[ Fraser would have been disappointed if Ray hadn't come back to the bridge jumping by the end of it. If he knew his friend at all, he wasn't going to get through the scriptures and singing in even the first half an hour of it. Ray was Catholic, after all, and the only thing keeping the ceremony out of his local church was his history with the place. Unsurprising, really. So they'd picked out this hotel, and a little chapel on the waterfront, and it was all very romantic and very beautiful.
And it was going to break Ray Kowalski's heart.
Fraser paused on the way out the door, stopping and just squeezing Ray's shoulder, and he said: ] No matter what happens I want you to remember you're my partner. We have an unbreakable bond, you and I, stronger than friendship or marriage, and-- [ But that was all he managed to say, they were standing in the hallway and a frantic Ray Vecchio was looking for him, scuttling down the hall in his tuxedo and glancing awkwardly at Kowalski before deciding to pretend he wasn't there at all.
We need to move, Ray said. They've been circling the block for five minutes. You ready? Good, come on. Diefenbaker ran down the hall with Ray, and Fraser smiled apologetically, tugged on Kowalski's arm and followed.
The church was as beautiful as he expected it to be, decked out in lilies because they were Stella's favorite, and delicate white peonies buried in oceans of purple-pink hydrangeas stood in the vases that adorned the aisle. Fraser stood with Ray, a blaze of red at the front of the church, and there was a collective breath when Stella walked in, all in white. He wondered whether Ray remembered her like this himself. He'd never asked--had they had a church wedding, or married on the fly? Stella's parents had, he suspected, not approved of her marrying the son of two polish immigrants, but where had that led them? He tried to find Ray's face as Stella walked down the aisle, but was forced to turn away and do his duty at last, taking a seat in the front of the church with bride and groom while the man presiding over the ceremony talked about eternal love and the responsibilities of matrimony, what it meant to create a loving home and children, if they had them. They sang, they sat, there was more talking. More singing. Then the vows, and Diefenbaker came up the aisle with the rings, and Fraser at last looked for his friend - Speak now or forever hold your peace - but Ray was gone.
The wedding bells were ringing, the march was playing, and Ray Vecchio was jubilant beside him, but no longer did he spare even the slightest glance in Fraser's direction. His eyes were on Stella and Stella alone, and as Fraser followed behind them he felt the chasm open up wider. That last moment in the hotel, chasing down the stairs after Ray and running across the half mile to the church--that had been their last footchase. The last time they'd been partners before Stella became Ray Vecchio's partner instead. His time as Best Man was over, and suddenly...
And suddenly he was down the steps, bounded over the wall and around the side of the church throwing up in the bushes, and it probably wasn't wholly the fault of the alcohol he'd drunk. ]
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And it was going to break Ray Kowalski's heart.
Fraser paused on the way out the door, stopping and just squeezing Ray's shoulder, and he said: ] No matter what happens I want you to remember you're my partner. We have an unbreakable bond, you and I, stronger than friendship or marriage, and-- [ But that was all he managed to say, they were standing in the hallway and a frantic Ray Vecchio was looking for him, scuttling down the hall in his tuxedo and glancing awkwardly at Kowalski before deciding to pretend he wasn't there at all.
We need to move, Ray said. They've been circling the block for five minutes. You ready? Good, come on. Diefenbaker ran down the hall with Ray, and Fraser smiled apologetically, tugged on Kowalski's arm and followed.
The church was as beautiful as he expected it to be, decked out in lilies because they were Stella's favorite, and delicate white peonies buried in oceans of purple-pink hydrangeas stood in the vases that adorned the aisle. Fraser stood with Ray, a blaze of red at the front of the church, and there was a collective breath when Stella walked in, all in white. He wondered whether Ray remembered her like this himself. He'd never asked--had they had a church wedding, or married on the fly? Stella's parents had, he suspected, not approved of her marrying the son of two polish immigrants, but where had that led them? He tried to find Ray's face as Stella walked down the aisle, but was forced to turn away and do his duty at last, taking a seat in the front of the church with bride and groom while the man presiding over the ceremony talked about eternal love and the responsibilities of matrimony, what it meant to create a loving home and children, if they had them. They sang, they sat, there was more talking. More singing. Then the vows, and Diefenbaker came up the aisle with the rings, and Fraser at last looked for his friend - Speak now or forever hold your peace - but Ray was gone.
The wedding bells were ringing, the march was playing, and Ray Vecchio was jubilant beside him, but no longer did he spare even the slightest glance in Fraser's direction. His eyes were on Stella and Stella alone, and as Fraser followed behind them he felt the chasm open up wider. That last moment in the hotel, chasing down the stairs after Ray and running across the half mile to the church--that had been their last footchase. The last time they'd been partners before Stella became Ray Vecchio's partner instead. His time as Best Man was over, and suddenly...
And suddenly he was down the steps, bounded over the wall and around the side of the church throwing up in the bushes, and it probably wasn't wholly the fault of the alcohol he'd drunk. ]