Dreams Can Come True: Final Chapter
Thanks so much to everyone who has read this really, really, really long fanfic. Be sure to check out the pictures at the end of the chapter to see pictures of the wedding dress and bouquet that were worn by Sheridan in the final chapter. Also I want to tell you that this story is dedicated to the memory of my father who died in 1994. He was a closet soap fan (especially Days Stefano) and I'm sure he would have liked Passions if he had gotten the chance to see it. He was always very supportive and interested in anything I liked to do and he even bought me a book called 'How to Write For Soap Operas' for my birthday when I was about thirteen because he knew how much I liked watching my soaps. He also had a dream of writing a script for a Star Trek episode that he was never able to achieve and I wish he had been able to read my work.
Again thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this. I would love to hear from everyone who has read this so please email me at gate_princesse@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Jen
Chapter 82: The Wedding
The next morning when Sheridan woke up she didn’t take a quick shower like she usually did when she was on her way to work at the youth center. Instead she indulged herself in a nice long bubble bath and as she soaked in the fragrant water she wished Luis were there to enjoy it with her.
When she stepped out of the tub she wiped the droplets of water from her body with a fluffy towel and brushed back her damp hair before slipping into her silk robe and heading down to the kitchen.
After a light breakfast Sheridan headed back upstairs and got dressed. Just when she sat down at the vanity to do her makeup and her hair the doorbell rang. When Sheridan opened the door Theresa practically bounced in.
“Isn’t it a wonderful morning?” Theresa said excitedly. “I can’t believe my first fashion show is today. I hope nothing goes wrong.”
“Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine. Did you see Luis this morning? I haven’t heard from him yet.”
He had to go to the station on police business and he said he’d see you later. I thought we could go over to the theater together.”
“Okay, just give me a couple minutes to fix my hair and makeup.”
“You don’t need to bother with that Sheridan. I’ve got people at the theater who are going to do you hair and make-up for you. Let’s go.”
When they were walking from the parking lot to the theater Sheridan noticed a large white tent being set up a short distance away from the theater. “What is that for?” she asked Theresa.
“I don’t know. It’s probably for something else.” Theresa feigned innocence, but really she knew it was being set up for the wedding reception that Ethan had arranged for Sheridan and Luis. As the day went on tables and chairs and a dance floor would be set up along with all the decorations. That’s why Theresa was bringing Sheridan to the theater so early. Once she got her inside, Theresa would make sure that Sheridan didn’t leave so she wouldn’t see all the wedding stuff being set up.
Theresa led Sheridan downstairs under the stage where the dressing rooms were and stopped in front of a door with a gold star and ‘Sheridan Crane’ on it.
“What’s all this for?” Sheridan asked.
“Well you are the star of our show and you’re going to be treated like it. Come inside. There was a woman waiting in the dressing room. “Sheridan, this is Lauren. She’s going to give you a massage.”
“A massage? Why?”
“Because I want you to look refreshed and glowing, just like a bride to be. And I don’t want anyone to see you until you walk out on that stage, so make sure that you stay in here.”
“But Theresa, I should be helping you get everything ready for the show. I’m sure there are a lot of last minute things that need to be taken care of.”
“You don’t need to worry about that Sheridan. I have everything under control. Stay in here and relax and I’ll be back in a little while.”
Theresa left before Sheridan could argue again and after some prodding from Lauren, Sheridan finally gave up and got up on the massage table.
About an hour later there was a knock on the door and two women entered the dressing room.
They introduced themselves as Carrie and Monique and informed Sheridan that they would be giving her a manicure, pedicure, and facial. Sheridan thought about arguing with that there was no need, but she was way too relaxed from the massage to put up a fight and she simply sat in the chair and let the women go to work on her.
A while later when her toes and fingers were finished and the last of the guck had been cleansed from her face, Carrie and Monique left and Theresa came in carrying a tray.
“I brought you some food. I figured you’d be starving by now cause it’s way past lunchtime, but I had to wait till after they finished your nails.
“Theresa why am I being pampered like this? This really isn’t necessary. I’m sure there are other things I should be doing to help you get ready.”
“I think it is necessary. I have my reasons and you’ll find out what they are later. But please just trust me and stay in here and relax. Once you’re done with your food, Rolondo will be in to do your hair. Oh, and Luis will be here to see you later. Bye.”
Luis was pacing nervously in the hallway when Pilar and Ivy walked up.
“What’s wrong Luis?” Ivy asked.
“I’m about to go in and see Sheridan. What if she says no Mama?”
“Says no to what?”
“She won’t say no. She loves you.”
“What’s going on?” Ivy asked.
“You can tell her after I go in. Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need luck son. You have love.”
When Luis walked through the dressing room door Sheridan was leaning back in a chair with her eyes closed.
“Let me guess, you’re here to do my makeup.”
“Well, I could try, but you’d probably end up looking like a clown.”
‘Luis!” Sheridan grinned and jumped out of her chair to give Luis a kiss. “I was just thinking about you.”
“What were you thinking?”
“Well, if that door had a lock on it I would show you,” Sheridan teased.
“Save that thought for later tonight. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“What’s wrong Luis, your hands are all sweaty?”
Luis absently wiped his hands on his pants. “Nothing’s wrong Sheridan. Come sit down.” He thrust his hands in his pocket and took a deep breath before he began. He kept one hand in his pocket tightened around the ring box and he clasped one of her hands with his other one.
“Sheridan, I love you so much. Sometimes when we’re together I can’t even remember what my life was like without you in it. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Luis pulled the ring out of his pocket and dropped down on one knee. “Sheridan, will you marry me?”
Happy tears streamed from Sheridan’s eyes. “Oh Luis, of course I’ll marry you.”
Luis slipped the ring on her finger and looked up into her eyes. “Will you marry me today?”
“Today? We can’t possibly get married today? We can’t just run off and elope, Pilar would be so disappointed if she didn’t get to be at your wedding.”
“Mama will be at the wedding. And we aren’t going to run off anywhere. I was thinking we would get married in, oh, about an hour.”
“An hour? You can’t be serious Luis. The fashion show is about to start. We can’t abandon Theresa and the show is raising money for the youth center. We can’t just disappear.”
“We’re not going to disappear and we won’t abandon Theresa. In fact, Theresa will be standing right up there with us when we get married in an hour.”
“But Luis, in an hour it will be time for our part of the show. Oh Luis, the fashion show.” Realization suddenly dawned on Sheridan. “You and Theresa have been planning this all along haven’t you?”
“Surprise,” Luis grinned.
“Theresa wanted to know which of the wedding dress designs was my favorite and what my favorite flowers were. She kept saying she couldn’t decide and wanted to know what I would pick if I were planning my own wedding. I thought it was kind of weird since she had no problem picking out stuff for the rest of the show, but I never imagined this.”
“I wanted to surprise you. To show you how much I love you and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. But I also wanted everything to be perfect, just the way you would want if you had planned it yourself.”
“Oh Luis, everything is perfect. All I really need is you.”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me in an hour?”
“I will absolutely marry you. I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“I would do anything for you Sheridan.” Luis captured Sheridan’s lips in a heart-stopping kiss.
“I can’t believe I’m going to be your wife. Your wife,” Sheridan grinned, “that sounds wonderful.”
“It sounds perfect. In less than an hour you will become Mrs. Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald.”
“I can’t wait.”
“And then there will be a big reception where our friends and family can celebrate with us and I can have the first dance with my new bride.”
“A reception too? I can’t believe that you planned all this.”
“Actually Ethan planned the reception. Didn’t you see the big tent outside?”
“That’s for the reception? Theresa told me she didn’t know what that was for.”
“Well, she knew to be very careful not to spill the beans. Especially after that slip she made about the wedding dress.”
“Oh yeah, when she freaked out because I wanted to show you the design. I can’t believe I didn’t realize something was going on. I thought that was strange, but I just figured Theresa was being superstitious as usual.”
“Yeah, well she’s lucky I didn’t kill her. But I really better get going soon. We haven’t got much time left to finish getting ready and I’ve got to go get into my tux.”
Sheridan grabbed Luis’ hand and pulled him to her. “Please don’t go yet. Just stay another minute. I want to tell you how much I love the ring.”
“I actually wanted to talk to you about the ring before I go. Do you really like it?”
“I love it. It’s so beautiful. It looks antique.”
“Actually it’s a family heirloom.”
“It means so much to me that you would give me something that’s been in your family for so long.”
“It’s not from my family Sheridan, it’s from yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was your grandmother’s ring Sheridan. Your grandmother gave it to your mother and your mother left it for you. She gave it to Mama to keep for you until you were older and you found true love.”
Tears trickled slowly down Sheridan’s cheeks. “My mother left it for me,” Sheridan said quietly. “Oh Luis, you have no idea how special it is to me to have a part of my mother as a symbol of our love.”
“I had been looking for a ring, but I hadn’t been able to find one that was perfect. But when Mama showed me that ring and told me that it had come from your mother I knew it was right. It is the only ring that is good enough for you. It’s not just a symbol of our love Sheridan, it’s a symbol of the love your mother had for you and of the loving family that you and I are going to create together.”
Sheridan’s tears increased. “I love you so much Luis.”
“There’s one more thing before I go Sheridan.” Luis reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. “Your mother left this for you. It’s a letter she wanted you to read on your wedding day. I’m going to leave now so you can be alone when you read this. The next time we see each other we’ll be heading down the aisle. Are you sure you’re ready to take the plunge with me?”
“Just lead me to the cliff my love and I’ll gladly jump.”
Ivy and Pilar were still waiting in the hallway when Luis came out with a grin plastered on his face.
“I take it everything went as planned,” Pilar said.
“I’m so happy for you and Sheridan,” Ivy gushed, “I knew you two were meant to be together.”
“If it weren’t for you Ivy we might never have been together.”
“I just wanted to do what was right for once.”
“Luis, you should probably go get dressed. Sam and Miguel are already in there with Ethan getting their tuxes on. It’s about time you let them know why they’re really here. Theresa just went in to tell Kay and Whitney about the wedding. We’ll help Sheridan finish getting ready.”
“I gave her the letter from her mother. She’s reading it now.”
“We’ll give her a few minutes then.”
Luis headed down the hall into the dressing room where his groomsmen were changing. When Pilar and Ivy finally went in to see Sheridan she was wiping her tear soaked cheeks.
“Sheridan dear are you alright?” Pilar asked concerned.
Sheridan looked up at Pilar, the letter from her mother clutched in her hand and smiled. “I’ve never been happier in my life. I can’t believe I’m getting married today. And this letter from my mother, oh Pilar, I just can’t think of the right words to describe exactly how I feel. I just wish my mother could have been here.”
“But she is Sheridan. She is always with you in your heart and she’s watching down over you. She would be so proud of you just as we are. I’ve always thought of you as one of my own daughters,” Pilar said, “and now you really will be. There is no one I would rather see my son spend the rest of his life with than with you.”
“When I was a child I often wished that I was a part of your family instead of my own. Sorry Ivy.”
“No need to be sorry Sheridan. I often have a similar wish myself. Now Pilar and I are here to help you get ready dear. Do you have all that old, new, borrowed, blue stuff?”
“Well, my engagement ring is old, and the dress is new. No one’s even tried it on but me. But I don’t have anything borrowed or blue.”
“I have the borrowed,” Pilar said, “this is my great grandmother’s lace handkerchief. All the women in my family have carried it with them when they got married. I’m saving it to pass down to Theresa, but I’d like for you to carry it too.”
“Thank you Pilar it’s lovely.”
“Oh, and I have the something blue,” Ivy added and she unclasped the sapphire and diamond bracelet from her wrist and put it on Sheridan’s. “A little wedding present for you and when you and Luis have a daughter you can give it to her.”
“Thank you Ivy. I can’t believe I’m getting married today.”
“Are you nervous?”
“No, not really. And I guess it’s a good thing because I don’t have time to be nervous.”
“Well then, let’s get you ready.” They helped Sheridan with her makeup and her jewelry and she’d just finished putting on the wedding dress when Theresa came in and Ivy and Pilar slipped out of the room.
“Oh Sheridan, you look beautiful,” Theresa gushed with a grin on her face so big she looked like the cat who swallowed the canary.
“I can’t believe you managed to keep all of this a secret from me for so long.”
“It was hard. You’re not mad are you?”
“Of course I’m not mad. This is the most wonderful day of my life. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done.”
“I just want to make sure that you and my brother have the most wonderful wedding Harmony’s ever had. We’d better get you dressed or they’ll try to start without you.” Theresa lifted the drape she had covered the wedding gown with to make sure that Luis didn’t catch a glimpse of it. Theresa wasn’t taking any chances of Luis seeing the dress before the wedding. It was bad enough, she thought, that Luis and Sheridan had seen each other before the wedding but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Luis hadn’t said a word when she suggested that he shouldn’t see Sheridan the day of the wedding and maybe he should write her a letter asking her to marry him. He simply gave her a death stare so strong that she never mentioned it again.
“Oh Theresa, it’s so beautiful,” Sheridan sighed as her eyes traveled the length of the off the shoulder formal gown, from it’s fitted corset bodice to the full billowing skirt that would skim the floor as she walked. She ran her fingers across the delicate floral design of the soft white fabric. When she stepped into the dress and Theresa finished buttoning the last of the dozens of tiny white buttons that ran up the back of the dress, she twirled around in front of the mirror. “I can’t believe this is really happening. I’m really marrying Luis today.”
Theresa fixed the flowing veil in Sheridan’s hair. In just a little while you’ll be part of our family.”
“I can’t wait,” Sheridan grinned.
There was a knock on the door and Ivy stuck her head in. “I hope you’re ready because it’s time to start.
“We’re ready. Let’s go,” Theresa said and she handed Sheridan her bouquet of roses, cymbidium orchids, ivy, and fern, with lavender ribbons flowing between the blossoms and the headed out of the dressing room.
Miguel and Kay emerged from the stage, he from one side and she from the other, and they walked down the aisle, parting when they reached the end.
Chad and Whitney went next and Sam and Ivy after them, following the exact same path as Miguel and Kay. Then the best man Ethan, and the maid of honor, Theresa, walked down the aisle. At the end Theresa joined Kay, Whitney, and Ivy on one side of the stage, where all the ladies were wearing bridesmaids dresses in a beautiful shade of lavender, but all the dresses were of different styles that complemented each of the women perfectly. On the other side of the stage, Ethan joined Miguel, Chad, and Sam clad in their matching tuxedos.
The wedding march began playing when Sheridan stepped into the wings back stage and her eyes met Luis’, who was standing on the opposite side. They began walking towards each other simultaneously and when they met in the center of the stage, they reached for each other, clasping their hands together and silently staring into each other’s eyes for a moment.
“I love you so much Sheridan.”
“Oh Luis, I love you too. I can’t wait to start the rest of my life as your wife. I’d always hoped, but I never truly believed it would really happen, but what you said was true. You were absolutely right Luis,” Sheridan said as they began to walk, arms linked down the aisle towards Father Lonnigan.
“Of course I was right. What exactly was I right about?”
Sheridan stopped at the front of the stage as they reached the spot where Father Lonigan was waiting to marry them and she turned to look at Luis, her smile displaying all the love she felt in her heart as she spoke, “that dreams can come true.”
The End