A 4CW Wedding. Part Two

PART TWO

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to join together in holy matrimony..."

The Priest continues to speak as he begins the ceremony, the congregation observing the traditional wedding hymns and prayers as directed and instructed to by the Priest, whose bellowing voice echoes around the large church so that even the guests seated at the back can hear clearly.

"Before you both can exchange your vows and make your lifelong commitment to each other, if there is anyone here present whom knows of any reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

The Priest utters the words that Mr Andolini had dreaded all day, if his daughter and her new husband, even the thought of her being married to that man sends a cold chill down his spine, were going to interrupt the wedding then surely this would be the moment...  Mr Andolini and Vinny DeVici look around, expecting to see the pair burst into the church as they had feared, but it doesn't happen... Nothing happens... murmurs from the guests can be heard but no one raises their hand nor voice, as Mr Andolini turns his gaze back to his wife to be as beads of sweat drip from his jaw line onto his glistening black shoes below.
The service continues, as both Mr Andolini and Eden Scarlett exchange their vows and then the Priest directs Mr Andolini that it is now time to exchange rings to signify the union, but just as Mr Andolini turns to Vinny, there is a loud noise from outside the church, followed by another which causes the whole church to turn their heads towards the door, including Eden and Mr Andolini.  That feeling of dread and anticipation returns to the pit of his stomach just as he thought it had gone and the worst was over, it returns.

"Vincent."

Without hesitation, Vinny nods and begins to walk up the aisle towards the door, but before he reaches the halfway point, a voice shouts out from the front of the church.

"Wait!"

It was Eden, as she turns away from the Priest and the groom, as she begins to unceremoniously run up the aisle towards Vinny DeVici who is a little taken aback more by seeing Eden run towards him than he is about the noise outside the church.

"The rings. Give me the rings."

Eden doesn't wait for Vinny to retrieve the rings from his own inside pocket, as she reaches inside his jacket and slides her hand into his pocket, retrieving the two rings that were held loosely in his pocket.  She throws a little smile at Vinny before turning and running back to the front of the church with rings in hand.

"Let's hurry this bit along, shall we?"

Eden gives Mr Andolini his wedding ring, and keeps a hold of the smaller one, as she places it on her own finger, and then motions to the groom to hurry along, who obliges by sliding the ring onto his own finger as the priest looks on a little stunned and Vinny DeVici leaves the church to investigate the noises.

"You heard the lady."

The Priest is almost lost for words as he begins to mumble and struggle to figure out where he should pick thing up from, but seeing both the bride and groom looking over their shoulders towards the door and then back towards him, waving their hands in a circular motion to try and hurry him along, he skips right to the end bit..

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

A huge smile of relief comes over Mr Andolini, as if all his worries have been lifted from his shoulders, as he looks at his new bride and steps forward with pride and joy in his eyes as he leans in to kiss Eden, but just as he does, Eden steps around him, and heads off to the door of which the priest had emerged from earlier.

"Can we get out this way?"

She asks the priest whilst still moving, it is only when her hand turns the door handle that Mr Andolini realises what she is doing, and by leaving by the side exit they can avoid whoever is out front waiting for them, and his confused expression turns to one of almost happiness again as he understands what his new wife is doing and he turns and darts after Eden as the congregation all quickly rise to their feet, all a little unsure of what is going on as both husband and wife disappear into the side room..

BANG...

The guests all begin to clap as they applaud the new couple

BANG.. BANG...

Both Mr and Mrs Andolini disappear from view

BANG... BANG... BANG...

The loud banging wakes Mr Andolini from his day dream, as he blinks quickly, as he welcomes his brain back to reality after spending the last few minutes reminiscing about his wedding and what was the happiest day of his life, only 7 days earlier...  His eyes begin to focus on the picture of he and Eden taken a couple months earlier, as he stares into the eyes of his beautiful new bride..

BANG.. BANG...

"Are you not going to answer that?"

Mr Andolini asks as he shakes off his day dream and looks up at the man sitting in the arm chair opposite him in his office... The man is dressed in a grey suit, not nearly as well tailored as his own suit, and wearing glasses on the bridge of his nose, the man pushes them up so they fit snugly as he rises from his chair, straightening out his suit as he does and quips..

"I'm your attorney sir, not your butler."

The man has a little smile to himself at the speed of his reply, being amused by his own little one liner to Mr Andolini, yet he still finds himself walking towards the door and doing the one thing he just jokingly said he wouldn't.  Opening the door, he reveals a man no older than 20 years, dressed in green knee length shorts and a green short sleeved shirt with a large girth to fit around and the letters "IPS" embroidered onto the chest of the shirt as well as on the front of his green cap that he seems to wear with pride.  The young man looks at the attorney who answered and the door and asks, "Mr. Andolini?" to which the attorney chuckles to himself and then turns around to face Mr Andolini who stands up from his desk and announces, "Yes?" to which the young IPS man turns his attention from the attorney and to the real Mr Andolini and then reaches inside his bag which is flung over his shoulder..

"Is this your wedding present, Jim?"  Mr Andolini directs the question towards his attorney, but before he can respond, Mr Andolini retorts with, "It's...a little late." Just as the attorney began to shake his head to say No, he stop himself and to keep the joking nature going, he remarks, "You know me sir, better late than never," and the two men have a little chuckle to themselves as the delivery man takes out a large envelope from his bag and hands it to Mr Andolini who has by now made his way from his desk to the office door.

"You've been served. Have a nice day."

The young man says as he immediately turns and walks away from the office, he had served enough legal notices in his short time to know that it was never a good idea to hang around waiting for a response.

TO BE CONTINUED