and pointed another one out. "Hey Meems, take a look at that one. It looks like it would fit you really well."

"Oh yeah, me and my pumpkin belly," she groaned, taking it from Collins. "You're kind of right. I like how it's cut around the waist. Like it's not a tight form-fitting bodice. The material's kind of stretchy," she grinned.

Maureen clapped her hands together and pushed her towards the dressing room. "Go try it on! What sizes do you need?"

"Um, hand me the 2 and the 4. I'm really a size 2, but who knows by May." Mimi wiggled into the size 2 with Maureen's help, as Collins stood outside, waiting.

"Hmm." Maureen walked around Mimi, pulling at the dress in various places. It wasn't anything fancy, but since when had Mimi Marquez been fancy? The dress was strapless, and Maureen made a mental note to look into a strapless bra. Beads were running up the side of it, from the chest to Mimi's hip, forming a starburst pattern on both sides. It fit perfectly everywhere else—except for Mimi's stomach, where it pulled a little too tight to be altogether flattering. "Let's go with a size 6."

"Six?" Mimi whispered, looking like she was about to cry.

"Oh no honey, what I meant was by the time of the wedding, you're belly's going to be a lot bigger—believe me. Your boobs will probably be too. What size were you before you got pregnant?"

"Like a 36A," Mimi shrugged. "But now I'm definitely pushing a 34B."

"See? I can guarantee you'll be pushing a small C by the time the baby gets here. This way if we get the size 6, we can tailor it when we get closer to the wedding." Maureen zipped Mimi into the size 6 and glanced at it. "See, it's a pretty good match up top, and you'll fill into the bottom. We'll probably have to get it taken in on the sides and the chest, but that's not anything too hard to manage."

"Yeah, I can see your point," Mimi smiled.

"Try on the veil," Maureen added.

Mimi took it from her and pinned it into her hair, adjusting it so it fell just right. "How does it look?"

"Oh honey, you look so beautiful," Maureen smiled. "You have to show Collins."

Maureen opened the dressing room door and allowed Mimi to slip through.

"What do you think?" Mimi asked, spinning around a little for Collins. His jaw dropped, but he quickly regained his composure.

"Mimi, you look drop dead gorgeous," he chuckled, kissing her on the cheek. "Roger's going to cream himself."

Maureen looked appalled and gave Collins a reprimanding stare. "Ew! That was one mental picture I didn't need to think about right now, thank you."

Mimi laughed and whacked Collins on the arm. "Yeah, thanks Collins.

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"Here," Mimi said, handing the fries back down to Collins.

After making a pit stop at McDonald's and a shoe store, they were now back in the city.

"Okay, so we can keep the dress at your place, right Collins? And the shoes too?"

"Yep. Want me to drop them off?"

"I think I'll go with you," Maureen added, taking the dress from him.

"The dress doesn't need an escort, Mo," he teased.

"Yeah, but if I get to pay for it, I get to walk it to it's temporary home. We'll meet you back upstairs, Mimi."

Mimi nodded and climbed the rest of the stairs herself. What she found when she entered, however, made her doubt the trust she had put in Roger completely.

It certainly did look like Roger had come home for lunch—but not only had he brought Wes, Evan, and Travis with him, he also had a girl sitting on the edge of his lap, her arm draped causally around his waist. She recognized her as Lauren—the girl who had opened for The Well Hungarians two weeks before.

Wes looked over from the TV and waved. "Hey Mimi!"

She nodded and settled her gaze on Roger, glaring at him. "Looks like you're all busy, so I guess I'll be back later," she responded bitterly.

"Mimi! Wait." He hollered after her. "It's not what it looks like."

"Save it," she spat at him, slamming the loft door in his face.