10. The Wedding: Part II

"So where's the rum?" Jack asks a gentleman at the reception. The man just looks at him, does a double-take at the best man and walks by. "Fine! No rum for you then!" he calls after the gentleman.

"Jack, are you harassing servers?" I ask as I walk up to him with a glass of wine in hand. Jack just takes the wine from me and gulps it down.

"He won't tell me where the bloody rum is, and bloody Will told me there'd be plenty o' rum!" Jack grumbles as he hands me the empty glass.

"I hadn't finished that!" I exclaim as I grasp the empty glass.

"I know—I finished it for ye," Jack says as he walks past me in search of rum.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have you grandest attention," a gentleman announces from an elegantly decorated podium. The room turns to the attention of the gentleman. "It is my greatest pleasure to present you all with…" he turns to Matt and Matt whispers his name to the man, "Matthew…" the gentleman finishes awkwardly and steps down leaving the podium for Matt. He steps up and turns to the string quartet and pianist, signaling them to begin playing music he had provided to them earlier. The pianist begins playing and I suddenly realize I recognize the song.

"Like the sound of silence calling, I hear your voice and suddenly I'm falling, lost in a dream…" Matt sings. I let out a yelp for Matt and he smiles back at me as he sings this familiar Josh Groban song. The crowd glances at me strangely and I just press my lips together in silence, still smiling.

"I now present to you all Mr. and Mrs. William Frederic Turner!" The gentleman announces over Matt as Elizabeth and Will enter the room. The crowd applauds their entrance.

"Bloody emotional, ain't it?" Jack says to me as he walks up next to me. I look over at him and can tell he's drunk already. I just smile and shake my head at him as I watch Will and Elizabeth dance their first dance together.

When the song ends and Matt finishes up, he nods to his mini orchestra and they begin a second song for everyone to begin dancing to. Once again the piano begins a familiar tune to me.

"A waltz!" I exclaim to Jack.

"A what?" he asks. I slap my head against my forehead realizing that the waltz hasn't been invented yet. I grab Jack and place him in the correct positioning.

"Follow my lead. It's an easy three," I instruct him, hoping we will set the trend for the dance to the other guests. "One, two, three," I count repeatedly to the beat of the song as I I begin leading Jack. He quickly picks it up after a few times of stepping on my feet and is soon leading me across the dance floor. To my surprise he doesn't have two left feet and can dance really well! We glide in an out of the guests who also begin dancing like us.

"I can't keep watching forever, and I'm giving up this view just to tell her…" Matt sings as Jack and I float past him. Matt and I smile at each other as we pass by, finally us ending up next to Will and Elizabeth.

"Jack! I didn't know you could dance!" Will exclaims laughing with his bride.

"Haha—it's all funny until they see I can dance!" Jack snickers back at them.

"Well we just figured you weren't really the most graceful person," Elizabeth says with a smile.

"Well I proved you all wrong then, didn't I?" Jack asks with a grin as we dance past them. "Oh! And one more thing—being drunk helps a lot!"

"You're the opposite of most people, Jack!" I laugh at him as we finish the dance.

"And 'ow's that, dahling?" he asks as we walk through the crowd, probably in search of rum.

"Well, being drunk makes people clumsier. Yet, you're able to dance well drunk!" I exclaim with a laugh.

"Bloody 'ell! I can't find the rum!" he screeches, briskly walking over to Will and Elizabeth again.

"Jack, what's wrong now?" Elizabeth asks.

"Yer beloved promised me there'd be bloody rum fer me t' drink at this wedding and I 'ave yet t' find any!" Jack explains with a motion of his hands as he gestures to the grandiose room.

"Jack—there's rum," Will says as he excuses himself from Elizabeth and leads Jack into a corner. Will opens his coat and removes a small jug from his inner coat pocket.

"Yer a true friend, William!" Jack exclaims with wide eyes as he takes the bottle from Will.

"Now don't drink it all so quickly—it has to last you all night," Will instructs. Jack's face drops.

"What?! All night, mate? This jug won't last me fifteen minutes!" Jack exclaims.

"I'm sorry Jack—it's the best I could do," Will sighs and smiles at Jack.

"I'm yer bloody best man! Ye owe me, Turner!" Jack exclaims.

"Just think—you can have all the rum you want at your wedding!" Will replies with a bright smile as he walks off to be with Elizabeth.

"MY WEDDING?! WHO EVER SAID I WAS GETTIN' MARRIED?!" Jack yells after Will. Stunned, he pulls the cork out with his teeth and downs a big gulp of the liquid as he walks through the crowd.

"So I see you found your rum," I say to Jack when I see him.

"Aye—but this is bloody it!" Jack retorts angrily, taking another swig.

"I guess you're gonna have to tank up on wine when you're through with that then," I laugh. He just looks at me through stern eyes and takes another gulp. "Okay! Sorry I said anything at all!" I walk away from him just as we are all instructed to take our seats at the dining tables for the meal. Jack and I wander over to the main table to sit with Elizabeth and Will. Matt joins us from the podium and takes a seat next to me.

We all sit at the table in silence until Will breaks the ice. "So Jack, are you ready for the toast?" he asks Jack.

Jack just glances over at Will and then at the empty glass of champagne in front of him. He then looks over at me and takes my glass of champagne and stands up.

"Attention!" he calls loudly to the crowd before him. The guests fall silent and stare in horror at the pirate-best man standing ready to make a toast.

"Now, most of the people 'ere are probably wonderin' 'what in the bloody 'ell is this man doin' givin' a toast'. Well, the answer I have to that, mates, is I am the best man. Now the question that is runnin' through yer diffident minds is this: 'how in the bloody hell did such an egregious man become the best man?'. I ask myself that very same question," the crowd chuckles at Jack's forwardness. "To be honest, William and I were acquainted in the most unlikely of circumstances which has led us both to trust and mistrust one another, which in turn grew into a lucrative friendship. I stand 'ere before William and Elizabeth not as a formidable pirate of the sorts, but a man honored to witness their love withstanding the rampant ocean, curses of the sort, and well, the temptations of being aboard a ship with meself," he winks at Elizabeth and she laughs, "and when presented with the chance to finally do the right thing, I accepted this position at their most joyous day in celebration of this tremendous love. Today, William, Elizabeth, your once shared hearts are now one forever. All the best to the both o' ye," Jack raises his glass and the guests follow his lead. He downs the champagne and sits back down.

I stare at him in awe at his surprising speech. "Jack—that was unbelievable—did you just pull that outta your ass or did you have it all planned?" I ask.

"Do I ever plan anything, luv?" Jack asks, as he takes Elizabeth's champagne and gulps it all down.

"I don't know! Do you?" I exclaim in question.

"I guess we'll never know, will we, dahling?" he retorts with a drunken grin. I just shake my head and then turn my attention to Will, who is standing up now.

"I just want to take this time to thank Jack for being my best man—that was a brilliant speech, and I have no doubt that it was said on the spot," Will laughs, "I also would like to thank Lindsey for being Elizabeth's maid of honor—she has a true look of beauty about her this evening; and Matt, for singing so beautifully for us both,"

The crowd applauses the three of us and we just smile back. Jack just takes another glass of champagne and swigs it back.

"Is it over yet?" he asks me through narrow glossy eyes.

"Jack we haven't even eaten yet," I reply.

"Ah yes of course," he says, "excuse me," he says to Elizabeth and Will as he gets up from his seat and wanders out of the hall.

"What's into him?" Elizabeth asks me.

"Not enough rum, I assume," I chuckle as the first of many courses is placed in front of us.

0 0 0

By the time the final course is eaten, Jack still isn't back. "Elizabeth, I'm gonna go look for Jack," I say.

"Yes definitely," she replies with a look of concern.

"Don't worry about Jack—he's probably just passed out somewhere," I laugh as I leave the table.

I leave the hall and walk around the foyer, calling for Jack as I look inside the various rooms. I finally make my way outside. It is almost night, so I grab a lantern from the side of the stone building and take it with me as I walk along the grounds of the building.

"Jack!" I call as I make my way around the building. As I meander up the back side of the building, I see Jack sitting on steps.

"There you are," I say as I walk up the steps and sit next to him. "Jack, what's got you buggered out?"

"Not enough rum," he replies through slurred speech.

"I don't believe that for one bit—well I believe it a little, but I don't think that's the whole story," I say as I place the lantern down on the steps.

Jack remains silent for a moment. "You were upset the moment Will and Elizabeth announced they were getting married and that they wanted us to be here. Why? Are you in love with Elizabeth?"

Jack's head turns towards me abruptly, "No, I'm not in love with Elizabeth," he replies, "ye should very well know that I'm in love with ye," he turns his head back away from me.

"Then what is it, Jack? Why do you hate weddings? I always thought you "LOVED WEDDINGS!"?" I ask.

"I don't hate weddings! I do love them because there are usually drinks all around!—I just find them emotionally distasteful," he explains, "I think there are better ways of proving your love for someone else," he says.

"What better way is there to prove your love to someone than a wedding?" I ask incredulously.

"Well, there's…" he pauses to think, "instead of a wedding ye could…" he pauses again and stops.

"You can't think of anything," I reply, almost grinning.

"I don't like weddings because I 'ad me heart broken at one once before," he says finally. Not expecting this at all, my grin instantly fades from me face and my mouth drops.

"You what?" I ask. Jack turns and faces me fully, his eyes dark and serious.

"It was quite a while back—near fifteen years or so. I was just out o' schooling—I finished early—and I 'ad fallen in love with this girl and she loved me also. We were together for quite some time—this is all before I lived a life at sea, mind you—it all 'appened so quickly—before I knew it, I was askin' 'er t' marry me. That wedding my heart was broken at was me own wedding, dahling," he explains.

"Wow—you failed to mention this to me," I reply, my heart beating a million miles a minute.

"Like I told ye before—there's a lot ye don't know about me, luv," he replies.

"Clearly—like your love for someone else, that you were gonna marry her," I say, letting myself say these things so they can sink in.

"Aye—and I waited at the altar for 'er—I waited and waited and she never came," he reminisces.

"I'm so sorry, Jack," I say softly in an attempt to comfort his painful memory.

"Don't be sorry, luv. It's a long while ago in the past and I've been well over it," he replies, a fake grin spreading on his lips.

"Hardly, Jack—you're still hurt by it! It shows you are through this whole experience!" I retort, placing a gentle hand on his.

"It's not the fact that she didn't show up, luv. I mean, that affected me at the time, but everything 'appens fer a reason, dahling. We weren't meant t' get married," he says, holding my hand.

"Then what is it, if it doesn't bother you anymore?" I ask in disbelief.

"I just don't wanna re-live that day. It took me until I met ye t' finally unlock me heart and I'm enormously grateful I did!" he holds my hand tighter.

"So you're saying you don't ever wanna get married?" I ask, feeling a pit building in my stomach.

"I'm sayin' I don't wanna re-live that day, dahling," he replies in a low, husky voice.

"And…?" I ask, hoping there's more.

"And I believe there are better ways o' proving ye love someone other than havin' a wedding, because that clearly happened with me. As soon as the wedding came, there was no more love. So, me conclusion to that is—no weddings,"

"Jack, you're a lot older than wiser now than you were back then—you wouldn't just foolishly into a wedding now like you did then," I explain.

"Aye—and me solution t' me wise livin' is no weddings!" Jack exclaims.

"So you mean to tell me that you are in love with me, but you will never ask me to marry you?" I blurt out suddenly, feeling the anxiety within me rise.

"Luv, what don't yet get? I told ye I believe in other ways o' expressin' me love fer ye," he replies.

"Jack! I'm not saying I wanna get married now…or even any time soon! I guess I just figured that at some point down the road it might be me walking down that aisle to you,"

"Well ye figured wrong. Not t' say ye didn't look beautiful walkin' down that aisle today. But that's what I can't stand—if we did get married and I stood at the altar, me and Turner switchin' positions and Elizabeth walkin' down that aisle and then me waitin' fer ye…and ye never show up! I know what it looks like t' see ye walk down that aisle now and if ye didn't show up—I just don't think I cold ever go through that pain again,"

"Jack! I would never do that to you! I love you too much!" I exclaim

"No weddings!" He exclaims back, frustrated.

Angry, I stand up and take my lantern and storm down the steps.

"Don't be upset, luv!" Jack calls to me.

"Well, I am!" I yell back.

"Why?! I told ye the truth!" he yells at me, standing up.

"Because you don't trust me, that's why!" I exclaim to him and walk away.