The Wedding  The Wedding by Shinz Wong "Saintpaulia grotei." Benton
Fraser nodded in certainty as he slowly disengaged the entire pale mauve
bloom from his buttonhole. He put the small flowers to his nose and
sniffed them carefully before nodding again. "They can only be found near
Amani at an elevation of 3,000 feet in dense shade near running water. You
see, Diefenbaker, it blooms best during hot weather and daylight. This
particular flower is a species within the genus saintpaulia which in turn
comes from the family Gesneriaceae, named after the Swiss botanist, Konrad
von Gesner." The Arctic wolf looked extremely bored and turned his head
away to stare at some wedding guests who had just walked in noisily.
Fraser became a little impatient at the wolf's apparent indifference to
his educational explanation. "They are African violets, Dief, and just
because you come from the Arctic doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn
something about them. They are really very fascinating. This bloom for
instance is native to the Usambara Mountains near Tanzania and cannot be
found anywhere else in the world." Diefenbaker growled softly in disgust.
Fraser shook his head and shrugged. "Ignoramus." The wolf and Mountie
looked away from each other a little irritably. Fraser turned just in time
to see a group of three women standing about twenty feet away eyeing him
and laughing among themselves. Their unwavering gazes traveled up and down
his black tuxedo-clad frame as they continued commenting about him to each
other. Fraser reddened slightly under their relentless scrutiny, they were
completely aware that he was aware of them. He tugged at his collar
unconsciously, more out of discomfort from the stares than from the
tightness of the new suit. As soon as it was polite to do so, he moved
away from the spot he was standing on and began wandering about the hall.
Diefenbaker trailed him closely and once in a while put his nose to the
ground to sniff for discarded candy. One end of the reception hall was
adjacent to the church, having been built ten years ago for this exact
purpose, to hold wedding receptions. Its front door led to a side entrance
to the church and guests were wandering about on the small lawn between
the two buildings. The hall itself was not very large but was brightly lit
and very different in design from the baroque influenced church. The
ceremony was to begin in an hour and guests were gathering in the hall to
drink cups of punch before congregating in the sanctuary. Fraser
approached the buffet table to get as far away as possible from the
gawking group of women and was slightly relieved to see Francesca Vecchio
bending over a silver platter of vegetables and dip making small finishing
touches. He tapped her shoulder and she turned around absently. Her face
lit up when she saw him. "Oh Benton, you look so handsome! I must take a
picture with you and send it to my cousin Sophia in Florida. She will be
sooo envious." "You look very lovely yourself, Francesca." "You really
think so?" Francesca quickly stroked her hair a few times. 'Yes, I do. In
fact, you look very becoming in lavender." "I spent a hundred bucks for
this dress at Loehmann's. I thought about it and thought about it and
finally told myself, 'Francesca, it's worth it. Just buy it and take it
home with ya. You won't regret it.' So, I went ahead and bought it." "You
made the right decision, Francesca." "Well, thank you. Let me tell you
something Benton. I think you are the best looking best man I've ever seen
in my life." Francesca smiled broadly up at Fraser. Fraser was searching
for a suitable reply when someone cleared her throat behind him. He turned
around quickly and was greeted by the breath-taking sight of Margaret
Thatcher in a beautiful pink dress with a pearl choker around her neck.
Her hair flowed around her face softly and he realized that she had permed
it for the occasion. His heart skipped a beat as she looked at him in her
usual sardonic way. "Well, Fraser." "Uh, sir...you're early." "Yes, I am.
I like to be punctual no matter what the occasion." "Yes, ma'am. It's a
very commendable habit." "Would you escort me to my seat, Fraser?" Fraser
crooked his elbow hurriedly and man, woman, and wolf strolled toward the
sanctuary. "And another thing, Fraser." "Yes, ma'am?" "We are not in the
office right now and I think it inappropriate that you should address me
as your superior officer although..I am your superior officer but we are
not in the consulate or on official business...my point is..I give you
leave to call me by my first name..that is if you are comfortable
calling...you may call me Meg while we are here...but not elsewhere..do
you understand me, Fraser?" "Understood...ma'am. Thank you kindly." Meg
Thatcher sighed exasperatedly and grimaced in defeat. Fraser led her to a
pew and watched her settle down. "Would you be needing anything else,
ma'am...Meg?" She looked up at him through her thick lashes and slowly
shook her head. Unexpectedly, both smiled at each other at the same time.
Meg Thatcher picked up the program contentedly and watched Fraser depart
to carry out his duties as best man. On his way back to the reception
hall, Fraser was stopped by Father Behan who looked very noble in his
ceremonial robes but also a little anxious. The priest clasped Fraser's
arm and pulled him into an alcove. "Benton, have you seen the groom yet?"
"No, I'm afraid I haven't seen him today. Has he contacted you?" Father
Behan shook his head worriedly. "The bride's already waiting in the
chambers." Fraser let out an "Oh dear." and reassured the priest that he
would try to locate the missing person. He looked at his watch and
realized that there was only forty minutes until the start of the
ceremony. He walked back to the reception hall accompanied by a whining
Diefenbaker. "Oh, he will be here, Dief. Take my word for it. He will be
here." He entered the hall to a cacophony of Italian voices arguing over
the arrangement of platters on the buffet table. Fraser was just in time
to see Mrs. Vecchio throw her arms up in frustration while Francesca shook
an asparagus stick at Maria Vecchio. "No, Maria. The asparagus does not go
next to the broccoli. You have absolutely no taste. Green and green? No,
no, no. It has to go in between the carrots and the cauliflower.
See..white, green, red. Ma, don't touch that pat, you'll make a hole in
it. Why don't you all leave my table alone? It's mine and I don't need you
all telling me that you don't like this and you don't like that." Mrs.
Vecchio spied Fraser at the door and quickly made her way over to him. She
smiled warmly at him and grabbed his hands. "Benton, look at her. She
won't let me help her. She says 'Ma, help me.' but now she won't let me
near the food. I know about the food." Fraser squeezed her hands
sympathetically and led her back to Francesca and her squabbling sibling.
Francesca stopped arguing abruptly and tried to compose herself, glaring
vehemently at her sister the whole time. Maria Vecchio rolled her eyes and
muttered, "Ay, I don't even know why I care." before walking away to the
sanctuary. Fraser extended an arm to each woman. "Shall we go to the
sanctuary? It's almost time for the ceremony to begin." They made their
way over to the church and Fraser let Mrs. Vecchio get out of earshot
before whispering to Francesca. "Francesca, have you seen or heard from
the groom today?" Francesca's eyes widened in horror as she realized the
portent of Fraser's question. She pouted belligerently while her eyes
narrowed suspiciously. "He's gotta be here. He can't be that
insensitive...the champagne alone costs two hundred bucks and the
buffet..." Fraser nodded quickly and patted her arm to calm her down.
Francesca turned to her mother indignantly. "Ma, he's not showing. After
all my hard work waking up at three for the last two days, he's not gonna
show." Mrs. Vecchio hushed her youngest daughter and calmly picked up a
program. Her mother's dignified demeanor had a cooling effect on Francesca
and after a few moments, the younger Vecchio picked up a program herself.
In another few minutes, she grew uneasy again. She turned to her mother
sulkily. "Ma, where's Ray? Isn't anything going right today? My dessert's
ruined, my buffet's ruined too." Her mother hushed her again and smiled
complacently. "He'll show." Fraser checked his watch repeatedly as he and
Diefenbaker waited by the main entrance to the church. As he was coming
out, he had spotted the bride standing forlornly looking out to the street
through a stained glass window. Fraser had smiled gently at the pretty
blond woman and made an all's-well gesture to her. But all doesn't appear
to be well. The guests were already inside the church, the bride was
waiting to walk down the aisle but the groom was nowhere to be found. The
ceremony was scheduled to start in two minutes. The church clock chimed
the appointed hour, eleven and at the same moment, tires screeched to a
jarring halt in front of the church. Fraser walked quickly down the steps
to the Riviera as Ray opened the door. Fraser could see that his friend
was a little out of breath. "Ray, you're late." Fraser said in a scolding
tone. "Yeah, Benny. You're not gonna believe what I'm going to tell you.
He was directing traffic down at the corner of Lanier and Cardon. I had to
drag him away and man-handle him into the car to get him here." Fraser
nodded comprehendingly as the passenger door of the Riv opened to reveal a
very unruffled looking Constable Turnbull, his deputy at the consulate and
the only man capable of driving Benton Fraser stark raving mad. The
younger Mountie brushed his hand over his red serge and adjusted his
collar. Then, he walked smartly up to Fraser and saluted him "Glad to see
you here, sir. I am honored that you can be my best man. And I am very
grateful to you sir, Detective Vecchio, for finding me a priest and a
caterer on such short notice. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to my
wedding. I hope to see you both there. The ceremony has...just begun." He
checked his watch and nodded positively. Fraser protested in a slightly
harsh tone. "You were supposed to be wearing a suit." Turnbull gave
another few brushes to his red serge before saying. "Ah, the uniform. I
thought I'd give my wife a surprise. Red turns out much better on wedding
photographs, don't you think?" With that, he walked briskly to the steps
of the church, climbed them and entered the building. Fraser and Ray stood
in silence and watched him disappear into the church. Then, they looked
mutely at each other. Ray rolled his eyes while Fraser looked resignedly
at the ground. The two men then walked slowly toward the church. "Did you
get the ice cream, Ray? Francesca was getting worried." "Ah, she worries
too much. So what if her cherry pie has no a la mode, who cares?" "This is
her first big catering engagement, Ray. I believe that the absence of ice
cream on the pie will detract from the general favorable impression that
she hopes to achieve, not forgetting that she'll also not forgive you
which will lead to a certain displeasure on your part for several months
to come. So, you did get the ice cream." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here it is.
See? Vanilla, like she said." "Very well. And Dief, do you have the ring?"
Diefenbaker pranced alongside him with a red velvet pouch clenched between
his fangs. The wolf growled in the affirmative. "Very good. Don't drop it.
We want to get Turnbull safely married and on his way without further
mishap." Fraser held the door open and let Ray and Diefenbaker enter the
church before going in himself. DONE   Return to the Due South Fiction
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