ASHLEY:

      As I get halfway through what is probably at least my fiftieth trip across the room we've been holed up in all day, I feel a hand catch my arm, and Pop says, "Whoa there, boy! Put it in park for a couple of minutes, or you're gonna wear yourself out. Dawn's a patient girl, but I'm not sure how she'd feel about you dozing off in the weddin' cake."

      "But the day just seems to be dragging," I respond. "It feels like if I stop, the clock stops, too."

      "I understand completely, son, but you're not gonna get there any quicker, so try to relax for a few minutes, at least."

      "Yeah, grab a chair for a few, dude," CC chimes in. "Listen to your best man, he's just lookin' out for ya."

      "Okay, fine," I sigh, dropping down onto the nearest empty seat. "But I have to tell ya, I really wish we'd set this for a lot earlier in the day, because all this waiting around is starting to get to me."

      "Ash, you've only got a little over three hours left before the ceremony, I'm sure you can survive that long," Jinxx says. "And if you really need to, I'm sure we can go out and walk around for a bit, like we did at my wedding."

      "No, it's okay, I'll try to behave," I reply. "Pop's right, I need to pace myself. I have to get through the ceremony, then the reception, and then get to the airport in time to make our flight..."

      "Yeah, you can catch a few z's on the plane, if it comes to that," Andy remarks. "Where did you guys finally decide to go, anyway?"

      "Good question," Jake remarks. "Last I heard, you'd narrowed it down to either Hawaii or somewhere in Italy, so which is it?"

      "Neither one. We kept waffling back and forth between the two, and couldn't ever decide. But we were sitting around one night re-watching 'The Lord of the Rings', and it just kind of hit both of us that we should go to New Zealand," I explain. "There's great scenery, they have some really nice hotels, and it's somewhere neither of us have been before, so it works out great. We're gonna stay there for a week, and then spend a couple of days at my place in Vegas before we come back home."

      There's a knock at the door, and Andy calls out, "Yo! Who's there?"

      "It's Kirsten. Would you mind telling Jed that the little one wants her daddy?"

      Jed vaults out of his chair and dashes to the door, opening it up to reveal his mom holding Bev, who is beginning to look a bit cranky. That doesn't happen very often at all, because she's a remarkably happy little thing most of the time, but I just hope this doesn't wind up being the one day that she has a fit, since she and my cousin's daughter are our flower girls.

      "Dayee!" she shrieks, stretching out her arms as she catches sight of him. "Dayee tiss!"

      He takes her from his mom, and she immediately clamps both hands onto his temples and plants a sloppy kiss on his cheek. He gives her one in return, then asks, "Is there anything I need to do?"

      "You should be fine for now, dear," his mom tells him, as she places her diaper bag and a baby cup on one of the side tables. "She had a snack about an hour ago, but she's still working on her juice, so you'll probably have to change her later. Lisa said that she'll tap on the door when it's time for the girls to get their dresses on, so you just need to keep her entertained until then."

      She heads back out to the front of the venue, and Andy starts to close the door, but pauses, saying, "Y'know, a drink doesn't sound half-bad right now. Anybody else up for one?"

      "Dude, you know as well as we do that the girls all threatened no getting laid for a month if we got buzzed before the ceremony!" CC exclaims. "So unless you're talkin' about a round of Pepsi or something, not just no, but hell no!"

      "Shit, I forgot," Andy mumbles. "But what the hell, that's better than nothing. Anyone wanna go with me to grab some?"

      They get everyone's preferences, then CC and Jake follow him out to find a vending machine while Jed, Pop, Jinxx and I stay behind. Jed goes to pick up Bev's cup, and she catches sight of me as he turns. She instantly starts wiggling and yells out "Ach! Fie Bebby!"

      Jed chuckles and holds her out to me, while Pop and Jinxx look totally confused. "What was that, now?" Pop inquires.

      "Oh, you know this one, Pop," I reply. "Who do you think I learned it from?" I reach out and catch her around the waist, making her laugh by giving her a bit of a wiggle before I turn her face down, with one hand on her stomach and the other in the small of her back. "Okay, little bit, get ready for takeoff!" I call out, before turning several circles in the center of the room as she giggles excitedly. I slow her down, flip her upright, and kiss her on the cheek as she wriggles in my arms.

      "Fie 'dain!" she demands. "Ach fie Bebby 'dain!"

      "Not right now, sweetheart," I tell her. "We don't want your tummy to get upset before you ride in the wagon with Addy and throw the flowers, do we?"

       "Frow!" she announces, looking around the room. "Bebby wide and frow!" Then her expression changes, and she appears to be somewhat puzzled as she looks past my shoulder, then turns her head to scan the room. "No Dwin?" she inquires. "Where go?"

      "Well, now we know how often the young'un sees you without Dawn, don't we?" Pop snickers. 

      "Not much at all, it looks like," Jinxx adds.

      The others come back with the drinks, and I sit with Bev in my lap for a bit, drinking my Coke while she sucks on her juice cup and cuddles against my chest. The guys are all watching, and CC remarks, "Y'know, you seem to be pretty decent at this. Have you and Dawn thought about having kids? Cause it looks like you might not be half-bad at the dad thing."

      I nearly squirt Coke out of my nose, and wind up coughing for several seconds, which causes everyone to look at me rather oddly. "Sorry, I didn't know it was a touchy subject, man," he apologizes.

      "No, dude, it's not that," I say once I finally recover my voice. "We have discussed the idea, and it's definitely on the list a bit later on. You just kind of startled me, because I've never thought of it as something I have any sort of 'natural talent' in, or however you wanna put it."

      "Looks like you might be gettin' a feel for it, though," Jake remarks.

      "Yeah, I have to agree with 'em there, boy," Pop says. "At least you get a chance to practice a bit beforehand. I got thrown into it without even an instruction manual, had no clue what the hell I was supposed to do."

      I reach out and put my hand on his shoulder, then tell him, "Well, that must make you the natural, then, because you did one hell of a job. If I can ever be even one-quarter of the dad you've been, then I'll consider myself ahead of the curve."

      He reaches up and puts his hand over mine, and at the same time, Bev sits up and says, "Oop-oh!" Jed and I both know what this means, and he pops up from his seat, grabbing the diaper bag as he goes.

      "Come on, curly-top, let's go get you cleaned up," he says as he lifts her from my lap. "And by the time we do that, it'll probably be about time to take you to Mommy so she can get you ready."

       "Mama!" she shrills, as he carries her toward the bathroom. "Mama see!"

      "She didn't get your suit, did she?" Jinxx inquires, prompting Pop to stand up and give me a once-over.

      "Naw, he's fine," he proclaims. "Looks like she didn't soak through the diaper."

      "No, 'Oooh' means that she's wet. 'Oop-oh' would have probably meant burning the pants. And most likely barf bags for a few of you." 

      CC makes a face, and Andy shouts out "TMI, dude! TMI!" which causes Jake, Jinxx, and Pop to crack up. I'm actually pretty glad to see this, because Pop doesn't laugh nearly enough anymore since we lost Nan, and I'll take any opportunity I can get to bring his spirits up.

      Jed comes out of the bathroom with Bev, giving us confused looks, and I tell him that I'll explain after he takes her to go get into her dress. She reaches out her arms toward me and wiggles her fingers, saying, "Bebby tiss!", so I walk over and kiss the end of her nose, then let her plant a wet one on my forehead before Jed tells her it's time to go bye-bye. She waves at everyone and yells, "Byeee!" as he carries her out into the hall, and Pop hands me a handkerchief as soon as the door closes, so I can dab my head.

      We still have a couple of hours to go before the ceremony starts, so once Jed gets back, the guys start telling him and Pop some tour stories to pass the time. This worries me at first, but fortunately they pass over anything that might weird Pop out too much, or make Jed think that he should talk Dawn into ditching the ceremony. Finally, just as I feel like I'm about ready to scream at the top of my lungs, at least four separate alarms start going off, and the other guys start popping up from their chairs. It takes a couple of seconds for my brain to get back on track, but then I realize: It's finally time! 

      Jed moves toward the door again, and says, "I'll go make sure the girls are ready to go, and get myself and Dawn situated, while the rest of you get to your designated positions. See ya all in a few!"

      After an assortment of hugs, shoulder-claps, and fist bumps from the guys, they go to meet up with the girls, while Pop and I head out to wait at the altar with the officiant that Feldy and Amy hooked us up with. He's already waiting when we get there, and takes a minute to double check that he has everything laid out correctly, according to what we've said that we want. I assure him that it's fine, and we all watch as guests start to fill up the seats. I'm really happy to see Charlie and Susan taking seats near the center, with Bob and Angie following them a couple of minutes later, and I spot several of my other non-band friends and APFI employees scattered around the room as well. Jazy, Markie, Jeff, and Sandra are all here, along with a few of my old school friends and the majority of my relatives. And I'm also glad to see that several of them have decided to sit on "the bride's side" of the aisle, since Dawn has lost contact with most of the people she knew in Canada, and didn't have as many people to invite.

      I also notice that just about everyone is looking at the banners that are hanging on either side of the altar, with reactions varying from broad smiles to tearing up as they read the words. The original idea came from a wooden plaque that we found one day when we went flea marketing together.

      I have a collection of similar signs that hang on our bedroom wall, and we both fell in love with this one, so we bought it and took it home. Not long afterward, when we were discussing wedding details, we realized that it fit perfectly into the theme, so I worked it up with the whole poem done in the cursive font at the top and bottom of the original, and had a couple of banners printed to use with the flowers and other decorations.

      Within a couple more minutes, music starts floating through the room, and everyone stands as Gwen comes walking down the aisle with Jed's parents and they take their spots in the front row. They're followed by the band and their girls, who are wearing gorgeous velvet dresses in several different colors, which coordinate with the ties the guys are wearing with their black suits and off-white shirts. Pop is dressed the same, but Dawn chose a royal blue for his tie, and I'm wearing a silver-gray suit with a black shirt and my tie is sort of an emerald green.

      Lily follows after them, in the beautiful green dress that Dawn made for her, and she's followed by Emily, who's wearing purple, and pulling Bev and Addy along in a little wooden wagon that's been festooned with ribbons, lace, and silk flowers. They're both adorable in their little pink dresses, gleefully flinging handfuls of flower petals in every direction, and fortunately, neither of them has gotten grouchy or tired during the wait.

      Then, after they've all taken their places in front of the altar, the music changes and everyone rises up from their seats as the door opens again to let Dawn and Jed enter the room. This is the first time I've seen her since dinner last night, because she spent the night with her folks, and I actually feel my heartbeat skip for a second, because she's even more breathtakingly beautiful than normal. Her hair is pinned up, but there are still several strands dangling over her shoulder, and she's decided not to wear a veil. And her dress is amazing! She's told me that she had something special in mind, and she's definitely exceeded expectations with this. It's strapless, flowing and flouncy at the same time, and covered with gorgeous silk flowers and embroidery. It totally suits her, and I couldn't be more proud of her talent than I am right now.

      "You've got yourself a beauty there, son," Pop murmurs in my ear. "But lucky for you, it's not just on the outside."

      "Oh, trust me, I'm well aware of that," I reply. "If nothing else good ever happens to me again in my life, just having her will more than even the scales."

      The officiant starts the ceremony by asking the standard question of "Who gives this woman in marriage?", and I don't think he's quite expecting the answer he gets.

      "She does, since she's a grown woman who's in charge of her own life," Jed responds. "But her mum and I are here to support her all the way." He kisses her on the cheek, then leads her to me and claps me on the shoulder as she reaches out to take hold of my hand. He goes to take his seat next to Gwen, and the officiant starts reading the standard beginning of the wedding ceremony. As he talks, I notice that underneath her bouquet, she keeps rubbing her ring finger with her thumb. She gave her engagement ring to Gwen yesterday, to make sure it got put on the pillow with our wedding bands, and this is the longest it's been off of her hand since I gave it to her, so I guess it feels odd to have it bare now.

      He gets through all of the "introductory" stuff, I guess you call it, and fortunately no one stands up to object when he gets to that part. Then Em holds out the ring pillow for us to do the exchange, and we each recite the vows that we've decided on.

      As I slip her rings onto her finger, I say, "Dawn, I give you these rings as a symbol of my choice to spend my life with you, and face whatever comes our way side by side. I want to share all of the milestones of life with you, good or bad, because you make everything better for me. You are the center of my universe, and I promise to do whatever it takes to make sure that you feel loved, respected, and cherished for the rest of our time together."

      She takes my ring from the cushion, and as she slides it onto my finger, I hear, "Ashley, I want you to accept this ring as a symbol of my choice to love and trust you unconditionally, and to stay by your side and support your hopes and dreams for as long as we both draw breath. Because of you, I've found joy in my life that I didn't think I'd ever have again, and I'm looking forward to all of the adventures that life has in store for us. You are the brightest light in my world, and I promise to never let you doubt how much you are loved, needed, and respected for the rest of our time together."

      After the rings, we light a "Unity candle" and sign our marriage license, and once this is done, he says "Now by the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride." I get ready to do exactly that, but before I can, Dawn's hands clasp my face and her lips attach themselves to mine. This never would have happened when I first met her, and I'm ecstatic that she's finally gained the confidence to express herself not just to me, but in front of a roomful of people. Then, after a few pictures with the entire wedding party, we go to change clothes before the reception, which is in the building next door. 

      Our plane to New Zealand leaves at eleven thirty, which means that we need to be at the airport by ten, or shortly after, so the reception is scheduled to last from six until nine thirty. This made Dawn decide to go ahead and change out of her dress beforehand, both to save time and to eliminate the chance of an "accident" during dinner or while cutting the cake. So I figure I might as well go ahead and change, too, since this probably wouldn't be very comfortable on the plane. I switch to a pair of black jeans and a blue button-down, along with my cowboy boots, and when I catch back up with her, she's changed into a turquoise colored poet's shirt and her ruffled black slacks with a pair of gold ballet flats.

      Everyone heads in for the buffet, which Jed's parents had catered from the restaurant they own as our wedding gift. There are a number of appetizers and side dishes, a couple of different salads, and a baked potato bar, along with three different main courses, to cover everyone's food preferences: prime rib, chicken in orange-garlic sauce, and butternut squash ravioli in a sundried tomato pesto sauce. And there's pineapple-banana sorbet or cherry tarts for anyone who doesn't want a piece of our raspberry-filled, buttercream-iced, devil's-food wedding cake.

      We cut the cake after everyone finishes eating, but since we don't have more clothes to change into before we leave, instead of giving each other a buttercream face mask, we just streak a bit of icing on each other's noses. Besides, it tastes too good to waste, anyway. After that, Dawn and I have our first dance together, to the song I sang when I proposed to her, and then I dance with Gwen while Dawn does the father-daughter dance with Jed. Then everyone joins us out on the floor, and we take turns dancing with most of the wedding party, and several friends and family members. I even have to ask CC to take pictures and send them to my phone when Dawn actually manages to get Pop out on the floor to dance with her, because that's a very uncommon occurrence; I only remember him dancing with Nan maybe three or four times in my entire life.

      Everyone is having a great time, so it seems like almost no time has passed before Lily comes looking for Dawn and tells her that she needs to toss her bouquet, because it's almost time for us to leave. She goes to retrieve it while Lily and Gwen gather the unmarried ladies on the dance floor, and when everyone is in place, she turns her back and flings it over her shoulder. All of the ladies are reaching for the bundle of white roses, irises, and violets, but it almost seems to have a mind of its own, flying over all of the outstretched hands to land squarely in the middle of Inna's cleavage. She seems rather surprised, but I see a smile cross Jake's face, and wonder if this might have given him a bit of inspiration. 

      After this, we quickly make the rounds to tell everyone goodbye, and thank them for coming, and when we finally get near the door, the family is waiting for us with our jackets and Dawn's purse. Lily hands this to her and says, "I sorted the gift table and put all of the envelopes in your bag, so if they have money or gift cards you can take them with and use them on your trip. Do you want us to take the rest of the gifts to your place, or keep them until you get back?"

      "Probably better if you guys hang onto them," I reply. "That way we don't have to worry about anyone seeing you carrying stuff in and then figuring out that no one is home."

      "He's right about that," Dawn adds. "Go ahead and take my dress with you, too, if you don't mind, and I'll get it cleaned and properly stored when I get back."

      After a last round of hugs, the two of us head outside with Jed and Pop, to Jed's car, which already has our luggage in the trunk. We climb into the back seat, with Pop riding up front with Jed, and we basically just cuddle up together as we all chat about the places we plan to visit on our trip. Then when we get to the airport, Jed helps me get the suitcases to the baggage area while Pop goes with Dawn to get us checked in. Then they hang out with us until they start the boarding call for our flight, and during the last round of hugs, Pop whispers in my ear, "This is the beginning of the best part of your life. You be good to that little girl, and make sure she knows you appreciate her, because you never know when it can all get taken away from you."

      "Don't worry about that, Pop, I have no intention of ever making her wonder how I feel. I almost lost her once, and I don't plan to make that mistake again," I tell him. "I do know how to treat a woman, you know. After all, I learned from the best."

      They announce the last call for boarding, so we have to dash to get to the plane, and only when we're buckled into our seats do we get to pause and take a breath. She holds up her hand to look at her rings, and muses, "It was so weird not to have this on my finger for so long today, I kept forgetting and thinking that I'd lost it. But I guess I can think of it as practice for when I have to take them off and put them away."

      We glance at each other, and I actually start laughing, because I can't help myself. She joins in almost immediately, and we giggle until we both have tears streaming down our faces, because it's the only way we have to release the nervous energy we've both been holding in all day.

      "Babe, I have to tell you, I felt like I was literally going to explode a few times today," I admit. "C almost startled me into letting the cat out of the bag earlier today, and I almost literally had to fight myself to keep from taking Pop aside more than once."

      She gives me a grin and says, "I completely understand, Lily almost got me, too. We were talking about wishing that Mom and Nan could have been there, and she insisted that she believed that they were. Then she said that Sawyer was probably there with us, too, and it made me think about the talk we had the other day. But I'm glad we didn't have to wait any longer than we did, because I'm honestly not sure I could have held it in much longer."

      This is our little secret that we haven't shared with anyone yet, and as she told me yesterday, her "something new" for the old wedding tradition. We found out last week that she's not quite eight weeks pregnant, and decided to wait until after our honeymoon to share the news with everyone else. It wasn't planned, but we were both beyond excited when we saw the test results, and have already been discussing how to alter our schedules to get the most benefit for all three of us.

      And the conversation she's referring to is one we had a couple of days ago when I came into the living room and found her cleaning the wooden box that holds Sawyer's ashes. After the cops in Canada were done with the bodies, they had both of them cremated, and their mom's ashes are at Gwen and Jed's house. Dawn had the final say over what to do with Sawyer's, because since they were still married when he died, she was legally his next of kin. She was reluctant to bury him in Canada, since there wasn't anyone left there to visit or take care of his grave, so she brought them back to LA, thinking about burying him here, or maybe scattering them somewhere. But when I told her that I had no problem with her keeping them, she decided to hold off, at least for now. When we know for sure that we're going to put down permanent roots somewhere, she said, then she might do something else, but for now, they have a place of honor on our mantel.

      But when I found her there, I offered up an idea that had occurred to me earlier, which I'm pretty certain took her completely by surprise: I told her that if the baby turns out to be a boy, that we should name him Sawyer. After just silently gaping at me for several seconds, she very calmly asked me if I was sure I really wanted that, and what had given me the idea. The answer to the question is very simple, so I just told her, "Because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have either of you. He got you away from your maniac of a father, and did everything he could to keep you safe and happy until he just couldn't anymore. And he helped convince you to come back when all you wanted was to give up and go with him and your mom, and I'll always be grateful to him for that. He deserves to be remembered, and we're really the only ones left to do it, so I think that Sawyer Cameron Purdy would be a very cool name for our son." 

      She burst into tears, flung her arms around me, and told me that I was the most perfect man on the planet, which I'm in absolutely no position to agree with, but I appreciate that she thinks so. We're still working on names for a girl, because she insists that it's an option, but for some reason, I'm absolutely certain that she's carrying a boy, and I just hope that I can be anywhere near as good of a parent as the ones that I had; both my actual Mom and Dad, and Nan and Pop.

      Then the pilot's voice comes over the speaker, announcing that we're getting ready to take off, and I reach over to twine my fingers with hers. "Ready for our adventure, babe?" I inquire.

      "Which one?" she responds, trailing the fingers of her free hand along her stomach. "I'm pretty sure we have rather a lot of adventure in our future."

      "Y'know, I think you're probably right," I agree, leaning over to give her a brief kiss as the plane leaves the runway. "And I think that maybe we should do this again in a few years. Imagine how great it'll be to get to see the sights through our little boy's eyes. They'll be new to us all over again."

      "Yeah, that would be fun. But we may have a little girl, y'know."

      "Maybe next time, but I tell you, darlin', I'm sure this one's a boy," I tell her. "Don't ask me why, but I just feel it."

      She asks me if I'm willing to make a wager, and we end up deciding that if it turns out to be a girl, I owe her a new quilting machine, and if I'm right, then as soon as she's recovered enough from the birth, she has to take pole-dancing lessons. Then she looks up at me rather seriously and inquires, "How would you feel about extending our trip for a few more days?"

      "Hey, the more alone time I get with you, the better. What do you have in mind?"

      "Not exactly 'alone time', babe," she says. "I was thinking that before we head to Vegas, maybe we should stop and spend a couple of days with Pop. He's still so lost without Nan, maybe our news will lift his spirits a bit. Under the circumstances, I'm sure that Mum and Dad would understand if we tell him first. What do you think?"

      "I think that you are the sweetest, most thoughtful woman on earth, and that I don't deserve you," I reply. "That's a terrific idea, I'll get to work on rearranging our flights first thing tomorrow. Or today. Whichever it's going to be when we get there."

      She leans her head on my shoulder, and within a couple of minutes she's fast asleep, so I flag down one of the attendants and ask for a couple of blankets. She brings them, and helps to cover us up, since I'm just a bit "mobility challenged" right now. Once she leaves, I settle in and look out at the stars, and the lights far below us, feeling myself starting to unwind. And as I relax, the words Pop said at the airport run through my mind again: 

      "This is the beginning of the best part of your life."

      Through half-closed eyes, I look at the beautiful face resting on my shoulder, and then further down, where our child waits to make his entrance into the world, and realize exactly how right he was. I draw her closer, nuzzle my face into her marvelous hair and murmur, "As long as I have the two of you, I have everything I need. Our possibilities are limitless, because together, we can do anything"

      Then, as the clouds drift past the windows, I finally follow my wife into sleep, knowing that my life is as perfect as I could hope for, and it can only get better from here.