Chapter fifty

Saturday morning Richie started feeling nerves too, nervous as he was, he was sure of what he was doing, he was making the right decision, no reason to be nervous but the nerves didn't go away.

He managed to make Sarah eat a little bit of breakfast too, even though it was only a slice of toast, he couldn't blame her, he was nervous too.

Their mothers arrived around 11 to help Sarah get ready, Richie couldn't believe they were there this early, the wedding itself was at seven in the evening, still eight hours from now, how would she needs eight hours to get dressed?

He kicked out of his room a little while later and got told to get ready in another bathroom, his mom told him he couldn't see Sarah in her dress until tonight.

Richie felt a little disappointed, he had had to wait all week and wanted to see her in her dress now. What did her dress look like? Would she go in traditional white or in another colour? How would she wear her hair, up or down? Would Ava's dress match hers? What would Ava look like then?

Trying to forget her curiosity he went downstairs to find three teenagers perfectly relaxed in front of the tv. Unbelievable, how could they be this relaxed on a day like this? He went to sit down, he surely didn't need eight hours to get dressed but whenever he tried to clear his mind it was just pointless.



Upstairs Sarah was taking her time showering, making sure her hair would look perfect for tonight. She tried the old trick of cold water to make her hair lighter blond but wasn't sure if it was really going to work, certainly she wasn't going to try and wash it with lemon juice.

Abbey and Joan waited in Sarah and Richie their bedroom while Sarah showered, they got Sarah's wedding dress out of the clothing bag and laid it out on the bed.

It looked beautiful on it's own, indisputably it would look even more beautiful on Sarah.

Sarah returned from the bathroom, wearing a robe a few minutes later.

"I have to get dressed now?" Sarah asked a little confused, she looked around for an alarm clock on one of the night stands next to the bed.
"You do, so you can change things if you're not sure about it." Joan insisted.
"It's not even noon yet." Sarah said.
Then Abbey pitched in too. "That's only six hours to get ready and we have to get ready too."
"That's ages." Sarah complained.
Abbey looked up at her. "Shush."

That undoubtedly made Sarah feel like a ten year old girl but she went along with it anyway.

Back in the bathroom her mother made her sit down on the stool and dried her long hair, brushing it at the same moment.

"Now how do you want your hair later? We'll do that once you got your dress on."
Sarah tried to answer but her mom went on.
"We should put it up, at least a little bit."
Sarah smiled and nodded, if she really didn't like it, she'd say so.

In the mean time Ava had finally come upstairs to join them.

Sarah came back in the room with her hair dried, still wearing the robe.

"Are you getting ready too?" She asked Ava when she noticed Ava getting her own dress ready.
"Yeah, I need to shower and I want to help you. Can I help you too?"
"Of course you can, isn't that part of your role and you helped with everything else too." Sarah agreed with her.
Ava nodded. "Can I use your bathroom?"
"Yeah go ahead." Sarah waved a hand toward the bathroom, letting Ava use it to get ready too.



Two hours later Sarah was finally allowed to get her dress on, her mother insisted on helping her pick out the right set of underwear. Which Sarah thought was funny, cause she only have one pair anyway, her mother wasn't too pleased.

Sarah was looking into the ceiling high mirror, when Ava thought of something.

"Do you have something new, old, blue and borrowed?" She asked in a panic.
"No, why?"
"You need it, that's just part of a wedding." Ava insisted.
"Goodness," Joan said, "how could we have forgotten that?"
"I got something blue for you." Ava said, quickly getting out of her dress and back into her jeans and t-shirt and ran out of the room.
"I already got you your something old." Abbey said, retrieving one of the few bags that stood on the bed, getting a blue box out of it.
"What's that?" Sarah asked.
Abbey carefully opened it and showed Sarah the necklace inside it.
"Mom." Sarah gasped as she noticed the silver necklace. "Dad gave you that on your wedding day."
"I know but I want you to have it now." Abbey insisted.
"Are you sure?"
Abbey nodded. "It's for you, that way your dad is here a little too."
Sarah hadn't even thought of that, a little touched, she nodded.

Meanwhile, Ava returned with something in her hand, just as Sarah was putting on her mother's necklace.

"You can borrow my bracelet. It's blue and it would be borrowed." Ava held out the simple beaded, blue bracelet.
"It's beautiful." Sarah said, accepting the bracelet.
"I got it from grampa on my birthday before he died." Ava added a little uncertain.
"I promise to give it back to you first thing tomorrow morning." Sarah promised, seeing it was a little hard for Ava to do.
"Now just something new." Ava said.
Joan got out another little box. "I got that one covered."
Sarah turned around to see what Joan would have for her.
"I got you earrings, I just thought you might not have those yet." Joan explained, opening the box to show Sarah.
"Oh." Sarah said a little surprised. "I don't have my ears pierced."
Joan smiled. "I wasn't sure of that so I just got clip-ons."
Sarah smiled relieved.

Making sure she had the things she needed, Sarah took her dress back off so it would stay clean while doing make-up and hair.



Downstairs Richie had finally gotten in action around 3 pm, he still wasn't allowed into his room and went to a bathroom down the hall to shower and get dressed.

He had only just gotten in the shower when he heard a knocking on the door.

"Richie?"

He recognized his mother's voice and turned off the water.

"What?" He asked confused.
"Sarah's not feeling too well, she wants to see you."
He got out of the shower immediately, looking for a towel and his jeans to put on. "I thought I wasn't allowed to see her?"
"She wants you, just come."
"Coming." He finished putting his jeans back on and opened the door.

Worriedly he followed his mother to his bedroom, to the bathroom door, Ava, Abbey and Joan all standing behind him, tentatively.

Richie carefully knocked on the bathroom door. "Honey? You in there?"
"Richie?" He heard her voice from inside the room, low and worried.
"I'm here honey." He opened the door and went inside.

Sarah was still dressed in her robe, sitting on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet. Now she was glad she had changed out of her wedding dress for hair and make-up.

"Are you alright?" He bend down next to her, his hand on her back, rubbing up and down.
"I think so. Think it were just my nerves making me sick."
"You're alright now?"
"Yeah, it's okay." Sarah nodded slightly.

Richie sat down on the floor next to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her for a few minutes, making sure she was feeling better before he let her get up again.

Carefully Sarah got back to her feet, a little unsteady she walked over to the stool to sit down.

Richie gave her a glass of water and mouthwash to get rid of the nasty taste.

A few minutes later he asked her again, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah."
"We should get back to getting ready." He suggested gently.
Sarah chuckled. "Don't think our moms are happy I delayed them now."
Richie chuckled too. "Good luck."

He helped her to stand up and walked back to their bedroom with her. He wanted to kiss her before he left but his mom interrupted them.

"You're not even supposed to see her before the wedding, no kissing. You better have slept in separate rooms last night too!"
"Sure mom." Richie smiled, knowing she knew they hadn't. He turned around to give Sarah a smile instead and went back to the bathroom down the hall.



Finally Sarah stood in front of the mirror high ceiling again, regarding herself.

Her wedding dress was a cream color, with a strap over her right shoulder. The top was tight fitting while the skirt got looser the more it went down to the bottom. Her mother's silver necklace looked perfect and matched with the earrings she had gotten from Joan. Ava's blue bracelet stood out a little but Sarah thought that made it even more perfect. Her hair was up again, like a few weeks ago when Richie had told her how beautiful he thought she looked with it.



Sarah and Richie were driven to the hotel in separate cars. Richie and the boys left earlier to meet Jon, of course Richie's best man at the hotel too.

Richie's nerves were rising on the way there, he was glad to see Jon waiting for him. Without any words, they hugged and went on with their duties.

Noah and Caleb took their places as ushers, they had gotten the seating plan and memorized it as best as they could. There weren't many people so it couldn't possibly be that hard. Their mother didn't have any guest, she didn't know anybody and couldn't invite friends, she simply didn't have any. That way they evenly divided Richie's friends over the two rows.

The boys took their jobs very seriously and politely showed everyone to their seat. Caleb was extra polite when he noticed Stephanie and Gabby.

Finally when they had lead everyone to their chairs, dividing them evenly between the two rows, Jon and Tico with their family on Richie's side and David's family, along with Sarah's family on Sarah's side.

It didn't take them very long to get everyone seated and they returned back into the hotel, finding their mother.



Richie was standing in the back, screens were set up to hide the hotel from view, on the other side was a canopy, the white drapes were shut, in which he knew Sarah was finishing the last touches.

Ava emerged from the canopy and walked over to Richie, Jon walking over from the hotel too.

With a smile Ava stood in front of her dad, looking up at him, then reached in to hug him.

"I love you dad."
"I love you too." He hugged her back tightly.
"Sarah loves you too."

Before Richie could answer, Ava had let go and taken Jon's arm to walk down the aisle.

Richie took a deep breath and watched her go.

The closer they got the more he knew he had to get going too. Once Ava and Jon let go and both stood on their side, Richie stepped up to the aisle.

In just a little while Sarah would be his wife.

He took his first step down the aisle, suddenly all his nerves disappeared. Like during rehearsal the night before he tried not to hurry down the aisle and made sure he wasn't walking too slow either.

When he reached the alter he took his place next to Jon, who was his best man.

The guests sat down again and they waited.

Strangely, Richie felt completely relaxed, his nerves had gone, this was the right thing to do.

A few minutes later music started playing, the guests stood up, and Richie, Jon and Ava all turned towards the canopy that opened slightly.

Richie's eyes grew wide and a smile appeared on his face when he watched Sarah walk out. Her sons each took an arm and walked her down the aisle. She looked so beautiful and he couldn't believe she was his.

He watched Sarah walk over to him, not once taking his eyes off her, when she stood next to him, he smiled softly, a smile which Sarah returned, and took her hand, turning towards the priest.

~The End~