Vivian laughed out loud in disbelief. "This ought to be good, explain, please."
"I can't risk having you in town," Heather explained with her arms folded. "It'll be safer for me if you, your husband and that secret leave town. What if it was Kevin who heard that day at the mall?"
"How tight is that bun pulled back, Heather?" Vivian asked her with her jaw dropped. "The hell we're leaving town because you're paranoid! If Kevin finds out, it's your own damn fault!"
"What are you doing, following me?" Lalie asked Kevin as she noticed Kevin following her.
"No," Kevin replied as Lalie was cornered into the wall. "We need to have a talk."
"I did all the talking I needed to," Lalie slowly told him as she tried to get around Kevin but Kevin held her back.
"Listen," Kevin calmly told her. "I'm sorry I ran out of my office like that. I just couldn't believe what was happening. Why did you tell me what you said about not getting married to Heather?"
Lalie shook her hand and tried not to reply but Kevin gave her an encouraging look to tell him. "Isn't it obvious?" Lalie told him softly.
"It's not," Kevin told her in a serious tone. "I know you, Lalie, and you wouldn't try changing my mind about Heather for no reason."
Lalie looked up at Kevin into the eyes. "She's not marrying you for the right reasons."
Kevin looked confused at Lalie.
"I should have known I couldn't have a civil conversation with you!" Heather angrily said as she faced the mirror again before storming out of the bathroom.
"What a ruthless, well, I won't say the word in a place of worship," Vivian frowned and then looked down at her purse and opened it to see the tape in there. "I know what I have to do about this."
"Heather, where were you?" Carole asked Heather in a worried tone.
"I was in the bathroom," Heather truthfully told her. "What's going on?"
"I wanted to take pictures outside with you and Lalie," Carole explained motioning for Tracy to come over and then looking around for Lalie. "Where on earth is Lalie now? My daughters are disappearing left and right!"
"What do you mean Heather isn't marrying me for the right reasons, Lalie?" Kevin asked Heather in a very confused yet interested tone.
"Look," Lalie whispered. "This marriage is not what you think it is and Heather knows what she's doing."
"Tell me," Kevin whispered back. "What is she doing?"
Carole walked up and interrupted Lalie from telling Kevin.
"Why are you over here?" Carole asked with a smile as she smiled at Kevin, also.
Lalie looked angry that she got interrupted. "I was talking to him about something."
Carole looked taken aback that Lalie answered her like that. "You can finish this conversation later. We're going to take pictures outside and then we're starting the ceremony!"
Carole took Lalie's hand and led her back where everyone else was standing as she, Tracy and Heather went outside to take a picture together. Kevin looked worried standing in the back as he looked in the chapel at the congregation.
While Heather, Carole, Tracy and Lalie were outside taking those pictures, Vivian tapped one of the ushers on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Yes, Ma'am?" the usher asked as he turned around to look at Vivian.
"Can you do me a favor?" Vivian asked the usher.
"Do you know those TV's on the cart that have the VCR's attached to them?" Vivian asked as she waited for his reaction. "Are there any of those around here?"
The usher thought about that for a minute. "I think in the rectory by the pastor's office, they have one when they show taped presentations from the diocese."
"Be a doll and bring that over after the ceremony starts," Vivian told him as she reached into her purse and pulled out a bill.
"What does a TV and VCR have to do with the wedding?" the usher asked, looking at the bill that Vivian was flashing in front of his face. "It's for diocese presentations."
"Oh," Vivian whispered as she put the bill into his palm and closed it tight. "I have a little presentation of my own that I'd like to show."
The usher looked down at the cash and nodded in agreement as Vivian went into the chapel.
Carole finished taking the pictures outside and the whole congregation had arrived. Everyone went to where they were supposed to be. Before long, the ceremony had begun.
Kevin was standing at the altar as everyone started coming down the aisle. As the bridesmaids and others were walking up the aisle, a nervous Heather and her father waited in the back until it was their turn to march up that aisle.
"I'm so nervous," Heather admitted with a laugh.
"Don't be," Harold assured her. "Everything is going to be fine. Just think, in a little while you'll be married to the man standing at that altar."
Heather smiled as she waited to start walking up the aisle. "It'll be heaven."
"I can tell this was meant to be," Harold whispered to Heather as it got closer for them to march up.
"I'm not sure about a lot of things," Heather told him with a smile. "This is one thing I am sure of." Heather thought about her comfortable future lifestyle as she continued to wait.
Suddenly, the music she had longed for began to play and all eyes faced the back of the chapel as Heather and Harold stood in the doorway and slowly began to walk up the aisle. Kevin looked at Heather as she made her way up, still thinking about what Lalie had said. It couldn't be true. Could it?
Heather smiled widely as she slowly walked up the aisle and received different types of glances from the different guests. She ignored anything negative and continued to make her way up the aisle. She made it to the altar and Harold returned to his seat.
Heather smiled with tears in her eyes at Kevin as the priest started the ceremony. Kevin nervously smiled back and quickly exchanged glances with Lalie as Lalie had hoped that Kevin remembered what she had told him.
Tracy, still angry with Kevin for what Heather said he did, uncomfortably stood on the altar and tried not to look in Kevin's direction. She was glad she was there for her friend, whether she supported the marriage or not.
Seeing that the ceremony had begun, the usher left the chapel and headed over to the rectory to get what Vivian requested.
Vivian looked on as the ceremony continued and waited for the priest to ask if there were any objections.
As the priest continued to speak, thoughts ran through Kevin's head as to what wrong doings Heather could possibly be doing.
Lalie watched Kevin in the corner of her eye as she assured herself that Kevin would be wise in the end and end the farce. Perhaps, there really was only thing she could do.
Carole and Harold held hands and smiled as the ceremony continued. They could feel the love between everyone on the altar and off the altar.
"Something is off kilter," Brenda whispered to Gabi. "Whenever Heather is around, I don't know, something is going to happen."
Gabi put her hand up to signal Brenda to be silent during the ceremony. "It's bad enough we had to sit back here!" Gabi whispered in a groan as she tried to look above the other people.
Vivian knew the part was coming where the priest would ask if there were any objections. Her palms felt warm as she glanced over at her husband.
The usher returned to his place in the back, as the wheel cart with the TV and VCR sat in the vestibule.
A worried Kevin stopped thinking about what might be happening and turned to Heather. Heather saw Kevin turn to her in the corner of her eye and looked over at him and gave him a reassuring smile and looked back at the priest. Kevin blinked as he, too, looked back at the pastor.
"Look at him," Tracy muttered to herself in disgust. "How can Heather marry someone like that? Sure, from the outside he looks nice, but on the inside..."
"I can't," Lalie told herself in a panic. "But I have to." Lalie looked over at Heather and Kevin with tears in her eyes and thought about the day at the mall where she found out Heather's secret. "I have to do this," Lalie told herself as she, along with Vivian, waited for the priest to ask about any objections.
The priest then looked at the crowd and asked, "If there is any reason why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace."
Heather smiled smugly as she knew no one would say anything about this, if they knew what was good for them!
Kevin swallowed hard as he looked at the pastor without saying a word.
Lalie's breathing rate increased as her mind raced debating whether to speak up or, as the priest put it, forever hold her peace. She knew she couldn't let Kevin go through this and began to open her mouth but another voice other than hers came out instead.
"Wait," Vivian stood up with tears in her eyes.
The congregation gasped and whispered as Mr. Neelan jumped up with his jaw agape. Lalie and Tracy turned around and looked as shocked as hell as they saw Vivian standing there halting the ceremony. Kevin turned looking shocked and looked at his mother as he put his hand up trying to figure out what she was doing. Heather had her eyes widened at Vivian and Heather's eyes quickly darted around the room to see the other's reactions.
Chapter 34
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