The guests
Seth held the door open for Ryan to enter before him … and Ryan's eyes were instantly drawn to the magnificence of the vaulted ceiling of the 6th century church. It took his breath away as he gazed at the beautiful handiwork of the artisans that had created it but then as he moved his head to look around inside he almost fell over. Fortunately Seth was bringing up the rear and could steady him before Ryan's legs gave out completely.
Ryan blinked not really daring to believe his own eyes. He'd expected the church to be empty but instead staring back at him were many special people. There in front of him in the first row of pews sat Sandy & Kirsten. Sandy was grinning from ear to ear as he took in the sight of this young man who had become such an important part of their family while Kirsten looked to be barely holding it together. She was attempting to smile at him but you could see that she was on the verge of tears. This boy that she had come to love as her very own was going to marry the woman of his dreams. She was happy for him … and yet she couldn't stop the tears from escaping at the same time as her emotions threatened to boil over. Ryan took this in and quickly made his way to her side.
"Hey." He said softly.
Kirsten tried to smile at him as she furiously wiped at her eyes. "Hey." She replied.
"Don't cry." He asked.
"I'm not. I'm happy for you." She said still swatting at her leaking eyes.
"I can't be happy if you're crying ..." Ryan said and then paused a moment and then added. " … Mom."
Kirsten was startled and instantly stopped crying. "What did you say?"
Ryan smiled. "I said that I can't be happy if you're crying." He explained.
"No not that. What else did you say?" she asked almost scared to believe that it wasn't a figment of her imagination. She had wished for so long that Ryan might finally decide to call her Mom but she had never asked. She would never have pressured him into it. She knew that when and if he ever felt right about it … that he would do it of his own accord. He would need no prompting from her when he was ready, when he felt the time was right.
"You mean … the Mom bit?" Ryan smiled.
She nodded still unsure what it all meant or if he was just teasing her. Her emotions were already all over the place. Maybe she was just misreading things.
"I hope that's okay?" Ryan asked and then he felt a little unsure. "I mean I know that rightfully only Seth can call you that but it's just that I have always thought of you … I mean you mean more to me … I mean …"
Kirsten interrupted. "Of course it's okay. It's better than okay. Don't you ever call me Kirsten again." She laughed through her tears.
"I think that I can manage that." Ryan replied and then looked up at Sandy who had been silently watching the interaction between his wife and their adopted son, his heart pounding in his chest. "And if it's okay I thought I might call you Dad?"
Sandy smiled and then started to get a little concerned that Kirsten's watery eyes were contagious. "I'd be honoured." He gulped and then knew that he had to move or he was going to be wiping at his eyes too. "I need to go and see if that wife of yours is ready yet."
Ryan nodded. He gave Kirsten a hug and then looked up at the other faces in the church. Behind Kirsten sat Skip and a very attractive blonde. Ryan reached his hand across in greeting. "Hi. You must be Cait?"
She returned the hand shake. "Uh huh. And you must be Ryan. I've heard quite a bit about you." She teased.
Ryan laughed. "If it's from him." He indicated Skip with a tilt of his head. "then it's probably all lies."
"He told me you'd say that." She laughed.
Ryan turned to Skip. "You've brainwashed her already?"
"I couldn't have her getting the wrong idea about me or she might not have had anything more to do with me." Skip replied.
"You mean the right idea? It sounds like you've taken a few liberties with the truth." Ryan suggested.
"I assure you that's not all I've taken a few liberties with." Skip said raising his eyebrows at Cait.
She blushed a bright red. "Skip! Do you mind?"
"Not at all. In fact I thoroughly enjoy it." He replied.
Ryan laughed at the two in front of him. He could see that they were meant for each other. Behind them sat Keith and Cheryl. Ryan had to shake his head again to clear it. The thought that all these people were here, in Venice, to see Marissa and he get married was just amazing. His wife was amazing. When Emily had flung herself at his legs outside he had been dumbfounded. But that feeling was only increasing by the minute. Ryan moved to greet them.
"How are you doing?" he asked Cheryl.
"Not great. But much better than the last time you saw me." she smiled.
"That's good to hear. I hope the trip didn't take too much out of you?"
"I had my personal carer looking after me." she replied smiling as she looked over shyly at Keith. It was obvious that there was some connection there. But just how much, it was still too early to tell. Maybe with time these two would also be able to find happiness together.
Ryan laughed and turned to Keith. "So you've had a promotion? How am I ever going to get you back to work?"
"Just say the word. You know that I'll be there." And Keith realised that he had never spoken a truer word. He may not have known Ryan for very long but he hoped that they would be friends for life. He was the sort of guy that Keith would have wanted in the trenches with him back in his time when he was fighting in Afghanistan. A loyal and true friend. Sure he was caring for Cheryl and Emily right now but he hoped that when Ryan and Marissa returned that he would be able to find a balance between work and his 'new family'.
"Well you do realise that besides Marissa and I, you are the only person here that attended our first wedding?" Ryan suggested.
Keith laughed. "I hadn't really thought about it. But this is quite a bit different. The other was … great … if maybe a little unorthodox. This looks a lot more ... traditional." He replied as he gazed around the beautiful church.
Ryan followed his gaze and said. "You're right. And I think that I prefer this … No blackmail required." He laughed.
"True." Keith answered.
Ryan looked across the aisle of the church at Emma who was sitting quietly on her own and he moved across to talk to her. "Hey. How did you get here?" he asked. "Obviously not by car." He added.
"No." she laughed. "James and I flew here last night."
Ryan quickly looked around for James. It wasn't that he was scared of him. It was just … he was a little intimidated by James's blatant attentions. "Where is he?"
"He's off playing photographer. He'll be back soon." She replied.
Ryan took in that information and couldn't help but be a little concerned about the ramifications. He'd seen James pose the models for photo shoots and if he put his hands on Ryan in some of the places that he'd seen him put them on the girls … well let's just say that things could get very very uncomfortable for both of them. "O kay." Ryan said still very unsure about the whole 'James as photographer concept' but he tried to put it out of his mind … at least for now. "I wanted to thank you for the use of your car. It's been great."
"That's fine. I really don't use it very much anyhow. Parking is so difficult in Paris it's almost easier to leave it at home and get a cab. I know that it isn't very big but it suits me for anything that I want to do."
"It's more than big enough for 2 people." Ryan said and then thinking about what had happened beside Lake Geneva he couldn't help but add. "and anything they might want to do." He couldn't help but break into a huge smile at the thought.
Emma watched his grin and then the realisation set in of what he was implying. "You didn't?"
"Didn't what?" he asked trying to look innocent.
"Um..." she wondered how to put it. "Christen my car?" she asked.
"Um … maybe." He replied now looking somewhat shamefaced about the admission.
"But you're on your honeymoon." Emma stated.
"Exactly." Ryan explained. "What did you expect us to do?"
"I expected that you would have been too shagged out at the farmhouse to bother going and doing it in my car."
"Ah. But you see it's quite a way from France to Italy." Ryan explained.
"Balderdash! It's like 5 hours. Can't you even wait that long?"
Ryan shrugged. "Guess not. If it helps I promise to give the car a thorough clean before we return it."
Emma laughed starting to see the funny side to it. "Maybe I shouldn't complain. You two are so famous I could probably sell it on Ebay and make a fortune if I could just prove exactly what went on there." She teased. "You didn't happen to leave a condom behind with your DNA or anything did you?"
Ryan was stunned. "I'm sure we didn't." he replied knowing that they didn't use condoms. But he didn't like the idea of 'their' car ever ending up in anyone else's hands. "But I've just decided that I'll buy you a new car. We'll keep this one to use when we're in Paris."
"You don't have to do that. I was just teasing." Emma replied.
"I know. But I'd like to do it. This one must be a couple of years old so I'm sure you won't complain about a new one and the fact is … that I'd sort of like to keep it … just for the memories." He said.
"Wow. So it was that good? Even in a confined space?" she teased.
"You have no idea." Ryan replied trying to get some of his own back. "So if you don't mind is that okay with you?"
Emma shrugged. "Who am I to knock back a new car?" she laughed. Now that she knew how wealthy Ryan was … who was she to complain?
Ryan turned to Tony who was sitting in the seat in front of Emma. He had obviously over heard the exchange between the two of them. He looked at Ryan and said. "If you want to do it in the launch on the way back then feel free. I could always use a new boat." He laughed.
"No such luck." Ryan replied. "However if you want to sell the hotel then I'd be interested."
Tony shook his head. "No way. We're much too happy there."
"Speaking of which … where's your lovely wife?" Ryan asked.
"She's helping Marissa get ready. You do know that she's hairdresser?" Tony said.
Ryan looked surprised … realising that he'd been had … yet again. "No. I didn't know that. So … I gather that the visit to the hairdressers this afternoon …" he started.
Tony nodded. "Yep. Coffee in our kitchen while they went over the final plans."
Ryan shook his head amazed that all this had taken place and he'd had no inkling whatsoever that anything was going on.
He moved to the stranger sitting on his own in the front pew. "Dan?" he asked.
"Ryan … I'm pleased to finally meet you." The maturely handsome man replied.
"I'm sorry." Ryan shook his head. "I'm still having some trouble even believing that all this is true. I feel like I'm stuck in a dream somewhere."
Dan laughed. "It's no dream. I have to admit that I didn't know until about 15 minutes ago that we were coming to a wedding. Julie had told me that we were coming to Venice to meet you and Marissa but not that there was going to be a wedding. You do realise what the paparazzi would pay for information about this?"
"Maybe that's why Julie didn't tell you." Ryan suggested realising that he owed her a debt of gratitude if indeed they managed to pull this off without any member of the press being any the wiser.
Dan mused. "You may be right. It would have been very difficult for me not to say anything. But she's even confiscated my cell phone. Apparently Marissa swore that if the news got out that she would hold Julie personally responsible."
Ryan laughed. "It's good to know that Julie cared enough to go along with it."
"Let me assure you … Julie cares." Dan commented.
"So is she any better then?" Ryan asked.
"Much. Ever since Marissa rang the other day and asked us here she has been a different woman. I have to thank you for helping get them both back together."
"It wasn't really me. Marissa just needed some time to think it all through." Ryan said.
"Hmm. That may be so but I'd love to know sometime, exactly what caused the rift in the first place." Dan asked.
"You'll have to get that information from Julie. I think perhaps it is better left in the past." Ryan replied.