Chapter 24
"I, Lindsay Monroe, take thee, Daniel Messer..."
"I, Daniel Messer, take thee, Lindsay Monroe..."
"To be my lawfully wedded husband..."
"To be my lawfully wedded wife..."
"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness." We finished together.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." the priest announced.
I took her in my arms and I kissed her. It was the most wonderful kiss I could have ever wished for. I heard Maddie cheering as we turned to face our wedding party. It consisted of my mom and dad, Lindsay's mom and dad had flown out to New York, Mac, Stella, Hawkes had decided he wanted out of the morgue so he was there, and so was Flack.
"May I present Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Messer."
Cheers and appalause filled the church. We'd done it. We were married.
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Yay! My Mommy and Daddy are going to be together forever! I know I didn't like him before, but now I do. I know Daddy wants to take care of us, and I don't think Mommy has any troubles with that. They told me I could be the flower girl, and I had a really pretty dress. I got to walk down the aisle ahead of Mommy with Michael, my cousin. He was the ring bearer. I only met Michael a couple of times, he's my Auntie Michelle's kid. My Uncle Peter was in the pews watching, with Daddy's brother, I think his name is Louie. Uncle Peter said he didn't know Daddy that well so he shouldn't be in the wedding party, and Daddy said Louie isn't a very nice guy but Daddy said he would behave himself for our special day.
We walk out of the church and we all get into a horse drawn carriage. Daddy said it would be for just the three of us. We were going to ride through Central Park and then go to something Mommy called the reception. She said there would be lots of yummy food for our guests, and we would have all the attention, because it was our special day, the day we were now a family.
When we got there, everyone clapped when Mommy and Daddy came into the room. We got to sit at a special table and no one else was allowed to come up there. It wasn't until I got to dance with my Daddy that something went wrong.
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I saw them too. Sonny Sassone and Salvador Zabo. No! Not today, any day but today! What the hell am I sayin', no day is better. They even dressed for the occasion, how nice of them! Ha! What a load of shit to be dumped on my family on such an important day. I don't know what the hell they're doin' here, probably lookin' for Louie.
"Hey! Messer!" Zabo yells at me. Or Louie? I don't know which one...
We both turn at the same time. I set Maddie down and tell her to go over to her mom. She does, and I walk up to him. I'm not intimidated.
"What?"
Next thing I know I'm eatin' a knuckle sandwich, courtesy of Sonny Sassone.
I stumble backward in surprise. Flack catches me and stands me back up. I cautiously put a hand to my lip. I can feel it, it's almost split open. "You did not just do that, you bastard!" I hate having to use that language in front of my daughter, but there's a time and place for everything. I flew at him. I was just about to knock him out cold when Flack, Louie, and Mac pulled me off him.
"Easy, Danny, easy," Flack says.
"Get the fuck outta here!" I hear Louie yell. "I told you! I told you I was busy."
Busy? Ha!
I could see Mac's eyes fill with rage. He's the kind of guy who nevers goes anywhere without his gun and handcuffs, in case something like this ever happened. Zabo and Sonny fled before Mac could do anything about it.
I look over at Lindsay and she looks horrified. She's clutching Maddie, her white wedding dress makes her look like an angel. My angel. The angel who saved me from a life of destroying what precious little I had left of myself.
And the way she handled herself in the face of the Tanglewood Boys only reinforces how much I care for her, how much I love her, and it makes me question why I didn't act on it sooner.
Maddie breaks free from her mother and runs toward me.
"Daddy!" she yells. "Daddy!" There are tears streaming down her face, smudging her make-up.
I lift her up and hug her tightly. "It's okay, baby girl, it's okay." I kiss her hair. She looks like a little doll, her hair all done up in curls, her light purple dress flaring out a little bit. "It's okay."