The wedding rings

Seth pulled the rings from his pocket as he chatted on. "These. Are you proud of me that I haven't lost them?" he asked as he opened the box. "Of course Summer was the one …"

Ryan heard Seth's words but they faded off as he looked down at the matching pair of beautiful diamond bands, instantly recognising them from their visit to Tiffany's in LA when Marissa had picked out her promise ring.

He remembered exactly the moment when he'd seen them. They had been looking at the promise rings and then Ryan had turned to look in another display case and there they were. Marissa had followed him and instantly she had been attracted by the same thing. They had both noticed them but it had seemed to be much too early in their relationship to even consider talking about anything as permanent as marriage. Ryan had already known then that he wanted Marissa for his wife … hell … he'd thought about it from the first time he'd seen her at the end of the Cohen's driveway … but he'd been worried that he would scare her off if he'd even mentioned marriage at that early point. They'd only just gotten back together … and they had Julie's arrival in L.A. to deal with. He smiled … and yet it was only a day later on the Cohen's driveway that he had actually proposed … so much for giving her time and not rushing her.

Thinking back he remembered that after seeing these bands he had looked up and his eyes had met Marissa's over the display case. He guessed that he had always known that the look they exchanged at that point … had been them silently committing themselves to one another … without either having to say a word he had known from that day forward that they wanted to spend their lives together. He blinked as his mind refocused on what was happening and he realised that Seth was still jabbering on.

"… so they'd better be the right ones. If they aren't then it's not my fault because …"

"Seth." Ryan interrupted him. "They are the right ones. But how?"

"Weren't you listening to me? I just told you. Marissa asked Summer to go to the manager at Tiffany's and get them. Marissa knew exactly what she wanted. The girl must have been scoping them out already waiting until she could trap you and get you to give in and marry her."

Ryan pulled one of Marissa's enigmatic smiles as he looked at Seth.

Seth laughed. "It doesn't look like you held out for too long. Where's your resistance man? Look how long I held out? Years. Surely you could have done better."

"I'm exactly where I want to be." Ryan assured Seth. "But I still can't believe that you're here … and that this is really happening. I mean … how did you even know that we'd be here?"

Seth shrugged. "Your wife. She said that she wanted to do something special for you. And hell … I may have been angry with you but I wasn't going to miss out a second time."

"Yeah about that … I'm sorry. I … I mean we … didn't ever mean to leave you out of things. We just wanted to make the commitment to one another so there would be no more doubts. But with the paparazzi … and not wanting to upset your wedding plans … it seemed like a good idea … that obviously wasn't." Ryan tried to explain.

"Don't worry. I'm sorry I reacted like a spoilt child and didn't hear you out when you tried to explain but the old man sort of made me see sense. It was either that or he was going to give me a clip around the ear. But today we'll make everything right. Come on. We'd better go inside. I don't want you to be late for your second wedding." Seth said leading the way to the side door to the church and then turned and asked. "Where you on time for your first?"

Ryan thought back to what had happened in the court house in Las Vegas and the sleazy characters that had played a part in it. "The first time was unusual to say the least. But I'll tell you about it later. Right now I have no intention of missing even a minute of this." He said as he urged Seth to continue on inside.

---

Cathy had just finished putting the final touches to Marissa's hair and she stood back to admire her handiwork. She smiled. "You look beautiful … even if I do say so myself." She said softly just as Summer and Emily entered the room.

"We've got the flowers." Emily chanted as Summer stopped dead in her tracks.

"Whoa Coop. You look amazing." Summer blinked as if she was trying to refocus. "I mean I always thought you were pretty great to look at … for a girl, I mean. I mean I was never interested like that … even if you were that way inclined for a while … but I mean …" Summer chatted on. Summer had never been speechless in her life. Marissa knew that getting her to aimlessly ramble on like Seth did was as close as you'd ever get to it and right now she was having all sorts of trouble finding the words to express herself and she finally came out with "Holy cow … you look freaking … amazing. Chino's not going to know what hit him."

"You think?" Marissa asked as she ran her hands reverently over the beautiful white dress ... the long Venetian lace gloves that matched the bodice of her dress only adding to the other worldliness of the moment.

"You look like a princess." Emily remarked enchanted and they all laughed as the moment was broken.

Marissa looked into the mirror and for a moment was startled by what she saw. But it wasn't the dress or the veil or the creamy expanses of her shoulders that surprised her but the look of absolute bliss in her eyes. It was there clearly for anyone to see. She was about to many the man of her dreams and nothing would ever come between them again. She thought that her heart would burst with joy. She took one last look and then turned just as there was a knock at the door and James poked his head in.

"Is it safe?" he asked.

"Yes. Come on in." Marissa replied.

"Okay I will be just a minute." He stood with the door ajar. "I want to get a few shots of the bride before she cruelly marries the man of my dreams and races off into the sunset with him … only to leave me a poor heartbroken …"

"James. Just give up with it. You know that Ryan was never going to return your affections." Marissa stated plainly … a smile on her face to soften her words.

"Well what chance did I have when you look like that? Life really isn't fair." He said and then frowned a little and added. "And speaking of fair … your mother has asked to speak to you before the ceremony." He explained. "I didn't know what to say. She's waiting just outside."