At 2:40 I was downstairs, dressed in my finest suit. It was actually my only suit. I had to wait exactly five minutes for Molli. She looked dressed for business, but I noticed her eyes were a bit red. Shit, I let it get a bit far. As soon as she walked up to me I turned and headed to the chapel. I figured if I walked faster, time might jump ahead with me. We turned down a couple of halls and passed a sign that said "Chapels" with an arrow pointing in the direction we were headed. Molli did a double-take but followed along.

We entered a lounge with a few doors to different chapels. I entered the chapel I had reserved, and Molli followed more slowly. "I don't understand, Mr. Drake. The meeting is in the Wedding Chapel?" Leading her on like this was frustrating. I snapped accidentally.

"Just wait here, Molli!" I indicated a chair by the door. I saw her eyes begin to water as she sat slowly in the chair. Time needed to speed up a bit faster. I walked to the front of the chapel and spoke quietly with the man who would perform the service. A moment later I heard Molli behind me. It was the first time I had ever heard her distraught in my life.

"If you're going to fire me, you could have done it over the phone." I turned to face her and was shocked to see mascara following tears down her face. I felt her pain in my chest.

"MolliI'm not going ..." My words caught in my throat. Mia walked in and she was simply stunning. I didn't think a woman could look so good. Her long hair was pulled back and to the right by a rich red ribbon. Two red roses were over her left ear highlighting the lacy white dress that flowed over her curves. The dress was bound by a red belt that tied in a bow on the left. She was holding a small bouquet of red roses. "Beautiful," I said by instinct as I stared at my future wife. Mia smiled and the whole image glowed brighter.

Molli heard my word, saw my smile and followed my eyes. Mia's expression changed immediately. "Dale!" She started hurrying forward to Molli. "What did you do to her?" Molli's mouth was wide open; mascara was all over her cheeks. She kept looking back and forth between Mia and myself.

"It went too far. She thought I was going to fire her." I was pleading my case to deaf ears.

"Ahh, MolliI'm so sorry it came to this." Mia wrapped Molli in her arms. Molli was still in shock, and I don't think she even recognized Mia.

"I was about to tell her when you walked in ..." I didn't want Mia upset with me on our wedding day.

"Well you should have told her sooner." She started rubbing Molli's back. "You probably had her in tears all day." She sat Molli on a nearby chair and looked back at the smiling Wally. "Wally, grab some water and a towel or something." He left, chuckling. Molli's mouth was still standing open. "Well, tell her, Dale. I won't have any tears at our wedding." Molli's mouth opened wider. Mia's hands were on her hips, waiting for me to comply. I softened my voice as I dropped to one knee in front of Molli.

"You remember Mia Perez, Molli." I smiled trying to make sure she understood I had no ill will. "We kind of hit it off during the detox." I grabbed one of Mia's hands off

her hip. "We're getting married today, and I needed you here as a witness." Molli mouth was still wide open, looking between Mia's face and mine. I gently took hold of Molli's hand. "Are you alright?" I heard Wally re-enter the chapel.

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"You've known her for a week." Molli looked back to me.

"You don't like anybody." I laughed and patted her hand.

"I assure you, I love this woman more than life itself" I smiled at Mia who dropped her other hand off her hip and smiled back.

"I didn't even know you could smile." Molli was still in shock. Wally exchanged the water and towel for Mia's bouquet. Mia sat down next to Molli.

"Your mascara is a bit askew." Mia dipped the end of the towel in the water and began wiping the worst of it off her face.

"Making me take care of Mia was the best thing you could have done for me." I stood back up. "I needed her as much as she needed me."

"I never met the Dale you know." Mia kept cleaning Molli's face as she talked. "I fell in love with a very tender man with a strange SpaghettiOs fixation." Molli laughed at that. Leave it to Mia to move us past the tears. Wally leaned down near Molli.

"These two share a very compatible type of insanity." He chuckled again.

"You see, MolliI have no intention of firing you. You are my second favorite woman on this whole planet." I smiled at her, figuring that should settle it. I saw tears welling up in her eyes. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around me and started bawling. I looked at Mia for help, and she was crying too. I looked at Wally.

"I knew this would be an insane wedding." Wally started chuckling again. I was beginning to think he was a bit on the insane side.

Once the girls had fixed their makeup, the wedding went off without a hitch. Mia surprised me with a little poetic vow about me pulling her from a pit of darkness into "my heart full of light." I had to think fast, and I could see in her eyes that this was payback for a handful of paint.

"Mia, before you entered my life, I thought love was only a word for poets." I smiled into her eyes. "I now know poets are just souls who ache for what I have through you. You are my ocean, my waves. You are my SpaghettiOs." I heard a whimper from Molli and I saw the water in Mia's eyes. Wally was holding back another chuckle.

Mia and I took our witnesses out to dinner after the wedding to celebrate. We spent the entire dinner laughing and telling Molli all that had happened over the last

week. We were into our fourth bottle of wine when Mia decided to give her gift to Molli.

"Dale told me why you made him take care of me." Mia was glowing. "I felt bad that my thoughtless husband would do such a thing." I interrupted.

"Hey, I didn't know you then!" Mia smacked me lightly in the shoulder.

"A tenth anniversary only comes around once. It deserves to be recognized." Mia looked at me like I might forget some future event. "We wanted to buy you a second honeymoon to make amends." Mia smiled handing an envelope over to Molli.

Molli opened the envelope with wide eyes. "Oh my God!" she said as she looked at the three-week cruise to the islands and South America.

"And everything is planned." Mia was all jumpy. "I wanted to make sure you didn't have to think about a thing, just like when you take care of Dale." Mia was really proud of herself. "Dale cleared the time with Charlie's boss, and I'll make sure Dale doesn't try and call during the trip." Molli started tearing up again.

"Oh my gosh, guys! This is amazing!" Molli was wiping the tears from her eyes. Mia hugged her and started crying too. You would have thought we were poking them with burning sticks.

I was excited, because I saw the desert tray heading our way. I slipped the pastry chef a hundred to make something special for me. The waiter went around, delivering the desert, leaving Wally for last. I was getting antsy. The waiter smiled at me and reached under the tray and pulled out a small top-hat-shaped cake. It was perfect. He placed it in front of Wally, who for once looked very confused.

"I don't think this is what I ordered." He looked up at the waiter who just smiled and nodded at me.

"I quote: 'If you two are friends at the end if this I'll eat my hat.' " My timing was perfect. Mia burst out laughing which infected all of us. To his credit, Wally ate the entire thing. I think he liked being the center of attention even if it was a joke at his expense.

Over coffee, Molli was whispering to Mia. Molli reached into her purse and removed what looked like an old envelope that had seen better days. Molli looked at me. "I made a promise a few years back that earlier today, I thought I would have to break." Her eyes were getting watery. "I think I was planning to throw this at you, Dale." She was indicating the envelope, half smiling and half crying. Women were becoming confusing again. "Now, I get to keep that promise." She handed the envelope to Mia, and then wiped some tears from her eyes.

Mia seemed a little confused too. The envelope didn't have any markings and seemed to contain more than just paper. She broke the seal and looked inside, and I saw her eyes well up. I tried to see what was inside as she pulled out a single folded piece of paper. Mia opened it and began to cry which was echoed by Molli. They hugged each other.

I reached over and looked into the envelope. My eyes began to water as I looked at my Grandma's butterfly broach. Mia handed me the letter and hugged me as I read:

To whom ever has found my Dale's heart,

Please take care of it. It is very precious to me.

Love,

Eleanor.

THE END