Looking for Daniel Mason

"I'm sorry to hear about your father son, but if it makes it easier for you then I'll be happy to be his substitute, as poor as that maybe. Well now that that's settled, I suppose that you two love birds have a wedding to organise, and I have a penguin suit I need to get out of mothballs. On second thought, I might just splash out on a new one. After all, it's not every day a father walks his daughter down the aisle."

~...~

Gracie sat opposite her mother, "How'd he look Gracie?" Was Kat's question to her daughter.

Gracie nodded, "He looks well Mum! I think he's looking after himself." Gracie could see the unspoken question in her mother's face. For a second she thought of embellishing the truth, and then thought better of it. Too many lies had brought the family to where they were now. "I don't want to hurt you mum, but dad didn't ask after you. I think he still feels bad about what happened."

Katelyn dropped her head into her hands and sobbed, "I know I deserve this! What I did was probably the worst thing a wife could do her husband. Please believe me that I never did it to humiliate or hurt him. Your father has been the most perfect husband any woman could want. I don't know how I will ever make this right. All I can say is that I'm happy that at least you kids have your father back again."

Gracie took her mother in her arms and whispered, "It'll all work out! You just wait and see. I'll keep talking to him. I told him that you never stopped loving him. Give me a little time and I'll get him turned around. You'll see!"

Kat pushed Gracie back in a manner that surprised her. "You will do no such thing young lady! You will keep your mouth shut. I will not have you jeopardising your relationship with your father in the vain hope that he might feel enough of me to come back. I did this to myself Gracie, and I will take my medicine. I have made my bed, so I'll be damned to sleep in it. If your father chooses of his own free will to grace me with his forgiveness then so be it. All I ask is that he knows I have never stopped loving him and that I have never loved anyone else, and never will. I WILL remain his devoted and loving wife until death do we part; whether he chooses divorces me or not!"

Gracie didn't know what to do or say to her mother. What did surprise her was that her mother wasn't crying anymore. There seemed to be an acceptance and a determination in her face that she hadn't been there for many years. "Dad does know that you love him Mum! We have all told him and I believe that he accepts that. I think it's the pain of the deception that he finds hard to live with. Maybe with time he'll find some way to get around that and things will be back the way they were."

Katelyn smiled sadly at her daughter, "As Jason has already said; nothing will ever be the same sweetheart, and neither should it be. What I have done will haunt me for the rest of my life whether your father forgives me or not. I'm going to sit back and thank my lucky stars for whatever small mercies that come my way. Now let's put this behind us, we have a wedding to organise."

~...~

For the next six months, matters settled down to what one could call stable chaos. Gracie spent as much time as she could, catching up with her father. Jason took advantage of this to get to know his future father-in-law. Katelyn for her part kept herself busy with the business and dealing with caterers, function venues and seating arrangements and the like for the wedding. She was crestfallen and depressed that Dan hadn't so much as phoned her, let alone come to see her. She caught herself numerous times wanting to go to him and beg his forgiveness, but stayed her course and let her husband make the first move.

"Are you going to be ok Dad? I mean, tomorrow? Mum will be there at the wedding and it'll be the first time you two have been..." Gracie fell silent, trying unsuccessfully to gauge her father's reaction.

Dan stayed silent himself, he'd thought hard and long about this day. He'd promised Gracie that he'd do his bit to make it her day, a day to remember. The closer it had come the more uncertain he was that he could hold it all together and to keep the peace. He cleared his throat, "If your mother keeps her promise then I'll be just fine Sweet Pea. Don't you go worrying about me! You have too many things to worry about, and I promise that I'll be the happiest father in the whole wide world."

Dan stood in the lounge room of his house waiting for the bride to finish dressing; the very same house he had left four and half years ago. Mixed emotions were running rampant through his head. Katelyn had left the house for the church an hour before he got there as agreed. He still didn't know how he was going to feel when he finally saw her for the first time. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself by counting to ten and let it out. Just then, he heard a door open and close, looking to the head of the staircase he saw his daughter coming down the stairs with two of her bridesmaids. His breath caught in his throat, he thought she could only be termed a vision of female perfection.

It was as if Katelyn were taking each and every delicate step just twenty years ago, "Ohhh my god Gracie! You are as beautiful and gorgeous as your mother!"

Grace beamed a radiant smile and quivered. "Daddy! That in itself is all I need to know. Do you really think I'm pretty?"

"Without a doubt Gracie; without a doubt!"

Both father and daughter were nervous but for difference reasons as they pulled up to the church in their white stretch limousine.

Walking his daughter down the aisle was something Dan had long given up any intention of ever doing, so being here was almost surreal.

"Who give this woman to be joined with this man in holy wedlock?"

Dan took a quick breath, "On behalf of my wife and all here gathered today. I give my only daughter, Grace Lynne Mason into the loving care of Jason Richard Stevenson in blessed wedlock!" With his lines said to perfection, Dan kissed his daughter's hand and held it out for Jason to take. Gracie smiled through her veil, blew her father a kiss, and mouthed a heartfelt thank you.

Katelyn sat trembling with tears of joy and relief as she watched Dan escort their daughter down the aisle. She marvelled at how handsome he looked in his suit, the years hadn't taken their toll on him. Her breath caught in her throat when she heard Dan utter those words, "On behalf of my wife..." She knew from Gracie that Dan had drawn up his own response to giving their daughter's hand in marriage and it heartened her to think that Dan had recognised that she was still his wife.

Sitting tentatively waiting for his return to his seat beside her she thought back to the conversation she'd had with Gracie, offering to sit in the back so that Dan wouldn't feel overwhelmed sitting so close to her. Gracie had assured her that her father believed that it would not look good if she wasn't sitting in the front where the bride's mother would normally be.

Dan never looked directly at Katelyn as he sat down to wait the rest of the ceremony. He never acknowledged her presence, just sitting quietly with his hands in his lap. Katelyn tried not to look directly at him. Tried desperately not to throw her arms around him and ask for forgiveness was the hardest thing Kate had ever had to endure.

When the minister came to the lines, "...and to forsake all others" Katelyn made a small gasp and without thinking put her hand on Dan's leg. Dan laid his hand on hers and Katelyn thought that everything was going to be fine until his grip of her hand got stronger and started to hurt. Katelyn gritted her teeth and shut her eyes as Dan lifted her hand off his leg and dropped in back in her lap.

No one saw what transpired and Katelyn broke out in a fresh bout of silent tears. She mentally berated herself for her foolish action, she had promised her daughter not to interact with Dan in the slightest and she'd now fail even in that simple task.

Dan felt his blood pressure spike and suddenly his head ached. Clenching his teeth trying to keep his temper under control only made his headache worse. He just prayed that the ceremony would be over soon and he'd be able to get out and breathe fresh air.

After suffering through the photo shoot of the bridal party, Dan made a quick dash around the back of the church and threw up. Jason saw his exit and went to see if he was all right, "You ok dad?"

Dan pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his mouth, "I'm ok son! The stress and tension has given me a migraine. I need to get back to my flat for some medication and lay down."

Gracie found them as Jason escorted her father to the car park, "Daddy? You look terrible; what happened?" Dan smiled weakly, "I'll be ok sweet pea, the excitement of the occasion has given me a migraine and I need to go lay down. Will you give your mother and the guest my apologies?"

Jason waved to one of his friends, "Bruce; can you give Mr Mason a lift to his place, he's not feeling well."

As they drove away, Gracie looked to her husband, "What really happen?"

Jason patted Gracie's hand as he watched the car disappear out of sight, "I don't know, but I have a feeling that it all got a little too much for him. But I'm sure he'll be ok!"

~...~

Katelyn was mingling with the other guest at the reception when she noticed that Dan hadn't shown up. This made her nervous and the fact that there were some disturbing conversations running between her extended family and friends didn't help her disposition at all.

Sidling up to Gracie she asked, "Where's your father?"

Gracie's face said it all. "He's not here, is he?" Gracie shook her head. "No mum; he's feeling sick with a migraine and needed to lay down. He asked us to give his apologies."

Katelyn's heart sunk. "It was my fault Grace, I did a stupid thing at the ceremony and I feel I've ruined your father's day."

Grace patted her mother on the arm. "Don't make more of it than necessary mum. We all knew this was going to be a trying time for him and in all fairness, I got the main thing I wanted, and that was to walk down the aisle with my father!"

Katelyn tried to smile, but it was with sadness. "May I ask you and Jason one favour?"

When Katie had finished her request, Jason went to Rex Patterson, their MC and informed him of his mother-in-law's wishes. Rex nodded and looked to Grace, who nodded her assent. "Sure thing Jason, although you've asked for a traditional form for speeches, there's no reason we can't accommodate this."

Rex tapped his wine glass to bring the gathering to order. "Please may I have your attention?" Rex waited for a minute for the guest to settle. "We all know why we're here on this special occasion..." Rex continued as some guests listened, while quietly whispered between themselves.

"I have been asked to re-arrange the order of speeches, so without further-a-do; I'll ask the Best man...Just come to think of it, but why do they call him the best man? Probably because he's not the one that got married! Lucky bugger!"

There was a little murmur of jesting circling the room and Rex held up his hand. "Ohhh well, I feel so bad for all you others, this is one tough crowd!" He chuckled. Continuing he finished, "Jerry! I'll hand this lot over to you and see if you can do any better!" The room broke up more at this statement.

The speeches went on as usual with the normal laughing and joking, well wishing and good marital advice, one snippet coming from Jason's Uncle. "Son, I have but two pieces of advice and something that will save you and your lovely wife a lot of embarrassment. The first is take heed of your elder's experiences." He waited for the room to quieten, some murmuring and nodding approval of his words, and then with a straight face he delivered his second piece of advice. "And whatever you do, make sure you get an engineer's certification on the mounting bolts to the chandelier in the honeymoon suit!"

The room broke up laughing as his wife dug him in the ribs and spoke a little too loudly in her embarrassment, "Damn you Brian, you said that nobody would ever know about that!" After that statement, the shrill notes of laughter burst into a kind of pandemonic cachinnation, which filled the room, and not until Rex got to his feet did they finally quiet down.

"Just bear with me for a second folks!" Rex seemed to be writing something down on a piece of paper and not too quietly, he mumbled to himself, "Note to self. Must check mounting bolts on chand..." The room broke up again drowning out his voice. He was pleased that the guests had loosened up with the wine and champaign and stopped writing with a cheeky grin on his face.

Holding his hands up to restore order he motioned to Kat, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have come to the last speech of the evening and it gives me great pleasure to ask Mrs Mason to respond on behalf of the Bride's family. Katelyn if you please?"

Sitting down he watched as Katie got up and moved over past the vacant chair sitting between her and Gracie to just between and behind her daughter and son-in-law, placing her hands on their respective shoulders. There had been certain vocalised rambling, an incoherent ripple of conversation all evening as to the vacant chair. Katelyn, while being annoyed at this insensitive and nonsensical tattle tried to ignore it.

Katelyn's eyes surveyed the gathering in a slow sweep, using this time to gather her thoughts. "First of all I like to thank each and every one of you for coming today and celebrating this joyous occasion. It gives me great pleasure to welcome a man of Jason's calibre into our family." Turning to Jason's mother she commented, "This really should be Daniel's speech, but since he's not here then it's left up to me to welcome you and your wonderful son to our family. I once told him that I would love to meet the person who made him the person he is. He told me that I have already met her, as in my daughter Gracie! Now I'd like to know the woman she takes after, I'm sure we'll become good friends."

Katie took a little breath to steady herself. "I have to agree, and I believe Gracie has married a man as kind, generous and loving as my Daniel. Jason does you credit Gemma; you can be proud of his upbringing. Without Jason's intervention, Daniel would not have been at our daughter's wedding, let alone back in his children's lives. Jason has been able to do what six private detective and tens of thousands of dollars came nowhere near doing."

Turning back to the guests she continued, "I know that if Daniel were here he would be saying the same thing. Unfortunately he's been struck down with a migraine and couldn't stay for the reception." Katelyn studied the faces and saw the condescension in some of them.

She looked to the empty chair and stifled a sob. "Those of you on the Mason side of this gathering know the significance of this chair, and why I'm sitting one placement over." She pointed to the chair, "This is my husband's chair and although he isn't sitting in it, it is still his and no one can take his place, least of all me! He is and always will be the head of our family!"

Katelyn felt the tears and lent slightly on the shoulders of Jason and Gracie. Gracie brought her hand up and squeezed her mother's hand for support and courage; Katelyn leaned down and whispered something to both of them and they nodded their consent.

"I know this isn't normally the occasion to be bringing this kind of thing to everyone's attention, but in a way it has everything to do with the spirit of the gathering. As most of the Mason side of this festivity know, almost four year and nine months ago, Daniel disappeared without trace; it was our fifteenth wedding anniversary and it marked the beginning of some very hard and traumatic times for the family, with supposition and innuendoes running rife."

Katelyn's facial features hardened as she heard the rumble roll around her family. "I'm going to put an end to these despicable aspersions on Daniel's good character." Katelyn felt anger at the thought of her immediate family and their snide, backhanded remarks. "I came to this conclusion as I sat beside the most wonderful man and husband any woman could possibly wish for. When I heard the vows between Grace and Jason, I knew I could not let this go on any longer."

By this time an eerie hush had descended over the room, even the wait staff stopped their clearing of plates. Katelyn glared at the main culprits for the ugly rumours circulating. "At the time," she continued, "I had no idea why Daniel saw fit to leave me, but now I do know, as do Grace, Jason and the twins. Daniel did not leave me for another woman as has been bandied about over these last four odd years!"

Katelyn knew that what she said next was going to change what most of these people thought of her, but she didn't care; she had to put this right, no matter the consequences. "Daniel did leave me because of infidelity; not his, but mine!"

The room sat quiet for some minutes before the whispering started. Katelyn saw the faces of those who had accused Daniel and looked them straight in the eye. Most looked away in shame, "Those of you; I won't name names, I think you all know who you are, now have the right person to lay the blame and it is at my feet. Daniel is and has always been true and loving to me and our children; he has been and still is a good provider, and loving companion and terrific father to our children."

Katelyn went on to explain most of the details, leaving out the fact that Grace and the twins weren't Daniel's biological offspring. She did tell the gathering that she was sorry to have brought this shame on her family and asked for forgiveness from the four people directly affected by her actions. "So now everyone knows why I will not have anyone sitting in Daniel's seat; there is not one man among you who can hold a candle to Daniel when it comes to being a father, a lover and a friend. I'm sorry for putting a dampener on the festivities but I think that if anything good comes from my mistake then I hope it is that everyone can learn how fragile a marriage is and how often one little mistake can ruin a perfectly good union."

Looking down to Gracie and Jason, she finished, "Marriage is made up of trust, respect, and love; lose anyone of these and you destabilise your marriage as I have done with mine."

Looking back up to the gathering she continued, "I'm not just talking to the newlyweds here; everyone, all of you here can take this advice and learn from it. I am not going to ask any of you for forgiveness nor am I going to make excuses, what I did was inexcusable, and downright stupid."

There was a hush settling on the room, but Kate didn't let it deter her from what needed saying. "By doing what I did I have lost the trust of my husband! There are only my children, my husband and my maker who can forgive me! Gracie, Joshua and Robert have already forgiven me and I thank them for their compassion and understanding. I now have only the man I love with all my heart and my maker to face; I'm not sure which one I'll be kneeling in front of first, begging for his forgiveness, and that is a heavy burden I'll just have to live with!"

With her admission complete, Katelyn walked back to her seat, leant over and picked up her glass. "I would like you all to charge your glasses and be upstanding. I would like to propose a toast to the Bride and Groom, Grace and Jason Stevenson! Let us all wish for their union to be happy, loving and prosperous!" Everyone stood and cheered.

Katelyn was talking quietly with some friends when her mother's sister joined them. The others knew that these two didn't see eye to eye on many subjects, least of all Daniels disappearance and bid their farewells, leaving Aunt Martha and Katelyn to talk privately.