All Good Things: The Final Fanfiction Saga

Chapter Fifteen: Ribbon in the Sky

"Hairline fractures," he said after the toes were taped and bound. "You'll need crutches for a little while."

After he left, Helen Ko looked at her son. "What are we going to do?" she cried. "You're supposed to walk Emma down the aisle this afternoon."

"Hobbling would be more like it, Mom," Ryan tried to joke, but his mother wasn't laughing.

"We can't have you on crutches next to Emma," she said. "It just won't do."

"Then what should we do?" Ryan asked, watching Rachel rocking Toby back and forth so he wouldn't wake up. "Maybe J.C. can walk Emma down the aisle; they do that in a lot of weddings. Or we can ask Uncle Eddie or Uncle Michael. Maybe we can have Dad come down the aisle with Emma after all, with someone wheeling him ..."

Emma's father interrupted by jabbing his elbow into his wife's hip. It was one of the few motions he had full control over of, and was now accompanying it with an insistent growl.

"What is it, dear?"

Stephen Ko shook his head violently.

"You don't want to go down the aisle with Emma."

He nodded emphatically.

Emma's mother seemed to understand. "He won't have people looking at him in a wheelchair and feeling sorry for him when they're supposed to be looking at Emma and feeling joy. Is that what you mean, dear?"

He gave an affirmative grunt and tried not to look sad.

"What do you think, Emma?" her mother asked, finally turning to the tired bride.

Emma was crouched in a plastic chair next to them, arms wrapped around her knees with her head resting against her thigh. She was listening to the words of the people she loved, all concerned for her special day. She thought about how many things had gone wrong since her engagement; how now, when she finally thought she had everything together, one oak cabinet had sent another crisis in motion.

She thought about how little sleep she'd gotten last night and how she was supposed to look her best in exactly six hours.

And she began to giggle, great big peals of laughter that punctuated the air and drew stares from the orderlies passing by.

It was all her tired body could do; her family watched her in confusion, wondering if she was amused or just hysterical.

"Emma?" Rachel asked gently. "Hon, are you all right?"

The bride nodded. "I'm fine," she managed when her body stopped wracking. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared at her family. "Really, I'm fine."

"So," her sister-in-law hedged. "What do you want to do?"

Emma let out a huge sigh, visualizing the load being lifted off her back, and put a hand on her father's shoulder. "I'll think of something," she promised. "I don't know how, but something will come to me."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"How do celebrities do this every day?" she inquired out loud a few hours later as she felt her eyelids go stiff under the makeup artist's careful hand.

"Beauty is pain, Emma, don't you know that?" Taryn cracked from the chair next to her. "After this, we're all supposed to come out looking like a million bucks."

"That's a relief." Emma's voice was muffled as her lips were lined. "Because this wedding is costing just about that amount."

"It is so not," Madeline said as she carefully sipped her tea, trying not to tilt her head and muss up her newly sculpted hair. "Please. Money was no object but you still had your wedding programs printed at Costco Copy Center."