EARLIER THAT MORNING:

Tony woke up and rolled over putting his arms around Angela. But all he felt was air. Then he remembered that they had agreed to spend the evening before their wedding apart. He sighed and rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. He had hardly gotten any sleep because he had missed her being beside him. Well that had been part of the reason. The other was guilt. The guilt that he had been feeling for years. He got up and went over to the window and opened it letting in the cool morning air. The sun was just beginning to rise, bathing the earth in a warm, rosy glow. There was something he needed to do before he married Angela. Someone he had to talk to.

"Marie? I know we haven't talked in awhile. Well actually I haven't talked in a while.' He chuckled. "I just wanted to talk to you before I married Angela." He rubbed his hand over his eyes and took a deep breath. "The thing is there is a part of me that feels guilty for marrying her. And it's not because I don't love her because I do. Or that I don't want to marry her. It's just..." He trailed off. " You know that is the reason. I mean I do want to marry her but I feel guilty because of you. And I know I don't have any reason to feel guilty. You have been gone for years. But, that doesn't mean that I don't miss you or stopped loving you. Because I do miss you and I do love you. After all you were my first love and my first wife. And you gave me the greatest gift any man could ask for-our beautiful daughter. It's just when we got married it was supposed to be forever. You weren't supposed to die so young. We were going to grow old together and have more kids and then eventually grandkids. But it didn't turn out that way. Instead cancer took you away from me-from us. And all those hopes and dreams died along with you. And I tried Marie. I really did to be both a mother and father for Sam and yeah I went overboard at times." He laughed.

"But the guilt gnaws at me because I told myself that after you died I would never fall in love again. But I did. And for so many years I pretended that I hadn't. And because of that I did incredibly stupid stuff to deny my feelings for Angela. Things that nearly destroyed us. But by some miracle it didn't. Today is our wedding day. In just a few hours we'll be married. And I couldn't be happier. But I also feel so guilty. It's like there are two sides pulling at me. I love Angela with all my heart and want to marry her more than anything but I also feel like I am betraying you-betraying us." He felt a tear drip down his cheek. He lowered his head as more tears fell. After a few minutes he heard the sound of chirping. He looked up and saw a cardinal on the window sill looking at him. It was singing a beautiful melody. Suddenly everything became clear.

"Thank you Marie." He whispered. The cardinal chirped a few more times and then flew away taking his guilt with it. He knew he had Marie's forgiveness and blessing.

TAKES PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS THE BRIDAL PARTY FESTIVITIES

"I still can't believe you canceled the bachelor party we had planned for you!" Philly griped.

Tony rolled his eyes. "How long are you going to whine about that?!"

'What year is it?"

"Okay okay. Hey look guys Angela and I decided together to have one big engagement party. And I know you all had a good time. "

"Okay, yeah we did." Eddie reluctantly admitted.

Philly just huffed.

'Hey come on Philly , it was sort of fun." Pee Wee said.

Philly threw his hands up in the air. "All right! All Right! I did have a good time. Are you morons happy?"

"About as much as I was when I won that 128 dollars from you in poker." Joey laughed.

Philly glared at him. Joey shrugged his shoulders and took a swallow of his beer.

"You know, speaking of poker." Eddie said.

"What about it?" Pee Wee asked.

"Well if you'll remember that was when we all met Angela."

"Yeah and she bluffed us!" Tony smiled and shook his head.

"I still can't believe a W.A.S.P. bluffed us!" Joey groaned.

"Hey, that was nothing! Remember how she won my hat away from me?!" Philly exclaimed.

The other guys doubled over in laughter.

"Yuck it up you idiots!"

"Okay, now come on. We're all here to give farewell to Tony." Pee Wee said.

"A farewell? I'm not going anywhere." Tony scoffed.

"Well you are getting married." Philly reminded him.

Tony gasped. "I am?! Gee is that why we're all here?!"

"Very funny Tone" Eddie shook his head.

"All right guys. Seriously Tony, we do wish you all the best." Joey told him.

'Yeah, Angela is one terrific woman." Pee Wee said.

"A toast!" Philly exclaimed and held up his can of beer. The other guys followed suit.

"To our good friend Tony and to his lovely new bride Angela. May they always be this happy."

"To Tony!"

"To Angela!"

They all clinked their beer cans together and took a sip of their beer.

"Thanks guys. This really means a lot to me."

'Hey don't mention it!" Pee Wee told him.

"Yes, please don't mention it. After all, I do have my reputation." Philly reminded them.

"Uh yeah. Your reputation." Joey rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Are you nervous?" Eddie asked Tony.

Tony shook his head. " You know something? I'm not. I can't wait to marry her." He beamed.

The other guys looked at each other and smiled. Even though they liked to give each other a hard time they had been friends for years and always had each others' backs. When Marie had died they thought he would never get over it or fall in love again. But he had and in just a few hours Tony would be married again

Pee Wee glanced at his watch. 'Okay you bozos I'm going to head out and get ready."

'Yeah, me too." Joey said.

The other guys agreed and told Tony goodbye and left the room.

Tony started gathering up the beer cans and threw them in the trash.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"I wonder who that is?" He mumbled to himself. He crossed over to the door and pulled it open.

"Oh my God! What are you doing here?!"