Two Letters

"OK," I replied. "Why don't you pay for Susan's wedding dress and the flowers?"

"Deal!" He responded.

"Great! Aunt Beth has agreed to help Maureen with all the details." Taking two debit cards from my shirt pocket I passed one to each of the ladies.

"Take these to pay for all the expenses. There is one hundred thousand dollars on each of them. If you need more don't hesitate to tell me. Get the very best. Susan deserves to have the wedding of her dreams."

Three days later Maureen and Pat called me to say that Susan had found the perfect wedding dress at one of the bridal shops down by the mall. They gave me the name of the shop when I asked.

Later that afternoon I called and spoke with the manager. I introduce myself and told her my idea, asking if it were possible. She said it was and thought it was a very romantic idea. She promised to keep it a secret from Susan.

Over the next two months Maureen and Aunt Beth worked tirelessly in pulling together all the details to make the wedding and reception a success. They asked once for some help in finding someone who could provide the tent shelters along with tables and chairs for the back lawn where we planned to have the reception.

I immediately thought of Ramon. I called him and he agreed to meet with us at my house. After explaining what we had in mind he told us not to worry. He had a cousin who specialized in setting up events such as ours and he would take care of everything.

Chapter Seven

Finally the day of my wedding was here. Mom and dad had arranged everything but wanted to keep some of the details a secret to surprise me. Last night's rehearsal dinner went splendidly. The wedding party, my parents, Uncle Jack, Aunt Beth and all the out of town guests had a wonderful dinner at a great little place.

That morning my mom and I got our hair done, a manicure and make-up professionally applied before heading to the church. My wedding dress was to be delivered there. When we arrived at the church my dress wasn't there. I began to panic as mom called the dress shop.

"Not to worry." She told me after ending the call. "It's on the way. Their van had a flat tire and was delayed until someone came to fix it. Let's go next door to the coffee shop and wait."

When we returned the dress was there with a note of apology for its late arrival. By then the guests had begun arriving and we had to scramble to get me dressed.

As mom removed the dress from the garment bag I took one look at it and exclaimed. "That's not my dress!"

I was almost in tears. "That's not my dress. Look it has a long train."

"Well, dear." Mom answered. "It's too late to get yours here. At least try it on and see how it fits."

I did try it on and it fit perfectly, absolutely perfectly. Looking at myself in the dressing room mirror I saw myself in the dress of my dreams that I had as a child.

Just then there was a knock on the door and my father came in to tell us the ceremony was about to begin and mom had to go out to be seated by one the ushers.

He took one look at me and a huge smile broke out on his face. "You look stunning, just stunning Susan." He said with a catch in his voice.

"Are you ready? Let's get this show on the road." Grabbing my hand and leading me from the dressing room.

As the strains of Felix Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' filled the church I grasped dad's arm and began my entrance. When I looked up I saw the church was filled to overflowing. With everyone standing and watching me I couldn't even see Rick waiting at the altar.

I finally was able to see him about half way up the aisle. He was in his full-dress 'choker white' formal uniform with all of his ribbons and medals. His best man and groomsmen were also in their 'choker whites'.

I saw my mother standing in the front pew and Uncle Jack and Aunt Beth in the place of honor on the groom's side of the church.

When asked by the priest. "Who gives this woman to be joined in holy matrimony?"

Dad answered. "Her mother and I proudly do so." Placing my hand into Rick's he took his place beside my mother.

After that everything was kind of a blur. I remember repeating my vows and hearing Rick say his and him placing my wedding ring on my finger. I do definitely remember the kiss we exchanged before heading back down the church aisle together.

As we exited the church we passed under an arch of crossed swords held by other uniformed naval officers. It was my fairy tale wedding come true.

After everyone had left the church and headed for the reception we went back inside for photographs. Thirty minutes later we were finished. The immediate wedding party had already left when Rick and I made our way to the limo that would take us there. 'There' being a surprise, as I didn't know where it was being held. One more secret withheld from me by mom and dad.

When we arrived at Rick's house I was amazed and then dismayed to see the size of the event.

"How can my folks afford a reception this large? They will bankrupt themselves." I said to Rick, almost crying.

Rick looked at me and said to come with him inside the house. He wanted to show me something. Walking me into his home office he booted up his desktop computer. When he found the file he was seeking he sat me down in front of the monitor. On the screen was a series of accounts only identified by initials.

Double click on the one labeled 'HH' he told me. I did and a bank statement showing both savings and checking accounts appeared.

"Tell me to who do these accounts belong?" He asked me.

I looked and then looked again. They were joint accounts with his and my names listed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The savings account showed a balance of over one hundred-eighty million dollars. The checking account had over ten million dollars.

"Now look at the expenditures in the checking account." He instructed.

I saw expenditures for catering, orchestra, tents, staff and the list went on and on.

Then I asked him what the other accounts were. He said they were accounts with businesses in which he, now us, had an ownership stake.

"For example." He said. "Look at this one."

He clicked on the one labeled 'G and H 20%'. It came up as Garcia and Hauff, Construction. "What does the 20% mean?"

He answered me saying that it meant he, now we, had a 20% ownership in the company.

I scrolled down the list of other accounts and clicked on 'R and H 5%'. I was shocked to see it was 'Riley and Hauff, Video Surveillance'.

"I set your dad up with some friends of mine that needed state of the art video surveillance. I had told them about how your dad set it up in his own home. They got in contact with him and decided to have him design a system for them." He explained to me.

"Your dad needed start up capital and I gave it to him to get his new business up and running. He wanted to make me an equal partner and I refused. We got into a heated discussion and he finally twisted my arm and got me to agree to taking a 5% share."

"In return he had to allow me to pay for the reception and a few other incidentals. Did you know that business has gotten so good for him that he has had to hire ten employees to just keep up with the new orders?"

"So, sweetheart, please don't worry about your mom and dad paying for our reception. We paid for it. Now let's go out there and enjoy ourselves with our guests."