Mike caught his breath, his eyes widened and he froze momentarily, his knees buckling slightly. He didn't feel Steve's steadying hand on his arm.
Across the room, Maggie, resplendent in a ruby red spaghetti-strap cocktail dress with matching heels, had stopped as well, staring at her fiancé in his immaculately tailored black suit. For them, there was nobody else in the room.
Although it seemed that every eye in the place was on the stunning bride-to-be, three pairs of eyes were on the prospective groom. Jeannie, Steve and Dan were well aware that Mike and Maggie hadn't seen each other since she had left him, a man broken both physically and emotionally, in the hospital room almost four months before.
And now they were together again.
Jeannie, watching her father from Maggie's side, bit her lip to keep it from trembling, blinking quickly in the futile hope that she could stop her tears from falling. Dan, slowly approaching Maggie from the other side, looked down, trying to control his own overwhelming emotions. Steve, his hand still on Mike's arm, was grinning broadly and shaking his head, beguiled.
Somewhere in the now silent crowd, Haseejian leaned towards Tanner and whispered, "I bet every man in the room is thinking, 'Way to go Mike!'" The black sergeant chuckled softly.
Dan slowly approached Maggie and extended his right elbow. "Ms. Jarris," he said quietly and watched as she tore her eyes away from Mike and looked at him.
"Oh, Dan, thank you," she said softly as she took his arm and they started towards the small makeshift stage at the far end of the room where Mike and the others waited under the white canopy. Jeannie fell into step behind them. Maggie found Mike's eyes again and she remained oblivious to everyone but her fiancé until she climbed the two small steps to him. He reached out and took both her hands in his, resisting the urge to pull her into an embrace.
"You look wonderful," she whispered in awe and relief.
He grinned, tears brightening his eyes. "And you look gorgeous," he whispered back and leaned in to kiss her.
"Ah ah ah," came a quick resonant voice, and they both looked at a beaming Father Driscoll, who was staring at Mike with raised eyebrows, "there'll be plenty of time for that later."
With an embarrassed chuckle, Mike glanced back at Maggie, who was smiling at him lovingly. "Sorry, Father."
Driscoll straightened up and faced the assembled crowd. "Well, we better get this started, don't you think?" he laughed and the crowd responded in kind.
With a warm inclusive glance at Steve and Rabbi Schulman, and Maggie and Mike turning to face him, Father Driscoll began with the Greeting and Opening Prayer. Under the chuppah, with Steve, Jeannie and Dan standing nearby, the ceremony continued, the bride and groom reciting their vows, in both faiths, followed by the exchanging of the rings.
Steve placed the diamond wedding band in Mike's trembling hand as he stared at Maggie, slipping it onto her finger, saying quietly, his voice shaking, "Take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity."
Jeannie handed Maggie Mike's ring, and watched as Maggie did the same to her father. She reached up and rang her finger along the gold chain around her neck, touching the solid gold band that it held, her father's old wedding ring that had been removed at the hospital and never put back on.
After the Blessing of the Wine and the final blessings from both faiths, Rabbi Schulman addressed the gathered. Facing Mike and Maggie, he said proudly, "The glass from which you shared a sip symbolizes that life, and marriage, are fragile. I pray that you will be happy with each other, and that you will be good to each other. May you always drink from the full and crush the empty beneath you. In accordance to ancient tradition, we wish that the years of your marriage would be no less than the time it would take to fit the fragments of this together again.
"And so, break the glass, and when you do we will say together Mazel Tov, which means congratulations." He put the wineglass on the floor and covered it with a white hanky.
Turning to Maggie, his face alight with a wide grin, and with her holding his left arm for support, Mike raised his right foot and crushed the glass. Everyone in the room yelled, "Mazel Tov" and began to clap enthusiastically.
Laughing and grinning, Father Driscoll and Rabbi Schulman waved everyone quiet. "We're not quite finished yet," Driscoll said with a chuckle and an almost 'I'm sorry'
shrug. He gestured towards the rabbi.
Nodding formally, but unable to stifle his smile, Rabbi Schulman looked at Mike and Maggie, nodded, then turned once more to face the crowd. "My dear friends, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Margaret Stone."
As the crowd erupted in cheers, Father Driscoll raised a forefinger again and the silence was immediate. "Not yet," he said threateningly, but with humour in his voice. Standing front and centre, he opened his arms. "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, and each other."
The Catholics in the audience responded, "Thanks be to God." An unnatural silence filled the room for several seconds as nobody moved. Then Driscoll shrugged and grinned. "That's it, it's all over. They're all yours!" He laughed and backed away as Mike and Maggie stepped towards each other. As they came together, Maggie put both hands on Mike's face and kissed him, oblivious to everyone around them.
Steve slapped Mike on the back as Jeannie crossed to him, and he turned and pulled her into a hug. "They finally did it," she shouted above the noise and she heard him laugh.
Mike pulled back from his wife and looked her in the eye, grinning. "You can hug me now, you know, it doesn't hurt anymore."
With a happy "Oh yes!" she wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed. And with a booming laugh, he grabbed her and lifted her off her feet.
"Hey, hey," Steve said quickly, his hand on Mike's back, "easy there, you don't want to pull something." Laughing, Steve's words carried no small degree of sincerity. He knew his old partner wasn't completely healthy yet and didn't want his enthusiasm to override his common sense.
As Mike and Maggie disappeared amidst a crowd of well-wishers, Steve, Jeannie and Dan made their happy way to one side of the room. Finding an area where they could hear themselves think, the trio plopped down on one of the couches that dotted the edges of the large and very comfortable room.
Steve looked at Jeannie with an appreciative smile, but when he didn't say anything, she finally asked, "What?"
"Hmmh?" he replied, eyebrows on the rise, seeming to pull himself out of a reverie.
"You're staring at me like I have two heads. What is it?"
"Oh, ah, I was just thinking how amazing it is that you managed to pull this off." He saw Dan started to nod in agreement.
"Well, thank you," she said almost dismissively, "but it's not over yet. There's still, well, you know…"
"Yeah, well, that's not for a few hours, so let's just enjoy ourselves until then, okay?" he said gently.
The three fell silent for a few long moments then Dan said brightly. "Well, I am going to check on the food." As he stood, he shook his head in amazement. "I still can't believe you talked me into organizing the food," he said to Jeannie, bewilderment in his voice. "I've never done anything like this before."
"See, another thing you can add to your resume… should you ever need one," she finished quickly, glancing at Steve and trying not to cringe.
"I'm just glad you didn't make everything vegetarian," Steve said, rolling his eyes. Slouching on the couch, he laced his hands over his stomach, rested his chin on his chest and chuckled evilly, embarrassing her even more. She shot him an 'I could kill you right now' look.
As Dan walked away, shaking his head, Jeannie stared daggers at Steve. "You're just stoking the fire, you know that, right?" she hissed, not quite succeeding in keeping the amusement out of her tone.
Since Mike had decided to retire, Dan was unsure if he wanted to stay in Homicide, and they knew he had met with Dan Healey, whose temporary replacement of Mike as the head of Homicide had been made permanent. The young cop had also mentioned a few times that he was thinking of leaving the department altogether, and no amount of dissuasion on Jeannie's part seemed to help.
"Well," she sighed, still buoyed by adrenaline, "I am going to check on the music." She stood, glancing at the crowd still surrounding the newlyweds then looked down at Steve with a slight scowl. "Don't just sit here. You have to rescue Mike and Maggie from that crowd so we can get the rest of this party started," she chuckled.
Steve looked across the room and smiled. "Let's give them some time. They need it. Besides, it's not like this is gonna happen again, right?" he asked quietly then looked at her. Sadly, she nodded.
# # # # #
The interfaith ceremony having been conducted on neutral ground, nothing else about the ceremony was traditional either, or so it seemed to those who attended.
The meal, which everyone enjoyed immensely much to Dan's relief, was served buffet style, allowing everyone to mingle, especially the newly minted husband and wife.
As all the guests were friends or former colleagues of the groom, Maggie made the rounds with Mike, constantly amazed at his memory for names and faces. This was a byproduct, she knew, of his years as a cop, but that didn't diminish her appreciation. Arm in arm, they circled the room more than once, speaking to everyone.
As the sun began to set, everyone took their seats at the tables that had been set up around a dance floor. A seven-man band, SFPD cops who been playing together for years, had taken over the small 'stage', and the lights were slightly dimmed.
Over the low murmur of voices as people settled at the tables, Jeannie's voice floated out from the speakers near the stage, introducing herself and thanking everyone for coming.
"As most of you know, this wasn't an easy wedding to put together, but I am sure you all can agree, it was well worth it." The place erupted in shouts, cheers and clapping, and she could hear Steve and some of the guys from Homicide with their ear-piercing whistles.
Laughing, she managed to get them all shushed. "Now, before we get to the dancing and heavy drinking portion of the evening…" she started with a chuckle, glaring conspicuously at her fathers former colleagues, who all turned to each other with dissembling looks while Mike laughed affectionately, "we have a couple of special songs we want to play."
She looked pointedly at Mike and Maggie. "Mom and Dad," she said with a sad, sweet, happy smile, and a giggle at Maggie's gentle admonishment, "would you take the dance floor please?"
Mike rose quickly, extended his hand to Maggie, and together they walked out onto the dance floor.
"Both Maggie and Mike were asked to select a song that best describes their relationship to each other. Neither one knows what the other selected," Jeannie said with a chuckle, "and as a matter of fact, the band and I are the only ones who know what both songs are." Jeannie looked at the musicians and they all nodded, smiling. A young woman got up from one of the nearby tables and took the stage beside Jeannie.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is my friend Jenna Wright, a full-time pre-med student and part-time lounge singer," Jeannie said with a comical leer, and the young blond laughed, faking indignation. Laughing herself, Jeannie turned, "Mike…Daddy, this is Maggie's song for you."