Visitations
Chapter 16
Johanna's Wedding
"Did you have a question?" Johanna asked, appearing before her daughter.
"Yeah," Kate responded. "I was thinking about our wedding and I was wondering what your wedding to Dad was like. I don't remember seeing pictures of it and neither one of you ever told me about it."
Johanna laughed. "I don't think you'd want to use it as a model. You know how your father is, he likes things simple and basic. The whole bourgeois wedding thing wasn't high on my list either, it didn't appeal to my quest for social justice. But your grandparents, my parents and Jim's, they wanted the whole thing - the church, the fancy reception, a thousand guests. Your Aunt Theresa was on that bandwagon too. Your dad played the peacemaker, working out a compromise. We chose a little chapel, not a huge sanctuary, and kept the guest list down to what would fit, about eighty people. We planned a dinner afterward in a restaurant and they provided the cake. It seemed like it would be pretty straight forward. Of course, the best laid plans...,"
It was Kate's turn to laugh. "Tell me about it!"
"Well I can show you," Johanna proposed.
They materialized in the small chapel Johanna had chosen. The chapel was situated within a large church and usually used for youth events and small prayer services. It had a tiny altar and was equipped with a piano instead of an organ. A drum set had been pushed into a corner where several guitars in racks were also against the wall. The pews were filled, with Aunt Theresa sitting proudly in the front with Jim Beckett's mother and father. Johanna's mother sat on the other side, while her father waited in the back with Young Johanna and Margot, her maid of honor.
Kate was startled to see the young version of her mother wearing the same dress in which Kate had almost married Castle. Her hair was long and without ornamentation. She wore no veil. Young Jim Beckett waited nervously in front of the altar with his best man Toddy, a fellow baseball aficionado. A minister stood, ready to start the ceremony, wearing not robes, but a slightly rumpled suit.
Johanna's friend Megan was at the piano and at a signal from Margot, began to play Paul Stookey's wedding song. John, Megan's boyfriend, played a guitar and sang. On her father's arm, Young Johanna followed Margo down the aisle. "Dearly beloved," the minister began as Young Johanna took her place beside her groom. He got no further as bells clanged, echoing off the hard walls of the church. "That's the fire alarm," the minister announced, as calmly as he could. "We need to leave, now."
Young Jim took the lead, organizing the guests to file out of the chapel and the church. "What do we do now!" Aunt Teresa exclaimed, nervously fluttering her hands. "We'll go to the restaurant," Young Jim announced with quiet authority. "The transportation is all set up for that anyway. The minister has to report to the senior pastor, but as soon as he does that, he can ride with us. We can finish the ceremony at the there."
Toddy enlisted several of his and Young Jim's friends to usher people to cars and make sure they knew where they were going, for the trip across town.
Johanna and Kate shifted to the restaurant. With the wedding party arriving more than half an hour earlier than planned, the set up in the banquet room was not yet complete. Staff scurried as quickly as they could to complete their work, while the guests milled around.
When everyone was finally seated, the minister stood up and tapped his glass with a spoon for attention. "First," he began, "I would like to tell you all, that the interruption to the ceremony was the result of a small fire in the church kitchen. I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that everyone was evacuated safely and there were no injuries." There was a murmur of approval throughout the room as he continued. "We do, however, have some unfinished business, so I would like to invite the wedding party to stand in the midst of this assembly."
Young Jim and Young Johanna moved to the front of the room with Toddy and Margot as John strummed softly on his guitar. "Dearly beloved," the minister intoned. "We are gathered here to join Jim and Johanna in holy matrimony. This is a condition not to be entered into lightly, and in consideration of that, the bride and groom have written their own vows. They will give those at this time."
"Young Jim began. "Johanna, I have never been surer of anything in my life than I am of marrying you. You bring joy into every room you enter and light into my life. I can't imagine a world without you. Everything I have and everything I will ever have, I pledge to share with you. I will love you and cherish you, and no matter what the future holds, I will stand by your side. This I promise, forever and always."
Young Johanna continued. "Jim, you are my heart and my rock. Whatever I do, wherever I go, I am stronger with you than without you. I promise to stand with you, support you, and love you, whatever the future may bring. You are my one, my only, forever and always. This I pledge.
"James Beckett, will you take Johanna as you wife?" The minister asked.
"I will," Young Jim affirmed solemnly.
"Johanna Houghton, will you take James as your husband?" the minister continued.
"I will," Johanna agreed smiling tremulously.
Do you have rings?" the minister inquired. Margo and Toddy quickly handed them to Young Jim and Young Johanna.
The couple exchanged rings, repeating after the minister, "With this ring, I the wed."
"As you, James and Johanna have solemnized your marriage with the exchanging of vows and rings, I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister announced. "You may kiss the bride."
As Jim Beckett held Johanna in passionate embrace, the room erupted in applause. "Ladies and gentlemen,"the minister shouted over the din, "I introduce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Beckett."
Champagne was poured and Toddy made a toast. After dinner, the restaurant staff wheeled in the cake, a checkerboard of vanilla and strawberry, decorated with fresh flowers. Young Jim and Young Johanna cut it together, each having a hand on the knife, and fed each other. Unable to resist, they kissed the sweetness from each others' lips.
Kate still had the image of her parents' kiss before her as she and Johanna flashed back to the loft, feeling a deep longing to finish what had been postponed in her own life. "It's still too soon to laugh about it," Kate mused softly, "but we were both interrupted by fires."
"Jim and I just recovered more quickly," Johanna agreed, "and over the years we had a lot of laughs about what happened. Let's hope your next try goes off better and in the years to come, you and Castle will be laughing too. My time here is finished - for now. But I have been told that I can come back for your wedding. Apparently that was part of the original wish. So, I'll just say, I'll see you soon."
"Goodbye Mom," Kate called as Johanna faded from sight. Eyes moist, she went to find Castle.
Finis Halloween Bash
A/N After Kate and Rick finally tie the knot onscreen, which for me should be in less than two weeks, I'll bring Johanna's ghost back for a wedding story. In the meantime, I'll still be writing and posting. I hope you had happy hauntings.
Love,
Sally