The Roses of September

CJ/Danny, many others

PG-rated for suggestions of adult fun

Spoilers through end of series

Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul

Feedback and criticism always welcomed

You can learn more about Tassajara at "www" dot "sfzc" dot "org" slash "tassajara" slash (I can't figure out how to get URLs to work in this format)

"The Wedding Song(There is Love)" by Noel Paul Stookey (yes, the Paul of Peter, Paul, and Mary) You can learn more about the fascinating story of this song and hear it sung at " www" dot "pdfoundation" dot "org" slash "about" dot "cfm"

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1:45 PM September 27, 2008 The Rose Garden, White House, Washington, DC

Danny Concannon smiled, took the seating card from Evelyn Baker Lang, and offered her his right arm. "Good afternoon, Madame Chief Justice". He nodded at her escort. "Mr. Justice Mulready." He glanced at the card, led them to the proper row. "It's the two on the aisle," he told them. He then walked back up the aisle and got at the back of the usher line on the left side. The Chief Justice with one of the Associate Justices; more grist for the unending rumor mill.

Counting his own, this was only the third wedding he'd been part of for the last ten years. (Of course, for the first five or six years after Notre Dame, he'd been in at least a dozen). And this was definitely the most formal, most high profile wedding of them all.

Because of the seating cards, the planners had told Josh that he needed to have at least fifteen men seating the guests. Donna had seven bridesmaids, so in addition to Danny and the other six groomsmen, there were eight men who simply had to "ush", as Toby put it.

If this is what he would have had to go through had he and CJ married while she was Chief of Staff or Press Secretary, maybe it was a good thing they did wait until Jed Bartlet was out of office. Of course, their actual ceremony would have been in the cathedral or the basilica and not in the Rose Garden, but the pomp and circumstance would have been the same. And if he had had to come up with fifteen guys, he would have been calling guys from his grade school Cub Scout den to scrape up the requisite number.

He wasn't the stereotypical "just get it over with" kind of guy. He enjoyed dressing up, he enjoyed the wedding ceremony he and CJ planned some fifteen months ago.But this wedding made the royal weddings look simple.

This wasn't just Josh and Donna's wedding. It was Josh's mother's dream wedding; it was Donna's parents' dream wedding. Apparently, it was also Helen Santos' dream wedding. ("There's no way that our kids will be old enough for a White House wedding even if Matt gets reelected in 2010, so this is probably my only chance to do one of these").

Okay, his turn again. Her Majesty's ambassador to the United States with his assistant du jour. Offer the arm to the lady, fend off question about his "enchantingly buxom wife". Back in line.

So far, there had only been one problem and Rina, Sam's assistant, was right there with the master list to find the seats assigned to the Secretary of Agriculture who left his card in the envelope. And so far, no one had appeared with little ones in tow, saying, "I just assumed my children were invited even though the invitation was addressed only to me and my wife."

Okay, head of the line again. It's Donna's aunt and uncle, whom he met at the rehearsal dinner last night. Let's see, the three rows reserved for her family were "first come, first served".

As he walked back, he noticed that his top vest button had come undone and made the adjustment. Josh would have preferred simple black tuxes, basing the jacket style on the one most commonly owned by himself, Sam, and the fifteen other guys, but Josh's mom wanted the "morning" attire that the etiquette gurus said were required for formal weddings in the afternoon, so here they were in gray coats, striped pants, the vest, the ascot, the whole nine yards. At least, they didn't have hats, spats, and gloves; neither were they expected to match the bridesmaid colors.

He looked at those roses. He hadn't paid too much attention to roses before this summer, but now he was aware of some varieties and could see why some people were so passionate about them.

Earlier this summer, about four weeks after they had lost the boys, CJ received a phone call from her old classmate from Berkeley, the one who was a Zen Buddhist monk. He asked them to come up to Tassajara for a few days and since CJ wanted to go, they drove up and spent four of the most relaxing days they had had since their honeymoon in Scotland. The sun shone brightly in the valley in the middle of the mountains of the Ventana wilderness. They relaxed in the mineral waters; they used the steam rooms built over the natural hot springs; they cooled off in the stream that ran through the retreat center. While walking through the flower gardens with Roshi Albert, the chief gardener, CJ decided on the flowers for their enclosed courtyard at home; she wanted roses of every color. One night, they sat outside, much as they had in San Diego, only up here, there were no lights to dim the brilliance of the starts in the sky. They heard the dongs calling the monks to prayer an hour before sunrise. They talked of and to their sons, of their frustrated dreams for them, of their hopes of seeing them in heaven some day. They talked about their trip to the northern coast earlier in the year and decided to see if they could find a small place up there, nothing fancy, ("two rooms, as long as one is a bathroom and there's indoor plumbing, would be enough") as a getaway. They ate the vegetarian casseroles and bought a dozen loaves of bread for themselves and their neighbors.

Okay, a couple more trips down the aisle. Good. Rina and Cathy made sure to separate Arnold Vinnick and John Hoynes.

At the beginning of the month, he had to go back to New York for two days and wanted her to come with him, but the landscaper was due at that time and if they cancelled the appointment, he wouldn't be able to get back with them until December. So she stayed behind to oversee the work.

When he returned, she pulled him into the courtyard with both hands. "You've got to see it!" she exclaimed.

It was amazing. When they bought the house, she said that it had potential, but what she saw and what the architect, the builder, and the landscaper had achieved went beyond anything he could have imagined. If you stood at the northern end of the original house and faced south, you saw a squared-off "C", set back about fifty feet from the street. The open side of the "C" faced the ocean, which was just down the hillside and across the beach road. You could hear the gulls, the waves and smell the salty, fishy air. The bottom "bar" of the "C" had two small bedrooms and a bathroom. The top "bar" held the kitchen and a small dining room. The vertical side that ran parallel to the street was one large living room with a fireplace. The side that faced the ocean was all sliding glass doors. They opened onto a terrace between the bedroom wing and the kitchen wing . It had a small swimming pool and wasenclosed with an eight-foot wrought-iron fence and a gate that did not obstruct the view of the ocean but kept intruders out.

As CJ had planned it, another squared-off "C" was attached to the original one, leaving about 15 feet of space between the street and the expanded house. The top and bottom bars had been widened by about five feet each. The original bedroom wing was now their bedroom, bath, walk-in closet and a nursery that opened both into their bedroom and to the hallway between the old bar and the new. In the wall of their bedroom that faced the ocean, there was a wood burning fireplace between two windows; there was a sliding door to the terrace. The addition to the bottom bar housed two bedrooms with a Jack-and-Jill bath between them. On the upper bar, the kitchen had been modernized, and a half-bath and laundry room had been added, but except for widening, the dining room was left the same. The addition to that bar helda smallformal living room and a den (each with a gas log fireplace) with a hallway between them. The front door of the house was now off this hallway on the side of the house, like the old houses in Charleston, SC. The new vertical piece held a guest room with a private bath, a small storage room, and a two-car garage.

The old living room was now the family room and the old outer wall was replaced with wide insulated glass sliding doors. You could stand by the inner garage wall, look across the enclosed courtyard through the family room, over the gated terrace, and see the ocean sunsets. An inner hallway ran around the new addition and the inner walls were all reinforced, insulated glass.

The living room, den, and other bedrooms still had work to be done. They needed paint and/or papering, area rugs, something nicer than the serviceable drapes they had picked up at Target, bookcases built into the den, things like that. They made do with their old furniture from Washington but neither of the bedrooms had any furniture; CJ's old stuff was in the guest room. But the structure was done and the rest would come long.

The enclosed courtyard was a miracle; it was the soul of the house. There was a small fountain in the center of it. In the corner near the living room and the garage wall was a sunken hot tub. A wrought iron table and chair set was placed near the family room/dining room corner. There were comfortable chairs in the other areas, a fire pit in one of them. Electric lighting and permanent tiki torches were strategically placed. There was a small little section off to one side with a statue of St. Francis of Assisi and a birdbath. Some Chinese stone lanterns were also to be seen. And everywhere, there were roses and other flowering shrubs, flowers in planter boxes. Butterflies and a few birds flew in and out. It looked like something out of southern Spain, the Riviera, something out of the Greek islands.

"CJ, this is wonderful, you are an absolute genius," he kissed her nose. "I don't ever want to leave this place."

"Well, we have to," she returned the favor to his nose. "We're flying to Ireland on the 17th to see Erin and Robin and the girls for a few days, then we go to England for my meeting with the Prince of Wales, and then we go to DC on the 25th for Josh and Donna's wedding. And aren't we going to South Bend in late October and up to Berkeley for The Game?" She was right. The latter half of September would not find them at home.

During their visit with the MacDonald's, Danny caught his younger niece Aisling giving him and CJ strange looks a couple of times. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and on the day before they were to leave for England, he pulled her aside. "Hey, Ash, what's going on? Is something bothering you? If so, let's get it out in the open."

The girl look at him, stared into his eyes. Then her face broke out in a gentle smile. She reached up to kiss him on the cheek and said, "It's all going to be fine, Uncle Danny. Trust in that, trust in the lady." Then she skipped away to play with the family's Irish wolfhound.

The visit with the Prince of Wales at his Highgrove estate proved very beneficial to "Road to a Better World." He wanted to make a substantial contribution from his enormous charitable trust.

Afterwards, they walked in the Prince's rose gardens, the last blooms of the year in full lushness on this September 23rd. he was very proud of them, having restored them himself when he first moved into the estate. CJ was walking with the Duchess. There seemed to be an inner connect between them; perhaps they realized that they were in similar circumstance, both of them realizing true love relatively late in life. Danny and the Prince were walking behind them. The Prince mentioned that he was thinking about penning another memoir/autobiography. He had come to a new peace in his life as he was entering his seventh decade; he knew that he would have few years as king, had accepted that the good he was doing now would be his most important legacy and that was why he was so interested in CJ's project. ("The role of British monarch is something like that of your First Ladies".) Of course, preparing his sons, trying to help the young men avoid the mistakes he had made while at the same time realizing that the lads did have to find their own way, was more important than anything else. In any event, would Danny be interested in co-authoring the book?

As they were leaving, the Prince asked them if they could return for a few hours tomorrow morning. He knew that they weren't leaving for Washington until the 25th. When CJ and Danny said they would be happy to, the man seemed really glad. Then he added, almost as an afterthought, "My mother will be here and she would really like to meet you."

He assured them that it would be a very casual, very low-key situation. Still, there he was, Danny Concannon, son of two Irish immigrants from Galway, one of whom was illegal until the day of her death, meeting the Queen of England. He thought about his great-uncle, who died in the Easter Uprising of 1916, the four times great-grandfather who was hanged in Wexford, and the stories about the priest relative who risked his life to teach in the hedge schools, and wondered what they would think. "It's a different time," he told their ghosts. "I'm dealing with people who happen to live in the nation, not the nation's past behavior."

The Queen was gracious and friendly; she also offered to help fund "Road to a Better World".

So they arrived in Washington on Thursday, just in time for the bachelor and bachelorette parties hosted by Matt and Helen Santos.

Josh and Donna had rented Blair House for the wedding and CJ and Danny felt honored that they were given one of the bedrooms. Donna would spend the night before the wedding in the residence and she and her attendants would dress and primp there; Josh and his guys would get ready in Blair House. It was also the site of the bachelorette party; the President had claimed the White House for Josh's party.

A little before 1:00 AM Friday morning, Danny rang the bell at the door to Blair House. As he was let in, he heard music and laughter coming from behind the closed doors of the front and rear drawing rooms. "I guess the women are going to outlast the men," he said to the steward at the door.

"I'm thinking you're right, Mr. Concannon," the man agreed.

Danny opened the door to their room and turned on the overhead light, only to be greeted by the sound of his wife's groan. He turned on the bedside lamp and turned off the overhead.

"So are you too old to keep up with the others, or was it too boring for a world-traveling sophisticate such as yourself?" He sat down next to her, rumpled her hair.

"Jet lag, time confusion," she answered, "plus, the UPS delivery man as stripper idea gets old pretty fast. I gave my dollar bills to Donna's mom; she was having a really good time."

"Anything else fun?"

"Yeah. Mrs. Santos did an 'Adult Pleasures' home shopping party and gave us each $50.00 to spend."

"So what did you buy for yourself and, more importantly, what did you buy for me?"

"It's all for you. Six pair of edible panties in assorted flavors," she yawned, "and a bottle of sandalwood massage oil. What decadent things did you guys do?"

"Beer, barbecue, steamed crab, the ESPN Thursday night football game in the White House theater, followed by highlights of the last five Superbowls. Better than pornos, as far as I'm concerned."

Time change and jet lag caught up with him too, and he stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed, pulled CJ's back against him, and went to sleep.

Okay, 2:25 PM. Almost time.

Rina signals Toby, who escorts Mrs. Lyman, followed by President Santos, to the first row on the groom's side.

Next is Danny's turn. Donna asked him to be the one to seat her mom and dad.

Annabeth stepped to the altar and sang the prelude:

"He is now to be among you
at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour
is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here,
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.

Well, a man shall leave his mother
and a woman leave her home
and they shall travel on to where
the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning
is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man
and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.

Well then what's to be the reason
for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here
or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer,
then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something
that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.

Oh the marriage of your spirits here
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.

He is now to be among you
at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour
is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here,
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love."

Later, she would sing the Schubert "Ave Maria" for Josh.

Okay, showtime.

Josh, Sam, and President Bartlet walked onto the raised dais.

One of the big surprises of the summer was receiving the invitation of the former president's ordination to the permanent diaconate. He had started studies the last year in the White House under deep cover; only Abbey and Leo knew. They couldn't make it to new Hampshire for the ceremony, but CJ was very happy for the man. ("He'll be able to preach; he'll be in seenth heaven.") When Josh and Donna found out that he was licensed to perform marriages, they spoke with the judge they had previously asked to officiate at their ceremony, explaining the situation and asked Jed if he could do a non-denominational service for them. They would get the President to pull the strings to get the former president licensed in the District.

As the string quartet played Handel's "Water Music", the eight ushers processed down the aisle and took their places. Then the seven groomsmen followed.

The music switched to the Rondeau from "Sinfonies de Fanfares", or, as most people knew it, the theme from "Masterpiece Theatre" . It was time for the bridesmaids.

The women were dressed in ever-darkening shades of pink, an echo of the roses in the garden.

"It's a prom dress!" CJ exclaimed back in July as she unpacked the box Donna had sent her. "Josh picked out prom dresses for us!" For some reason, Josh had a certain idea about what he wanted Donna's attendants to wear and she agreed to let him pick the gowns. The dress was strapless, form-fitting down to the waist, with a handkerchief hem floor-length skirt. There was a matching broad floppy-brimmed hat and a model number and a dye number for the matching satin pumps CJ would need to buy. A silver engraved locket on a matching ribbon completed the outfit of Josh's dreams.

"It's not that bad," Hank opined. "At least there's no hoop skirt and the material is chiffon and crepe, no scratchy stuff."

"But I'll need to wear a merry widow, unless you can retrofit it with a bra and boning. I hate those things. Oh, well, maybe I can donate it to one of those groups that give prom gowns to girls that can't afford them."

"CJ," Hank replied, "Get the long-line, and when we fit the dress for it, we won't cut out the extra fabric. Afterward, we'll loosen it so you could wear it with a normal strapless or tube bra, or no bra at all, for that matter. If I were Danny," the man glanced at Danny, "I'd kind of like to see you wearing this with absolutely nothing under it." Danny raised his beer to the other man. Hank's interests might lie elsewhere, but he knew what a healthy heterosexual male wanted on his lady. Maybe that was why he was such a successful designer.

The women were carrying bouquets that contained roses in all the shades of pink represented in their individual dresses.

Friday afternoon, he sat fascinated as the women discussed their dresses, the names for the various shades of pink. Who knows when he might need to know this stuff?

Nancy was first, in a light shade of pink called "Alyssum" that set off her blonde coloring quite well. He hoped that Nancy didn't get caught in the "dutiful daughter taking care of elderly parents" syndrome. Frank Munoz had a good-looking nephew; maybe he could do a little matchmaking. As Nancy reached the front row of chairs, Toby stepped to her side and escorted her to the far end of the groom's side.

Carol was second. Her ensemble was "Impatiens Petal", a slightly darker shade of light pink. (Donna said that although Josh picked the style, she decided on the colors by looking at paint sample chips). Carol was one of his eyes and ears over the years while he was waiting for CJ and he loved her almost as much as he did Erin. The guy from the State Department seemed to be the real deal, and he wouldn't be surprised if they weren't back East for another wedding soon. She was escorted to her place on the bride's side by Ed.

Ginger came down next what the ladies called "Azalea Flower". Two months pregnant, she glowed as she caught sight of her congressman spouse. She was met by Matt Skinner, the man who had introduced her to her husband, and they went to stand next to Toby and Nancy.

Bonnie's pink was almost a peachy shade. Her wedding was planned for next summer and she proudly introduced Jean-Luc to the group last night at the rehearsal dinner and party. The French professor was totally charming to all the ladies and scored major points with Toby when he told Bonnie's former boss that he would always cherish her. She and Larry went to stand by Carol and Ed.

Ed and Larry were no longer working together, but they still acted as one when in each other's company.

Zoey was number five in line, wearing a deeper coral. ("Zany pink," she joked. "It suits me.") She and Charlie seemed to be in a better place in their relationship than they were at his and CJ's wedding; the smiles they exchanged as they moved next to Ginger and Matt lit up their faces and he was reminded of the first year the two of them were together.

Number six was Margaret. He couldn't see much difference between Margaret's dress color and CJ's, but the ladies assured him that while CJ's dress was something called "Hibiscus", Margaret's was called "Grenadine". Last night at the rehearsal dinner and party, he and CJ were sitting with President Bartlet and CJ wondered why Margaret did not have an escort for the party and the wedding.

"You don't know?" Jed exclaimed. "Margaret had to come alone because she is being pursued by two very powerful men and the President told her she couldn't cause any controversy by choosing one of them as her escort for this weekend! She would have brought Bruno, but he's still verboten."

"Who? Who?" He thought CJ was going to explode if the man didn't satisfy her curiosity in the next second.

"Well, one of them is the Secretary of State."

"Arnold Vinnick pursuing our Margaret?" Danny asked. "He might be the one bachelor left in Washington worthy of her."

"Who else?" CJ was pulling on the former president's hands.

"Guess," the other man teased her.

"Berryhill?"

"No."

"John Marbury?"

"John is very happy with his latest assistant."

Danny had an epiphany. "It's not –" he looked at Jed.

"It sure is."

"Who? You're driving me crazy over here."

Danny looked at CJ. "Who takes a licking and keeps on ticking?"

Her mouth fell open. "Oh. My. God. John Hoynes."

"Give the lady a cigar, except she doesn't smoke."

"Margaret could be the cause of the first duel this government has seen since Burr and Hamilton," the former President laughed.

"Leo would have had a cow," CJ said.

"Actually, I think he might have been just a little proud." Abbey joined them. "Arnie looks happier than he has since his wife died and if anyone could whip John into line, it would be Margaret."

Will met Margaret and they went to their place on the bride's side.

Now it was his Jeanie's turn down the aisle. He didn't think the dress was all that bad. He was glad of her height, though, since it meant she was at the end of the bridesmaid line. He wouldn't have liked her in the lighter shades of pink. Hank was right, the idea of CJ sitting cross-legged on their bed in that dress and nothing else except her smile was – better not think of that, the cutaway jacket didn't provide much coverage. He liked the hat, too.

Last night, he overheard her talking with Abbey. "I'm not sure but I think I might be. I didn't have a period until mid-July, but then I had another one in mid-August, so I guess I'm about twelve days late. I've been afraid to say anything, but I'll call Scott for an appointment when we get back on Monday. I don't know if Danny's aware of it, like I said, I'm so afraid to tempt fate by mentioning it."

My darling, he thought, I am very much aware of your body and its cycles. I've also been afraid to ask, to say anything, but I did have that feeling last month, and apparently, my younger niece has the same fey genes that Erin and I have. But this one is your call; tell me before you see your doctor, tell me when you know for sure, it's up to you.

If he believed in reincarnation, he would wonder what good thing he did (or what evil he suffered) in a previous life to have her in his life this time. She just convinced the richest woman in Europe and her son to make extremely generous contributions to her project. She planned and brought to fruition the most amazing house. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And, in spite of an earlier tragedy, she was hoping that she was pregnant again with his child.

He stepped up to meet her. Her smile filled her face and spread to his. They walked up to the dais. As the last of seven bridesmaid/groomsmen couples, they needed to split up, he on the bride's side, her on the groom's. They took their places and faced the rear of the Rose Garden.

Donna had chosen her boss as her matron of honor. Helen Santos' dress was a very deep pink, almost a red, called "Gala Pink". Helen was an enigma; the cool serene blonde who arranged for a stripper and a sex toy party for her COS. She wore her hair in a twist that was positioned much lower than usual on her neck. Danny couldn't ever recall seeing her with her hair down.

He remembered the night of the DNC gala in San Francisco and how it felt taking the combs from CJ's hair afterward. He was sure that Matt Santos took the same degree of pleasure undoing his wife's hair and he could almost understand why some cultures put such a premium on covering a married woman's head. Not that he'd ever want to keep CJ in a medieval nun's wimple, but now, in addition to fantasies about the dress, he had visions of her wearing nothing but that hat and her smile. Every once in a blue moon, like for Leo's funeral, CH wore her hair pinned up. Maybe he'd drop some hints that he'd like to see her that way a little more often just so he could release it.

As Josh's best man, Sam came forward and escorted Helen to stand by Danny and then returned to his place by CJ.

The Santos children were supposed to be part of the wedding party but Fifth disease was running rampart through their school and the kids caught it. There was no ring bearer and only one flower girl. Toby claimed that with one more gig, Molly, now wearing a pink and white print sundress, would earn her union card in Flower Girls International and that they could start making money on her appearances.

A voluntary of trumpets and Wagner's Wedding March announced the arrival of the white rose of the event. The men on the dais, the living roses, and the guests all faced the rear of the garden. Donna's father wanted his princess to look like one and she did. She would have preferred a simple strapless sheath, but Mr. Moss wanted crinolines and Donna wanted to make her father happy. Her hair was caught up in a loose ponytail and curled into ringlets hanging down the back of her head. A crystal tiara held the veil on her head and the front veil covered her arms completely. Last night, Josh showed them the diamond necklace and earrings he would send over to the White House earlier today; they sparkled on her slender neck and her ears. The white roses she carried matched the iciness of her dress. She looked like a china doll.

Donna and her father reached the dais; he gave her hand to Josh. As Jed Bartlet stepped in front of the group and began the ceremony that would join the couple, Danny looked across at CJ and she looked at him. As the questions were asked of Josh and Donna, the two of them silently echoed the "I do's", renewing the vows they had made fifteen months ago.

In the sunny autumn afternoon, the scent of the roses of September enveloped the garden. Life could be quite good.