Late May was when Zelina Vega and Raquel Gonzalez had ended up booking their wedding for. They had secured their dream venue of Central Park in New York, a small section of which had been cordoned off with white ribbons for their ceremony.
The weather had turned out perfect for them, too. As Jay stepped out of the car that had driven him and Raquel to the park, the sun was beating down out of a cloudless sky.
"Should have worn sunglasses," Raquel said, coming to stand next to Jay. They were both wearing black suits with white shirts and dark green ties. She had chosen the tie colour because Zelina had opted not to have a traditional white dress, wanting dark green, her favourite colour. "Do I look okay?" she asked him, fiddling with her jacket.
"Girl, you look stunning. I believe I've said that the other fifteen times you've asked me since we finished getting ready," he said with a grin on his face. It was true, too. When she had her hair and makeup done, she lost the intimidating look that she usually had about her, and instead looked very attractive.
Raquel wasn't in a mental place where she could find anything funny, however. "What if Z doesn't show up?"
"Now you're being stupid. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone love somebody as much as Z loves you."
"I just can't believe this is happening to me, Jay," Raquel said, starting to cry. "I never thought I would have someone."
"Hey, hey, hey," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Stop crying. Come on. You'll ruin your makeup. I know how you feel about Z, and I know you never thought you would find happiness. As you know, I felt the same way before Erin came back from New York. But we both got lucky, you and I. We ended up with people we truly love. Now, are we going to go and get you married? We don't want Z showing up before you do."
"You're right. Sorry, I'm very emotional today and I don't know how to deal with it. I'm shaking, Jay." She pulled back from him and held out her right hand. Sure enough, it was noticeably shaking.
Jay took her hand and looked into her eyes, needing to do his job as best man. "You've got this. Okay?"
Raquel squeezed his hand tightly for a couple of seconds, not doing a bad job of crushing it. It gave her some confidence though. "Okay. Thank you. I couldn't get through this without you."
"I'm not so sure about that, but I'm always here for you. Now, let's go. And smile, this is the best day of your life."
"It sure is," Raquel said as they started walking.
It was only a short walk to where the ceremony was happening. Jay saw the cordoned off area, with the guests already there, sitting on metal folding chairs that had been set out for their use. At the front of the group, facing the attendees, there was a small orchestra. Jay had known that Raquel and Zelina had paid for one, and he thought it was a lovely touch. The orchestra were currently playing a piece that he didn't know the name of.
He also noted that all of the Intelligence team had taken seats on the right side of the aisle, which would have been for Raquel's friends and family too, if she'd had any to invite. On the left side of the aisle were Zelina's friends and family. Jay loved the way Intelligence had evened the numbers up somewhat. It would have been hurtful for Raquel to arrive and find her side empty. He imagined Erin had organised that.
"Look at everyone. This is so... I don't have words," Raquel whispered to Jay before they walked up the aisle.
"Everyone looks great," Jay said with a smile. As they walked up the aisle, people looked at them, happy to see Raquel arriving on her big day. He saw Sylvie and Purrazzo sitting together. It was the first time he had seen his former partner wearing a dress, and she looked very good in it. Amanda Rose and her boyfriend were there, as were Adam and Kim. Then, on the front row on Raquel's side, there were Erin, Henry and Clementine. Clem hadn't been allowed her usual pig tails, and certainly no baseball cap.
"Look at Erin and the kids," Raquel said. "Erin's so beautiful. Wow."
Wow indeed, Jay thought as his future wife smiled at him, showing those gorgeous dimples. Right now though, he had a job to do. For what felt like the millionth time, he checked that the gold ring Raquel had bought for Zelina was still in his pocket. It was, of course.
The vicar was already in position, ready for the service. He greeted Raquel and Jay, then all that was left to do was wait for Zelina and her entourage to arrive. Jay felt nervous himself, just knowing what Raquel was going through. Her stomach would feel like it was tied in a knot, he imagined.
Jay imagined it was less than ten minutes before Zelina arrived, although it felt closer to ten hours. He had never seen Raquel so anxious and fidgety. What he had really wanted to do was give her a hug, but he knew she wouldn't like that in front of a load of people.
The orchestra beginning to play Canon in D alerted him to Zelina's arrival. He looked down the aisle and sure enough, there she was.
"Wow. Look how amazing she looks," Raquel breathed.
Jay had to agree. The green dress complimented Zelina's short but shapely figure brilliantly, and her hair and makeup were perfection. She walked slowly up the aisle, arm in arm with her brother, who was giving her away. Behind her was her maid of honour, who Jay had been told was called Gabi.
The beautiful music helped to make the moment stick in his mind. He remembered Erin once telling him how much she loved the piece, and a glance at her confirmed that she was greatly enjoying the way the small orchestra were playing it.
Then he glanced at Raquel. To his surprise he found her biting her bottom lip and scrunching her eyes closed tight, obviously trying hard not to cry. "Hey, come on, you've got this," he told her again, giving her hand a squeeze that he hoped wasn't noticed by many of the guests. Right now most of them were looking at Z anyway.
By the time Zelina finished her journey up the aisle, Raquel had managed to pull herself together. They had decided to say their vows to each other in Spanish, which left Jay barely understanding a word of what was said over the next few minutes, but it wasn't hard to know what the gist of wedding vows was.
"Zelina, if you have a ring for Raquel, you may now place it on her finger," the vicar said.
Zelina's brother handed her a silver wedding band, which she put on Raquel's finger. Both of them had adoration in their eyes. Theirs was a true, deep love.
"Raquel, if you have a ring for Zelina, you may now place it on her finger," the vicar said next.
Jay smiled warmly at Raquel as he handed the ring to her. She seemed to have gotten over her nerves now, and she wasn't shaking as she slipped the ring onto the waiting finger.
"Do you, Zelina, take Raquel to be your wife?"
"I do," Zelina said sincerely.
"Do you, Raquel, take Zelina to be your wife?"
Raquel looked directly into Zelina's eyes. "I do."
"Then you're married!" the vicar cried, throwing his arms up into the air, drawing a cheer from the attendees. Jay had wondered about that theatrical finishing touch when he had heard how the service was planned, but it had worked very well. Everyone was now applauding.
Raquel scooped Zelina off her feet, which wasn't a problem because her dress wasn't a traditionally long wedding dress, and twirled her around in the air before they kissed each other passionately. "I love you, Z. I love you so much."
"I love you too, mami," Zelina said, not caring at all who heard it.
The vicar thanked everyone for coming, and invited them to leave off to the right hand side where photographs would be taken. It was a cue for everyone to start mingling, and of course Erin and the kids were the first ones to approach Jay. Erin had Henry in her arms.
"Henry, you were a very good boy not making any noise during the service," Jay said. "What did you make of it, Clem?"
"I liked it," she said, seeming a bit distracted.
"I'm going to congratulate Raquel and Z," Erin said, moving off towards the happy couple.
"Dad?" Clementine said, sounding troubled.
"What's up, Clem? You okay?"
"I think so. But... is it normal that I think Raquel is really pretty? Like, really pretty? I don't feel that way when I look at guys."
Jay tried not to show a reaction to that. It was a lot to be thrown at him in the space of a couple of sentences. Not only was his daughter starting to experience physical attraction, she was starting to be attracted to women, it seemed, not that he had a problem with that if it was the case. "There's nothing abnormal about it, Clem. Raquel is very pretty."
"But I'm a girl."
"Yeah, you are. But that doesn't make it abnormal. Listen, your mom and I will talk to you about this at home, okay?"
"Okay," Clem said, seeming to accept that.
"Hey, Jay. Look at this. You won't believe it," Raquel said, coming over to them. "Hi, Clem. How are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm good. You look very nice today."
"Bless you. So do you, honey."
Jay smiled at Clem, then looked at Raquel's phone to see what she wanted to show him.
"Just checked my messages and stuff. You won't believe this," she said. She pressed play and Bayley Martinez and Kevin Atwater appeared on the screen, in some kind of fancy ass room.
"Hi, Raquel. Bayley here. Kevin, myself, and everyone here at the governor's mansion want to pass on our congratulations on your wedding. We all wish you the best for the future. If there's anything you need, please call me."
"And let's get together for drinks soon," Atwater added. "Congrats to you both. Say hi to Z for me."
"'Everyone here at the governor's mansion,'" Raquel mocked as she stuffed the phone back into her pocket. "Can you believe that..."
"No I can't," Jay said, cutting her off before she cussed in front of Clem. "Forget it, Raquel. Today's your day, and there's lots of good times to come. This is going to be one of those days you can look back on years from now and say, 'That was a great day.'"
"You have such a way with words, Jay. But you're right, to hell with Bayley. This day is for me and Z. It won't be long before it's your turn though. Your wedding is coming up real fast now."
Jay smiled. "It is. And I genuinely cannot wait."
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A/N: The first of our happy couples are married! Next time, in the final chapter, it's Jay and Erin's turn.
The feedback last time showed me that there is definitely interest in an epilogue, so I'm delighted to confirm that it will go ahead.