Pre wedding jitters

Ryan and Marissa stood at the door of Annabel's room waiting for her to answer it.

"You are absolutely breathtaking." Ryan stated simply, trying to wipe the smile from his face. He thought that if anyone saw him then they would know instantly that something was afoot. They were both dressed to their finest and had a glow around them that wasn't just post-coital. He was sure it could be measured by a light meter. He had never been so excited in his life.

"You scrub up pretty well yourself." Marissa replied removing an imaginary piece of fluff from his collar unable to resist touching him.

"Are we really going to do this?" he asked ... but then went on before giving her a chance to reply, almost as if he didn't want to give her a chance to say no. "I feel like I'm dreaming."

Marissa laughed. As if she didn't love him enough already? But he was absolutely adorable. The normally cool, calm and collected Ryan had been excited ever since she had managed to convince him that she really did want to get married and that she wasn't doing it just for him. And that in itself had been no small task. But his excitement was infectious. And now she was having trouble trying to keep calm. There were butterflies in her stomach that refused to stay quiet. "You bet we are." She replied to his first question. "And as far as dreaming … I'm happy to pinch you just so that you'll know for sure." She said as the door opened to reveal Keith looking dapper in a new suit.

"Looking good." Marissa commented as she walked passed him into the room.

"Thank you." Keith looked at Ryan unsure whether Marissa knew exactly what was planned or whether he still needed to keep everything quiet. When Ryan indicated with a nod and a smile that she was now up to speed he added. "It's not every day a man gets married."

Marissa laughed as Annabel called from the bathroom. "Marissa? Is that you? Can you come and give me a hand with my hair? Keith is useless."

"Sure. I'll be right there." Marissa replied. "So you're useless?" she asked Keith.

"That's not true. I do have my uses. I can even find my way around Victoria's Secret's stores, but pinning up hair is definitely not one of them." He replied.

She laughed and as she went to make her way to the bathroom to see if she could help Annabel, she stopped and came back and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for doing this for us."

"Your welcome." He replied blushing at her actions.

"You have no idea just what it means." She added.

"I think that I have some idea." He replied. "But you'd better go and help her before she starts screaming again. I swear she has forgotten that she is only pretending. No true bride-to-be could be any more demanding." He laughed.

Marissa smiled and turned to go and see if she could be of assistance.

Ryan watched Marissa cross the floor to the bathroom; the love clearly evident in his eyes.

"So?" Keith said smiling as he watched this man who was his boss but also his friend.

"So?" Ryan responded.

"You all set?"

Ryan nodded. "But there's a couple of things I need to talk to you about."

"Like?" Keith asked.

"Number 1. Bill … I have an uneasy feeling that he isn't to be trusted." Ryan stated.

"Okay. So what can we do about it?" Keith asked.

"Well … I thought ..."

---

Marissa walked in to the bathroom and Annabel turned to look at her and said. "Whoa. You look beautiful."

"Thank you." Marissa replied. "You look …" she frantically tried to look for the right word.

"Like a bride?" Annabel asked and then burst out laughing.

"Um … well … yeah." Marissa had to agree. Annabel did indeed look like a doll off the top of a wedding cake.

"That's the general idea." She laughed again. "I figured that if I was going to do it, I may as well do it right."

"Well there's no doubt about it. You definitely look the part." Marissa replied.

"I would if I could just get my hair right." Annabel stated … the frustration evident in her voice.

"Here give me a go." Marissa said as she twirled the hair into a neat French twist and began to pin it in place.

"You're a marvel." Annabel stated as Marissa made it look o-so-easy.

"ANNABEL?" Keith called out.

"Yeah what?" she replied.

"That camera of yours … does it take video as well as stills?" He asked.

"Yeah … why?" she called back as Marissa put in the last of the pins to secure Annabel's hair.

"We need to borrow it." Keith stated.

"Sure. It's just beside the TV. It should be all charged and ready to go."

"Okay. Thanks." Keith called out and picked up the camera and put it in his pocket. He turned to Ryan. "This should do the trick."

The girls emerged from the bathroom and Ryan had to admit that he was surprised by Annabel's obvious bridal attire. There was no doubt who the 'bride' was in their party. She twirled around looking for a comment from Ryan.

"Very … " he hesitated as Marissa had … wondering just what he could say.

"She looks like she should be perched on the top of a wedding cake." Keith stated plainly.

Ryan couldn't agree more but he saw the look of horror on Annabel's face and wanted to calm her down. He knew that the fiery redhead had quite a temper when she was upset. "But a very lovely wedding cake."

Annabel smiled at Ryan and then turned to Keith and poked out her tongue.

Keith burst out laughing. It seemed that the excitement of the situation had them all on edge.

"Are we ready to go?" Marissa asked feeling fidgety. Now that she was this close she couldn't wait.

"Before we go, I just wanted to tell you that we have decided that no one … and that includes Bill … is to know what's really going on. Obviously the guy at the courthouse will, but no one else needs to know. And I think I'd like to keep it that way. I have a strange feeling that Bill would be happy to sell the information to the highest bidder. If I'm wrong then it won't hurt if he doesn't know and if I'm right then it's the only way we have a chance of getting through this without anyone else being any the wiser." Ryan explained.

"But what about his friend at the courthouse? Surely if Bill is on the take, then so would he be." Marissa asked.

"I already know that he is. But we think that we can make sure that he keeps the information to himself." Ryan added. "Just make sure that we don't let anything slip in the car?" Ryan asked and then looked at Marissa and Annabel for their acknowledgement.

When they both nodded, Keith removed the lid from the box that the florist had delivered and handed Ryan a buttonhole and the girls, single long-stemmed deep pink roses, just as Ryan had asked for. He then picked up the last button hole and attached it to his suit. "Do you have the rings?" he asked Ryan.

Ryan patted his pocket and nodded.

"Okay then. Let's go." They all smiled at one another as Keith opened the door and they all filed out.