Okay, here's the next part. Sorry for the wait, I had a little bit of writer's block. So I hope that this chapter is okay. Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. But oh….if I did…..
"What do you mean a monsoon?" Kate yelled into the phone. Kirsten could hear the conversation from the dining room, actually everyone could, and she cringed. Hot tears sprung to her eyes and she had to strain to hear her mother, who must have known how loud she was becoming and dropped her voice an octave. "It's your daughter's wedding Caleb." They had already rearranged the wedding twice to fit her father's schedule, and they were running out of time. Kirsten was fast approaching her fourth month, and soon would no longer fit into the dress that she and her mother had picked out. "Fine, fine. You tell her then. You explain it to her." Sandy and his family were staying with Kirsten's family, and it was two days before the wedding. They were having a get-to-know you dinner with the families. Her father, conveniently, had business to take care of in Hong Kong, but he had promised to make it to the wedding so that he could walk her down the aisle. It looked like that wasn't going to happen either. She felt Sandy's hand grasp for hers under the table.
Her mother's footsteps were heard coming from the kitchen and everyone pretended to be engrossed in their food.
"Kirsten, honey, your father is on the phone and would like to talk to you," she said.
"Daddy?" Hailey piped up. "Can I talk to him?"
"Not right now honey," Kate said running a hand over her ten-year-old's hair. Kirsten stood on shaking legs and followed her mother to the kitchen and took the phone.
"Hello?"
"Kiki, honey, I'm so sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to make it." She closed her eyes. She knew that her father didn't exactly approve of Sandy or their marriage, but she had never imagined that he would go as far as not coming to her wedding. She had imagined this day since she was five, and never had it crossed her mind that she might have to walk herself down the aisle. "I can't ask you to reschedule it again. I'm sorry again. Damn Mother Nature. Go ahead, honey, have it without me. I'll see you when I get home, okay?"
"I'll be on my honeymoon," Kirsten reminded him and then wordlessly handed the phone back to her mother. She felt Sandy's strong arms snake around her and she leaned back against him.
"She'll get over it," Caleb told Kate. "She's going to forgive me and I'll be at the next wedding, provided she marries someone more of an equal." Kate was fuming.
"There will be no next time," Kate hissed as she turned away from her daughter. "She loves him. And you are an ass. And she's not going to forgive you. Not at least any time soon. And neither will I." With that, Kate hung up the phone and wrapped her arms around Kirsten. Kirsten's wall began to crumble and she began to openly sob into her mother's arms. Even Sandy's mother had come. Against her principles, she and his brother and sister had flown from New York to be there for the nuptials.
The Cohens were staying with the Nichols for the week before the wedding. Kirsten had gone to the airport with Sandy to pick them up, and his excitement was palpable. His mother had surprised both of them when she had agreed to come to California with his brother and sister. Sophie scowled as soon as she exited the gate, but Sandy would not let anything damper his mood. He was getting married in six days to the most perfect person on the earth and his mother had actually sucked it up and boarded the plane to see it. He was sure that she would make up an excuse at the last minute and not come out.
Just like Caleb had done.
But she showed up. Kirsten warmly greeted his brother and sister, but she was nervous around Sophie, and with good reason.
"Hi Mrs. Cohen," Kirsten said offering a shaky smile to the woman who was going to be her mother-in-law.
"Hello Kirsten," Sophie said. She had made a promise to herself and her daughter that she would be good while they were in California. And she was stubborn enough to fulfill that promise.
"So how big exactly is your house?" Ethan asked Kirsten as they traveled out to the car that Kate had hired to take them from the airport to the house. "Is this for us?" He had never been in a limo before, and he scrambled excitedly into the backseat.
"Oh wow," Sarah breathed as she handed her bag to the chauffeur and climbed in after her brother. Sophie thought that the limo was just another way to parade around the Nichol's wealth, but she bit her lip and climbed in after her children. Sandy gave Kirsten's hand a squeeze as he got in and Kirsten took a deep breath before getting in herself.
When they pulled up to the house, all three of their mouths dropped open.
"Oh my God," Ethan said. "This place has its own zip code." Kirsten managed a small laugh at that, as they climbed out. Kate came to the door and came out to greet their guests.
"Hi," Kate said extending her hand to Sophie. "You must be Sandy's mother. He's a wonderful boy." Sandy blushed and Sophie reluctantly returned the handshake. "I'm Kate Nichol. It's so good to have you here." Sophie tried to summon a smile, but couldn't. Instead she just briskly nodded. Kate introduced herself to Sarah and Ethan before wrapping an arm around Kirsten and leading the rest inside. Sophie noticed that Kirsten looked identical to her mother, and sighed inwardly. Californians, she thought to herself. And he had to pick a blonde haired, blue eyed girl who was the complete antithesis of him and the rest of his family? Or maybe that was the point, Sophie wasn't sure. But she followed her children inside the house.
"We'll take you up to your rooms so that you can get settled," Kate said. They mounted the impressive curving staircase to the second floor. "My husband is actually on a business trip to Hong Kong, but he'll be back on Thursday." Sophie nodded as Sarah and Ethan barely listened, more interested in all that the Nichol house had to offer.
Now it seemed that Caleb was a liar, and would not be back on Thursday, or Saturday for that matter. He wasn't coming back. At least not for Kirsten's wedding. Sophie, Sarah, Ethan, and Hailey continued to eat in the dining room pretending that they couldn't hear what was going on in the kitchen. Pretending they couldn't hear Kirsten's heartbreaking sobs as her mother and Sandy tried to console her to the best of their abilities.
"It's going to be all right," Kate said hugging her close. "I'll walk you down the aisle." Kirsten wiped away the last remaining tears and steeled herself. She shook her head.
"No, that's okay Mom. You just focus on your mother-of-the-bride duties. I will walk myself down the aisle. Screw him." Sandy studied his bride's face.
"Are you okay?" He asked. She offered him a shaky smile.
"Yes. I'm fine." She was lying, to both him and herself, but he let it go and squeezed her hand and they went back into the dining room to finish eating with the Cohens.
Sandy anxiously waited at the end of the alter. Not that he was getting cold feet, exactly the opposite; he couldn't wait for Kirsten to come down the aisle. The music was cued and he felt his heart begin to race. She was about to come down the aisle and become his. Forever.
She was breathtakingly beautiful in her white dress. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her. She beamed when she saw him, and proudly walked herself down the aisle. Her blonde hair was swept back elegantly off of her face. Kirsten had never been too keen on the fashions that her friends had fallen victim to. The big hair, the big shoulder pads, she had thankfully managed to steer clear all those hideous fashions for the most part. When she reached Sandy at the end, he outstretched his hand and she clasped it tightly in hers and they stood in front of more than a hundred witnesses, but to Kirsten and Sandy, no one existed but each other at that moment. Kirsten was crying by the time she reached the end of her vows, and she was surprised to see that Sandy had a few glistening tears snaking their way down his face. She simply smiled at him and slipped the ring that Trish had handed to her onto his finger.
"With this ring, I thee wed," she spoke firmly and clearly. Sandy turned and a grinning Pete handed him her ring, which he slipped onto her slender finger. He repeated the same words and barely registered the rest of the words spoken until he heard the famous words,
"You may kiss your bride." He swept her into his arms and dipped her back and kissed her.
"I love you," he whispered into her ear. "More than anything in this world." She grinned at him and kissed him back.
"I love you too," she whispered.
They announced them as Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Cohen and Kirsten and Sandy burst into the reception grinning wildly and gripping hands. They danced their first dance to "Tupelo Honey" by Van Morrison, and Kirsten shoved cake all over Sandy's face. There was, of course, no father-daughter dance, and Kirsten mentioned it as they swayed back and forth in each other's arms.
"This is when I should be dancing with him," she whispered. Sandy ran a hand over her back and kissed her cheek.
"Honey, he'll regret this. He'll regret not being here for this. Not seeing you in your wedding gown. You look so beautiful. Have I told you that yet?"
"About a million times," Kirsten replied grinning.
"Well, how about a million more? How about I say it every single day for the next seventy years?" Kirsten pretended to think about it.
"Well, that can be arranged," she told him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jimmy sitting with his seven-month-pregnant wife, and she realized that her child and Jimmy's child would only be a few months apart. Jimmy was watching her and Sandy dance, and Julie was sitting with a mixture of boredom and jealously playing on her features.
How thankful she was to Jimmy for sleeping with her. Had it really only been six months ago that she had gone to that bar in hopes of drowning away her sorrows and ended up walking out with the best thing that ever happened to her? And now, she was married with a baby on the way. It was incredible, really, the way that things turned out
Kirsten was talking to Trish when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Would you like to dance?" Jimmy asked offering out his hand. Kirsten turned and found Sandy talking to his Uncle David. She pointed to Jimmy and shrugged. He offered her a smile and nodded. She turned back around to face Jimmy.
"Sure," she said and let him lead her onto the dance floor.
"Congratulations," Jimmy said. "On both the wedding and the baby."
"Mom told you?"
"Yeah. Hey our kids will be in the same grade and everything," Jimmy said smiling.
"We probably won't live here," Kirsten said.
"Oh," Jimmy's smile faltered a bit. "You look beautiful." Somehow it didn't feel the same coming from Jimmy as it had when Sandy had told her it the first time breathlessly.
"Thank you," she answered.
"I always that that I would be the one at the end of the aisle when you wore a wedding dress," Jimmy admitted.
"Me too," Kirsten told him softly.
"Do you love him? I mean, do you love him like you loved me?" Kirsten was surprised, and answered him truthfully.
"I love him more," she said. Jimmy's face was crestfallen.
"Oh," was all that he said. "Because…I don't love Julie like that. Like I love you. I just wanted you to know that…I miss you." Kirsten turned her head slightly and locked eyes with Sandy. He gave her another smile and she returned it.
"Well, Jimmy. I've been meaning to tell you this for awhile. Thank you. For sleeping with her. For getting her pregnant. It was the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"It was the biggest mistake of my life," Jimmy replied. Kirsten didn't know how to answer that, and so she didn't. Instead, the song ended and she walked back to her new husband. Jimmy watched as she walked away in her white dress. He watched as she leaned up and kissed Sandy again and watched as they made their way onto the dance floor once again. He watched as Sandy's hand rested where his had just seconds before, on the small of her back, and watched as she crinkled her nose and laughed at something Sandy had said.
She was happy.
She was in love.
And it wasn't with him.
I was considering another chapter, where Seth is born and the early years in Berkeley, but let me know if you want another chapter or if you're getting bored! Please review! Thanks!