Thanks for your patience. As usual, these are not my characters.

Stephanie's POV

I was getting a bit sore from sitting with my leg in the same position for so long, but I was getting something accomplished. I had been given a huge pile of new requests and I was slowly going through them and dividing them into two categories, new customers and existing customers wanting an upgrade or additional services. It looked like Carlos and I had a lot of work cut out for us.

Speaking of Carlos, I felt a tingle on the back of my neck. I knew he was close, so I stood and stretched a little before I saw him walk into the room. He spotted me and walked over and said, "Babe."

"Carlos."

"Do you have any pain meds Babe? My back is a bit sore and if I don't take something now, I'll not be fit to drive later and we have an appointment with my friend at Chimney Rock Park later this afternoon."

"Sure."

I rummaged through my bag and produced a bottle of extra-strength ibuprofen. I popped open the lid, took two pills and then handed the bottle to Carlos. He looked around and I handed him a bottle of water. He gratefully accepted it and then took the pills. I took the bottle back, took a sip and then threw the pills into my mouth and swallowed.

Carlos looked at me and said, "Let's get out of here Babe. We're supposed to meet Robert in two hours."

I nodded and gathered my things. I took the huge pile of requests that we had and stuffed them into a big folder that barely fit into my purse. Carlos looked at me funny and I explained that these were the requests that have come in ever since the bombings. I laughed when his surprised expression surveyed the stack of papers in the folder. "I know what you're thinking and we definitely have our work cut out for us. We'll be on light duty, but this will keep us occupied."

Carlos wrapped his arms around me and said, "That's good news. Is Lula around? I have another project that I need you and her to work on that will be higher priority than the customer requests."

I pointed down the hall and Carlos turned to see that Lula was on the phone. He walked over to her and once she hung up, he requested for her to join us. Lula sat on the edge of my desk and I sat in my chair while Ranger stood.

"Ladies, the FBI is going to be sending us a list of people that will require a thorough background check. There has been an attack on the General that has left him in a coma at the FBI facility. A coordinated attack was also made on Gina. She wasn't so lucky. The FBI now feels that Gina was just a pawn and that RangeMan has to be on high alert. They suspect that there is somebody on the inside, but they have no idea who. I want you two ladies to work together to try and come up with a connection with the list of suspects provided by the FBI and me, RangeMan, the General, Gina or any other connection you can come up with."

My heart sank and I said, "What about Rachel? Is she in danger?"

"I hope not. The FBI decided to move her to a more secluded facility. Hopefully that will ensure her safety."

Lula nodded and said, "When the list if sent through, I can bring it and some equipment out to the house in Point Pleasant. That way we can work together and you can also relax a little."

Carlos smiled and said, "That's a great idea. Thanks Lula. While you two ladies are working on that, I'll get a head start on the customer requests and some other things we have up in the air."

I looked at Lula and said, "You know what else we can do while you're there? We can look at bridesmaid dresses. I'm hoping that you'll stand up with me."

Lula squealed. It was the first time that I heard that sound out of her in months. She sort of lost it when she lost her wardrobe, but it didn't really bother me. In fact, it made me grin. She smiled at me and then at Carlos and said, "It would be my pleasure and my honour."

"Great. Once I inform the others, I'll set up a dinner or something and we can discuss dresses on a more formal level."

"Others? How many others? I thought you guys wanted a small wedding."

Both Carlos and I laughed. Carlos looked at me and said, "We need to leave in 15 minutes. I'll come back when we need to leave so you girls can talk."

I smiled as Carlos walked away and returned my focus on Lula. I grinned sheepishly and said, "Well, we talked about having a small wedding, but then we both realised that we had to limit ourselves to two people each and I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. We discussed it and in the end, we both decided that a big wedding is actually something we both can get behind. The only thing is that if it's going to be big, we want it to be big on our terms. Our parents are going to have to back off and let us do the planning. They can help with small things, but Carlos and I want to do this for ourselves."

"Wow Steph, I'm happy for you guys. I'm sure whatever you plan will be spectacular. Who do I get to share the honour with?"

"I have already asked Julie. Val will be my maid of honour. That leaves you, Connie and Mary Lou. The five of us are like sisters, so I couldn't imagine doing this without you."

"What about Ranger?"

"Tank will be his best man. He's also going to have Lester, Bobby, his brother and Ron. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't asked any of them yet, but I'm sure they'll be happy enough with the task."

Lula frowned a bit and then asked, "What about Joe? Have you guys told him yet?"

"Yeah, and he wished us well. It seems like Joe and I will be able to stay friends. He and Carlos are also making an effort to be friendlier with each other. We'll see how things go in the future."

I looked up and saw Carlos walking towards us. He smiled and I nodded. I hugged Lula and told her to call me when the faxes from the FBI come through. I waved at the guys and Carlos and I rode down the elevator together. He wrapped his arm around me and said, "Robert has a few dates for our party. We just have to decide how soon we want this all to happen. He also said that there are a few free dates for weddings, but they're in September. That's not very far away and it might be hard to plan a whole wedding in that time."

"Let's go there and see what the place is like before we decide. I'm sure a wedding can be planned in 3 months, but it may mean that we have to delegate certain things to our mothers. We can give them strict guidelines though."

Carlos laughed as we climbed into the car. He kept checking his mirrors and was making random turns. At first, I thought we might have been followed, but the assured me that he was just making sure that there was no tail. When he was satisfied that we were alone, we headed out of town and made our way north on State Road 206. We arrived at the park around 3:30. When we parked in front of the hotel, Robert came out to greet us.

"Carlos, it's been a long while since we saw each other."

Robert turned to me and then he said, "You're obviously doing well Carlos or this beauty would never have agreed to marry you."

I must have blushed because Carlos wrapped his arm around my shoulder and said, "I'm doing well Rob. This is Stephanie."

Rob held out his hand and I shook it. He didn't actually let go and led me inside the hotel to show us the ballroom where we would have our party. He saved the best for last. The ballroom actually had a door that opened if the weather was fine. The guests could flow out into the garden where more tables could be set up. I looked at the spectacular view and asked, "What dates do you have available?"

Rob pulled out the planner and said, "There is an opening in three weeks on a Friday evening. There are no other parties planned that evening, so you will have exclusive access to the garden."

Carlos looked at me with that eyebrow and I smiled. He looked back at Rob and said, "We'll take it."

Rob and Carlos moved off to make more formal arrangements and I called my mother.

"Hi Mom, I have some news."

"Is it about your party?"

"How did you know?"

"It was just a guess."

"The party will be at the Chimney Rock Park hotel and it will be three weeks from this Friday. We will bring all of the options with us tomorrow night so that you can start planning. Carlos' mother Maria will also want to help, as will Ella."

"Wow, that's not a lot of time. Can they cater on site?"

"I'm not sure Mom. As I said, we'll bring all the pamphlets and everything with us tomorrow night."

"OK. I'll look up a few things about the place and figure out our half of the guest list. I'll try to include as many of your friends as possible. You may wish to add additional ones. What's the limit?"

"There is capacity for up to 500 people, but I hope we don't go anywhere near that."

"Wow, that's a large capacity. I doubt we'll do more than ½ of that, unless Maria has more than 125 guests that she wants to invite. I guess it is possible."

"Mom, I want our friends and family to be invited. I don't want gossip queens or busy bodies who have no actual connection to us to be invited. This is not a show."

"Don't worry dear. I'll let you have final say over the invite list. You can cross off any names that you don't want to include."

"Thanks Mom. I will see you tomorrow night."

I hung up and went back to join Carlos and Rob. They were talking about wedding options. As I walked over, Carlos held his hand out to me and I took it as he pulled me towards him and put his arm around my waist, holding me close.

"Babe, Rob says that there is an opening on the last weekend in September. That gives us three full months to plan the wedding. Do you think this is long enough for you?"

I shrugged and asked Rob a few questions. Could we have the actual wedding ceremony here? Could we have the ceremony outdoors? Are we obligated to use their catering services? Are there any other restrictions?

Rob answered all my questions and then he left Carlos and me to discuss our own thoughts. Carlos looked at me and said, "Babe, what do you think about having a non-religious ceremony outdoors? I know we're both from very Catholic families, but neither of us is really practicing Catholics. We've also both been divorced and I kind of like the idea of an outdoor ceremony."

"I think that sounds like a good idea. I know my mother won't like it, but I'd prefer not to be married by a priest. I always feel guilty in their presence."

"OK Babe, I guess all we have to do is decide on who we want to marry us and then do a bit of planning."

We walked around the grounds and I had to admit, the views were beautiful. I could picture where we'd take our wedding photos. I could picture where we'd set up the chairs and where Carlos and I would stand to exchange our vows. I looked up at Carlos, we was also looking around and said, "I think we can make the end of September work. It will be a lot of work and we'll have to rely on our parents for a few things, but I am not sure I want to wait much longer."

"OK Babe, we'll take the booking and then we can start making some basic plans. Let's go get something to eat and we can make a list while we're eating."

Carlos and I found Rob and he led us into the hotel dining room. He handed me a huge packet for the engagement party and an even larger packet for the wedding. We invited Rob to join us for a drink and he sat and gave us a few suggestions about various different people who could perform the ceremony. He disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a few additional pieces of paper. These contained lists of Judges, Justices of the Peace and other certified wedding celebrants who could perform our ceremony.

Rob stuck around for a drink, but as soon as he was done, he made excuses and headed back to his regular duties. That left Carlos and I to go through the packets. I looked at the two packets and said, "What do you think about leaving everything about the engagement party to our parents? I think we should give them a reasonable budget and then let them figure out how they want to spend it."

"That's a good idea. Do you have any idea what you want to wear for the wedding?"

"No, I haven't really thought about it, but I know what colour I want the girls to wear. I want the bridesmaids to wear a dusty purple and I want the flower girls to wear cream dresses with the same purple as accents on the dresses. I would like the guys to wear charcoal instead of black because I think that will match the purple better. I don't think they guys need to wear ties or waistcoats in purple, but I'd like it to match."

Carlos smiled and said, "I like the sound of that Babe. Did you know that purple is Julie's favourite colour?"

I shook my head and said, "No, I had no idea. I guess I'll have to start looking for a dress very soon. We'll also have to get the guys in for a fitting as soon as possible and you'll have to decide what you want to wear."

"You're right Babe. I'll talk to everyone after we've notified our families and then get them to our tailor. We'll have to get the suits made. There's no way Tank would be able to hire a suit. We'll need to give the tailor as much time as possible."

"Yikes, this is starting to get scary. I will call the girls and try to get them to meet me next Wednesday. I want to have a swatch of our dress fabric that you can take to the tailor to ensure that the suits will match the dresses."

"It'll be OK Babe. Our tailor will easily be able to get our suits ready in time. How about the guys wear a normal suit and I wear one with tails?"

I grinned and said, "If that's what you want Carlos, I'm fine with it."

I flipped through the linens that could be hired and pointed out one that would work with our colour scheme. Carlos agreed with it so I marked it and moved on to the table service. We quickly agreed on white china plates with sliver rims. We decided to let Carlos' mother select the glassware and my mother to select the silverware.

"What about flowers Babe? Do you have any specific preferences?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Well, I think some lavender bunches will look nice on the tables. If we tied lavender around a candle holder, it would spread the scent around the room. Those could be the centre pieces on the tables. As for the wedding itself, I think cream coloured roses and a purple flower such as roses, lilacs, hyacinth or hydrangea would be pretty. The purple flower just needs to be something to match the dresses."

"How about this Babe. Let's put your mother in charge of the centre pieces and my mother can be in charge of the bridal flowers for the wedding. We'll give them guidelines and then we can let them worry about choosing the right purple flower. Ella can be in charge of the flowers for the men and our mothers."

"That sounds perfect. I have another idea. We can let our dads be involved as well. Your dad can be in charge of transport for the men and my dad can be in charge of transport of the ladies. I'm sure my Dad will want to borrow some classic cars from his friend, and he'd love to drive one as well."

Carlos took my hand and smiled. "Do you realise that we've just planned most of our wedding in less than an hour? What's left?"

My stomach growled and both Carlos and I laughed. "The menu choices are pretty extensive. Rob said that we could come back with our families and they can make one of each menu option so we could do a little taste test. We can also mix and match the various parts of the course to come up with something that suits everyone."

We took a break from planning and ordered our food. While we were waiting, Carlos brought up a touchy subject. "What about the cake Babe? Do you think you could let someone else be in charge of the cake?"

I shook my head and said, "No. If it's the only thing I do myself, I'm going to be in charge of the cake. If my mother had her way, the cake would be boring vanilla because it's plain and simple. I want our wedding cake to reflect us. I want it to have different flavours and I want it to be something to remember."

Carlos grinned and said, "I figured you'd say that. I'll leave that up to you. What about invitations?"

"I have no preference there. Although, if we could tie our colour theme into them, that would be good. We seem to have a charcoal grey, silver and dusty purple thing going on. Maybe we could find something along those lines. I could explain what we want and let Ella run with it. She usually does a good job coming through on things like that."

Our food arrived moments later. As soon as I took a bite of the chicken, I completely forgot about the wedding plans. It was delicious and probably the best chicken I have ever had in my life. That includes all of the roasts made by my mother and the chicken breasts cooked by Ella. I looked up at Carlos and he was grinning. "Let's add that chicken to the list of possible food for the wedding. It sounds like you are enjoying it."

"Oh my god Carlos, this is so good. You have to try this."

I held a piece of chicken with a bit of the sauce up for Carlos and he wrapped his lips around the fork and its contents. As he chewed, his eyes went wide. "You're right Babe. That is delicious. I will strongly recommend this chicken for either the wedding or the engagement party."

Carlos looked around and caught the eye of the waiter, who came to our table. "Please give the chef our compliments on this chicken. It is truly spectacular."

The waiter nodded his head and scurried off to talk to the chef. Moments later, a man dressed all in white came out to our table. Carlos' eyes opened wide and he grinned as he stood and shook Rob's hand. "You didn't tell me that you were the chef here."

"I'm a man of many hats around here. I'm glad you like the food."

I smiled up at him and said, "Is this chicken dish part of the wedding menu? If not, can it be part of it?"

Rob thought for a moment and said, "It is not part of the menu because I don't do the wedding catering, but I can probably teach the caterers how to make it if you really want it."

Carlos looked between me and Rob and then asked, "If we make reservations for 8 people a week from Friday, would you be able to make that chicken dish again? We were thinking of bringing our parents and some friends to try out the wedding menus."

"Sure. I am the chef here when there is no wedding or other venue on. I will get the caterer to come herself that night as well so you can ask her any questions. There's a huge booklet with photos of all the things she can prepare. We just ask that you call a few days in advance and that you restrict your choice to 10 meals. If you want to mix-and-match, that's fine as well. We will prepare 10 starters and 10 main courses plus the chicken you like so much."

"That sounds good. We'll take a look at all of the options and get back to you as soon as possible."

Rob left us and we finished our meal. Afterwards, we wandered outside in the garden and watched the sun set. It was a beautiful sight. Carlos wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I hobbled on one crutch with my cast. I have gotten quite used to manoeuvring with my cast and the crutches, but leaning against Carlos was more fun.

He led me back inside once the sun was set and paid our bill. He exchanged a few words with Rob and we walked out to the car and drove back to the beach house. The drive took about an hour and of course, we talked about the wedding and after calling Connie and Mary Lou to arrange for them to meet us the following night, I fell asleep. We arrived home around 8 and I went straight to the shower and crawled into bed with the wedding folder.

I pulled out the catering booklet and looked through the various options. The food looked and sounded amazing. I could hardly wait to go and try it out the following Friday. Carlos joined me in bed after his shower and we both marked a few things we definitely wanted to try. I turned my nose up at the Steak Tartar and the Carpaccio starter options, but Carlos insisted that it was worth a try. You just had to forget that it was raw meat.

We each chose 10 items for the main course in order of preference. When we shared our choices, they were a complete overlap. They were in a different order, but they were mostly the same. We refined the list a little more and reduced the final number to 6 different options, two of which were vegetarian.

As for the starters, this was a bit more difficult. Carlos kind of wanted a few Cuban things and I wanted a few traditional things from my family as well. In the end, we decided to discuss the food more in the morning. We were both yawning and tomorrow would be a long day. Lula would be over to work on our searches for the FBI and then Carlos and I had to go to dinner with my parents. Immediately after dinner, I had to meet Mary Lou and Connie at Pino's for a drink, and then drive back to the beach house.

More to come...