Epilogue

This was exactly how I pictured my wedding.

I listened to the soft melody start to play, took a deep breath and watched as the doors to the church opened into the large sitting area. I smiled, hooked elbows with my father and we sashayed down the aisle while every oohed and awed.

In the end, my mother had worn me out and scheduled another church. I suppose I could have persuaded her not to but she had a hysterical break down after hearing about Malik and seeing the aftermath so I let her win the argument and here I was. It was beautifully decorated with banners, ribbons and other extraordinary things. But best of all; no doves.

As me and my father neared the pastor, my eyes sought out my love; Ranger. He had stitches in his head, a cast on his arm, a brace on his leg and was taking enough painkillers to take down an elephant but, of course, that wasn't going to stop Mr. I-can-do-it-all from wedding me. No amount of warning from the doctor, me or anyone else could do that was what he had stated millions of times beforehand.

After the Malik incident and him getting admitted into the hospital, I convinced him that we could move the wedding date back. We argued and argued until I finally relented and we ended up having it only a few days after the original date. Another opening for my mom to rent a church.

And so here I was. Walking down the aisle with my dad, siding up with my damaged husband-to-be, with Connie, Lula and Mary Lou as my bridesmaid and Tank, Lester and Hal as the groomsmen.

Before my father let me go, he leaned in to whisper in my ear. "You're not marrying him because he's threatening you, are you?"

Okay, so maybe this wasn't exactly how I pictured my wedding. Maybe I pictured no churches, less pink bridesmaid dresses, a little less people and a healthy groom but hey, it was close enough.

I glared at my dad and he stepped to the side. I saw his light smile and decided to take his statement as a joke. I glanced at Ranger and saw he was smiling too.

The pastor talked, we said our 'I do's' and then we embraced in a kiss that made all the areas of the wedding that bugged me seem so insignificant and childish.

Ranger loved me and I loved him. Nothing was every going to change that. And as we walked (or in his case; limped) back down the aisle, the happy cheers and uproars from the crowd echoing in my ear, I knew that there was nothing I'd rather do than spend every night lying beside him and waking up every morning to his face.

I couldn't feel anymore ecstatic and complete than this.

********

"Should we help her?"

"She'll be fine." I replied, biting back a smile and patting him on the knee. My eyes were locked onto Lula who was lying on the dance floor passed out. Ranger was sitting beside me, his good arm draped around the back of the seat, smirk hovering over his lips. Let me tell you ladies, even bandaged up, Carlos Manoso looked good.

At the moment, the reception was in full swing. Everyone was dancing, laughing, talking, congratulating us. But being the uncoordinated dancer I was, I was sitting down going to town on the wedding cake. It was mines, anyway right? Some people liked to dance, others liked to eat over ten pounds of sugar. And this wasn't just any wedding cake. This was a super decker, German chocolate with lots of icing on it. I got to pick it out. The little stick figurines that resembled the bride and groom were either on the table or in my mouth, I wasn't sure.

"You're going to bust out of your dress." Ranger said, staring at my plate. His left leg, the one in the brace, was propped up on a chair.

"I will not! What a rude thing to say to your wife."

He kissed me below the ear. "You'll look beautiful no matter what."

"Yeah, yeah, you're just trying to suck up after that comment." He laughed and kissed me again. I smiled at him and stuffed some more cake into my mouth. "Oh man." I groaned, relishing the taste. "I can't think of anything that's more delicious than wedding cake!"

I realized my hand had slid unconsciously up his leg and was dangerously close to invading Ranger's privacy. I felt him stiffen, lean in behind me and brush a strand of hair from my face to whisper in my ear.

"Give me five minutes to get you out of this dress and I guarantee you won't think twice about wedding cake."

My stomach did a flop and I froze. "What about your leg?"

"I'll take the pain. Hell, I'll chop it off if I have to."

That was all I needed to hear. I dropped my fork, shot up from my seat, hefted him to his feet and dragged him out of there.

I knew from experience that wedding cake had nothing on Ranger.

************

The T.V flickered on to show a camera as it zoomed in and out. The fuzzy picture finally cleared and it turned out to be Connie sitting down at the one of the tables, empty plates laid around her with a passed out Lula sleeping on her shoulder. Connie glanced up, noticed the camera and tried to shield her face.

"Come on! Say something to the bride and groom!" The person holding the camera urged.

Connie sighed and smiled. "Congratulations guys. Hope you live happily ever after and I expect to see you, Stephanie, because there's some skips still out there!"She nodded towards the large, woman lying on her. "And Lula says congrats too."

The camera turned away from the ladies and focused on Tank who was sitting down as well with a cat on his lap and a hamster cage on the table before him. He noticed the camera and grinned. "Uh well, congrats and...live long and well." He petted Reese on her head and put up the peace sign.

The camera landed on Grandma Mazur the next time. She was grinding up against a younger gentlemen on the floor."If Ranger gets tired of my granddaughter, he still has me!

"Good grief." The camera whizzed away and its next victims were Mr. and Mrs. Plum. Ellen Plum looked up from downing whiskey and smiled sheepishly.

"I'd just like to say that I'm proud of you, sweetie and I'm happy that you're happy. I love you." She paused and then elbowed her husband in the ribs.

"I love you too." The old man grumbled reluctantly.

The next image was of Valerie with her husband Albert and her three kids sitting at a table. She looked up from ticking her infant. "Hope you like married life as much as I do, sis!"

Albert patted his wet forehead, opened his mouth and fainted. The girls peered down at him and the camera skittered away to someone else.

"Although I wasn't invited initially even though I am your MOTHER," Ms. Manoso frowned disapprovingly, turning from her conversation with two older, darker looking men. "I'm happy you're finally settling down. I expect grand children VERY soon."

The camera flew towards another target.

Vinnie stared. "WHAT? What do you want?"

It moved pass him and landed on Eddie Gazzara. He was standing at the bar, a beer in his hand with Big Dog next to him. He turned, smiled warmly and lifted his can."You're ruined now. Marriage is the first day of the end of your life. Have fun."

"Great sentiment Gazzara." The cameraman stated flatly.

Big Dog laughed and said, "Don't mind him. He's wasted. Congrats Steph and Ranger."

The camera skimmed to another man. "I'll miss seeing you around, Steph. Congrats and good luck on everything." Her landlord, Dillion nodded.

The next person it stopped on was Mooner. "How'd I get here, bro?"

It forged on, paused and flashed to the left to land on two guys laughing and walking away from the congo line. "Say something to the groom and bride, guys!"

The men turned and blinked. "Congratulations! We'll know you'll be happier with Ranger than with Joe!" Mooch and Tony burst into laughter after their phrase, punching each other in the gut,

"How sweet. And you're suppose to be family." The cameraman grumbled, moving on.

He zoomed onto Lester, Hal and a few other Rangeman employees. They were lined up, and grinning. Lester counted to three and then they all exclaimed, "Congratulations Bombshell and Carlos!"

The camera made a full 360 and bobbed up and down while the cameraman traveled. It flickered by people dancing, talking, and ended up on a man hunched over at the buffet, chowing down on the shrimp. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

The man turned around to expose himself. Diesel grinned. "Like I'd miss this." He winked. "You know, I always thought she'd end up with you."

"Did you now?"

"Nah. It was either Ranger or me." He waved at the camera. "Good job on that, sweetcheeks. You finally got married. Wouldn't even believe it if I wasn't here."

"Were you even invited?"

"Yes if by invited you mean snuck in."

There was a sigh from the cameraman and he walked away. He stopped before a random man, shoved the camera at him and told him to aim it at him. There was some shuffling and flashing of colors before picture came back. Morelli was standing in front of it, grinning from ear to ear. He had Bob by the leash who was trying very hard to chew at a table leg and there was a commotion in the background while the reception party continued on.

"Well..uh..I'd just like to say congratulations guys. And well...I'm glad I was here and Steph, I'm glad your happy. You deserve it. Ranger, take good care of her and uh...well, that's it. Congrats again."

There was a little awkward pause where Morelli just stood there.

"I said that's it."

Another pause. Morelli turned towards the man holding the camera and narrowed his eyes. "That's it!" He growled, stomped over to it and pushed it away. "Get that damn camera out of my face!"

Then everything went black.

Weird ending, I know. I actually got the idea for that from Roseanne. Haha. && No, that wasn't Stephanie's POV at the end. It was third I guess.

Well...Gee, that's the end. No smut. Sorry. Haha. Wow. I can't believe I finished it! Whoo! ^_^ I just want to thank my mother for giving birth to me and-

Nah, just kidding. But thanks to you reviewers out there! Hope you enjoyed my story.

Peace and Love.