Immediately following a beautiful and flawless wedding, the bridal party and guests walked across the hall to the banquet room where the reception was held. Ginger walked in with Zac and sat next to her sister at the head table. "So, Mrs. Hanson, how does it feel to be married?" Ginger asked.
"Well, Mrs. Hanson, it feels exactly the same," Kris said. Ginger smiled.
"We finally have the same last name," Ginger said. Kris nodded. Ginger looked at the table�everything that could have been ordered as decorations were ordered. There were bubbles, individual boxes of Valentine's Candy, ribbon with "Kris and Taylor, February 15, 2009" written on it, and plastic spoons with two Hershey's kisses on it, wrapped with a bow that said "A spoonful of kisses from the new Mr. and Mrs." Ginger laughed.
"What?" Kris asked.
"Kris, you are so cheesy," Ginger said, picking up the spoon. "What is this crap?"
"What?! I thought it was adorable!"
"Who comes up with this?" Kris gave her sister a look and turned to her new husband, spending the next ten minutes ignoring Ginger. Ginger took this time to talk to Jess until dinner was served and Kris finally turned back to her sister.
"Don't be saying the dinner is cheesy, either," Kris said. Ginger looked at her plate.
"It does have quite a bit of cheese on it."
"Shut up." Ginger looked out over the guests. There were about fifty people there, and a lot of them were people Ginger didn't know from Taylor's side of the family that would have been at her wedding if she'd done something like this. She'd always thought she wanted a large ceremony like this, but it turned out so many things went wrong with Kris's wedding that she didn't even want to try. It would have been nice to have pictures, a wedding dress, and an elaborate reception like this but she felt it was so much better her way. Kris got the big wedding and she was just happy with it.
As dinner was winding down, Zac got up to make his speech. The DJ, who was a connection of Zac's through work, handed Zac the microphone (although he really didn't need it) and he began his speech. "I've known Taylor all my life and I've known Kris about five years, but it seems like I've known her just as long. They met the first time because of me�yes it was all my fault they got introduced." Zac smiled. "But I'm glad they did. Kris if of course my wife's sister and although they're not really sisters, I don't know two people who could be any closer to it. That has made her my sister. Now she really is; she's my sister-in-law. Although I don't say it as much as I know I should, she means the world to me and I owe her everything." Kris reached under the table and grabbed Ginger's hand, whose eyes were misty like her sister's. "Taylor and Kris have had their problems, but who hasn't? The important thing is that through everything, they've managed to work things through. I know this, this marriage, is going to be forever because Taylor and Kris�they're obviously meant for each other."
Zac returned the microphone to the DJ and everyone applauded. Kris wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed Zac before he sat down. By that time everyone was finished with dinner and the plates were taken away. Kris and Taylor went out to the dance floor, having been called by the DJ, and began their first dance as husband and wife. Zac took the opportunity to sit next to his wife, taking her hand as she watched as Taylor and Kris danced to "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS.
"So how much are you wanting this right now?" Zac asked Ginger.
"Surprisingly," Ginger said, "not all that much. I think the way we did it was just perfect."
"Really?" Zac asked. "You don't want a real wedding?"
"No�" Ginger said, sitting back in her chair. "Not really. I mean today was good and all, nothing went wrong today, but yesterday was hell. I would be so worried if something like that happened to me. No, this is too much for me." Diana walked up to the table with a whimpering Christopher. Chris was just as good as Jenny was, he didn't cry ever and he wasn't fussy at all.
"I think Chris wants dinner," she said.
"All right," Ginger said. She stood up and took her son from Diana. "You ready for food, Christopher? Are you? I know you are!" Ginger politely walked to the elaborate bathroom where she had a seat in the waiting area (surprised herself that there was carpeting, tables, and chairs in the bathroom) and fed Christopher. She would have done it in the banquet hall but she practically had to remove the top of her dress to do so. As Christopher ate, she sat back and relaxed. The day had gone very well. Kris was on time to the wedding, everything went smoothly, and now the reception was underway and all there they had to do was party for the rest of the night. Christopher was getting tired already, Ginger could tell, and she was tired herself. This wedding had taken its toll on her. She had to deal with all of the things that went wrong, many of them that she didn't tell Kris about, and she barely got any sleep because Christopher was up nearly all night.
Jessica walked into the bathroom waiting area and Ginger looked up. "Hey Jess," Ginger said.
"Hey�they're calling for us. We're supposed to lead the next dance so everyone else can go out and dance, and we kind of need you there," she said.
"He's almost done, I'll be there in a second," Ginger said. Jess left and in a moment Christopher had let go of her. She put herself back together and went back to the banquet hall. Handing Christopher over to Diana with a kiss on his forehead, Ginger joined Zac out on the dance floor. "He'll be asleep in two hours, if not sooner," she told Zac.
"All right. This'll be over by ten. Taylor and Kris have a flight to catch." Ginger put her head against Zac's shoulder. They'd never gone on their honeymoon like Ginger would have liked. As soon as she recovered from her surgery they tried to have a baby, and the whole baby thing got in the way of going on a honeymoon. Christopher was too young to be left alone for a week and the idea of a vacation without the kids just seemed too unrealistic for Ginger. As much as she still dreamed of hiking in Sydney, she had a feeling that was never going to happen.
The night went on and sure enough, Christopher was asleep in about an hour. Jenny, on the other hand, was dancing away in her little bridesmaid dress (she was a flower girl, although she didn't throw flowers). Kris and Taylor made their rounds, speaking to family that Kris hadn't met just yet and thanking everyone for coming. Ginger and Zac were sitting at the head table; they'd danced a little bit but Ginger wasn't feeling well.
"I have a headache," she said. Zac immediately tensed, as he always did when she complained about anything that remotely could have been linked to a relapse.
"What kind of headache?" he asked.
"A normal headache," she told him. "Nothing to be worried about. It's probably just all the stress catching up to me."
"Do you want me to get you something?" Zac asked. Ginger shook her head. "Are you sure?" She nodded. "All right." He put his arm around her and looked out over the tables of guests. Ginger closed her eyes; she was lying. She knew exactly what kind of headache this was and exactly what it meant, but she chose to ignore it. She didn't want to deal with these kinds of problems again.
"Thank you for doing all of this for us," Kris said, as the reception was winding down. Many people had already left and the caterers were cleaning off what they could while some people were still dancing. Kris hugged her sister, whose headache had just gotten worse as the night went on, and immediately knew something was wrong. "Rosemary? What's wrong?"
"I'm just tired," Ginger lied. "It's been a long day."
"You're right," Kris said. "Well, we're going to go, finish saying goodbye and thank you to everyone. We don't want to miss our flight."
"Yeah, we're going to go too," Ginger said. "I think Jenny fell asleep on Diana and Christopher was asleep hours ago."
"I'll see you in a week!" Kris said. She gave her sister a kiss and a tight hug before moving on. Ginger turned away with Zac and walked over to Diana.
"Hey Di," Ginger said. "Zac and I are going to go."
"Okay. Here's your son. He's been asleep all this time," Diana said, handing Ginger her son. "Jenny's been out for about a half an hour." Zac picked up Jenny off the chair she was sleeping on.
"Come on, baby, let's go," he said to Jenny as she stirred his arms and put her head against his shoulder. "You're just so exhausted, aren't you?" Ginger smiled. The two of them left, going to the car. "I say we go home, put them in bed, and just crash ourselves."
"Good idea," Ginger said. "I'm so tired."
"So am I. It was a beautiful wedding and all, but I'm just glad it's over." Ginger agreed. They loaded up the car and Zac drove home. Ginger put her head against the window. "Are you okay, babe?"
"I'm fine," Ginger said. "I'm just so tired."
"Do you still have a headache?"
"No," she lied.
"Good." She barely stayed awake on the ride home, and when they got there, she didn't want to carry Christopher up the stairs and put him down, but before she could protest she found herself doing it anyway. Once he was safely down in the crib in her room, she undressed and walked into the bathroom. There she did her usual routine before going to sleep; washing the face, brushing the teeth, applying nighttime beauty enhancing products, then went straight to the bed and climbed on it. As soon as she'd gotten under the covers, Zac walked in the room with Jenny, who was changed into her pajamas. He put her in the bed with Ginger.
"She's out," Zac said. Ginger looked at her daughter, asleep adorably in her pajamas, her thumb in her mouth. Ginger was still staring when Zac got in the bed. "We're getting old," Zac said. "It's not even ten-thirty."
"Well, honey, we've got two kids. We have a right to be old."
"Yeah, I guess so," Zac said. He sighed. "You know what? When Jenny is in school and Chris is older, you and I are going to Sydney. We're going to go hiking like you wanted and I'm going to show you what I've always wanted to show you of the world."
"I'd like that," Ginger said, smiling. "Is it as beautiful as everybody says?"
"More than you could imagine," Zac said. "You'll love it." Ginger laid back, smiling. She could count on scratching off Sydney from her list of things to do before she died.