Chapter 90

A quiet mumble of voices splashed through the crowd as the bridesmaids took their places and were quickly recognized as the staff who had served the guests. Some of the guests were already regretting comments they had made; others were thankful they had treated as equals these people they thought were just hired workers. Still, most were uncertain who the bridesmaids and the matron of honor actually were, but it was obvious they were more than just workers who were brought in for the wedding.

Don't lock your knees. Don't lock your knees, Frank Wainwright repeated to himself as the first bars of the bridal march rang out in the big living room. If I pass out, I'll never live it down. But oh, she's beautiful in her wedding dress coming down that stairway. That dress is worth every penny it cost. How did I ever get her to consent to marrying me? Oh, shit, I'm getting tunnel vision. Relax. Relax. Breathe normally. Unlock your knees, idiot. He felt Jeff's hand close on his upper arm. Normally, Frank would have laughed at the idea that he would need moral or physical support to stand up in front of a few people, but this was Margaret he was marrying.

Jeff leaned over and whispered into Frank's ear. "If you pass out, I'm going to piss in your ear."

The absurdity of what his Prime had said almost caused Frank to laugh aloud. It did, somehow, however, deflect his thinking for a short period of time. He began to relax until he caught Margaret's eye. "I love you," she silently mouthed from the other end of the living room as everyone came to their feet. The tunnel vision came back, but somehow he remained upright.

Seen through the giant window behind them, the setting sun splashed gold over the snow-covered peaks in the distance as the couple stood before the judge. Frank had not forgotten his simple lines, or grown mute as he so feared.

Finally though after their kiss, the judge turned the couple to face the audience and said, "May I present to you — Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wainwright."

As the music swelled, Frank grabbed his new bride's hand and they ran out the door. Laughing, continuing to hold hands, they ran down the hall toward the Matthews' suite, took the stairs to the second floor, and shortly came into the vestibule above the back of the living room.

Diana and Jeff now stood beside the judge on the small stage. "May I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen?" Diana called out in her melodious voice. As the crowd quieted, "Welcome to Matthews Mountain and our home. We ask you to forgive us our little joke. I'm Diana Matthews, and this is my beloved husband, Jeff. Now to introduce you to our family..."

Finally, the introductions were over, and Diana continued. "Margaret and Frank have asked me to convey the following: The reception will be down the hall to the right as you exit the living room, and the reception hall is clearly marked. They ask that you go there immediately. The bar is open and finger food is laid out. There will be no servers other than the bartender and his assistant. All the family will be in here for a short period of time. Enjoy the food and drink. Frank, Margaret and the rest of us will be with you shortly. Thank you."

As the wedding planners ushered the guests out of the living room, Page turned to Diana. "Are you certain we can't be of further service to you in here?"

Diana smiled at her. "No, just go be with the guests. We'll all be there in twenty minutes or so."

Diana got the two curious wedding planners out the door and locked it. Walking to the small stage, she waited for Frank. When he got to them, Frank simply said, "Let's do it for real now."

The beginning bars of the bridal march sounded out, this time with Evie at the piano, instead of Page (the wedding planner). If possible, Frank was more nervous now than he was a few minutes ago. This was for real — forever. This wedding could never be revoked by any judge, for they were being married by a Prime and his Queen.

Outside the big double doors of the living room, a girl of about six leaned with an ear against the joining of the doors. Her mother was talking with an acquaintance a few feet away. The child turned to her parent. "Momma, they're playing that wedding song again."

The mother beckoned to her daughter, "Come away from the doors, Dear. It isn't nice to do that."

"But Momma, they're playing that song again. Are they having another wedding?"

"No, Dear. Of course not..."

"I don't hear anything," the other woman said as she walked closer to the doors.

"She has exceptional hearing," the mother said. "Sometimes, embarrassingly so." Turning back to the child, "Come here Selina, before someone opens those doors and embarrasses all of us."

When the child came over to her mother, "But why are they playing that song again if they're not having another wedding?"

"Dear, they had several cameras going during the ceremony. They might well be watching a video of the wedding. Now come on. If you promise me you'll keep out of trouble, I'll let you stay in the game room with your big brother while your father and I go down the hall to the reception. Can you do that for me, hmmm?"

"Uh huuh. But I still think they're playing that song again."

"Children and their imaginations," the mother whispered to her friend as they headed for the game room.

Sheriff Tate sat in the audience, his wife, Virginia, to his left, her sister, Elizabeth on his right, each woman proudly holding one of his hands. Rachel and Cindy (Sheriff Tate's nieces) sat to Elizabeth's right. Tina had been introduced by Diana, and the young woman had been invited to watch the wedding with the Tate family. During the short period of time between the weddings, Tina had overheard Rachel tell her mother that she and Cindy wanted to be married here. They had all instantly looked at Quinton. With what she had been told about the Matthews, Tina realized that the girls were talking about marrying the Sheriff. As the second wedding started, Tina mused over what she had heard. Jeff had nine wives, Dave had three, Captain Madison had two, and Frank and Margaret had asked her to join their marriage. Now it seemed that both these two girls wanted to marry the Sheriff. She wasn't sure about Elizabeth, Sheriff Tate's sister-in-law, but from the way she was holding his hand, it was obvious that she somehow fitted into the family in an intimate way.

Tina wondered what she had gotten into, but when she looked at Frank, her heart melted. I want so badly to be walking down that aisle the way Margaret is now. I can't believe this has happened to me so quickly. I've always wondered what love was — if I would recognize it when it happened. But now there's absolutely no question. I love Frank — and Margaret, too. It should be absurd to even think of falling in love so quickly, but this is Frank. I love him. I want to be with him — with both of them. I'm going to miss them when they leave on their honeymoon. Oh, I want to be with them. I want Frank to make love to me. I want to make love to him. Odd, somehow, I'm not jealous of Margaret, and she seems to not even think of being jealous of me. She wants Frank to love me. I know I should think that's crazy — but I don't. Oh, I want to go with them.

"This is an honor that they let us stay in here to watch," Alesha whispered to Jesse as they stood and turned to see Margaret come down the stairs for the second time. "There's no one in here but the ones they call family, other than us."

Jesse put his arm around Alesha. "I want that to be you walking down that aisle."

Alesha put her arm around Jesse's waist to hug him back, and whispered. "It will be soon. We'll keep saving our money, then it will be our turn."

This time when Margaret said her vows, the circle of the Matthews clan closed about them. There were tears pouring down Margaret's cheeks, and Frank was blinking rapidly. The kiss went on until Margaret had to break it to breathe, since her nose was stopped up.

"You're beautiful, Wife," Frank said, the word unfamiliar on his tongue, as he stared at Margaret as if she were the most wonderful thing in the world. She was the most wonderful thing in his world.

"And you, my Husband, are the most handsome man in the world."

"Well, I doubt that, but if you think so, I'm happy," Frank chuckled.

A little later, Frank whispered in his new wife's ear, "Shall we go see to our guests, so we can get that behind us."

"Then get to the important stuff," Margaret teased.

"Exactly," Frank laughed, grabbing her hand and starting for the door.

Margaret took Tina's hand as they went by.

"But ... but what will people think?" Tina whispered as the three walked arm-in-arm down the hall together, the rest following behind.

"The Matthews family all think your being part of us is wonderful. I don't care in the slightest what the rest think," Margaret responded. "You're going to be married to us soon, just like we talked about, and I'm not letting you out of my sight any more than I can help. If that gets tongues to wagging — well at least we'll be feeding the gossip mill so it doesn't go hungry," she laughed.

The assistant wedding planner was also a professional photographer. She had already shot many pictures before and during the wedding, and this continued into the reception. (Evie took pictures during the second wedding.)

Finally, Frank got everyone's attention. After he had thanked them for coming to the wedding, "It took me quite a while to convince this wonderful lady beside me to become my wife. Finally, she gave in. Well," he said, smiling from ear to ear, "I wanted to give her something to commemorate our marriage, and I tried to think of something that would last throughout our lifetimes — something that would always be there to remind her how much I love her." After a subtle nod to Jeff to lower the lights, Frank slipped a small remote from his pocket.

The big screen at the end of the room came on and a video started as Frank put an arm around his new wife. Raising his voice so everyone in the room could hear, "A while back, we were fortunate to spend a couple of days on an island. The owner is a friend, met years ago due to mutual business concerns. Recently when he heard me mention I was looking for a wedding present for my bride, he made me an offer — an offer I could not refuse."

The first part of the video was of the Pacific Ocean and its continents as viewed from high orbit. After the audience had time to be oriented, the view began to zoom downward something like you could get from Google Earth, but with truly high definition. As the camera seemed to plummet downward, the view changed from a view of the Pacific Ocean and its continents, to just ocean, then ocean with a tiny spec in the middle of the picture. The speck began to expand as the view continued to zoom downward, the large screen presenting the picture in such detail that it seemed almost real. (Military satellite material with compliments from the General.) The speck expanded more rapidly now, then the picture came to a gradual halt, showing a long, somewhat narrow, island from a couple of miles up.

The picture shifted from the satellite picture to a view that was obviously from the window of a plane at a much lower altitude. The plane slowly circled the island. First was the long runway with a building that was obviously a control tower, then as the plane moved farther down the island, the land was less flat, gradually changing into low hills with several houses nestled into them. Later, the land was more broken, still later, there was a small mountain, and at its crest was a sprawling, very futuristic-looking home that had obviously been built partially into the small mountain.

As the plane drifted closer, the vehicles sitting near the home brought everything into scale. The house was truly huge — and beautiful.

"You rented it for our honeymoon..." Margaret said, but before she could finish, Frank broke in, shaking his head.

"No, Dear. I bought it for you. It will be our home away from home."

Margaret spun to stare at him, the video forgotten as it continued to show the remainder of the island. "You can't have bought the whole island..."

"Why not? Josiah said he and his wife were getting too old to stay way out there, and they were actually spending very little time on the island anymore. Besides he owes — well owed — me a favor. He made me a price I couldn't refuse, and ... he has a smaller home not too far from the big house that he'll retain the use of as long as either he or his wife lives. They don't have any children to pass the island on to. The island is ours — yours. Your wedding present. Thank you for marrying me, My Love."

The audience stood mute except for a few gasps as the screen showed fields, other smaller homes and white beaches. Margaret didn't see them for she had her body glued to Frank as she thanked him over and over, hugging him tightly, the tears of joy pouring from her eyes. Then she turned, reached out and pulled Tina into the embrace, James and Amanda Corrigan looking on in puzzlement, as did many of the other guests.

Margaret wiped her eyes with tissue that Frank offered. Turning, Frank's arm still around her, and hers around Tina, Margaret looked at the guests. After a moment's pause, "Tina is my new assistant, and ... part of our family. From now on, when you see Frank and me, you will see Tina." The "Get used to it" wasn't said, but by tone of voice the implication was strongly there, nevertheless — appetizer for the rumor mill. Margaret, seeing the expressions on several faces, almost told Frank to kiss Tina, but relented because she didn't want to embarrass the young woman any more than she already had been — not embarrass her yet, anyway.