Chapter 63

The wedding was perfect.

It was a lovely March day in Vegas. The weather was warm but not as punishingly hot as it would get later in the year. It would be perfect for taking pictures after the wedding. Spencer shifted a little as everyone milled around in front of the church, talking. Any wedding in Vegas was kitchy, it was almost a given, but at least this small church had the weight of history behind it. It was the oldest still standing, done in redwood and pine in that 1940's 'western' style, and was on the National Historic Register. In Vegas that counted for historical gravitas. Perhaps more importantly it had seen one Julia McKinney marry one Andrew Patterson many years ago, and one Diana Campbell marry one William Reid. Now it was their turn. Spencer shifted again, they were waiting on one very important guest, their main reason for doing this out here, and she was running just a little bit late.

Soon enough the van pulled out and a familiar tall, slender figure was helped from the car, surprisingly by another tall, slender figure. Spencer shook off the shock and went over to meet them, "Dad?"

"Hello son." William Reid said with a sheepish smile. "Congratulations."

"Um, thank you." Spencer had no idea what to say. "I tried to call…"

"I know, I just…."

"I invited him, as my guest." Diana said firmly. "He's your father, he should be here. Oh, look at you." She reached out and pulled him in to a hug. "So handsome in that suit. I still like the shorter hair."

"Thanks. Um, do you want to come meet everybody? I think you know a few of them already."

"I'd like to meet Laura's parents, if they're free."

"Um," Spencer sighed. "They couldn't make it."

"What?" Diana blinked in surprise. "How could they not make their daughter's wedding?"

"It's…complicated." As soon as Laura had told her father her step-mother had announced that they were supposed to be on a cruise, that it had been scheduled for months, that Laura should have involved them so they wouldn't have scheduled anything, and so on. Lies, of course, all of it, but her father had given in.

"Well that's awful. Is she all right?"

"Yeah. She kind of expected it." Laura had been disappointed, but she hadn't let it stop her. She'd also been feeling under the weather the past few days for some reason, but she hadn't let that stop her either. "Some of her friends from Cornel made it out, the rest are watching via an online feed." She'd even sent a cake to Sterling House so her former quilting group could be a part of her day.

"Oh still." Diana turned to her husband. "She is a darling girl. I met her when they came out, oh, was it in January? We had a lovely talk. Very intelligent, I think he's made an excellent choice."

"Good to know." William replied, nodding. "Shall we?"

Spencer offered his mother his arm and escorted her to the chapel.

When it was time for the whole thing to start Spencer found himself standing at the head of the chapel next to Morgan, watching Tonya walk down the aisle toward them. It wasn't that he was nervous, his head just felt all swimmy. "You have the rings, right?" He whispered down to Henry. Henry looked back at him and nodded.

"You okay?" Morgan whispered.

"Yeah, I'm…" But then the organist went into Here Comes the Bride and everyone stood and watched Laura walk in on Rossi's arm. She glowed like an ember in her white dress, wrapped in that delicate lace, her arms full of western wildflowers. In that moment she absolutely took his breath away.

When the Justice of the Peace asked who brought the bride to be married Dave looked around, chuckled and replied "I think we all do."

Afterwards Rossi took them all to a very nice restaurant, one that also had a dance floor. There were only about thirty or so people in the party so they all fit around a large table. It was a huge extended family coming together, laughing and sharing and celebrating their finding each other. The best part was that his parents managed to stay for most of it, and share in the rich memory they were making.

After dinner they danced, of course. Not that his knee let him do much, but he did manage a slow box step with his mother, and with Emily who had come all the way from London, and JJ and Penelope. And of course a number of times with Laura in his arms.

The cake was as tasty as he'd hoped.

After he stepped to the dance floor with Laura in his arms once again and realized that this really was one of the happiest days of his life. The only day better was the one day of Maggie's life. Thank you, he thought to her. This is all because of you.

Later that night, after they'd had time to rest, they celebrated in a manner as old as time. This time there was something sweeter and richer in the experience. It wasn't until it was over that he realized what it was. "My wife," he said as he cupped her cheek as if tasting the words for the first time.

"Mmm-hmmm," she said with a soft, sated smile as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Forever now. Death us do part and all that."

That just made it wonderful.

The next morning Spencer woke to the desert dawn streaming in the windows. He sensed Laura waking next to him. "Good morning, he said as he rolled over to nuzzle. She rolled over in response, opened her eyes and looked into his, as if she was about to bid him good morning in return. But then her eyes took on a desperate, frightened cast and he swore later her skin actually went a sallow sort of green. "Are you…."

Nope, she wasn't. Before she could answer his question, she bolted from the bed, ran to the bathroom, and was noisily sick.

Oh boy.