They arrived at Peter’s twenty minutes later. Peter showed Rachel and James were they would be sleeping then Natalie told Rachel she was taking James out to show him around and the two of them marched happily out the door leaving Peter and Rachel alone. Peter made some coffee and the two of them settled in the living room.

“So what is it you wanted to show me?” Peter asked.

“This” Rachel replied. She rummaged around in her handbag and pulled out her purse “You said Micky carries around a picture of me in his wallet, well guess what” She said and took something from her purse and handed it to Peter. He took it and realised it was a photo of Micky and Rachel.

“My goodness! Look at that, you guys must be in your early twenty’s at least” Peter said as he grinned at the picture.

“We are, that was taken at Micky and Jenny’s wedding in ‘68,” Rachel told him. The picture was of Micky and Rachel grinning at each other like Cheshire cats, it looked as though they were dancing and they both looked so happy.

“You know, I used to have to biggest crush on you back then,” Peter confessed.

“You did! Really?”

“Oh yeah. Davy used to tease me about it all the time, he never quite understood how you never picked up on it as well”.

“Why didn’t you tell me that thirty-five years ago? I had a crush on you as well,” Rachel told him.

“You did!”

“Uh-huh”

“Wow, how dumb are we! I never told you because I thought that you were in love with Micky” Peter told her.

“Ew no way! He was my best friends husband! That would’ve been wrong on so many levels!” Rachel said and Peter laughed.

“I guess you’re right, so what about when he and Jennifer split up? I mean you guys lived together for quite a few years, didn’t you think about it then?”

“Not at first no, I was too busy trying to help him get better. I suppose as time went on and he moved out and started dating again, I guess I thought about it then but he met Kathryn and I got married, so it wasn’t meant to be”.

“Natalie thinks Micky is in love with you”.

“I know, she tells me that every time I talk to her but I guess we’ll never know if it’s true or not”.

“How do you feel about him now?” Peter asked. Rachel tried to avoid the question, but didn’t know how.

“I haven’t seen him for fifteen years Pete, I have no idea how I feel about him I don’t even know if we can be friends again we’ve been apart for so long”.

“You and I haven’t seen each other for thirty-years and look at us now, it’s like I only saw you yesterday” Peter said.

“Yeah I know and I’m so happy to have you back in my life again but with Micky it’s different we were so close it’s going to be hard to see if we can revive that same friendship you know”.

“I guess you’re right but let me tell you this, he still talks about you all the time. He calls you his saviour. I really admire the way you took care of him after he split up with Jennifer. He’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that you saved his life and I have to agree with Nats, I think he’s in love with you” Peter told her. Rachel didn’t know what to say to that she was a bit stunned so she chose to say nothing and instead stared into her coffee like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Peter smiled then changed the subject “So how long are you and James planning on staying?”

The rest of the day pretty much consisted of the same thing. Peter and Rachel sitting around catching up and getting to know each other again. James returned at around six with Natalie still with him.

“Don’t you guys ever get sick of each other?” Rachel asked as Natalie and James came in through the living room door.

“Yes” They both said at the same time then glared at each other.

“Are you sure those two aren’t related?” Peter whispered.

“No I'm not sure at all. Sometimes I’m amazed at how close they are considering their parents don’t talk to each other anymore” Rachel whispered back.

“Will you two stop whispering about us” Natalie protested.

“Sorry” Peter and Rachel said in unison.

“Actually Aunt Rach, there’s something I want to talk to you about” Natalie told her.

“There is? What is it?” Rachel asked

“Come with me” Natalie said and lead Rachel out of the room, leaving James and Peter alone to get to know each other.

“What’s up honey?” Rachel asked when she and Natalie had settled at the kitchen table.

“My mom called while James and I were out”.

“Called where?” Rachel asked a little confused.

“My cell” Natalie replied holding up her mobile phone.

“Oh right, I really need to catch up with technology”.

“Anyway she called to tell me she’s able to get off work and therefore she will be able to the wedding after all…so it’s not only Dad you’ll be reunited with it’s Mom too” Natalie told her. Rachel sighed and rubbed her temples.

“Oh Nats I can’t go now Jenny hates me I haven’t spoken to her for twenty-seven years”.

“Of course you can go. I told Mom you’d be there I think she’s really looking forward to seeing you Aunt Rach. She regrets the way she acted she knows you were only trying to look out for her and Dad,” Natalie said.

“She does hate me. I loved you’re mother like a sister and she cut me out of her life when all I wanted to do was help her. She does hate me,” Rachel told her.

“You have to believe me she doesn’t hate you. She really regrets losing you she knows she was wrong and she wants you to forgive her”.

“I can’t believe this! First Micky and now Jenny too, Denise is not going to be happy if we overshadow her wedding”.

“Does that mean you’ll still come?” Natalie asked.

“I have to, I’m Peter’s date I can’t let him down” Rachel told her.

“Oh this is great” Natalie said and jumped up and hugged Rachel “I love you” She added.

“I love you too” Rachel replied. Rachel came back into the living room.

“Bye Uncle Peter bye James see you tomorrow” Natalie called as she headed out the door.

“Bye Nats” Peter replied. Rachel sat down and put her head in her hands “Everything ok?” Peter asked.

“Jenny’s gonna be there tomorrow as well” She told him.

“Oh...big day” Peter said.

Later that night Rachel went to bed and laid out her outfit for the next day. She was feeling so nervous she could hardly breath and didn’t sleep at all that night. She hadn’t counted on coming face to face with Jennifer as well as Micky and she had no idea what to expect at all. When morning came Rachel got up and went downstairs to find James and Peter in the kitchen engrossed in deep conversation.

“What are you two talking about?” She asked as she came in through the kitchen door.

“Morning sweetheart, music mostly James is thinking of starting a band,” Peter told her.

“Oh he is, is he?” Rachel asked glaring at her son.

“It’s just an idea Mum, nothing final” James said defensively.

“Do you want some breakfast Rach?” Peter asked.

“No thank you, I’m far too nervous to eat,” She told him. She poured some coffee and sat down at the table. Peter could tell she was overly nervous.

“You’ll be fine” He reassured her “Come tomorrow you’ll be laughing at how nervous you are now” He said placing a hand over hers.

“I hope so I’d be less nervous if it was just Micky but knowing Jenny’s gonna be there as well is making me feel worse” She sighed then looked at her son “So have you decided if you’re coming yet?” she asked him.

“Yeah I kinda have too, Natalie said if I don’t then she’ll tell everyone about the time I threw up over Mike Nesmith” James replied, wincing a little.

“Jeez I forgot all about that! Well hun you were only five at the time and it was your own fault for eating too much wedding cake” Rachel said with a giggle.

“Wait a minute when was this?” Peter asked.

“At Micky’s wedding to Kathryn, you couldn’t make it remember” Rachel told him.

“Oh yeah, well I’m sorry I missed that, I would’ve loved to have seen the look on Mike’s face”.

“Well he wasn’t exactly very happy about it and also that’s another reason why he dislikes me,” Rachel added with another giggle.

“Why couldn’t you make it to the wedding Peter?” James asked.

“I was in prison,” Peter said. James stared at him, not really sure what to say.

“Oh” He replied finally. Peter laughed

“It’s a long story I’ll tell you about it sometime but the short version is I was caught trying to carry drugs over the border” He said.

“Really!” James said and Peter nodded.

“Like I said, I’ll tell you the long version some time” He said with a grin.

Rachel spent the rest of the day locked up in her room staring at her wedding outfit, she was curled up on her bed and had been there a few hours when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

“Mum are you ok? Can I come in?” it was James.

“Yeah sweetheart I’m fine and of course you can come in” She replied. James opened the door and cautiously peered in, and then he came over and sat opposite his mother on the bed. He was silent for a moment then he said.

“Peter said if we’re gonna be in LA a while he’d teach me how to play guitar”. Rachel smiled.

“Is that your subtle way of asking me how long I wanna stay here?” She asked.

“Pretty much, yeah” James replied nodding and Rachel laughed.

“I don’t know to be honest, I guess I’ll have to see what happens at the wedding,” She confessed.

“Well just so you know, I don’t mind staying. I really like Peter Mum he seems like a good guy”.

“He is, he’s one of the best”.

“Are you sure you’re ok? I don’t really remember Micky but from what Nats tells me you and he were pretty close”.

“Yeah we were he’s probably the one person who knows every single thing about me, he knows things even your father never knew, and I’m the same with him. I met him through Jennifer but he told me things about his past he never told her”.

“So what happened? How did you lose contact?” James questioned and Rachel sighed.

“To be perfectly honest I have no idea. I think a lot of it had to do with Kathryn. At the time I was living in America with you’re father but Kathryn who’s also English didn’t want to stay in America so she made Micky move to England with her. Also Micky knew Kathryn didn’t like me very much so she wasn’t happy with him spending time with me”.

“And you haven’t seen him for fifteen years?” James asked and Rachel shook her head.

“Nope, we spoke on the phone for a couple of months but it was costing a fortune in overseas phone bills and then your father got real sick and I had to focus on taking care of him and my relationship with Micky was put on a back burner until it burned out altogether. I heard he moved back to America after he divorced Kathryn and then you and I moved to my native England after your father died. I should’ve called Micky so many times after he split with Kathryn but I never found the courage and now fifteen years later, here I am waiting to gatecrash his wedding”.

“Oh mother I really wish you’d stop saying that! Both Peter and big nose have assured you you’ll be welcome,” James told her.

“Why do you insist on calling Natalie ‘big nose’?” Rachel asked letting out a small chuckle and James shrugged.

“I dunno, same reason she calls me ‘pea brain’ I suppose, to wind each other up”.

“James Michael Lockhart you are twenty years old for goodness sake”.

“I know I just can’t help it around Nats, she makes me feel about five years old again and I have the same effect on her. It’s just the way we are, she treats me like a little brother and I treat her like an older sister” He replied.

“Ok, I don’t really think I’ll ever understand you two” Rachel said then changed the subject “Do you remember Davy at all?”

“Only what I’ve seen on television I don’t remember ever having met him”.

“Well you have. I made damn sure I lost Mike as soon as possible but I tried so hard not to lose Davy and Peter. I lost Peter pretty much the day the Monkees ended but I managed to keep Davy for a good number of years after that. You stayed with Davy and his wife Lindsay when you were three, when I came to pick you up you didn’t want to leave, you had the best time and didn’t stop talking about it for weeks afterwards”.

“Really! Why did I go and stay with them?”

“I can’t remember now, it was only for a weekend but I hated it I missed you so much”.

“Well I’m sure I missed you too” James said.

The time had come far to quickly for Rachel’s liking. Suddenly she was in Peter’s car headed for the church, she had a sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach and all she wanted to do was go back home to London and hide in the corner of her flat but it was too late now, she was there and Peter was already pulling up outside the church. He turned to Rachel.

“You ready sweetheart?” He asked with a warm smile. She took a deep breath and turned to her friend.

“Yeah come on let’s do it” She said and the two of them and James got out of the car and headed for the gate of the church and that’s as far as Rachel got, she stopped outside the church “I can’t do it Pete I can’t go in there I just can’t” She said as the sick feeling in her stomach began to rise up to her throat.

“Of course you can, come on you’ve come this far I’m not going to let you back out now it’ll be fine I promise. Anyway you said you’d be my date you’re not letting me down now,” Peter told her “I’m depending on you” He added.

“But what if...” She began to say but Peter stopped her.

“No more ‘buts’ no more ‘what ifs’ you’ll never know anything unless you walk through that door” He said pointing at the door of the church.

“Come on Mum we’ve gotta go because if you don’t go then I don’t wanna go which means Natalie will tell every one about me throwing up on Mike” James added, prompting his mother a little more. Rachel looked from James to Peter then back to James again and saw the determination on their faces and realised there was no way she was going to win this one. She let out a breath she hadn’t even realised she was holding.

“Ok fine, you win as always, you never let me win an argument,” She told Peter and he smiled.

“It’s why you love me, now come on let’s get this show on the road” he said and cocked out his elbow so Rachel could slip her arm through it and the three of them walked through the gates.

Inside the church Micky Dolenz was getting anxious. He hated this part about getting married, the waiting part. He knew Denise would be late because Denise was always late. Micky couldn’t recall her ever being on time at all during their relationship and that was making him even more nervous. He was sitting on the front pew tapping his foot nervously.

“What time is it now?” He asked his best man, Davy Jones, who was standing over him trying to calm him down.

“It’s about two minutes since you last asked me” Davy replied irritably “I don’t know why you insisted on leaving so early anyway, Denise isn’t due for another forty-five minutes”.

“I know, I just couldn’t stand staring at those four walls any longer, I had to get out of that room” Micky confessed.

“Jeez Mick you’ve done this twice before I don’t understand what you’re so...” But Davy’s sentence trailed off

“You don’t understand what I’m so...what? I really wish you’d finish your sentences Davy” Micky told him but Davy didn’t reply so Micky looked up at him and realised he wasn’t paying attention to him at all anymore, instead he was staring at something at the back of the church. Micky wondered what could be so fascinating it would make Davy trailing off mid-sentence so he stood up and turned around. He saw her immediately...the woman he hadn’t seen for fifteen years clinging nervously to Peter’s arm.

“My god” Were the only words he could manage before speech failed him completely.

continued