The ceremony was beautiful, and after my mother had left us in our distant row, no one else paid us any more attention for the entirety of the wedding itself. Angie looked amazing in her sparkly ballgown style dress, her long auburn hair impeccably curled, and Larry looked handsome in a black tuxedo with tails. Larry's two poodles Trixie and Dixie served as the ring bearer and flower girl, walking on leashes held by my youngest niece and nephew, and my older sister was Angie's matron of honor. As the wedding party marched up the center aisle, I kept my head down, hoping that my state of dress would be enough to hide, and thankfully it was. I felt a lingering jolt of terror that Harris would yell out during the "speak now or forever hold your peace" line, but he remained silent beside me, his hand on mine.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Oh, God. It's over. I cringed in my seat as Larry and Angie kissed and then turned toward the audience with big smiles on their faces. The ceremony was finished. Now Thaddeus and I would have to stand around for a couple of hours eating overpriced hors d'oeuvres and mingling while the wedding party had their pictures taken, and then the reception would begin. Soon the tormenting would begin. Was it possible to duck outside and come back later, or were the reporters still out there?

I held Thaddeus back as the wedding guests exited the courtyard, ensuring that my immediate family were among the departing group before we slid out of our row of seats and joined the sea of black and white outfits. It was rather fortunate that my sister had chosen a boring color scheme, because it would be far easier for me to blend in with the other black dresses.

"Maybe we could go outside," I muttered to Harris, dragging him along by the hand toward the front doors. I could see, even before we reached the doors, that reporters were still lingering outside, filming segments with their cameramen in front of the doors. "Or really, we could just leave. My mother and my niece saw me, so I've—"

"But we got all dressed up for this!" Thaddeus replied. "I've been looking forward to this day for weeks!"

I shrugged.

"It's really not all it's cracked up to be," I said. "I mean, I saw my sister get married, I didn't even have to be insulted, and I'm satisfied."

His face fell, but he said nothing more. With that, I led Harris directly past where my niece had been standing previously, on the way to the door and to freedom. Surprisingly, he allowed me to lead him away from the fray.

"April!" My sister Alice was practically jogging toward me now in her matron of honor dress, instantly confusing me. "Wow, you really clean up well!"

"Ha," I said, my throat going dry. "Thanks." Freedom was only eight or nine steps away, and yet so far away. Now I made a point to look at Alice's white bridesmaid's dress, noticing how the tiny sequins on it sparkled in the light. "That's a beautiful dress you're wearing," I said. "Aren't you all supposed to be taking pictures now?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "We took pictures before the ceremony." Well, that was something I hadn't heard of before. I hid my automatic frown, knowing that I wasn't even considered to be in those pictures. "You aren't trying to duck out on us, are you?"

"I actually was," I said. "It was a really nice wedding. Tell Angie I thought she looked beautiful."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Alice said, grabbing my arm and pulling me back into the foyer. "You've gotta see the reception hall. It's something else. You can't just go. We never see you anymore."

Now Alice looked at Thaddeus standing next to me, my hand clutching his.

"Sorry about before," she said, smiling sheepishly at him. "It really caught us off-guard last time to see April here dating a cop, you know, instead of being arrest—"

"And now she herself is a bona fide police officer," Harris blurted, smiling at me proudly as he effectively cut off Alice's first snide remark. I imagine Alice would have ended her little statement with my being arrested by one. "In fact, the graduation ceremony is tomorrow," he added.

"Really? You're a police officer now?" Alice said, gawking at me.

"Yep."

"Oh, you can't just leave; not without telling everyone about this," she said, grabbing my arm. "This is a big deal."

I wasn't sure whether I should be insulted or flattered by Alice's last line and could only look longingly at the exit door before being yanked back toward the crowd, Harris with an ironclad grip on my other hand. Now I was being forcefully pulled by the arm past the greeter's stand, past a large crowd that had gathered next to an ice sculpture of Andrew Carnegie, through a set of large double doors into a huge open hall. Harris hung onto my other arm as we were pulled along like a chain.

The huge room dwarfed us. To our right was an open bar and two large multi-tiered fountains, one containing an orange fluid that appeared to be either fuzzy navels or screwdrivers, and the other a red punch-like drink. To our left were three huge cookie tables, each containing dozens and dozens of specialty cookies. The giant multi-tiered wedding cake sat in the center of the hall, with the wooden dance floor behind it and the bridal party table beyond that, at the very head of the room. Scattered around the remainder of the room were round tables with white tablecloths and twisted metal centerpieces that resembled ribbons; I wasn't a big fan of modern art, but they were certainly a unique choice. Every table also had several lit tealights in small steel cups between each place setting. Back in the far-right corner of the room was the gift table, and beside it was a box to donate to Larry's humane society, a picture of his poodles Trixie and Dixie on the front. In the far-left corner of the room sat the DJ booth. A huge disco ball hung from the high ceiling over the center of the dance floor, and the walls were decorated with a garland of real flowers, intermixed with shiny silver tinsel.

Alice led Harris and I to the seating chart table, containing dozens of little folded papers with names on them.

"So, let's see where you two are seated, hmm?" Alice said, bending down to look. Harris and I were still scanning the room, taking it in. The DJ was playing some kind of light classical music to start, and I couldn't help but stare at all the silvery elements in the room.

"Didn't realize Angie was so into silver," I said, "although it is really pretty. It's so modern-looking but classic at the same time." I almost rolled my eyes at my own corniness. Wow—what bullshit I could make up on the spot! I wasn't very good at making small talk with my family, and it showed.

"It's supposed to represent steel," was her reply. "Angie thought it would be fun to incorporate that into her wedding. I wish I'd thought of it for mine. Did you see the ice sculpture in the foyer? It looks just like Andrew Carnegie, doesn't it?"

"I did," I replied, thinking of my own chosen pseudonym Andrew at the Blue Oyster Bar. Perhaps I should try another subject. "How are you and your husband doing?" I asked. Alice stood back up with a start, apparently irritated that I'd interrupted her search for my place card.

"Good," she said, curtly. "Very good." She looked back down at the table, reaching out and grabbing two place cards. On one was written April Carnegie and our table number and on the second was written Guest of April Carnegie. "Here you both go. Tell Mom and Dad about your graduation. They're right over there."

With that, Alice pointed across the hall to where my mother was standing beside my father in front of the DJ booth. I looked at the long path over to them, and it was riddled with sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews. The gauntlet had been thrown down.

"Oh, I will," I said, wincing.

As soon as Alice finally walked away, I looked over at Harris, who seemed to be in a smug mood.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," he said. "Pretty sure she was the most obnoxious family member of yours at the engagement party. Maybe the rest of 'em will surprise you."

"I doubt it," I said. "But if they are all nice, what about your possible obnoxious plan here you mentioned? I mean, if everyone's nice to us, it's gonna look bad for you to do something crummy."

"True," he said, "but that's never stopped me before."

I gave him a wide-eyed look of warning.

"Don't you worry, Carnegie," he said, winking at me. "I got you covered either way."

Thaddeus and I found our seats, which were thankfully along the outer edges of the dining area in case I had to make a quick escape. Perhaps I should locate the bathrooms so I could more easily escape to them if need be. My eyes scanned the relatively dark hall, with its not-so-bright candlelight ambiance. The crystal chandeliers hanging throughout the hall would have easily provided enough light, but none of them were on. Would I have to completely exit the hall to find the restroom?

Just then I saw two doors in the far corner of the room, behind the open bar. They seemed to have gold placards on them; it was too dark to read them, but I imagined that they were bathrooms. It was important to have an exit plan.

Even though Angie's bridal party was here in the room, Angie and Larry apparently had some additional pictures or something to take care of, because they weren't in the reception hall. My niece Jennifer walked by my table, and I immediately buried my face in the wedding program, attempting to lie low.

"I'll bet my ass that your brother-in-law's humane society donation box is nothing but a front for that dirty money," he said. "He's not the smartest criminal in the world, is he?"

"I guess not," I replied. "It's probably good that he isn't; otherwise, he might have gotten away with it."

"April," a voice said. I looked up to see my brother Joe, who was smiling down at me. "Alice tells me you're a cop now; is that right?"

"Yes," I replied, attempting to smile. "How are you all doing? It's been a while."

"It has been a while," he said. "We'd heard you'd come to Angie's engagement party, but then you left really quickly."

"Yeah, I guess so," I admitted, shrugging.

"So, is this Thad—Thaddeus, is it?" he said, holding out a hand to Harris. "I think I was told you were at the engagement party as well, right?"

"Yes, I was. And yes, it's Thaddeus," Harris replied, giving Joe a firm handshake.

"You were the commandant of the police academy, right?" Joe asked, releasing Harris's hand. "I saw you on the news."

Harris gave him a small nod of the head in reply.

"I couldn't figure out exactly what happened there," Joe asked. "Did they fire you because you were messing around with my sister? That seems so—"

"I thought you said you watched the news," Harris snapped. "I wasn't fired; I resigned."

"Why?"

Harris narrowed his eyes at him, his voice like the growl of a junkyard dog.

"You really didn't watch the news, did you?"

I rolled my eyes. Joe always was the most inquisitive one of us five siblings. Maybe I should have convinced him to join the police academy as well.

"Why don't we go check out that ice sculpture again?" I said, standing up. "I didn't get a good look at it."

"They're going to be wheeling it into the hall any minute," Joe replied. "Pretty impressive, right? I thought that was a nice touch."

Suddenly, there was an eruption of loud cheering and music, and I looked up to see that my sister Angie had since changed into a slinky white off-the-shoulder evening gown for the reception, wearing what looked to be a diamond necklace around her slender neck. Her new husband Larry walked in beside her pumping his fist, his two poodles on leashes. The remainder of the bridal party formed a welcome tunnel as the newlyweds made their way to the front table, and my brother Joe soon disappeared in the crowd. I sat back down at the table, sighing with relief; we were safe for the time being.

The toasts went without a hitch and thankfully without any mention of black sheep siblings, and soon after that, dinner was served. Thaddeus and I had been seated with several of my nieces and nephews, who happily talked among themselves during the dinner. The food was amazing and I wondered just how much each plate had cost; it would have been a shame to waste this good food, and I was finally beginning to feel like it had been a good decision to come to the wedding. The only people who had talked at any length to us were my sister Alice and brother Joe, and once the open dancing started, the loud music would officially save Harris and I from any more awkward conversations with others.

The first dance, father-daughter dance, and mother-son dance, had all just finished, and now the DJ was actively trying to get guests to come to the dance floor. Most of the guests already had their plates taken away from them and were going up to the cookie table or to the open bar, but I was still poking around at the remainder of the salmon and rice on my plate.

"April," Angie said, approaching our table now, Larry just behind her. "I'm so glad you came. And you even brought your beau from the engagement party—Thaddeus, was it?"

Thaddeus gave her a curt nod in reply, still chewing his meal as well.

"Thanks for inviting me, Angie," I said, swallowing my food and then giving my sister a tight-lipped smile. "It's a really beautiful wedding."

"Do you like all the steel elements?" she asked, squatting down to point at the decorations on our table. "I really wanted to honor our family's legacy. These centerpieces are made from steel and I commissioned them just for the occasion. They may look like ribbon, but they're surprisingly stiff. Touch the centerpiece."

I reached out and touched the twisted metal sculpture. It was definitely solid. As I pulled my arm back, I almost knocked over a lit tealight candle, but it righted itself just in time.

"Wow," I said, admiring the big metal thing. "That's really something else. Are you going to use them afterwards to decorate your house?"

Angie nodded and Larry shook his head. I looked at my new brother-in-law, amazed that he'd had the gall to walk around the room and talk to everyone, knowing that his indictment had been announced over the news only a week before. Was everyone here just going to pretend that he wasn't being charged with some serious crimes?

"Thanks for burying the hatchet from earlier," Angie said, giving me a hug around the shoulders. "That gown really suits you—you even wore makeup, for once! You look like a whole different person."

"Thanks," I said. "You look beautiful in both your dresses tonight."

"Alice just told me you're a real police officer now," Angie said. "Isn't police academy kind of like boot camp? I mean, don't get me wrong, you do look thinner, but not as buff as I would have thought. How long did it take?"

"Fourteen weeks," I said. She seemed surprised.

"Okay, so that's shorter than I thought. I think you even stuck it out at college for, what, three semesters before the breakup, right?"

I cringed at being reminded of those days and silently prayed for her and Larry to go away.

"Mrs. Allen," Harris spoke up now, aggravation in his eyes, "the Metropolitan Police Academy is one of the most highly-respected police academies in the state, and I assure you, it is not an easy program to complete."

"Are you sure?" Larry chimed in. "I saw on the news how you kicked out almost everyone while you were commandant, and then reneged on it. Program suddenly get way easier, or what?"

"Oh, Larry," Angie said, giving her husband a playful little slap on the arm. "I'm sure the academy puts out great police officers."

"You mean, like that Tackleberry guy?" Larry said, chuckling. "Good call on firing him outright like that. I got no respect for cops like him."

"Though, in general, it's far more respectable to be a cop than to be a criminal; wouldn't you agree?" Harris snapped, and now I could see Larry's face getting red.

"What did you just say?" he huffed.

"Come on and do the Electric Slide, everyone!" the DJ suddenly boomed over the speaker system. Larry and Angie jumped at the loud announcement, the music already starting. Several of my nieces and nephews excitedly leapt out of their seats, and now Angie had grabbed Larry's hand and was leading him back toward the dance floor. All I could do was look at Thaddeus. That had come far too close to becoming an outright brawl.

"Maybe we should go now," I said, watching everyone rush to the dance floor to do the Electric Slide. "I ate, I had fun, and now Larry looks like he wants to murder us."

"I'd hoped we could dance once or twice," he said. "Not to this garbage, but a slow dance."

"While we wait, we could walk around while Larry and Angie are dancing," I said. "I'd like to try some of those peach cookies, for one."

We stood up and strode away from our table, heading first for the cookie table. I picked up a small plate and filled it with the incredible three-dimensional peach cookies someone had made. Harris grabbed several cookies of his own, and we walked toward the gift table, stopping about ten feet away from it.

"And there's your evidence," Harris said, gesturing at the humane society donation box. "Damn, how I wish I could just peek into that—"

"No," I said, hooking my arm into his and leading him away. "Let's get something from that fountain by the bar. I haven't had a fuzzy navel in years."

"Didn't realize you shaved it," he remarked, chuckling at his own wit. I gave him a good-natured roll of the eyes and we headed over, carefully steering clear of the dance floor and its Electric Sliders.

Several minutes later and Larry had not yet returned for one last parting shot. Harris and I were sitting alone at our table, having eaten our cookies and sipping some very good fuzzy navel, when the first of the slow dance songs came on, Hero by Mariah Carey. Harris straightened up in the chair and looked over at me.

"Wanna dance?"

We stood up and went to the dance floor together, and I melted into Thaddeus, our bodies flush against each other, my arms wrapped around his shoulders and his around my waist.

"You really are gorgeous; you know that?" he said.

"So are you," I replied, reaching up and running my fingers through his lovely silver hair. "I'm glad you pushed me to come here. It really is a beautiful evening."

"Well, you deserve to feel like royalty every once in a while," he said. "Getting dressed to the nines, eating fancy chow… when I think of how you looked that day we first met… You're so much better than that."

I thought back to my third and hopefully final arrest and how I'd first met Harris across the bars of my holding cell. Even though my siblings had made some irritating remarks tonight, I felt really good about myself for the first time in a long time. I had now finished the police academy, I had a boyfriend to be proud of, and I would soon be launching a career in law enforcement. Not only that, but I was much more physically fit, I was able to push through to finally finish my schooling, and I had stood up for my principles in front of the entire student body in taking blame for Lieutenant Jones's shoe-stealing prank. Thaddeus had made some amazing personal improvements during the academy as well, going from a grouchy jerk that no one liked to someone who had earned the respect of not only the cadets, but his fellow officers in turn.

As Harris and I continued dancing, the entire dance floor seemed to fade away. Sparkles from the disco ball occasionally shone on his face, but everyone else disappeared from view. All I could see was Thaddeus, and all I could feel was the warmth of his body moving against mine. Unlike at the Blue Oyster Bar, thought, we couldn't just head for a restroom, so maybe I could suggest that we leave now before anything bad could happen.

"You really are something else," Harris said, his mouth by my ear. "How'd I get so lucky?"

I got chills at his sweet-talk, stunned into silence. His dark eyes were locked on mine, a smile on his full lips. I couldn't verbally reply, but I had to do something, so I kissed him. Unlike our Blue Oyster experience, I did not go all out, but he did not pull away and instead continued the kiss. I didn't even care who might have been watching us, but I could hear nothing but the music and could sense nothing but him. The song ended far too soon, replaced by some stupid fast song. Thaddeus and I walked silently back to our table.

"You glad you came?" he asked, giving my hand a squeeze as he pulled out my chair for me.

"Yeah," I said, somehow still breathless. "I'm glad you convinced me."

Instead of sitting down next to me, Thaddeus went around to the other side of my chair and went onto a knee on the floor. I stared at the top of his head, alarmed.

"Are you alright?" I said, looking down at the ground around me. Had I dropped something? Was there something wrong with my shoes? He didn't answer right away, but instead took my hand in his, his other hand reaching into his pocket.

My eyes went wide. Oh my God. Now my jaw hung open, my heart pounding in my ears. Was Thaddeus going to propose?