A Woman Waits for Me 37/39
Part 37
A Taste of Champaign and Joy
Don was pretty sure he’d rejected the idea of a reception line but somehow that rejection had gotten misplaced. Instead he found himself standing there holding Mattie, who had been thankfully quiet through the ceremony, in one arm and shaking hands with the other. When he saw a redhead coming down the line he quickly handed Mattie over and went in for a hug.
“Coop! I thought that was you I saw sneaking in at the last second. Whey didn’t you RSVP?”
Coop stepped back from the hug. “I just found out three days ago. I’ve been driving like mad to get here.”
“Three days? We sent out the invites months ago.”
“And how often do I check my mail?”
Don laughed and turned to Anne. “Anne, this is my old partner, Billy Coop.”
“Ma’am.” Coop greeted, kissing her hand and putting on his most charming smile.
“Ah, the legendary Agent Cooper.”
“Please, the ladies call me Billy.”
“Careful,” Don growled and Anne laughed. Billy looked at the infant in Anne’s arms.
“And look at that, a mini Eppes.” Coop looked at Don. “Took you long enough.”
Don rolled his eyes. “You sound like my Dad.”
“Let me guess, you were just waiting for the right girl.”
“Damn straight.”
Coop laughed. “Come find me later,” he said, turning to Anne. “I’ll fill you in on Don Eppes, the missing years.”
“Like hell you will,” Don objected with no small amount of terror.
Anne gave an evil grin. “It’s a date.”
Coop gave Don a clap on the shoulder and Mattie a little tickle under the chin before heading off in the direction of the bar.
Suddenly Don found himself crouched over in another hug.
“Martha. I’m so glad you made it.” The tiny nurse that had taken Mattie through every early crisis gave Don a tight squeeze.
“Like I would miss it.” She let go and turned to Mattie. “And who is this big boy? Look at all that hair.” Don grinned as Martha fussed with Mattie’s hair that had started growing out dark and thick almost as soon as he was home.
“He eating well?”
“Oh, yes.” Anne said with a sigh and a smile.
“And are those teeth I see? Such a big boy.”
“Getting bigger every day.”
“As it should be.” Mattie smiled and giggled, reaching for his old nurse. Martha held out her finger and Mattie grabbed on. “And a good strong grip.”
“Grip like that he’ll be playing first base.” Martha and Anne exchanged eye rolls. Martha retrieved her finger and gave Anne a hug.
“Congratulations, you two.”
“Thank you.”
Don suddenly felt a prickle on the back of his neck followed by the same cold chill he got when someone had a bead on him. Don looked over his shoulder then quickly took Mattie from Anne’s arms.
“Hon, please don’t think less of me as a man, but I’m using our son as a human shield.” Don said softly as he tracked the approach of the three people he figured wouldn’t show up. Robin, Liz and Kim, moving together like a pack on the hunt.
“Hello, boss.” Liz greeted. Don put on the same smile he used on armed crazies.
“Liz, Robin… Kim… um… Hi… uh, this is Anne. Anne, Kim, Liz, Robin.” Anne politely shook hands with the three women giving Robin a hard eye in the process. Don winced. Robin had messed him up a little the second time she walked out and Anne knew it. “Sooooooo…wasn’t sure if you’d be able to make it.” Don said in the general direction of the three women.
“Oh come on, Don, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.” Kim said.
Liz leaned over to get a good look at Mattie.
“Well look at that, a mini Don.” Mattie reached for the necklaces dangling from Liz’s neck, missed and wedged his baby hand firmly in her cleaved, giggling in the process. Liz looked down and carefully removed the hand. “Yep, that’s your kid Don.”
Robin, Kim and Anne cracked up as Don turned bright red.
Liz looked at Anne. “Oh, better you than me.”
“Ditto,” said Kim.
Robin looked at Anne. “If that thing he does with his teeth gets to you and you feel the need to kill him give me a call first. I’ll get you a temp insanity plea bargain, you won’t do a day.”
Anne nodded in a way that made Don a little nervous and he held Mattie closer. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Robin turned to the other women. “Come on ladies, let’s go drink Don Eppes out of our systems.”
Anne shook her head as the three women walked off. “Some poor man is going to get horribly, horribly used by those women tonight.” Anne mused.
Don took Anne’s face in one hand and kissed her passionately. “Thank you for putting up with me,” he said once he broke off the kiss.
Anne smiled. “Ditto.”
~
Liz, Robin and Kim sat together and watched as the happy couple greeted friends and colleagues.
“She’s kinda mousey,” Kim finally said breaking the silence. The other women nodded in agreement.
“A little on the plain side really,” Liz mumbled.
“There’s something knida submissive about her,” Robin said into her drink.
From a distance they watched as Don whispered something into the ear of his plain, mousey, submissive bride. Anne scowled and punched Don in the arm hard enough that they could see him mouth ‘ow’ and furiously rub the point of impact.
Robin snorted into her drink. “Never mind.”
“God, we sound catty,” Liz sighed.
Robin looked around. “See I always figured if Don and I were going to get hitched we’d just run off to Vegas.”
“And risk the wrath of Alan?” Liz asked.
Robin shrugged. “Good point.” She gave a long sigh. “Lord, I miss that man’s cooking.”
“Don?” Kim asked in confusion.
“Hell no, Alan!”
Liz nodded in agreement. “True, that was one of the few perks of dating Don, Friday night brisket.”
Robin chuckled. “There were a few months there when I think I had preferred potential daughter-in-law status over Amita ‘cause I ate red meat.”
Kim shook her head. “I only met Alan the once after Don and I were engaged. We went out for dinner and the whole time Margaret was working me over like a witness on the stand.”
Liz and Robin both winced.
“God, that’s right. You two were engaged.” Liz said.
“We never got around to setting a date then Don transferred to LA.” Kim took a long pull on her drink. “Just a few months. He just needed a few months to make sure his dad and Charlie were okay.”
“And you thought you could compete with Charlie?” Robin asked.
Kim shook her head. “They were barely on speaking terms in those days. We were dating for months before I even knew he had a brother.”
“Speaking of Charlie,” Robin cut in. “Would someone please tell me when that happened?” She pointed across the large room to a secluded corner just as Colby swooped in to steal a quick kiss from Charlie. Charlie whispered something in Colby’s ear that made him flush and give Charlie a more heated kiss.
“That happened a few years ago now,” Liz provided. Charlie cupped Colby’s ass possessively.
“Am I the only one finding that kinda hot?” Kim asked. The other women shook their heads.
“Okay. That’s it,” Liz said forcefully and raised her glass. “We are still young, hot and single and this is a wedding, so, to the Brothers Eppes. May they have long and happy lives.” The women clinked glasses, threw back their drinks and went on the hunt.
~
Sasha held aloft the glass of champagne. “I’ve known Anne for a while now and thought, as all friends do, that I had her figured out. Or at least her taste in men figured out. There was Bill the fire eater, Randolf the performance artist, Jake who was finding himself, the acrobats Phill and Will. We were never sure which one she was seeing.”
“It was Phill,” Anne provided.
“Dave the actor who was this close to his big break, Eddie the poet and… well, you get the idea, then the men dried up for a while. Then one bright sunny day over coffee Anne started talking about this guy called Don. Wouldn’t say where they met, wouldn’t say what he did, she’d just giggle and blush into her coffee, talk about how sweet he was, how fun and exciting, gallant and shy. Then one night we’re all up at Anne’s place and this guy gets let in, and he’s got a badge and a gun and the most boring brown suit you’ve ever seen, a shirt that went out of style with Eisenhower, and a tie, oh great goddess that tie, he had a tie that said ‘I spend New Year’s Eve doing my taxes and I don’t even take deductions.’”
“Hey!” Don objected to the critique of his tie, even if it was accurate.
“And Anne puts her arm around him and says, ‘this is Don’. Well, you could have heard a pin drop. ‘This is Don?’ we were all thinking. Well a few of us were thinking ‘shit I’m holding’ but the rest of us were thinking no way could this be Don, where are the tattoos, the pricings, the drama queen strut? This could not be the guy that had Anne blushing and giggling into her coffee for six weeks. Well, she sent him off to get rid of the tie before it hypnotized all of us and when he came back he looked a little better but still...” Sasha shook her head. “Then Anne said something, I don’t even remember what, what I do remember is Don smiled and for the first time ever I saw a man smile with his entire soul. His eyes didn’t just light up, I saw his whole spirit illuminate and every particle of it was directed on Anne and she smiled back and in all the years I have known her I have never seen a smile like that on her face. And I got it. No other explanation needed. When two people can smile like that at each other over the smallest of things I know of no greater beauty or honest truth. So Anne, Don may your lives be full of joy, strength and prosperity and may your souls always have a reason to smile.”
Charlie raised his glass. “Today is a day I never thought I’d see. A day like this is one hoped and prayed for but never really expected, ‘cause you see, my brother Don, despite his many faults is a good man. But he spends his days fighting against a world that’s not so good. Not too long ago I found myself afraid that it had become too much, that we’d lost him to the dark, to despair, to his own demons. Then one day he started to smile again and frankly it was a little creepy.” There were snickers around the room. “It was so creepy it warranted its own interagency investigation. Now there are only a few things that make Don smile and frankly the Dodgers weren’t have that good a season so every woman in the Los Angeles Federal Building found herself thoroughly questioned on the subject of Don Eppes, which was interesting but didn’t yield the desired results, we even started questioning some of the men ‘cause hey, you never know.” Don buried his face in his hands. “Finally we got a tail on him and late one night witnessed him climbing the stairs to a loft owned by one Anne Finnegan, 30, painter, no felonies, couple of parking tickets.”
Anne tossed a wadded-up napkin at Charlie.
“And with that mystery solved we all stepped back and watched, we watched as Don grew strong again, we watched the despair slowly vanish, replaced by calm and peace. I watched as this beautiful, bright woman brought back the man I remember as my brother with her strength and grace, courage and stubbornness. I watched as they created a life together and fought so hard for this day. So Anne, Don, may you have the kind of life promised by a day like this and may the joy you find in each other always keep the darkness at bay.”
Everyone raised their glasses and drank deep.
~
Don felt loose. The one glass of champagne had bypassed his nearly empty-at-the-time stomach and crawled straight to his head. He slung one arm around Anne’s waist and pulled her close, shutting out the people watching, falling into gray eyes, moving more or less in time with the music. The band, all friends of Anne’s, played a slow, almost folk-rock rendition of Mysterious Ways. Don barely heard it. This was something he had missed in the brief courtship and panic over the pregnancy and Mattie, he had missed the chance to slow dance, the joy of just feeling their bodies move together.
As the music changed, Don became marginally aware of others moving on the dance floor. His father was dancing with Kathryn. It made Don a little sad, but his father seemed honestly happy with her and he couldn’t begrudge him that, especially on his wedding day. Megan and Larry moved awkwardly together but obviously trying. The height difference between them reminded Don a bit of Junior High dances where the girls had all been taller and the boys lived in a mixture of terror, confusion and desire. David had even managed to lure Liz onto the dance floor.
“Don?” Anne asked. “Who’s that talking with Sasha?” Don looked to where Anne gestured with her head.
“That is Lt. Gary Walker, head of LAPD Organized Crime Task Force; general all-around badass and solid leader. Spanked me a few times, even put Charlie in his place.”
“Really? Well for a badass Sasha’s playing him like a Stradivarius.”
Don watched as Sasha subtly flirted until Gary bowed gallantly at the waist and led Sasha onto the dance floor.
“Then again, he has been married three times.”
“Sasha doesn’t really believe in marriage.”
“What does she believe in?” Don asked.
“Mainly Goddess sex magic.”
Don grinned. “I’ve got to say I can think of no one on Earth who could use a little goddess sex magic more than Gary.”
Don danced through another few songs before he felt a tap on the shoulder. “Mind if I cut in?” Alan asked. Don let go and took a step back, letting his father sweep Anne out across the dance floor.
Anne smiled as Alan led with a little more experience than Don.
“So, Alan, any advice for a new bride?” she asked.
Alan nodded “A little.”
“Hit me.”
“Don’t go to bed angry. Stay up all night. Fight it out if you need to but there’s nothing worse than sleeping two feet from someone you’re mad at and nothing worse than sleeping alone where you’re used to having someone hold you.”
Anne gave a serious nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Alan smiled. “You made it this far already. You’ll be fine.”
Anne and Alan continued the dance until Colby smoothly cut in.
“Hey, Colby.” Anne said with a chuckle.
“How you doing?” he asked.
“I’m good. Going to dispense advice as well?”
“If you like.”
“What have you got?”
Colby was quiet for a moment. “Do you know how to unload Don’s service weapon?”
Anne frowned. “No.”
“Have him show you.”
“Colby...” Anne started to object.
“Look. He’s happy now but even if he quits the job tomorrow there’s still a lot of ghosts. He won’t do anything stupid ‘cause he promised he wouldn’t a long time ago but some nights you don’t even need the temptation there.”
Anne nodded, being too familiar with the late-night whispers of her own ghosts. “I get it.”
Colby smiled. “He’ll be fine, you’ll both be fine.”
Anne nodded and let Colby continue the dance. The music changed to something a little sultry and Charlie smoothly cut in. He pulled her inappropriately close with a devilish grin.
“Hey, Christian,” Anne said as Charlie maneuvered her into a dip.
“Hey, Annie,” He replied casually as if they’d just bumped into each other.
“Well, what do you say?”
Charlie smiled. “I am so glad you’re here.”
Anne nodded “So am I.”
“Make sure he takes care of you. Don’t let him be an ass.”
“I’ll try.”
“He gets kinda hyper focused on things. I recommend a good whack up the side of the head.”
Anne chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And you’ve got my number if all else fails.”
“Okay.”
Charlie leaned in and gave Anne a kiss on the cheek. “I am so very glad it’s you standing here.”
“Me too, Charlie, me too.”
~
Coop was picking his way across the buffet table, which contained a suspiciously large amount of vegetarian content, when he bumped into someone, nearly spilling his beer in the process. He was about to tell the other person to watch where they were going when he got a good look at him and froze.
“Edgerton.”
“Agent Cooper,” the sniper answered coldly.
Coop could not believe Edgerton was standing there in the middle of Don’s wedding. The two of them had crossed paths a few times before and showed pretty much equal levels of disdain for each other. Edgerton had called him a jumped-up bounty hunter after a few drinks and Billy had retorted with ‘sociopathic snob.’
“Fancy meeting you here,” Coop said politely, knowing if he picked a fight here and now Don would kill him.
“I could say the same.” The question was implied.
“Don and I ran together for a few years. He was damn good. What brings you here?”
Edgerton gave a smile, teeth white and shark-like. “I’m family.” He answered smoothly.
“Like hell,” Billy retorted before he could think.
Ian gave the slightest twitch of the head towards the dance floor. “Nice lady in blue dancing with Alan Eppes?”
“Yeah.”
“My mother.”
Billy almost choked on his own spit. “Shit. You’re a step-Eppes.”
Edgerton chuckled. “Well not quite yet but I think Alan’s working on it.”
Billy nodded slowly. “And how’s that working for you?”
“Well, Alan’s a good cook and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have dead hookers lined up in the basement so…”
Edgerton shrugged.
This was what Billy really didn’t like about Edgerton. You were never entirely sure if he was joking and you were always worried that he wasn’t.
~
Don was having fun just spinning round the dance floor with Anne, feeling like something out of the romance novels his mother used to secretly read and he’d flip through looking for dirty bits. Don looked around doing a quick scan of where everyone was. Lt. Garcia was continuing to monopolize Nurse Gonzales’s dance card and Edgerton appeared to be chatting up Agent Sherwood near the punch bowl. Don cringed internally in terror of the thought of that combo. Charlie was at a table chatting with Megan and Larry, and Colby appeared to be nibbling at the buffet.
Don frowned and did a quick replay of the evening so far. Something was missing. As they danced close to Howard Meeks Don grabbed him.
“Howard, keep this spot warm for me.” Howard smiled and introduced himself to Anne before dancing off with her. Don moved towards Colby with purpose.
“Hey, Colby.”
“Hey, Don, how’s it going?”
“Great.” Don leaned causally against the table. “Charlie looks good tonight, doesn’t he?”
“Well, he certainly knows how to pick a suit.”
“Why aren’t you dancing with him?”
Colby froze. Don knew the answer to the question. Most of the office was there, not to mention representatives of various other law enforcement branches, and while they weren’t exactly in the closet, Charlie and Colby did try to behave in a professional manner in public, or at least not be blatant.
“I…uh…” Colby stuttered.
“Colby, it’s my god damn wedding, go dance with my brother.” Colby nodded and headed towards Charlie. Don smiled. Colby always could follow a direct order. Don watched as Colby interrupted Charlie’s musings with Larry, took his hand and led him onto the dance floor just as a slow song started. Charlie moved stiffly for a moment before sighing against Colby, a content smile on his face.
Don retrieved Anne from Howard’s stumbling steps and pulled her into his own slow dance. From a few feet away Charlie raised his head from where it rested against Colby’s shoulder and caught his brother’s eye.
“Thank you,” he mouthed silently to Don before closing his eyes and pulling himself even closer to Colby.
~
Don rested his feet and nibbled some cheese puffs while the band took a break. Alan sat down hard next to Don and stole a cheese puff.
“I haven’t spent that much time on my feet in a while.” Alan said with a sigh. Don gave a chuckle. “How are you doing, Donnie?” Alan asked
Don smiled. “I’m doing good.”
“Good.” Alan took a deep breath. “I know things haven’t always been easy for you and there’s still going to be rough patches but I’m proud of you. I want you to know that. Your mother would be proud to see you today.”
Don blamed the bit of misting in his eyes on the champagne. “Thanks, Dad.” Don watched as Kathryn and Anne chatted and fussed over Mattie. “How are you doing, Dad?” Don asked.
“I’m doing well.”
Don gestured towards Kathryn with his chin. “Does she make you happy?”
Alan gave a soft smile. “Yeah, she does.”
“Good.” Don gave a chuckle. “All three Eppes men happy at once. Isn’t that listed as a sign of the apocalypse?”
Alan just chuckled as Charlie wandered over and sat down on Don’s other side. “So what’s the conversation?” he asked.
“All three of us happy at once. It might be tempting fate a bit.” Charlie chuckled and started picking the label off a beer bottle.
“We make our own fate, Don. Fight for our own happiness and we’ve fucking earned it.”
Alan raised his glass. “That, boys, I will drink to.”
~
The band came back on stage and Don went to collect Anne for another dance.
“Hey, everyone.” The lead singer said into the mic. “Hope you’re all having a good night. Um…Some of you may know Annie and I had a thing a while back and anyway, Don, mate, I don’t really know you, but better you than me.”
“No shit.” Anne called out to much chuckling.
“Anyway, ‘cause I’m sure you’ve still got that secret collection of vintage Stones albums this one’s for you Annie, from all of us blokes that didn’t make the cut.”
The drummer gave a quick count and the band launched into a strangely poppy rendition of Honky Tonk Woman that left Anne in almost hysterical giggles.
Once that was finished Don watched in some trepidation as Charlie mounted the stage, a slightly drunken weave in his step. ‘Oh well,’ thought Don. ‘It’s not a proper wedding until the best man does something stupid.’
“Annie,” Charlie said into the mic. “This one says everything I think. It’s a Bob Dylan tune.” Charlie paused for a moment. “Luckily Bob Dylan can’t sing any better than I can.” Don cringed and the band started up with some guitar cords that tickled the back of Don’s memory, probably something his father had played on vinyl back in the day.
Charlie took the mic from the stand, obviously if he was going to make an idiot of himself he was going to do it with style.
“‘Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form.
"Come in,” she said,
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”
Don pulled Anne in close. Charlie wasn’t actually singing too badly and he’d been right, the song just might have said it all.
~
Colby cut Don off from the crowd. “Hey Don, got a sec?”
“Sure.”
Colby handed Don an envelope “This is from the team.” Don looked curious and opened the envelope. Inside were two hotel room keys. “We know you’re not taking a proper honeymoon so we all clubbed together, got you a room upgrade for the weekend. Honeymoon suite, in-room spa, chocolates on the pillow, you know.”
Don broke into a grin. “Thank you, man.”
“You’ve earned today Don. Both of you.”
Don took a deep breath. “I just don’t want to screw up tomorrow, or the next day.”
Colby shrugged. “You’ll screw up some of them but as long as you’re alive and kicking you have the day after to try again.”
~
Anne stood on the edge of the stage, hands on her hips, bouquet clutched in one hand.
“I’m only chucking this thing if everyone’s going to try for it. Guys too, come on.” Most of the remaining guests gathered around the base of the stage. Anne looked out at the crowd. “Ian! Martin! Get your skinny federal asses over here.” Ian and Martin snapped out of the discussion that had had the two men engrossed for the last three hours and slinked to the edge of the crowd.
Anne turned around and chucked the bunch of roses over her head. When she turned back around there was a void in the middle of the crowd, in the center of which was Howard Meeks, holding the bunch of flowers and looking more than a little startled. Anne’s laughter joined everyone else’s.
A few minutes later with Mattie in her arms and Don by her side she headed upstairs to the hotel’s honeymoon suite.
~
Gary Walker was fairly sure a pinecone was under his hip and a rock was jabbing him in the shoulder. He didn’t care. A giggle he would never admit to bubbled out.
“What’s so funny?”
Gary rolled over onto his side so he could look at Sasha laid out bare in the moonlight. “I just committed my first crime.”
“Really?”
“Trespassing on city park land after hours, public indecency.”
Shash smiled. “Well, since we’re working on your rap sheet, Lieutenant, I know how to do a few things that are still illegal in red states.” Gary grinned and found that he really didn’t care about that pinecone.
~
David tried to blink through the beer and champagne that was spinning around his head. Pale hands were stripping his shirt from him before he fell backwards onto a bed.
“You know, David,” Robin said as she yanked off his shoes. “I’ve always heard a rumor that a stamina test was required before joining Don’s team.”
There was a clink and David looked over to see a pair of handcuffs dangling from Liz’s finger and Kim already in her underwear. “Yeah, David,” Liz said. “How much stamina have you got?”
David swallowed hard and tried desperately to remember what Colby had once told him about safe words.
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