Part 2

"I haven't forgotten any of my vows," Sami was reading aloud from a letter her grandmother Evans brought, written by Marlena, over four months before. "Not the ones I've kept or the ones I've broken. I know that for reasons beyond my understanding, there are still people in my life who think I'm some kind of plaster saint.  I never wanted to be one, I don't like them, real or imaginary. And the people who seem to think that of me, don't think much of plaster saints, either. Why should they?" Sami looked up and gave her son a teary-eyed smile as he rushed into the new bride's room in Saint Marks. Then she gestured wordlessly for Will to wait while she finished.  Will opened his mouth and closed it again, without a word.

"Sami," the letter went on, "You, more than a lot of people know when and where and how I've failed and fallen short as your father's wife, and as your mother.  And we both know how those failures more than once came close to ruining, even ending your young life. Of everything I've ever done, sweet girl, I hope you know there is nothing I regret more., except maybe  missing this special day. But also, I know for some reason I'll never understand, many of the people I've hurt in my life have forgiven me. And Sami, I can only pray that on your happiest day, you can do the same. If you can do that, nothing I can think of could help both of us feel happier and more at peace.

And I can't begin to tell you how happy I was when I saw you growing close to Lucas again. Very few things in my life gave me more joy and peace than when I found your father was able to forgive the past and become my dear friend again. I had nothing to forgive Roman for, although for a time it might have seemed so. If it's Lucas that you're marrying today, after all that has happened between you, then I know I didn't fail completely, because then I'll know that I taught you that love is not only more powerful than hatred and the fear that hatreds spring from, but that genuine, caring love between people is more important than any other human emotion.

Sami, I will always love you. And if I spent too many years speaking and acting as if you had to earn that love, then I was the one at fault, not you. Love, real love doesn't come with conditions and measurements to meet.  And if I let you think so, then I can only hope you won't hold that failing in your heart.  You and your brother lit up my world. You grew beneath my heart and you grew within my heart every day of your life. This I know you understand, because I've seen how dearly, how fiercely you love Will.  And he's great, He's brave and strong and healthy and bright, because you let him be all those things and more. Please let Will know that he is in my heart forever, too. He has always been like a burst of sunshine to me, and I'm so proud of both of you.

Samantha Gene, you know I named you after two people I loved tremendously, despite the troubles they went through and the troubles we went through together. My twin was always the reckless, passionate one, and she had so much to give that there simply weren't enough hours in the day, or days in her life to give it. And Gene Bradford stood by me more than once, when I felt so deeply alone. His sense of humor alone was enough to chase my fears away. I know Sam is waiting for me with DJ in her arms; but I really don't know where Eugene has gone off to, these days. If ever you have the chance, dearest girl, please tell him we never forgot his gentleness, his courage or his friendship.

One more thing, Sami. Please, please remember that no matter where I am, you don't have to search for me anywhere but the corner of your own heart.  That way you'll know that I'm always near, always caring and wanting so much to watch out for you. And that way you'll know that I am with you heart and soul,  today and everyday, no matter what.  I've thanked God at least thousand times for the gift of you, Sami. Now I'm thanking you, too.

Love you,

Mom"

Sami looked up and around the room, to find Liz and Belle, Cassie, Billie and most surprising of all, Kate, Anna and Carrie, all smiling back with tears in their eyes.

"I- we got a telegram from Eugene." she told them. "He's somewhere between Chechnya and Afghanistan, adopting as many war orphans as he can fit in a refitted cargo plane. I think he said he's headed for Iraq, next.  I know we used to say he was kinda nutty, but that is the greatest thing I've heard in a long time. "

"Yeah and he sent the kewlest outfits to all three of us!" Will chipped in. "Dad tried to pull on the long blue thing that covers everything but your eyes, but Mom and me told him that's what Muslim women wear ... some places. So then Mom put on a turban and stuff and chased Dad around with a zimitar."

"That's called a scimitar, darling." Kate told her grandson, laughing. "Sami, I could hear your mother's voice so clearly in that letter. We were so lucky to know her, all of us. She was probably the best woman friend I ever had. She is here today. I can feel it and I think you can, too."

Sami nodded, still feeling choked up., and, still reacting to the letter, walked over to Carrie with one hand out.   "There's a lot of sense in that letter." Sami said. "What could possibly matter more today than the people we've always loved. Carrie, I thought you always thought you were or wanted to be one of those plaster saints, for so long.  I was wrong, really wrong. Will you forgive me?"

Carrie was silent for so long that the whole room fell silent.  Then instead of speaking aloud, or shaking Sami's hand, she nodded and pulled her only sister into a hug. They stood together, weeping and laughing for another long moment.

"Nothing matters more than love." Carrie agreed. " And I think I proved to just about everyone that I'm not any kind of saint. I thought you always wanted what I had, just because I had it. So, I'd say I was really, really wrong myself. We're Bradys, and there aren't so many of us, anymore. So we'd better stick together.  Sami,.  I've had more than four months to think and pray over this, and I feel as though Austin forgave the hurt I caused him. When you and Lucas invited me to your wedding, I figured you either decided to tempt fate, or you wanted to let go of the past, too. I do. Forgive me?"

"Deal."  Sami said in reply ". "I'm really glad you're here. And Lucas says the past died this summer. I'm glad about that, too. Now, before I finish suiting up, I have to have a word with my wild-child. Will Roberts, what the heck happened to your tie?"

"Tony gave me this, Mom. It's great, you just put it around your neck and snap it together in back and put your collar back down over the band. Neat, huh? I think he was gonna give Dad one, too. C'mon, Mom! You know you're not supposed to get angry on your wedding day, not to Dad, anyway."

Sami opened her mouth with a retort on the tip of her tongue and closed it again just as quickly. If she'd promised herself anything, it was that there would be no major traumas, hysterics or over the top reactions from her, to anything.  "Well, its fine, Will. But since Billie picked out the ties you were going to wear, maybe you should be apologizing to her. What do you think?"

"Billie's kewl with it, Mom. She knows all about what Europin guys like Tony wear."

Sami glanced over at her soon to be and former sister in law and noted that the artistic director for this wedding was giggling and nodding at her namesake.

"I give up. Will someone please take this little man outside and run him around the church a few times?" Sami asked laughing. "I'm absolutely not going to be any use as a mother today. I have to get ready to finally really be a bride. Oh, why didn't I listen to Lucas when he said we could just elope?"

"Because you both knew the ISA would track you down no matter where you tired to hide." Liz Chandler Curtis answered, grinning as she walked over to Sami. "Will, come on with me and we'll go torment my kids while they're getting ready. You can help Noelle and I rehearse."

"Kewl!" Will yelped and led the songstress out at his usual mach one speed. 

"Not over Noelle, yet, I see." Billie laughed, giving the bride to be a quick hug. "I've got some tunes to run through myself before this gig gets underway. Lemme think, what was that song you wanted me to sing at the bash ... I mean, the reception afterwards?"

Sami swallowed hard on a moment's panic and sighed. "Liz has the list, and since she first recorded that particular song, maybe I should have asked you to sing  ... "Mandy"?'

Billie groaned, and shook her dark head emphatically no. "Hey, when did you ever hear me singing elevator music? Okay, I gotta run, but listen, Sami. Since we're all getting over the bad days, I wanted to say:  Thanks for helping us get Lucas off the market, okay? For a while there Kate and I thought he'd never catch the brass ring.  You know, my family has a real gift for acting bitchy when we don't know what else to do with ourselves. Whatever I may have said in the past ... "

Sami stopped the dark haired singer short. "It never happened. Okay?" she insisted.  "From either direction. I only thought I wanted Austin, Carrie wasn't really wrong about that.  You loved my ... You loved Bo, and gave him up, which is more than I've ever been able to do with any of the men in my life to date. And I hope I never have to learn. And my Dad, Billie, he always thought you were the best.  He told me. Also, I happen to know Mike Horton has great taste in women."

"Doesn't he just?" Billie giggled, her face growing bright.  "I'm in line for that bouquet of yours, I just wanted to let you know which direction to throw it."

"No, no wait, Kate told me she's going to push Liz to the front of the line, And Laura told me they're going to push Kate. Phillip wanted me to maneuver Cassie there, and I said wait your turn, sir!  Andrew asked the same favor for Belle and I said I'd think about it. Kim and Kay are late getting here, as usual, so I don't even know who their candidate is. And now you ... I'm soo confused! Please, its not nice to tease a madwoman."

"Marrying into my family." Billie giggled, " You'll fit right in, sis. See ya in the foyer."

"Thanks, " Sami groaned, "I think. Omigosh! It's nearly eleven1 Somebody help me, I'm supposed to get married in three hours, and this time it's just gotta stick!"

The maid of honor tugged her own garnet red silk suit into place and turned to leave. Belle, Cassie and Carrie followed her and Carrie turned back only to see Anna walking up to Sami with a knowing glance, followed by the late entrance of Laura Horton, Kayla and Stephany Johnson, Kim Collier and Jeannie Donovan.

 For the next two hours, these fresh arrivals worked feverishly over the frantic bride to be. They pinned, tucked, brushed, curled, added, subtracted, and searched high and low for every possible decoration., leaving Sami to exclaim at one point that she felt like a Chanukah bush!

Laughing and undismayed, her female friends and relatives went on, until they were happily successful. Hardly daring to look at her reflection in a wedding dress for the fourth time in her 27 years, Sami finally turned around and gasped. She stared at the woman in the mirror, as if at someone she'd never seen before who claimed to be herself.

Following tradition, her gown was creamy moiré silk and Irish lace. It clung to her torso in all the right places and belled out from the waist in an almost ante-bellum tulle  skirt, with a brief, elegant train. The bodice had just enough décolletage to flatter Sami's curves, and long satiny sleeves that were attached by tiny pearl buttons at each shoulder, a touch Sami loved, because she planned to dance the night away in Lucas' arms. Anna brought a wreath of white lilacs and miniature cream colored  roses that was Tony's contribution, and was just setting it over the tulle and lace veil, when she whispered a single  question.

"Are you?"

Am I what? Nervous, scared silly, excited, happy, in love, nervous...What?"

"Expecting."

This jolted Sami for a moment, with an urge to ask Anna what her sources could possibly be, but then she decided to go for it.

"We don't know yet."

"Twins?"

"We hope so, all of us, me, Lucas, and Will and ... whoever."

"Does Tony .."

"Mom, for pity's sake!" Carrie yelped, walking up to Anna. "Sami just said she and Lucas don't know yet.  You're incorrigible! What are you going to name them?" Carrie then asked, and laughed aloud.

"Fric and Frac!" Sami laughed back. "Works for either gender, you see."

"That would be Lucas' idea."

"How'd you guess? Will's choice as of this morning was Andrew and Phillip. He hasn't quite got on that he might get at least one sister. And mine, as of the last time my brain was functioning was Lena and Jennifer, or Rivka and Leah, or Kathy and Micaela, because I do want girls. Now, is everyone satisfied that they know all the existent and not yet existent details of my life?"

"For the time being." Kate laughed. 'But as the prospective grandmother here, I'm going to want daily reports."

At this point, Jeannie Donovan walked over to Sami with a bottle of soda that held an incredibly long straw. She held the bottle firmly while the bride to be carefully sipped.  It was a big hit with Sami, who felt as if her mouth and throat had been turning into cotton gauze.

"You look incredible." Kim's daughter said, her dark eyes wide with awe.

"Gorgeous."  Stephany added.

"Well, lets hope Lucas agrees with you." Sami laughed, after sipping.

"Unless Lucas is blind and crazy, he will." John assured her, walking into what had been, since Will's departure an entirely female enclave.  "You look wonderful, Peanut." Are you nearly ready?"

"Maybe. I honestly don't know. Am I supposed to be this terrified, or is it just flashbacks?" Sami joked.

"All things considered, a pretty expected reaction. You don't have a thing to worry about, Sami." John told her, fixing his gaze on her face somberly. "Everything's in place. Nothing, but nothing we haven't made all the arrangements for is going to happen this afternoon. "

Brought back to that other part of today's reality with a resounding crash, Sami nodded and smiled at her stepfather.  Then she mouthed the word 'Thanks.' and reached up to get and give a kiss.

"Can we have the room, ladies?" Sami asked the others, some of whom were clued into what John was referring to, and some who weren't and didn't need to be.

"To be sure. This is the bride's room, after all, is it not?" Kim answered. "Friends, let us away." Curious or knowing, all the women and girls filed out.

"She was sighted at the airport late last night. Orpheus daughter has taken the bait. We were right. She couldn't resist the chance at so many of us together again."

"Oh, okay. But John, I don't know if you saw the letter my grandmother brought me. Mom wrote it last summer and it gave me a lot more to think about, along with the wedding and our plan. I want ... I need to tell you something that I should have said months ago."

"No problem, you're only getting married for real and for good, I hope, in about fifty minutes, now."

"And that's why I want to get this said. I should have never treated you the way I did for so long. You didn't ask for what happened to you anymore than I did, or Eric or Carrie did, or Mom. You were ripped out of your own life by a madman. And strangely enough, part of what Stefano did was to give you something very like what he took away, He stole one family from you and gave you another. He stole Gina from you and gave you my Mom. He stole Greta from you and gave you us. And I loved you. I did."

"Sami, you didn't know, noone except Stefano knew ..."

"I knew that you loved me and Carrie and Eric without questioning anything, more than anyone or anything. I knew when we thought she died that you hurt all the way through, you missed Mom so much. And I know that until Isabella came along you never loved any woman as much as you loved my Mother.  And then she came back. And then Daddy came back...And then Isabella died. And the whole world went upside down. I think we all had a season in hell, then. But I couldn't get mad at my Dad, for making everything so impossible . I just couldn't . So, ... John, I'm so very sorry. We've talked all around this for months but now I want to say I understand. And it was you, understanding Cassie, that when she told me about it, got me here. And I'm glad to be here. And I'm glad you're here, too. Okay?"

"Very okay. Oh, and in case I forget to say it a couple thousand times today; you're so beautiful you're absolutely glowing. And I love you more than anything. Now, take some deep breaths and think how sweet the rest of your life and Lucas and Will's and ... whoever, is going to be. Cos in a little while you're going to walk out there and amaze just about everyone we know."

"Yeah, amaze them that I think I might actually make a marriage work this time." Sami laughed, trying hard to drive off her last minute nerves. "How is my groom holding up? No signs of checking the exits? No lapses of consciousness? No slim young girls tucked into the rectory's pantry?"

"Tony's on it. In fact, just to make sure, I think he's still back behind the sacristy, giving Lucas oxygen. And as far as your Mom is concerned, no worries. I can feel her here today, big as life." John assured Sami.

"Me too." Sami agreed. "Listen, lets go out to the foyer and maybe I can get Meems and Billie and everyone there to help me lose this train. I think it wants to trip me on the way up or the way back down the aisle. And it's got about a zillion pearl buttons that I can't begin to reach."

John grinned, knowing she loved the elegance of a train. Holding out his left arm he waited as Sami almost shyly hooked her right arm around it. Then they left the small, sunlit room for the crowded, more shadowed foyer of St Marks.