Chapter 31
Finishing Touches
"Do you really think he'll pull this off?" House asked.
Susan looked down at the two year old and shook her head. "He knows to head towards Mommy and Daddy. The rings are tied on the pillow, what could go wrong?"
"He's been really ornery lately." House said as he watched the toddler playing with the toys they had brought along.
"Well, he looks really cute in his faux tux."
"You look beautiful, that color suits you." House said as he eyed her up and down.
"Yeah, well I always did look good in purple. I'm going to take him with me so you can finish up down here. I think you and James both look very handsome in your Armani's."
"You didn't have to buy us Armani tuxes."
"Your old one was crap and you know it. Now I've got to go." Susan leaned in and gave House a kiss on his cheek before leaving the small paneled room next to the ballroom. She crossed the hall to the other side and took the elevator to the tenth floor with Brennon hanging on and babbling to her about going up in the elevator. Opening the door to room 1031, she let go of Brennon's hand so he could run to his mother who sat in her slip in front of the vanity, arms opened to hug him.
"How's my big boy?"
"Daddy is here, you have to take the vator."
"I know! You take the elevator down to see him. We'll see him in twenty minutes. You look so handsome!"
Brennon looked down at his chest and pulled on the elastic bow tie around his neck. He was wearing a top that had a couple of flaps made to look like he was wearing a tux and an elastic bow tie with elastic waisted black pants that had a satin stripe down the side. The entire outfit easily pulled over the toddler's head like a t-shirt and over his pull ups. Brennon was almost potty trained, but the occasional accident happened and so today he was wearing diaper pull ups 'just in case'.
Carrying the dress in, Susan laid it down on the bed and turned to Finley. "I never thought I'd see you get married. And here you are, marrying Greg, raising Brennon and heading your own cardiology department…you've done good, girl."
Finley stood up and gave Susan a gentle hug, nothing to energetic, Finley needed to keep from messing her makeup and hair. "I think I'm ready to put it on."
The nanny came in and clapped when she saw Finley standing in her Parisian Cymbeline Wedding Dress. "You're beautiful!"
"Thank you!" Fin said as Brennon threw himself into his mother's skirt over and over. "Bren, this isn't a pile of pillows; it's Mommy's dress. Ellen, can you get him for me and take him downstairs to play in his Dad's dressing room until he's needed? It shouldn't be too long now."
"Sure, Dr. Doyle." Ellen plucked a reluctant Brennon from his mother's train and took him downstairs, back to his father's dressing room.
"I just rescued poor Bren from the den of iniquity. I brought him up here so Greg could finish up." Susan said as she watched Brennon leave.
"Well Greg has the pillow with the rings so he has to go downstairs; we're about to start." Fin said as she continued to primp in the mirror.
"Finley, you look so beautiful, you make a gorgeous bride."
"For a forty year old first timer?"
"Yeah. Well, you were the one who insisted that you two live together for awhile. There were a few times I didn't think we'd get here. But here we are and you're so stunning."
"You looked really lovely at your wedding too."
She laughed. "What do you mean? It was Vegas, I wore a cocktail dress"
"Still, your cocktail dress cost more than my designer wedding gown."
"Come on, we better get your veil on and then get you downstairs." Susan got up and placed the comb for the veil in Fin's soft strawberry blonde hair which she had grown so that she could wear it up. "Okay, sweetie, time to get your final layer of lipstick on, grab your bouquet and then we'll make our way downstairs. "
Spraying Marc Jacobs over her cleavage and neck, Fin straightened up and grabbed her train. Susan handed her the bouquet and they began the walk down to the ballroom. Susan was Finley's maid of honor and her cousin, Cally , was her bridesmaid. Susan was in purple and Cally in lilac. Standing outside the doors leading into the ballroom where a non-denominational minister waited to marry them, Fin nodded to her brother, Theodore Doyle, and smiled.
"How do I look?"
"Fantastic. Greg better appreciate what he's getting. You're a knock out."
"Thanks bro."
"Are you ready?"
Finley nodded. Susan gave a wave to one of the ushers who notified the band. They struck up, And I Love Her, by McCartney and Lennon. Brennon, who was supposed to be staged behind the last pew with the pillow and rings, was supposed to make his way down the aisle first. Finley watched through the crack where the door hinged so that she could see her son carry the pillow to James Wilson. There was a loud, "Brennon!" and then a squeal as Brennon ran wildly halfway down the aisle, put the pillow down and ripped off his tux shirt over his head, throwing it like a lasso. It landed at the feet of Thirteen as she sat on the aisle in one of the pews.
The entire churched roared with laughter as Brennon picked up the pillow and carried it towards his father looking like a miniature Chippendale dancer with the bowtie and black pants still on. Fin was furious until she saw House roaring with laughter, something Fin had never seen. Then it dawned on her that this was something they would talk about for years, probably using it to tease Brennon when he was in high school. The videographer was having a blast filming Brennon and the audience's reaction. Brennon danced up to his father and handed the pillow up high above his head. House picked Brennon up instead of taking the pillow from him and blew a raspberry on his tummy before putting the laughing toddler down. There was more laughter. Wilson took the pillow and the nanny, now running down the side of the church to grab Brennon, managed to corral him and pinned the squirming child on her lap as she tried several times to get the tux shirt back on the happily free Brennon.
Cally made her way down the aisle and then Susan. When Teddy and Finley lined up to walk down the aisle, Finley got her first good look at the ballroom draped in creams and gold, with just enough purple to make a splash but not overwhelm the room. It was spectacular, looking incredibly opulent and sophisticated. There were candelabras all the way down the aisle and candles lighting up the chandeliers. The light danced around the room in a romantic glow. Looking forward she saw House, standing tall in his tux, looking handsome and amused until he saw her. A sly, sensual smile spread across his lips, but she doubted anyone else would notice it but her. Standing next to House was Wilson and Chase. The ushers were Taub, Foreman and Finley's other brother, Sean. Finley's sister, Katherine hadn't been able to make it. She suffered from agoraphobia and couldn't overcome her fear to step outside her house.
When they reached the altar, Finley saw the nanny wrestling with Brennon out of the corner of her eye. They were in the first pew and she was still trying to put the shirt on, but he was refusing. Resisting the urge to go over and take control, Finley concentrated on going forward. House stepped down, trying desperately to control his laughter and took her hands.
Finley rolled her eyes. "Uh, you still have the ceremony to get through, okay?"
He nodded, but tears of laughter were in his eyes and those of everyone around him. House stage whispered out of the corner of his mouth for everyone to hear, "He reminded me of John Candy and Patrick Swayze in that SNL skit."
The audience began laughing again. Finley turned around and looked at them with a disapproving eye. It just made them laugh harder. When she turned back, the minister had given in and was laughing too. Finley shook her head, handed the bouquet to Susan, walked over, picked up her semi-nude son and took him with her back to the altar. She turned around to show the audience and everyone clapped for him, causing him to suddenly become shy and bury his head in his mother' s shoulder.
"Now, Greg, can we get married?"
"Nothing I'd like better. Can't start drinking until we've promised we'll never screw around on each other."
Susan piped up, "Yeah? Good luck on that one."
More laughter. Twenty minutes later there was one sleeping toddler, his head on his mother's bare shoulder, and the minister announcing, "By the power invested in me and by the laws of the state of New Jersey, I now pronounce you man and wife. Greg, you may kiss your wife and son."
He did.
After a large steak and lobster dinner for 160, cake cutting and dancing, House caught Finley yawning. When the night was over, they went home to Finley's loft, Susan taking Brennon with her. After disembarking from the elevator, House suggested that Finley carry him over the threshold.
"Sorry honey, but, I sacrificed my home, my friends and my career to come back to Princeton, I'm not going to sacrifice my back."
House hugged her and pulled her inside the door. "Stop your moaning. Your friend is here, your career has been enhanced by moving back and you already had a home waiting for you…now just what did you sacrifice?"
She grinned. "Marrying you? I sacrificed my sanity."
THE END
Dear Readers. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. Thanks, Kim Brogan