Chapter 17
It was the first day of the rest of his life.
This was it. The day. The day that would change his life–for the better, as far as he was concerned. He hadn't woken up on the day he was disowned, or the day he was hit by the car with the same feeling of the inevitability of change, but then again, had he known what was coming on those days, he'd never have gotten out of bed. Today, he would be married. Today, he would stand at an altar and before God and recite irrevocable vows binding himself to the femme he loved, taking her to be his wife.
It was strange, really. Jessie and Kit were already virtually married. They lived together, and shared their lives with each other completely. They were completely entwined with each other, from sharing a bed to sharing bank accounts, living as married couples lived and having done so for nearly two months. A marriage between them was almost a technicality, and yet Kit was looking forward to it more than he'd ever looked forward to anything in his life.
It was the officiality of it, he guessed. They'd be moral, as Jessie jokingly put it the day before, living the way society expected them to live. They'd be publicly declaring their commitment to each other, standing up and telling the world that they had chosen to be together, to be a family rather than a pair. Jessie wouldn't be his girlfriend, she'd be his wife.
Wife. Just thinking about that sent a thrill through him. Jessie would be his wife. She would be giving him the one thing she could give him that she hadn't given him already, a family. It would be just her to start off, but with luck and God's favor, they'd have babies to increase their family. Both sides of their family seemed prodigious when it came to kids, so it was a good sign. Kit hoped they had lots of kids, and Jessie wanted to be pregnant already, so she shared his desire for children.
He looked at his clock. 5:27am. He rose up a little and looked at Jessie's clock, on the other side of the bed on her nightstand. 5:32am. Jessie liked to set her clocks a couple minutes fast to motivate her to get out of bed without being late, because when she just woke up she didn't remember that the clock was fast. He laid back and felt how empty the bed was, how hard it had been to sleep without her there with him. He kept reaching out for her in his sleep, and when his paw found nothing but empty bed, it woke him up.
There was no reason to even try to go back to sleep. He knew it would be absolutely impossible. He got up, sitting on the edge of the bed for a moment as he shook off the last of the grogginess, then stood up and stretched. His back popped loudly, and he almost expected Jessie to give a squeal at that sound; it always creeped her out. He also almost expected a teasing complement of his butt or hear her slide across the bed and put her paw on him as she loved to do in the morning. Jessie was a very tactile femme, almost needing to touch and be touched.
But there were none, because she wasn't here. She was at Rick and Martha's, and he'd bet that she was already awake and getting down to the business of getting ready.
Kit needed to as well.
He attended that business. He wandered sleepily into the kitchen and started the teapot, turned on the radio to listen to the news, then wandered back to the bedroom. After checking for the thousandth time to make sure the rings were still sitting on the dresser, he put on a robe, went back out, turned off the alarm, and picked up the newspaper off the porch. He sat down and tried to relax with a cup of tea and the newspaper, but it was almost impossible. All he could do was wish it was time to go already, and he had over six hours to go!
It startled him when the phone rang. He had to go back to the bedroom to get it, and saw that it was Jessie's phone calling him. It could be Jessie, or someone in the house. "Hello?"
"Today you will be mine," came Jessie's playful voice.
"Isn't this bad luck?" he asked.
"Only if you see me before the ceremony," she giggled in reply. "Did you sleep?"
"Not much. You?"
"A little," she answered. "I was too excited to sleep."
"I just couldn't sleep without you here," he sighed.
"What, you're not happy to marry me?" she asked archly, then she laughed before he could reply. "I'm about to take a shower."
"Then why did you call me?" he asked.
"Because I wanted to talk to you, silly," she laughed. "Do I need a reason to want to talk to my husband?"
"Aaat, you can't call me that yet," he teased.
"Forget the rules," she giggled. "I'm exercising my option to just go ahead and call you that. It's a guarantee, after all. There's no way you're getting away from me now," she said in a purring voice. "Because everyone's here, it's the day of our wedding, and they'll drag you to the altar if you try to back out."
"You make it sound like I'm against the idea," he challenged.
"You're a boy," she said simply. "You were getting it all without marrying me, you know, a cook and a housekeeper and a sex kitten. Never know, you mighta decided you liked not paying for it and tried to run at the last second."
Kit laughed. She tried to sound all serious, but she just couldn't do it.
"Someday you'll learn how to lie," he teased.
"God, I hope not," she giggled. Kit heard a muffled voice in the background. "Mom, stop being a silly goose. I'm in my own bedroom!" she said away from the phone. "Mom just walked in," she told him. "I'm sitting at this antique makeup table, and I'm not wearing anything," she said in a husky voice.
"I've created a monster," he teased with a laugh.
"It is your fault. I never slept without clothes until I moved in with you, now I can't stand even wearing panties when I go to bed," she laughed. "No, I'm not teasing him, Mom. It is his fault, isn't it?"
Kit laughed.
"Well, Mom's already eyeing the dress, so I think I'm in for four hours of fitting," she sighed. She was silent a moment, then laughed. "No, a light breakfast, then two hours of meticulous preparation, then two hours of putting on my dress, then we go," she recited as Hannah's voice droned in the background, then she giggled. "She said I have to be absolutely perfect, and so do you. So she says get in the shower and spend at least an hour combing your fur before getting dressed for the wedding." She laughed again. "She said if you fail her inspection, she won't let you marry me."
"Oh dear, sounds like I'd better start getting ready," he said dryly. "Maybe I'll go get my fur shaved off, that way I don't have to worry about how it looks."
Jessie almost dropped the phone as he heard her laughing. "If you do that, I won't let you marry me," she retorted. "He said he's going to have his fur shaved off so he doesn't have to comb it," she told her mother. Then she laughed again. "Mom says it'll be an improvement."
"Tell her I'll give her an improvement at the reception," he said with a chuckle. "But I'll leave you to your mother's tender mercy. Such as it is. I sense a long bath in your future, along with two hours of combing fur," he teased.
"I don't mind. I want to be beautiful today," she purred to him.
"I keep telling you, if you want to look beautiful to me, go naked."
She laughed. "I want to look beautiful to more than just you," she corrected.
"I think all the males would side with me."
"Well, they can go home and cry," she said tauntingly, then he heard a scraping sound.
"That's about enough, Kit. She's still my daughter until one o'clock, so I'm taking her from you now," Hannah told him.
"Make her pretty, Hannah," Kit told her.
"Even if I have to get plaster and spray paint," she said, which made Kit break down in helpless laughter as she hung the phone up.
He chuckled as he put the phone on the table, then went back to his paper to try to calm down and forget the magnitude of the day… if only because he had so long to wait before it started getting important.
He wasn't left alone long, though. Sheila came over about half an hour after Jessie called and talked him into going to the Y with her. They played racquetball for about an hour as she kept teasing him over the impending wedding, until he intentionally whacked her with a racquetball after a serve. But, the exercise did give him something to do, and it was good to banter with his cousin while doing it. When they got home, it was almost nine, and that was close enough, at least to him, to start getting ready. He took a very long, thorough shower, and after getting out and drying off, he did more or less as Hannah ordered and sat down with a comb. But he forgot to lock the door, and Sheila was ever one to impose if she found the door unlocked. "Woo, sexy," she teased as she came to the bedroom door and saw him sitting on the bed. She was dressed in a little satin red dress that had a very short skirt and managed to show off her cleavage, along with a rather saucy little hat that had a fluff of red lace around its fringe. "Want some help?"
"Help with what?"
"With what you can't reach, goof," she teased, coming over and quite deliberately pushing him onto his stomach on the bed. He felt a little weird laying there as Sheila began pulling the comb through the fur on his shoulders, but she wasn't doing or saying anything strange, so he let it go. He did jump a bit when she dared to comb the fur on his backside and the base of his tail, but she moved on to his tail, pulling the comb through the thick fur on his tail slowly but thoroughly, teasing every strand of fur into perfect position, even teasing the black tip just over the white band before licking her fingers and pressing it to a perfect point. "There, now that's a gorgeous tail," she said critically, pushing it aside before pulling the comb through the fur on the back of his leg.
"Kit! Brah, you here?" Lupe shouted from the front door.
"We're in the bedroom!" Sheila shouted in reply, and put a paw on the small of his back when he moved to get up. "I'm not done with you yet," she told him.
"But–"
"Yo, brah, I didn't know you were kissing cousins!" Lupe said with a laugh from the doorway. He was wearing a dark blue zoot suit-like suit of all things, but he looked astounding. The suit fit him perfectly, with its perfectly fitted pants, blue shirt and vest with a pocket watch chain stretched across the front, and long, knee-length jacket with suspenders and a wide red tie, and he looked amazingly dapper and suave in it. He completed his stylish look with a fedora tilted ever-so-slightly over his right eye. In a way, he looked like a throwback to the swing era, but he looked very nice. The style and look was perfect for him, and he looked more handsome than Kit ever believed a Chihuahua could appear.
"Lupe, you look awesome!" Sheila told him honestly.
"Aww, thanks babe," he said modestly. "What are you doing to him anyway?"
"Combing his fur," she said simply. "This is his wedding, brah, he's gotta look his absolute best. That includes a full body comb."
"Brah, your cousin is doing it," Lupe chuckled.
"If I wasn't a relative, he'd be spending too much time keeping my paws off his butt," Sheila said simply, which made Lupe laugh. "That's why he's safe with me doing it." Then, if only to tease him, she patted his bare backside fondly, which made Lupe explode into laughter.
"Sheila, get on with it," Kit told her dryly.
"I'm just working up to where you turn over," she said, blowing a kiss to him when he looked over his shoulder at her.
"Well, I was gonna see if you needed my help with anything, but you look good to go," Lupe noted.
"I'm going to need a ride to the church."
"You're not riding in Lupe's old truck," Sheila said sternly. "You're riding in style, cousin. You're going in my Mustang!"
"I'm going to kick both your butts if you don't clear out and let me finish getting ready," he told them. "I can get the rest of it, Sheila. Thanks for the help."
"He uses me then throws me away," she sighed. "I'd better warn Jessie that she's next."
"You won't say a thing like that around Hannah," Kit said with dead seriousness in his voice. "That's one of her major buttons, Sheila. Don't ever even joke about something like that in front of her. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, sure, Kit. Why is she like that?"
"Because she thinks I'm going to lose interest in Jessie and leave her," he answered honestly.
"That's like impossible, brah," Lupe chuckled.
"Tell that to an obsessive mother, Lupe," Kit answered.
"Eh, true. Come on, babe, let's go give Kit some space so he don't dress to an audience."
Kit combed his front himself, brushed his teeth, then meticulously dressed in the tuxedo Vil had made for him. It took him about half an hour to be dressed to his satisfaction, only leaving the spats that would go over the tops of his feet off. He'd put those on at the church. He carefully combed and styled his hair, a rare instance where he'd use hair spray. He then inspected himself in the mirror and found that he looked presentable.
He was straightening his tie when his phone rang. He picked it up and unfolded it after seeing that it was Vil. "Hey sis," he said. "I'm getting ready now."
"Good, cause I'm in the limo on my way to pick you up," she answered. "Clancy and Suzy are with me, so you need to be presentable."
"I'm done dressing," he told her calmly. "Just making sure I did it right."
"Clancy says he'll make sure of that when he gets there," Vil chuckled, then she hung up.
They got there about five minutes later. Clancy immediately took him to task for his terrible dressing of himself, then carted him to the bedroom and helped him dress again, this time the way he was supposed to do it. He didn't really see much difference when he emerged from the bedroom about ten minutes later, but Kit had the feeling that Clancy had been looking forward to the idea of helping Kit don his tuxedo, and was going to do just that. Vil and Suzy whistled at him when Clancy brought him back out, Vil even making him turn around to look him over. "They did a good job on that tux," she noted. "And you remembered to comb your tail," she winked.
"Sheila did that, actually," he admitted.
"Well, you look very handsome, Kit," Suzy told him with a smile.
"She did a good job," Vil nodded. "Okay, where are the gifts you're taking to Cincinnati? I'll have them shipped up for you."
"In my truck still," he answered.
"Where are your suitcases?"
"In the bedroom."
"Everything packed?"
"I'm pretty sure. I have a carry-on bag for our necessities and cameras. I want to use them at the reception."
"Okay, you got the rings?"
"They're in the bedroom."
"Go get 'em, bro, I'll have Stav get your suitcases and we're on our way."
"Hold on, I need to give my keys to Lupe," he said. "He's going to watch over our cars and the apartment while we're away. He's gonna clear out the fridge for us, which for him means he'll eat it all," he chuckled. "That's okay, though, it'd go to waste otherwise."
After Kit got the rings and dropped his keys off with Lupe, and Sheila objected to Vil taking Kit to the church which Vil dismissed scornfully, they were in Vil's limo and on the way. He felt… giddy. This was it. They were going to the church, and in about ninety minutes, the ceremony would begin.
He was so excited he could barely sit still.
They arrived at the church at 11:45am, an hour and fifteen minutes before the ceremony. Monsignor Duke was there, wearing his canonical attire, which Kit felt was sure to rile Jessie's parents a little bit. But he gave them a warm smile as they came into the church, and Kit had to stop and gape. The church was unbelievable! Flowers were absolutely everywhere, yellow and pink arrangements side by side with blue and lavender arrangements, and the entire area behind the altar was a literal wall of floral beauty. The pews were decorated with tiny bouquets and gentle yellow and soft blue ribbons, using their favorite colors. Yellow was Jessie's favorite color, and blue was his. A red carpet had been laid down the center aisle, and there were even floral curtains hanging off the balcony's railing at the back of the chapel. The walls had white and yellow wall floral arrangements, with tassels dangling from them, hanging under the stained glass windows, and there were huge wreaths of yellow roses flanking each side of the altar.
The decorations were amazing! The church was absolutely gorgeous!
"It's beautiful," Kit whispered as he looked around.
"Yes, they did a great job, didn't they?" Vil said approvingly as she looked around. "Glad you didn't get interested and it was a surprise?" she grinned.
"Actually, I am," he said honestly.
"What company did this, Vil?" Suzy asked. "If Corey ever asks, I might contract them. They did a fantastic job!"
"It's a local place," Vil said. "But they had very high recommendations."
"I dare say those accolades are well deserved," Clancy said with an approving nod.
"Quite lovely, isn't it?" the monsignor said happily. "They'll grace our church for days and enrich it with their beauty and fragrance."
The raccoons from Tricoon were already here, and the female of the three siblings was snapping quite a few photos of the arrangements while the church was still empty, as one of the males swept a very professional-looking camera about on his shoulder, panning through the church to capture it on film. The femme raccoon was wearing a very pretty dark gray satin dress with straps reaching from the bodice to her upper arms, but the dress looked comfortable and well suited for a femme that would be moving around a great deal. The male was wearing a black suit with a gray tie.
"Now, my son, you have to stay out of the front part of the church," the monsignor said with a smile. "Miss Williams is already here, and is currently in the front antechamber dressing room being preened and prepared for the ceremony. She arrived about a half hour ago," he informed them.
"I brought her here in the limo, then came to get you," Vil grinned. "I already have your limo positioned, and it's not gonna move 'til you get in it to go to the reception. I don't want anyone trying to take its spot. I got you a nice white stretch, you'll ride in style," she chuckled.
"If you wish to sit down or rest, we have a nice waiting room right through that door there," he said as he pointed to the door on the left side of the choral box behind the altar. "There's also a restroom back there you can use, if necessary. I'm afraid until we start preparing for the ceremony, there's little for you to do," he smiled.
"Except be nervous," Suzy laughed.
"I'm too excited to be nervous," Kit snorted.
Kit was too keyed up to sit around and wait, so he spent most of the early time talking to Vil, Clancy, and Suzy. As they got closer and closer to the ceremony, however, friends and family began to show up, and Kit made a point to greet them and talk with them a few moments. A whole lot of strangers also showed up, people he didn't know, who didn't greet him as they came in. Kit had no idea who they are, but they were dressed to be here, so they had to be friends and relatives of the gang or Kevin or Lupe or the guys from the apartment complex. The place really began to fill up, nearly three quarters full, but Kit saw that everyone he knew was already here… almost. He hadn't seen Mickey or Kevin yet, but they may have slipped in without Kit seeing them. Several strangers filed by as he greeted his cousin Muffy. Muffy seemed a bit confused when she arrived and didn't find Kit and Jessie at the entry to the chapel to greet them, giving him a strange look when he took her paw near the back of the chapel. "What's going on, did she back out or something?" she asked.
"It's not a Catholic ceremony, cousin, she's not going to come out into public until it starts," he told her.
"Oh. I was expecting to greet you at the door," she grinned.
"Nah, it's a more protestant ceremony to appease her parents," he told her. "I start the ceremony already at the altar and everything."
"Ah, okay. Now I know what to expect," she giggled. "I'm surprised the father agreed to do it in a Catholic church."
"He was amenable to it, actually," Kit told her.
"Can I go see her and say hi before we start?" she asked.
"I guess so, she's back in the waiting room back there," he said, pointing to the right side of the back of the church. "The only one not allowed to see her really is me," he grinned.
He went through that again almost immediately with Sarah and Brian, with whom Muffy had driven to the church. "Where on earth is your bride?" Brian asked as Sarah looked a little happy. "And why aren't you and the Monsignor at the door greeting the guests?"
"Jessie's hiding," he answered. "We're not having a traditional Catholic ceremony because she and her parents aren't Catholic, and her parents didn't want a Catholic ceremony."
"What? This is a Catholic church!" Sarah said in a scandalized tone.
"Yes, that's the compromise we reached," Kit told her calmly. "Catholic church, Catholic priest, but a Protestant-style ceremony. And before you say another word, the Monsignor fully agreed to do this for us."
"Why I never!" she said gratingly.
"If you cause a scene, I'll have Vil skin you, Aunt Sarah," Kit warned in an ugly tone.
"No, I'll hold my tongue, nephew," she said, taking a cleansing breath. "I should not have made assumptions. Which side is your side?"
"The right, naturally," he said.
"May we sit in the front row?" Brian asked, quite cordially.
Kit considered it for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "There won't really be anyone in it anyway, but mind that I gave the photographer permission to sit there too when not taking pictures."
"We'll save her a spot between us and the children," Brian nodded.
Rick arrived almost immediately afterward. Kit shook his paw, then fished the two black velvet boxes out of his pocket. "Here, these are your job," he said with a grin.
"I remember the rehearsal, son," he chuckled. "You ready?"
"I was ready a month ago. I just want this to be done."
"Stagefright?"
"No, I just want to be married."
Rick laughed. "Here's hoping that feeling never fades, son."
"Amen, Rick. Amen."
Sandy and Sam came out from Jessie's waiting room. Both of them were wearing lovely yellow satin dresses with a modest neckline, flared sleeves with actual goring in them, gored with brocade, and with lace floral designs flowing down the bodice and along the outside edges of the skirts. Kit accepted a kiss on the cheek from each of them. "Hannah sent us out to see if all the participants are here yet," Sam told him.
"You're here, I'm here, Rick's here, John's here, all the altar people are here," he replied. "We got, what?"
"Twenty minutes," Sandy said, checking her watch. "Is the piano player here?"
"I, I'm not sure, I have no idea who that is," Kit said, looking around.
"He's here," Rick said, pointing to a tall bear talking with the monsignor on the other side of the chapel.
"Then everyone's here," Sam noted as Kevin entered the chapel and hurried right over to them. He kissed Sam on the cheek.
"Sorry, I had a little problem at my apartment. I had a broken water pipe greet me this morning," he grunted.
"On no! Is everything alright?"
"For me, yeah. It was behind my bathroom wall. The apartment downstairs got soaked though," he sighed. "It ruptured early this morning and had to have been pouring water into their apartment for a good half hour before they realized it."
"Ouch. So, plumbers are there?" Kit asked.
"As we speak," he nodded. "They fixed the pipe just as I left, and were working to put the wall back in. But there was some damage downstairs, they'll have to replace some wallboard and dry out the carpets down there."
"Well, that's good at least," Kit said. "I'm just glad you could make it."
"My lawfirm's senior partners are here, and Sam invited me, so they're not riding me for missing work today," he laughed, pointing at some furs in the pews already. "You'd think that Austin bigwigs would miss something like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Look there," he said, pointing. Kit followed his gaze.
Sitting a few rows back from the front, on the groom's side of the aisle, was a slender, handsome badger. He was Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas!
Kit gaped. "Nobody ever said he was coming!" he gasped.
"He probably wanted to keep it quiet," Kevin chuckled. "When the memo was spread about the wedding at the firm, we were warned specifically not to make the wedding public knowledge, not to talk to the press about it. Orders straight from the Vulpan family, the memo said. No doubt your sister made it clear that anyone who came had better not make a media circus out of it, because of just who's getting married. But not to show up would be a big snub to the Vulpan family, and you do not snub the Vulpans. Not even half a nation away from their power base, not when they have steel mills, coke plants, and other businesses operating in your state, you don't." He chuckled. "It hasn't gone totally under the radar, though. There were two news trucks out in front of the church when I pulled up."
"I never even thought of that," Kit sighed.
"I'll guarantee they won't be allowed inside," Kevin chuckled.
"I don't remember seeing those names on the guest list."
"Vilenne Vulpan invited our senior partners," Kevin told him. "I'd guess she has her own guest list, and names like Governor Perry and Senator Hutchison are on it," he noted, pointing towards the back of the chapel. A middle-aged femme ferret was walking down the aisle, wearing a sober gray dress and blazer. It was Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. "I've seen a couple of state Senators and Congressman Lamar Smith in the pews too. We're in Smith's district," he said when Sam and Sandy gave him curious looks.
Senator Hutchison came up to him and offered her hand. "Congratulations, Mister Vulpan," she said in a stately voice. "I'm happy to be invited to your special occasion."
Kit laughed ruefully. "I think you need to thank my sister for that, not me," he admitted. "I had no idea you'd be here, Senator."
"Well, I hope you won't throw me out," she said with a disarming smile.
Kit laughed. "No ma'am, we have plenty of room in the chapel for you."
"It's getting a little crowded in here, though," she noted with a smile. "A few familiar faces to me."
"They were stealth invited by my sister as well," Kit chuckled.
"Well, I hope you don't object to us being here," she said with a compassionate look.
"No, not at all, not at all," he assured her. "As long as you remember this is a family ceremony, not a public one."
"Yes, Vilenne made that clear when she invited me," she nodded. "This is a private affair. I didn't even put my trip back to Texas on my schedule until yesterday, and didn't disclose why," she said with a knowing smile.
"Thank you for that discretion," Kit said honestly. "Me and my bride are actually very private people. I just have bad luck when it comes to family, and she has the bad luck of being my bride."
"She wouldn't call it bad luck," the Senator laughed. "If you'll excuse me, I'll take a seat now. We'll be starting soon, won't we?"
"About ten minutes, ma'am," Rick told her.
"Well, I'm nervous now," Kit said with a laugh as the Senator went over and sat beside the Governor.
"I think I'll have Barry ambush them on the way out as part of our article about your wedding," Rick chuckled. "Oh, that reminds me, I need to go make sure Mike and Lilly got pictures of Jessie in her dress. Be back in a minute," he said, hurrying off.
Sam and Sandy stayed with him for a moment and chatted until the Monsignor motioned to them. They came to him, and he put his paw on Kit's shoulder. "It's about time, my son," he said. "I've sent an altar boy back to give Jessica the five minute warning. If you would, please take the seats behind the altar until it's time to begin. Where's Rick?"
"He went to go talk to Jessie real quick, father," Sam told him. "Your messenger should run into him."
Kit, Sam, and Sandy went and sat on the bench behind the altar, which seemed to quiet down the chapel… which was packed. There were still a few stragglers hurrying in and finding seats, but every pew was either completely full or nearly full. Their wedding was playing to a full house! Rick joined them a moment later, sitting down by Kit, and he doublechecked that he had the rings in his pocket, they were set to hand out properly, and were clean and otherwise ready for use. Kit was almost unable to sit still, his tail writhing behind him, he was so excited and anxious to get started. They were almost there! He forced himself to calm down. We're here, and I don't want to look like a spaz on the video and pictures, he told himself. Just calm down. We're here and it's happening. Just enjoy the moment.
Two altar boys appeared at the back end of the chapel and took up positions at each side of the doors leading into the chapel. That was the signal that the bride was in position and ready to begin. Two more furs hurried in past the altar boys and quickly took seats at the very back of the chapel as the Monsignor approached the altar from the side and stepped up onto the dais, then motioned to those sitting behind it. That was their cue to get into position. Kit and Rick stood to the left side of the Monsignor, and Sam and Sandy stood a bit off to his right, leaving an open space for Jessie to stand by Kit's side before the priest. Two of Jessie's cousins appeared in the doorway at the end of the aisle, two adorable little femme kittens, gray-furred sisters who had been pressed into service to be flower girls in a last-minute change to the ceremony. They were holding little baskets in their paws, and they stood there in fidgety silence as they waited for the music to start. The femme raccoon snapped a few photos of the groom, best male, and bridesmaids before the ceremony began, all of them looking back down the aisle in expectation. Hannah appeared on the right side of the chapel and scurried down to the front row, then took her seat quickly on the left pew, leaving the spot immediately by the aisle open for her husband, who would take that seat after giving Jessie away.
The Monsignor nodded to his right, and the bear made a show of sitting down at the organ. The music began seconds later, and Kit felt a strange sense of relief, not nervousness, to know that the ceremony had now officially begun.
Almost every head in the church turned and looked back as the bridal march began, and Jessie didn't disappoint. She appeared from the side and stopped at the doorway for a moment as the femme raccoon and quite a few others took pictures of her, and Kit was absolutely amazed by how radiantly beautiful she and her gown was, even from that distance. Her gown was a traditional wedding dress, made of glowing white satin and a modest neckline, but with a lacy material that filled the gap from her bodice to her neck. The sleeves of her gown were satin, but sequined with embroidery, almost looking either gored with brocade or brocade themselves, though from that distance he couldn't make out their patterns. The bodice had a slender stomacher belt that circumnavigated her waist, embroidered with a rose, and the gown flowed down into a full skirt that dragged the floor, complete with a train. Jessie's hair was done in a beautiful wavy style, curling around her little tiara that held her veil in place, a veil of diaphanous lace that did little to hide the perfectly prepared face beneath it. Jessie had make-up on, but only just enough to accent her natural beauty, rather than trying to induce beauty that didn't already exist. She carried a bouquet of yellow roses and lilies, and her father, dressed in a black tuxedo that closely matched the tuxedos worn by Kit and Rick, had her paw on his forearm.
She was, by far, the most beautiful femme he'd ever seen in his life, or would ever see. She was an angel, and earthbound angel, gracing them all with her radiance and perfection.
The march part of the music began, and John escorted his daughter down the aisle in step with the music, treading on yellow rose petals strewn in their path by the flower girls. Every eye in the chapel followed them as they solemnly came down the aisle, as flashbulbs flashed everywhere in the audience, which was actually quite against tradition and custom. But Jessie was so beautiful, the guests forgot themselves and took pictures of her. The femme raccoon, Violet, snapped a few pictures of them as they approached, then melted out of the way as John led Jessie to the altar. He didn't step up upon it. He paused at the edge of the dais, then helped her step up onto it and beside Kit, who gave her a gentle, loving smile and accepted her paw from John. John then silently retreated to his seat, and they turned to face the Monsignor.
"Today, we come together to celebrate the union of this fox and this cat, as they publicly declare the love they share for one another and stand before God to exchange vows of holy matrimony," the Monsignor called in a powerful yet gentle voice. "It is the most beautiful and wonderful thing a priest can do to perform this happy sacrament… or what would be a sacrament for me most of the time," he said with a light smile, which produced a few chuckles from the Catholic members of the congregation. "But today's service will be as unique as those I join today into the vows of marriage. He, is a fox. She, is a cat. Different species, different families, different faiths and different traditions, but they teach us all that love is a universal joy, available to all, shared by all, and given to all, just as God shines his love down upon every species on Earth. Does it matter that he is a fox, and she is a cat? Some may say so," he said, his glance ghosting over Sarah and Brian, "but some would say no. And while it is not our place to judge the will of God, we can all stand forth here today and bless the love this fox and this cat, this male and this female, profess before us and before God in this, the most joyful of all ceremonies of our Christian faith."
Kit zoned out slightly as the Monsignor continued to speak about love and devotion, faith in God and the joys of family, devotion, and togetherness. He was lost in Jessie's blue eyes, gazing lovingly into his own through her veil. She was so beautiful! And in just a matter of moments, they would be married, they would be a family, and she would be his for the rest of their lives.
God, he couldn't wait!
He blinked when he realized he'd lost about five minutes of ceremony gazing into Jessie's eyes, for the Monsignor began the vows. "Do you, Kitstrom Lucas Vulpan, take this femme to be your wedded wife in the eyes and laws of God and fur? Do you promise to love her and support her, nurture her, honor her and cherish her, stand together with her for richer and poorer, through happiness and despair, through triumph and tribulation, and through sickness and health, for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," he said with quiet conviction, though his voice resounded throughout the chapel.
"And do you, Jessica Desdemona Williams, take this male to be your wedded husband in the eyes and laws of God and fur? Do you promise to love him and support him, nurture him, honor him and cherish him, stand together with him for richer and poorer, through happiness and despair, through triumph and tribulation, and through sickness and health, for as long as you both shall live?"
She paused for just long enough to make him look her in the eyes. "I do," she said with a radiant smile.
Rick stepped forward and handed Kit Jessie's ring. "Take this ring, and place it on her finger as you utter to her these words; 'with this ring, I thee wed'."
Kit slid the ring onto her finger with a gentle smile. "With this ring, I thee wed."
Rick handed Kit's ring to Jessie. "Take this ring, and place it on his finger as you utter to him these words; 'with this ring, I thee wed'."
Jessie took his paw and put the ring at the end of his finger, then slowly, almost leisurely, slid it up the length of his finger. "With this ring, I thee wed," she said with a slightly impish smile.
Monsignor Duke raised his arms to each side of the couple, then put his paws on their shoulders and urged them together. "Then it is my happy honor to pronounce you Kitstrom and Jessica Vulpan, husband and wife, bound by the vows to Almighty God and brought together in the presence of this joyful congregation," he proclaimed. "What we have witnessed and God has blessed, may no fur bring asunder. You may kiss the bride," he said, taking a single step back. "Carefully," the Monsignor whispered, which produced a giggle from his new bride.
Jessie beamed at him when he lifted her veil, as the applause seemed to fade away to silence as the world contracted down into that moment. It was done. They were married. The waiting was over, and now they were husband and wife. There was only one thing left to do, and Jessie looked up at him with adoring eyes, inviting him. She put her paws on his shoulders, he pulled her into a gentle embrace, and he leaned down and kissed her. It was an exquisite kiss, tender and gentle, sweet and touching, professing to her all the love he felt for her in his heart. He felt her quiver against him, felt her respond to that declaration of love as she felt him tell her with his kiss how much he loved her.
It wasn't Kit that nearly ended up on the floor, it was Jessie. She clung to him for dear life as the kiss ended, gazing up into his eyes with almost tearful adulation, then they remembered themselves and looked back to the congregation. They were on their feet, clapping and applauding as flashbulbs went off everywhere. Violet, the raccoon, was kneeling in the aisle before them, taking picture after picture, as Mike and Lilly joined her to stay out of the line of sight of the video camera at the back of the aisle. Kit felt Jessie shudder slightly, and realized that she seemed a little surprised by something… probably all the flashes half-blinding them. Kit and Jessie remembered to stay there until Violet cleared the aisle, which was their cue they could move. When she did so, they strode down the aisle with her paw on his arm as guests reached out and patted them on the shoulders or shook their paws, but those guests did not get in their way. They strode back to the antechamber between the entrance and the chapel, and there they paused while quite a few furs snapped photos of them, and one of the raccoon brothers hurried out with a video camera, taking footage of them posing for their final pictures before leaving the chapel, as guests rushed past them to take up positions for the customary send-off to their car, pawfuls of birdseed ready to cast upon them; Texas had banned the use of rice because it killed birds who ate it, so it had become the new custom to throw a special kind of white birdseed that resembled rice but was no danger to the birds. They were waved forward, and Jessie laughed delightedly as they were showered with birdseed as they came down the stairs of the church, then reached the sidewalk leading around the church and followed it. More furs had come out of the side doors and were positioned there, continuing to shower them with birdseed and congratulate them, giving them a constant shower of seed until they reached the parking lot. Stav and Marcus, Vilenne's bodyguards, were flanking the open door of a white limo. They both bowed quite ceremonially as Kit and Jessie reached them, and one of them offered his paw to help Jessie into the limo. Kit collected up the train of her dress and then climbed in behind her, and then the door was closed, leaving them alone.
Jessie looked over to him, the snuggled up against him. "Kit."
"Yes love?"
"Now you can call me Misses Vulpan," she announced, quite seriously.
Kit laughed. "It would be my pleasure, Misses Vulpan," he answered. "May I kiss you now? It would be our first kiss in something almost private as a proper husband and wife, you know."
She grinned at him. "Kiss away," she invited, wrapping her arms around him. He leaned down and gave her a toe-curling, intimate kiss as the one of Vil's panther bodyguards got in the front seat with the hired driver, and the limo began to pull out. Kit and Jessie were oblivious to the wellwishers that cheered the limo as it pulled out, also missed the two news crews that got footage of their limo as it passed them at the edge of the street and was on its way to the reception at the Four Seasons.
It was the culmination of a dream. He just sighed as their kiss ended and nuzzled her cheek and neck. "It's done, my love," he whispered to her. "We're married. Finally."
"Finally," she agreed. "I'm now Misses Vulpan," she said with a little thrill in her voice. "And you're mine!"
"All yours. Forever and ever," he breathed.
"It'll take that long to get my fill of you, my love," she said with a kiss on his neck.
"I'll be happy to try to make you sick of me," he chuckled, cuddling with her. "Now, we go on to the reception. What kind of decorations did you and Vil decide for it?"
"You'll see," she winked. "It was actually fun to pick a theme and decorations without you. You know, try to surprise you, see if I know you as well as I think I do," she grinned. "Did you like the church?"
"Oh, God, pretty kitty, those decorations were gorgeous!" he said emphatically. "You'll really have to be on your game to outdo those."
"We'll see," she smiled at him, then she laughed. "Did you see some of the furs at the wedding, Kit? I saw the Governor sitting behind Vil!"
"Yeah, and a Senator, and the Representative from our district," he added.
"I almost peed my dress when I recognized him!"
"Vil would have murdered you," he laughed. "Wait, I think I remember that. Was that when we were posing on the altar after the ceremony?"
"Yeah. I was looking at the guests, and recognized him from the crowd."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't realize until after. I didn't want you to be nervous."
"I didn't see anything at all except for you," she told him, nuzzling his neck.
"You were so beautiful walking down the aisle," he responded. "I thought you were an angel."
"Do you like my dress?"
"It's perfect," he stated, running a paw over the embroidered satin covering her stomach. "That train might cause some problems, though."
"It comes off," she admitted with a giggle. "It's part of an outer layer of my gown that comes off. It attaches to the gown under my stomacher. I have another satin layer under it that's formal length. I'll take the train off when we get to the Four Seasons so I don't trip all over my dress during the reception, and I can dance in it."
"Now that's very clever," he said with an approving nod.
"I thought so too."
The Four Seasons was in the affluent west side of Austin, just outside the city limits, a large building built on the side of the hill that marked the beginning of the central hill country. It was a huge mansion-style reception hall with large columns dominating its front, but the limo didn't pull up to the front. It pulled up to a side entrance instead, and they waited while the panther opened the door for them. "Now come with me, love, I'll show you our reception," she grinned as the panther helped her out of the limo, and Kit helped settle her train so it didn't get caught in the car. She waited for him to get out, then walked arm in arm with him through the side door.
They had the entire building booked for the reception, and the entire building was decorated. The place was divided up into four main reception halls, thus its name the Four Seasons, each main hall decorated in a color pattern that hinted at a season. But the temporary walls had been removed on one side to form one huge reception hall for their party, while the wall was retained on the other to form two smaller rooms. The main hallway was themed, clearly, with a march of the past years. A pair of statues flanked the opening, one a female cat looking like Jessie wearing a Victorian dress, and the other a male fox vaguely resembling Kit wearing an English waistcoat, trousers, and wearing a derby hat. The main hall was decorated with mannequins and models wearing clothing from different past eras, from medieval dresses to one mannequin dressed as a 20's flapper, with the buntings, tablecloths, and hangings done in blacks, grays, yellows, and blues. He saw that each table represented a different era, from the ancient Greek table in one corner to the psychedelic color patterns of a table representing the 60's. The decorations were subtle, and might be lost on some guests, but the history major in Kit could identify the props on the tables, silverware and china, and color patterns and identify the time and place each table represented. Their own table was decorated to be Kit's favorite historical era, ancient Rome, with a Praetorian standard making up the tablecloth and miniature models of Roman architecture and artwork sitting on the table among the china and silverware. They even had an old medieval tapestry hanging on one wall, as well as a suit of armor. The tables were scattered around the edges of the huge room, leaving the center open for the long banquet tables holding their huge amount of food, and on a rolling cart at the end was their wedding cake, a four-tiered monster done in white and yellow curled frosting, the lower three tiers angel food, coconut, and German chocolate as one moved from the bottom to the top, and the top tier a fruitcake, as was the old tradition. There was a stage holding a set for an actual live big band, their instruments there and waiting for them, as well as a deejay booth in the corner beside and behind the band stage. They were going to have live music in addition to a deejay. "You always accuse me of being old fashioned," she teased, elbowing him. "So here it is, old-fashioned in all its glory."
Kit laughed. "It's beautiful," he said honestly. "And since I'm a history major–"
"You'll feel right at home here," she finished, kissing him on the cheek playfully.
"I love it, baby!" he said happily, looking around.
"We have two other rooms. One's basically for the kids, filled with things that'll keep them entertained and happy, and the other room's a more sober and quiet place where people can go to find a little peace and quiet."
"Where are we dancing?"
"In here. They'll remove the tables after dinner," she pointed to the long tables in the middle.
"Ah, I see," he noted.
Vil entered the huge room with his family behind her. Sheila and Muffy looked very happy and excited, but Sarah and Brian looked pensive. "Hey hey," she said with a dazzling smile. "There's my brother and his new wife."
Jessie gave Vil a shy yet triumphant smile. "Thanks, Vil."
"Stav has your carry-on, bro. Want me to take a few pictures for ya?"
"Yes, I'd love it," he said. "And I want to get a shot of these awesome decorations with the video camera before the crowd ruins it!"
"I didn't like them, but Jessie does, and that's what counts," Vil said honestly, looking around.
They took quite a few pictures of Kit and Jessie, and then them with various members of the family, with more than one camera. Sheila, Muffy, and Vil had their own cameras, and they took pictures alone, then together, then with Vil, then with Sheila, then with Muffy, then with combinations thereof… even two pictures with all six of them, taken by one of the Four Seasons servers. After that, Vil took Jessie to a side room to help her remove her train while Kit used the video camera to take detailed footage of the reception room, making vocal notes as he panned around, then berating Sheila for striking a model's pose for the camera as he panned her into the shot. Jessie returned while he was still shooting, and he got a great shot of her in her now-shorter gown, no longer dragging the floor and having a long bridal train, but instead ending just at her ankles, revealing her unclad feet.
"I thought you had shoes on," Kit noted.
"I did for the ceremony, but I can't dance in shoes," she laughed as she put her paws before her, giving the camera a shy smile. "Do you like the active bride's dress?"
Kit laughed. "It's just as lovely as the train," he said. "Where did you put it?"
"I had someone put it in your limo. She has to take it with you, she'll use it again later tonight," Vil answered.
"I forgot about that. When does the reception start?"
"It already has," Vil grinned. "But we won't start doing anything until the guests start getting here. There was quite a procession behind us, but they didn't have a police escort," Vil grinned. "They should start filtering in any minute now."
Vil wasn't far off from right. Rick, Martha, Sam, and Sandy were the next to arrive. Kit and Jessie accepted quite a few hugs, kisses, and pawshakes as they greeted them. "Vil lost us," Rick laughed. "We were in a limo, son, one just for the bridal party, but Vil had a motorcycle cop escorting her limo, and they lost us at the light right there by the Mo-Pac. Our driver didn't follow behind her." Rick laughed. "I hope they take us back to the church! Our cars are there!"
"We'll get you back to your cars, Rick," Vil chided him
"I'd never ridden in a limo before," Martha said with a smile. "It was a very fun experience."
"It was awesome!" Sandy exclaimed. "It had its own bar and TV!"
As was traditional, Kit and Jessie greeted the guests to the reception, standing near the door and accepting congratulations. Gifts for the couple were placed on an empty table near the stage, getting higher and higher as more and more guests arrived. They stood there by that door for literally an hour, in what seemed a nearly endless procession of males and females in suits and handsome dresses, shaking their paws, kissing them on the cheek, or hugging them fondly. They greeted furs they'd never even met, and Jessie gaped a little when Governor Rick Perry stepped up to them and shook Kit's paw firmly. "Sorry I'm running late," he apologized. "I had to return to my office for a quick bit of business. Congratulations to both of you."
"Thank you, sir," Kit said with a nod. "I'm honored you decided to come to the reception."
"Your sister invited me. I think she has something she wants to talk about," he chuckled. "I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all, Governor! It's your state, after all," Jessie said quickly.
He laughed delightedly. "But it's your wedding," he said simply. He kissed Jessie's paw gallantly, then stepped on to take Vil's paws, talking animatedly with her as she came out to greet him.
"I feel so stupid," Jessie groaned. "I don't believe I said that to him!"
"I think he got a kick out of it," Kit chuckled, leaning over and kissing her on the muzzle.
They greeted guests for another fifteen minutes or so, then they sat down to eat. The caterers had gone crazy, serving an absolute ton of food, very fancy and carefully prepared, but quite a few people chuckled when one of the servers set down a super-deluxe hamburger down in front of Kit, who had an excited, eager grin as he eyed that angus beef monstrosity. Kit's favorite food was hamburgers, so the caterer made him the grandpappy of all hamburgers.
"Don't you dare stain that tux," Jessie warned as she spread a large napkin over her lap to protect her dress from accidents.
"I'll be careful."
"That hamburger has no liquids on it, just in case," Vil chuckled. "No mustard, ketchup, or mayo."
A deejay arrived and played soft background music as the reception ate, just loud enough to be audible but not so loud that it drowned out conversation. Kit and Jessie had a wonderful time chatting with the guests at their table, which were Vil, Sarah, Brian, Hannah, John, Rick, and Martha. The large table seated ten, but they left the tenth seat vacant, the placecard before it simply reading dearly departed, a nod to Kit and Vil's deceased parents. Sheila, Muffy, and Jenny kept flashing them unhappy looks that they didn't get to sit at the main table, but there was only so much room.
After dinner, the tables and leftover food was moved to the far wall across from the main table, flanking the main doors to allow people to continue to enjoy the food in a buffet style, and the cake was wheeled over to the main table, a slight break with the usual tradition of cutting the cake after a round of dancing. There was a great deal of applause as the attendants brought the cake up to the main table, and Kit and Jessie stood and went over to it to engage in the old tradition with the cake. They took up a silver knife, both holding it as furs laughed and took pictures and video of them cutting the cake at the bottom, then came the similarly age-old tradition of making fun of the moment. Kit fed Jessie a piece of cake, pushing it into her mouth carefully as everyone laughed, but failing to do it cleanly. She wiped the icing off her muzzle, gave him a light smile, and did the same to him. She was a bit more playful about it, threatening to smash it into his face, but then she delicately fed him with all grace and style. After the applause, Jessie cut pieces for her parents, then Kit cut a piece for Vil, since his parents weren't there, and then a caterer took over and began cutting pieces for the rest of the guests, as was tradition.
After the cake, desserts were served, and while people finished up dinner, the band filed in from a back door. But before the dancing, Vil stood up and struck her glass with a fork, politely getting everyone's attention. "I know it's tradition for the best man to give the first toast, but I think we've had just enough innovation in this wedding to allow me to go first." She turned to Kit and Jessie and raised her glass. "You were a pain in my butt sometimes, baby bro, and I'm glad that you're now someone else's problem," she announced, which made both of them, and quite a few others, laugh. "But you'll always be my little brother, and I think you've got a lot of happiness ahead of you. And you, Jessie, were the perfect femme at the perfect time. You dragged my brother out of his nomadic lifestyle and made a respectable fox out of him," she grinned. "Thanks to you, I don't have to go to bed every night wondering where he is, what he's doing, and if he's alright. You gave him a reason to rejoin society, and a reason to be happy again. So, to Kit and Jessie, may life be as good to you as you are to each other."
There was a rumble of assent, and everyone drank to them. Vil sat down, and then Rick stood up. "I've never been very good at this kind of thing," he said with a humble smile. "But I can say something from the heart. Kit, Jessie, you two are something special, and I honestly think that God made sure that you two would find each other. Kit, you're a kind and intelligent fox, a hard worker, and a wonderful friend. Jessie, you're just amazing, hon. There's nothing else I can say but that. You're the kind of girl I'd marry in a heartbeat if I didn't already have one just like you," he said, reaching down and patting Martha on the shoulder. So, to cut it short, here's to you. May God bless your union and keep you together as long as he's given me and Martha, and many years more."
After that toast, John stood up. "I could stand up here and spend an hour telling everyone all kinds of interesting stories about our Jessica, but teasing her just isn't as much fun as it used to be, at least after she got so good at throwing pillows," he teased her with a smile. "I can say that even though you two are young, and haven't known each other as long as some might think healthy for you to get married, all I can tell you is hang in there, kids. I think you have what it takes to be married as long as your parents, or Rick and Martha. You have a beautiful and special love, and I think it'll carry you through your entire lives as long as you treat each other well and keep your relationship honest and sincere. I lost a daughter today, but I gained a son-in-law… and I think I got the better part of the bargain," he winked, which made Jessie laugh ruefully.
Kit stood up. "I'm even worse at this than Rick, so all I have to say is this. Jessie, I love you. I'm glad I married you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And that's all." He raised his glass to her, and she smiled and toasted him.
They all drank again, and then they prepared to dance.
Kit and Jessie were expected to perform the first dance, and they did so to a great deal of ruffled fur from his new wife as the band played a waltz. Jessie knew how to dance, but she was mortified to be out there dancing in public, so she wasn't exactly the absolute example of grace and elegance. But she also didn't trip over her own feet, and acquitted herself without major embarrassment.
The band was very versatile, playing traditional reception fare mixed in with big band swing, and then the deejay took over to play more modern music for the younger guests. Kit helped a laughing Jessie sit down as they rested after trying to dance a jitterbug to a swing tune. "I thought my tail got tied in a knot!" she exclaimed as he helped her sit down. "That was fun!"
"And better music than that tweenie pop crap," Kit teased as the deejay began playing a Shakira tune, which got quite a few of the guests Kit and Jessie's age out on the floor.
"You just have no taste for good music," Jessie teased.
"Real music takes an orchestra, not a master sound mixer," he challenged.
"Yo, Kit, Jessie, grats my buds!" Lupe said happily as he came over to them. "When you gonna throw her garter, brah?"
Kit laughed. "It won't be long now. It's nearly six, and we have a plane to catch around seven," he said.
Lupe gaped. "Brah, you'll never make it!"
"It's a private plane, no security to go through," Jessie laughed. "We're scheduled to leave at seven, so we'll be wrapping up in about twenty minutes."
"You're not changing for the flight?"
"We're changing in the airplane," Kit told him.
After a few more dances, the deejay announced that the throwing of the bouquet and garter would take place out front in ten minutes, which would also herald the end of the reception. The gifts were tactfully gathered and taken, to be placed in their apartment for them to open when they got back home, and the guests came around for one final chat or to wish them farewell. Vil was one of the last, hugging Kit, then hugging Jessie. "I guess I can't think of you as my baby brother anymore," she teased. "And I've lost my monopoly on you. I have to share taking care of you with Jessie."
"He's too much trouble for just one of us, Vil," Jessie giggled as she hugged his sister. "It's going to take both of us to keep him respectable."
"He's such a troublemaker," Vil grinned at him.
The reception wound down. The rooms cleared as the guests moved to wait out by the limo, and Kit and Jessie took the top layer of the cake from one of the attendants to take home and freeze, though Rick was going to hold it for them until they got back. Kit and Jessie then made sure that their bags were in their limo, the gifts were handled, and everything was ready for them to leave. "You ready, Misses Vulpan?" he asked, nudging her.
"Oh, I'm ready, Mister Vulpan," she smiled up at him. "I have my garter on and everything."
He laughed. "Well, I'm going to enjoy taking if off you," he teased.
"That won't require you to push my dress up all the way to my waist," she said primly.
"No, but it'll be fun to do," he said casually, which earned him a smack on the shoulder.
Out in the parking lot, over a hundred guests formed a throng around their white limo. Jessie and Kit posed for just a few more pictures, then Jessie stood up at the top of a trio of steps at the edge of the parking lot and held her bouquet up. Quite a few ladies gathered in front of her, and some of them gave a few ugly looks at Marty, but the sheep was nonplussed. Jessie turned around and threw the bouquet over her shoulder, and there was a great deal of applause when Sam erupted from the throng holding it over her head. "No fair, she threatened to spray me if I didn't let her catch it!" Sandy shouted, which produced some laughter.
Kit then got to throw the garland. Jessie's cheek fur ruffled when she came down the steps and put her foot back on the step, then Kit knelt and raised her gown up to her knee and reached under it. She raised a threatening open paw and cocked it over his head, which made him laugh and not do anything that would get him slapped. He pulled her garter off, and she stepped back as he went up to the steps and flung it into the gathered males. To Kit's surprise, Mike came up with the garter, and he made a show out of putting it on his upper arm, wearing it like an armband, which made Jessie's cheek fur ruffle and made her laugh ruefully.
With that done, they were ushered with fanfare and more pseudo-rice birdseed to their limo. One of Vil's bodyguards opened the door for them, and Kit had to pause to hug Vil, John, and Hannah one final time. "Is everything taken care of?" he asked.
"Yup, bro, everything's all set," she told him. "I had your cameras put in your handbag, Jessie, and Rick has your cake and will take it home with him. Lupe's gonna watch over your apartment and he has your keys. Your jet is waiting for you at the airport to take you to Boston and we'll be right behind you, so just wait at the hangar until we arrive. Then we'll go on to Holy Cross and do the other ceremony, and you'll be on your way to Florida before you know it. I have a limo set to pick you up in Miami, and it'll drive you to my condo in the keys. Your plane tickets to Cincinnati are already bought and waiting for you at the condo."
"Sounds like we're free to go," Jessie giggled, hugging her mother. "We'll see you in five days, Dad, Mom," she told her.
"We'll be waiting for you, dear," she answered. "And though I still oppose this, I think it was a beautiful ceremony and I'm glad I attended."
"Thanks, Hannah," Kit said, giving her a hug.
"Enjoy your honeymoon, kids," John told them, shaking Kit's paw.
"Oh, we will, Dad," Jessie said with a naughty smile that made her father clear his throat.
Kit and Jessie climbed into the limo to a round of applause, and Kit heard John call to his wife, "well, if anything, Kit's made our little girl a lot more confident," he chuckled.
"I liked her better when she was meek and compliant," Hannah sniffed, then she laughed.
Kit and Jessie waved through the open window as the limo pulled away, and then they were on their way to the airport. "Well, we're alone now," Kit purred, pulling her close and kissing her.
"Not yet we're not," she giggled, pointing to the driver and one of Vil's bodyguards that were behind the dark glass separating the front seat from the passenger's area.
"We'll be on a private plane, love," he said huskily in her ear. "Want to join the mile high club?"
Jessie gasped and laughed, pushing at him, then nuzzled his neck. "Mmmmaybe," she teased. "We'll have to change clothes you know, and something might… happen," she said, sliding her paw up his arm sensually.
"Seems silly to change clothes on the plane just to change right back into wedding clothes for the other ceremony."
"Vil said we're not wearing the formal stuff for Holy Cross, just something nice."
"Wedding clothes are wedding clothes."
Jessie laughed. "Wedding gowns aren't usually meant to be recycled, you silly goose," she told him. "It's a one-shot deal! I brought a nice dress for Holy Cross, and I know Vil had you pack a suit for it."
"I still say we should marry naked," he teased.
She slapped him on the arm. "Then our minds wouldn't be on the ceremony at all," she countered.
They nuzzled almost all the way to the airport, so much so that Kit was surprised when the limo stopped outside of a large hangar at the far end of the airport. The panther helped them out, and escorted them to the plane as he and the driver carried their luggage. Kit was a bit started to find himself staring at probably the top of the line Windstream model of private jet, the Vulpan Shipyards logo emblazoned on the tail. "What the hell?" he gasped.
"It's Miss Vulpan's new corporate jet," the panther told him. "She just received delivery of it last week. She hasn't even ridden in it yet. She wanted you to be the first passengers."
"Aww, that's so sweet of her!" Jessie called.
"If you would, please board and settle in. You'll be leaving in just a few moments. I'll place the garment bag with your Boston clothes in the private room."
"Private room?"
"This is literally an RV with wings, Misses Vulpan," the panther told her. "It has a seating area for Miss Vulpan and her guests, a galley, an enclosed small area with a desk for when Miss Vulpan needs to do work, and a private room with a fold-out bed."
"Vil thinks of everything," Kit chuckled.
"Miss Vulpan spends a great deal of time in the air, Mister Vulpan," he said as he led them to the stairs leading into the jet, and at the hatchway stood a maned middle-aged lion and a stag wearing uniforms. The stag had his antlers professionally trimmed, leaving nothing but two small bone spurs over and to each side of his eyes. "So she decided to upgrade to an aircraft that better suits her needs. Her old jet will be reassigned to free use by the board members.
"Welcome aboard," the lion said with a smile as Kit and Jessie climbed up towards them. "I'm Captain Avery, your pilot. And your co-pilot, Captain Smith," he introduced the stag.
"We'll be ready to leave as soon as you're settled in, Mister and Misses Vulpan. And congratulations on your wedding!"
"Thank you," Jessie said sincerely as she shook the stag's strange paw. His fingers ended with hoof-like growths, almost like nails or claws, but they made up the entire ends of his fingers from the first joint to the tip. They were meticulously filed and shaped to resemble normal fingertips.
"There's a fully stocked galley behind the private compartments," Avery told them as they stepped into the aircraft and looked inside. There were seats there, but instead of facing forward, they were six single seats, three to each side of the aisle, that looked to pivot, almost like captain's chairs in a van. The wall on the left side at the back had a couch against it, a couch that wrapped around the fuselage wall, under the windows, and each couch had a coffee table bolted to the deck before it. On the right side there was a table with a bench against the fuselage wall, and swivel chairs bolted to the deck on two sides, leaving the side facing the center empty of any seats. Kit noted that there was a large panel in the ceiling, looking almost like a hidden plasma TV monitor on a hinged back that allowed those sitting at the table and couch to watch TV but not have it in the way when not in use. Behind those six seats, couch, and table were walls that cut the interior fuselage space in half. "The restroom is also behind the compartments, the door's at the back of the galley. The compartment to the left is an office with a computer if you'd like to use the internet or send email, and there's a folding bed in the private compartment on the right. You can call the cockpit any time using the intercom."
"Thank you," Kit said for the information.
"We'll begin preparations for take-off now, so if you'd please settle in and make yourself comfortable."
Kit and Jessie sat in the front chairs, facing the wall separating the cockpit from the passenger cabin, and on each side there were plasma televisions hung for the enjoyment of the passengers. A little recessed rack hiding behind a sliding door under it revealed a DVD player and a satellite descrambler for television stations. The seat had a foldaway tray that rose up from the right armrest and swung over the chair, giving them a flat surface if they wanted one.
"Wow, this is nice! And to think, Vil's gonna fly around in this all the time!"
"She does spend a lot of time on the move," Kit noted. "I guess she wanted something that made that comfortable," he said as he patted the chair in which he was sitting. He then got up and led her back to the couch, and urged her to sit down. "Umm, aren't we taking off?" she asked.
"We probably are," he chuckled.
"Shouldn't we sit down and buckle up?"
"Jessie, this is a private jet," he told her. "Those rules don't apply in here."
"Oh. Well, far be it for me to be a prude," she giggled as they settled on the couch.
The panther finished stowing their luggage, then stood before them. "I set out your dress and suit you'll wear in Boston. They're laying on the bed for you. I placed the garment bag for your wedding clothes in the closet in the room so you can store them when you change. I'll dismiss the limo driver, and handle his tip for you. I checked the galley, and there are refreshments and light snacks stocked if you'd like them. I'll be on Miss Vulpan's jet to Boston, so I'll see you when we're back on the ground."
"Thank you for all your help," Jessie told him. "We really appreciate it."
"Yeah, you were a lifesaver," Kit agreed.
"Any time," he smiled, then he hurried out of the plane. Smith closed the hatch and went into the cockpit with the lion, and then Avery's voice called over the intercom. "We're going to be leaving in about ten minutes, so please find a comfortable seat that faces forward and be ready to take it when we're ready to take off. If you'd like we do have to empty seats in the cockpit if you'd like to watch a take-off from the front," he offered.
"Oh, I've gotta!" Kit laughed.
"I don't mind either," she smiled.
They went up to the cockpit and sat in folding bench chairs behind the pilots. "All we ask is you be quiet and don't press any buttons," Smith told them with a smile as he put on a headset."
"I have a pilot's license, so I know better," Kit laughed.
"Oh, really? What do you fly?"
"All I'm rated for is personal planes."
"You should get a jet endorsement," he said.
"I'd never fly one," Kit chuckled. "I haven't flown a plane in like eight months."
The engines started, one and then the other, and Kit and Jessie watched through the cockpit window to see the hangar workers clearing out. The plane began to move, and they taxied out onto a large tarmac at the far end of the airport. Large passenger jets were on the move, as a Southwest plane landed in their view and slowed down as it approached their side of the airport, then turned off before it reached the end of the runway and started along a taxiway towards the terminals. They listened in silence as Avery talked to the control tower, and then the jet joined a short line of commuter planes and large passenger jets waiting to take off. Kit and Jessie got a good look at the back of a Boeing 777, the United jet in front of them. "Make sure you're belted up," Smith noted as they turned onto the runway, and then, after they had permission to proceed, Avery pushed up the throttle. Jessie watched in interest as the nose raised, and then they were in the air. The plane kept an ascent angle for nearly five minutes, climbing and banking to cruising altitude and heading, and then Smith looked back to them. "And there you are, your first cockpit take-off. Did you like it?"
"It was really cool!" Jessie said enthusiastically. "I didn't think you'd have your vision cut like that. I thought you'd be able to see a lot more, but the nose of the plane is in the way."
"We can't really see the runway at all when we land," Avery chuckled. "Since the jet is leaning back as it descends. It's like driving a car, though. You may not be able to see your bumpers when you park, but you know where they are."
"Well, it's three and a half hours to Boston, Mister and Misses Vulpan," Avery said. "Would you like me to put out the plasma TV at the couch for you so you can watch TV or a movie?"
"I think we can do without that," Kit said as Jessie gave him a sly, inviting look. "After all the noise and business today, I'd just like a little quiet time."
"This dress might look nice, but it's not too comfortable after a while," Jessie giggled. "I'd like to change."
"Consider the jet your home," Avery told them. "We don't leave the cockpit unless you ask us back," he said, glancing at them with a smile. "We have a fridge, a folding cot, laptops, and our own head up here, so we're good. Consider everything on the other side of that door your personal space. Just call us on the intercom if you need any help, okay?"
"We will, Captain," Kit said as he undid his seat belt, helped Jessie with hers, and then helped her stand up.
They went to the slightly cramped private room, which had a bed taking up most of the space, and Jessie's soft beige dress and Kit's dark suit laying flatly on a cover emblazoned with the Vulpan Shipyard logo, a three masted schooner in front of steamship in a circular background, representing the past and the present. Jessie picked up their clothes and hung them in a cramped closet by the bed, then turned her back to him. "Start with the buttons at the back of my neck and work your way down," she said playfully.
"Your wish is my command," he laughed.
It was no different–well, outside of them being on an airplane–but it was. They had the same intimacy and joy with each other, but now they were husband and wife, and it felt, somehow… closer. They weren't a fox and a cat in love, expressing that love, they were a husband and wife sharing their love and desire with each other. They laid in each other's arms for a while afterward, as Jessie purred her contentment and he kept his head against her chest, her arms cradling him, to listen to that wonderful sound. "Sometimes I wish I could purr for you," he chuckled softly as he heard her purring reverberate through her chest and through his ear… and through his heart and soul.
"I like you just the way you are," she hummed, stroking his hair. "You don't need to purr to show me you love me, my handsome fox."
There was a crackling that startled them. "We'll be landing in about half an hour, Mister and Misses Vulpan," Captain Avery's voice called over the intercom. "The ground crew just called in and reported that your limo has arrived and is waiting for you, and that everything is ready and waiting at your destination."
"And the real world interrupts," Kit laughed ruefully.
"This isn't exactly the real world," Jessie giggled, tousling his hair. "We're in your sister's private jet, love. And we're married," she said with an excited squeal.
"So, how was your first official time?" he asked with a smile, rising up and kissing her on the nose.
"Heavenly, just like all the other times," she said with a naughty smile, sliding her paw across his chest. "I just wish I could get pregnant already," she complained. "I mean, we've been having sex for three months! Here I am trying to get pregnant and zilcho, when some girls get pregnant after forgetting about the condom just once!"
"Typical ironic justice I guess," Kit chuckled. "The harder you try, the longer it takes. At least we're having fun trying," he said, tickling her sides. She laughed after a short gasp and struggled against him as he tickled her sides. "And at least now our first kid won't do the math and realize he was conceived before we were married," he added.
"I don't think that would bother him. It doesn't bother me," she said with a grin. "My parents were married eight months before my birthday," she winked. "I was conceived before they were married, and it just makes me see how much they loved each other, if they couldn't wait until after the ceremony."
"Ah, so the invincible armor of Hannah Williams shows another chink," Kit mused, which made Jessie laugh.
"Don't you dare tell her I said that, or she'll spank me."
"You're a married femme now, love, she can't do that to you anymore. That's my job," he grinned reaching under her and pinching her bottom.
"Ow! Kit, they have pillows on this bed, you know!" she warned, which made him collapse against her, paralyzed by laughter.
Despite excessive playing around and a little teasing, as Kit started lamenting that Jessie was already getting boring–which earned him a whack on the head from a pillow–they managed to be cleaned up, dressed, and ready when the plane landed at Logan Airport in a bitingly cold December night and taxied into a private hangar. Jessie and Kit waited on the plane for Vil's plane to land, for they were all going to the Holy Cross together. Kit started to feel a little edgy when the hatch was opened and stairs lowered, for the excitement of the day and the fun with Jessie were fading to the knowledge that they were now in Boston, back in hated Boston, and any number of bad memories immediately started creeping into his mind. Boston had been a bad place to live for him, starting when their mother died and going through all the fights with his father and the uncertainty and the anger, and then there were the two years after he was disowned where he attended public school, living in the little apartment Suzy secretly rented for him, working any job he could keep through his father's machinations to keep enough food in the fridge to keep him from starving while he finished. He left Boston after graduation, going to U-Mass and its main campus in Amherst, which was across the state, getting out from under his father's crushing heel… though Amherst hadn't been much better. The Vulpans basically owned Massachusetts, and Kit had to deal with the reach of his father even all the way over there.
The other plane taxied into the hangar and shut down, and Kit sighed as he stepped out into the chilly hangar. Two limos were waiting for them, uniformed chauffeurs standing by the back doors patiently. Jessie held his paw as they walked towards Vil's plane, as the hatch opened and stairs came down. Vil was on her way down before they were even locked into place, and she kissed Kit on the cheek and patted his shoulders. "Where's your coats?"
"Still in the plane," Kit chuckled.
"Go get them, and your shoes. It's snowy out there. You won't need anything else. We'll go do the ceremony and then come straight back here, and you'll be on your way to Florida. Did you like my new jet?" she asked with a smile.
"It's so nice," Jessie said honestly.
"Did you initiate my bed?" she asked with a grin. Jessie's cheeks ruffled, which made Vil laugh delightedly. "Good! I was hoping you would. Now my jet is properly christened and ready for use," she winked. "Well, your jet, really. It's taking you to Florida, too. You can get some sleep on the way down, then it's a limo ride over to the helipad, and a half hour ride in a helicopter to my condo at Marathon Key. I wish you could stay here overnight, but you don't have much time, so I gotta get you down there to have your honeymoon with what time you do get," she winked. "Now, you guys take the first limo, and the rest of us will be in the second. We'll have you back on the plane and on the way to Florida in an hour tops."
"It can't be too soon for me," Kit said uneasily. "Just being here gives me the creeps."
"Well, bro, let this be the first in a set of new memories for you to have of Boston," she said in understanding, patting him on the shoulder.
Kit and Jessie were placed in the lead limo after they got their coats and shoes, and they were on the way. It was dark in Boston, but Kit knew those streets, knew them well. Despite the cold and the late hour, the sidewalks were populated with quite a few pedestrians, out doing their Christmas shopping, and Jessie seemed to take notice that a disproportionate number of them were red foxes. "So many," she said in surprise, looking out the window.
"Welcome to Boston," Kit told her simply.
"I can see how purism keeps a foothold up here," she said. "I mean, I've heard you talk about it, but it's so much different when you see it, see so many of just one breed on the streets of a city this big. It's almost incredible!"
"From here north, foxes are the dominant breed," Kit told her. "All the way up 'til you hit Canada. Then it mixes between British foxes and French wolves. A lot of French wolves settled in Quebec, and they still represent a large segment of the population that borders New England."
"Are there a lot of foxes in Canada?"
"Eastern, yeah," he nodded. "Western Canada is more mixed with wolves, hounds, and rabbits, all British. There's a lot of rabbits from Britain," he chuckled.
"Then why so many foxes here? Why not more balance?"
"Guess because of culture," he shrugged. "In Britain, the different breeds all have their own little subcultures, so when the colonies were made, they segregated by breed. That's why there's so many rabbits who live in the southeast, and lots of wolves in Virginia and Maryland. The lemmings and rodents settled in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. And of course, the foxes settled in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. It's a big joke around here that the other breeds just can't handle a New England winter, so they left it to the hardiest breed in Britain to show them how to do it." The limo turned on the street he knew the cathedral was on, and chuckled. "But, since this is New England and the winters are so cold, there isn't as much integration up here as there is down south. Immigrants came and thinned out the domination of the British breeds in the other colonies, but here in New England, it's still a majority of foxes. The only cities where you really see other breeds are Boston and the cities where U-mass has campuses, like Amherst and Worcester."
"Wow. It's just so strange to see it," she breathed.
They arrived at the venerable Cathedral of the Holy Cross at about eleven. The cathedral was very old, showing its age, but had beautiful stained glass windows that here backlit by the lights within. Jessie gawked at the huge cathedral as they went around and parked in a lot beside it, then the chauffer opened the door for them. They were met at the side entrance by the Archbishop O'Malley of Boston himself, who was an Irish fox. Vil's limo pulled in beside theirs as the Bishop shook their paws. "It's nice to meet you, Mister Vulpan," he said with a smile. "We've arranged things to your liking, and as to your family's wishes. It will be a simple affair, a simple liturgy and vows, and since we've been warned that your bride isn't Catholic, we'll go slow and give her a chance to understand what we're doing since she's had no chance to practice."
"It's going to be Catholic?"
"That's a slightly ridiculous question, son," he smiled lightly. "Of course it's going to be a Catholic ceremony. We'll be conducting it in the main chapel."
"Well, as long as you don't mind me looking a little silly, I guess I'll try," Jessie said with a nervous laugh.
"You won't look silly at all, dear. You may not know our ways, but we applaud you for giving him this. We've been told that you've already been married, and are performing this second ceremony to honor Kitstrom's mother's wishes."
"We are," she nodded.
"Then you're giving out of love, and nothing given out of love can ever be anything but beautiful," he said, patting her paw fondly. Now please, come into the nave. It's cold out here," he smiled.
They waited only a few minutes before Vil, his aunt and uncle, and his cousins came in, and while they did that, Kit quickly explained the mechanics of a Catholic wedding. "It can't be too traditional, since it's so unusual," he surmised. "But odds are, we'll walk down the aisle together behind the Archbishop, kneel at the altar, then he'll conduct a short liturgy."
"What's a liturgy?"
"Mass, or what you'd consider to be mass. He'll recite scripture," he answered. "Then comes the homily, which is his sermon, but that can't be very long. After that, we exchange vows and rings–well, we'll have to take them off and do it again, I suppose–and then that's basically it. The conducting priest will give us the opportunity to lead prayer, and since this isn't a mass, he'll recite the Lord's Prayer, and it's over."
"What's this about mass?"
"Marriages usually are conducted during a mass," he told her. "It becomes a part of the mass."
"Oh, I get it," she said with a nod. "So they must have other customs when it's not part of a mass?"
He nodded. "They try to keep it as similar as possible, but yeah, they do have some different customs when it's just the wedding by itself."
The bishop came back to them. "Now, Miss Vilenne has asked to be your maid of honor, Jessica," he said. "I'm afraid we have no best man for you, Kitstrom. I can have a monsignor or monk serve that function for you, if you'd like."
"No, I'm alright with going solo, Bishop. I'll just carry the rings myself."
"Very well then, if you'd follow me, we'll take our places and wait for the music."
Kit and Jessie were hustled to the doors leading to the chapel. Jessie took off her ring and handed it to him quickly, and he did the same, just as the doors opened into the magnificent chapel with its stained glass windows, ancient altar and huge, grand, imposing edifice behind it which housed several statues, and rich wooden pews. The famous stained glass windows of the chapel almost seemed to glow from their lighting, and the huge chapel was largely empty, except for attendants and altar boys at the far end, a few furs sitting in the pews near the altar, and the organist playing the Catholic wedding music.
It felt a little odd doing it in the massive main chapel, which was empty. There was a much smaller side chapel in this cathedral that would have been much more fitting for a small, private wedding ceremony, but they were doing the ceremony in the cathedral itself.
"What do I do?" Jessie whispered.
"Just walk behind the Bishop, it looks like he's conducting the ceremony," he answered, taking her paw and putting it on his arm. "We'll kneel just as we come to the first row of pews, genuflect to the altar, then we'll walk down to it and kneel at it when we get up on the dais."
"Okay."
They did that. The Bishop led them down the aisle, and Kit's anger rose when he realized that those few furs in the pews by the altar were members of his family! Fifteen of them, meaning eleven of them were Vulpans who had come to this private ceremony… probably at Vil's invitation. He relaxed slightly when he considered that. Vil wouldn't invite anyone that would embarrass them or disrupt the ceremony. He couldn't see any faces clearly from that distance, but they all looked rather young. They had to be some of his cousins. As he neared, though, he realized they were not just his cousins. His uncles and aunts, all of them, were sitting in the second row, and from the looks on their faces, they were almost white-hot with fury and indignation.
Kit gave Vil a strangled look, but she just gave him a sly little smile from the other side of Jessie and nodded him ahead.
"Are you crazy?" he demanded in a harsh whisper.
"They won't say a word," she answered in a similar whisper. "They asked to come, bro. Just ignore them."
Kit could feel the hot stares of Zach and Jake on him, and the cold look of Maxine freezing his blood, but it was too late now. They were there, they were doing the ceremony, and he had to carry through with it… but he was going to strangle Vil when this was over. They came up to the altar and knelt, and the Archbishop took his place between them. He offered a short prayer, and then Kit urged Jessie to stand. "We come together this night, in unusual circumstances, so a son can honor the wish of his mother," the Archbishop intoned, resplendent in his formal robes and mitre as the spotlights shone upon him. "It was her wish that her children marry here, in this cathedral, and tonight we join this male and this female in the bonds of holy matrimony to both celebrate their love, and also honor the ties of family."
The Archbishop conducted a very short liturgy, reading from the Bible, select passages often used during weddings that professed love and described the holy union of matrimony to the couple and the congregation. Then, much to Kit's surprise, he skipped over the homily completely and had them turn to face each other. He had them exchange their vows, and now that he was to the side of the family instead of his back to them, he glanced at their faces. His aunt Maxine and his uncles looked angry and mortified, barely containing themselves. The cousins that were there looked either bored, curious, or similarly offended that their cousin was marrying outside their species.
The Archbishop kept it short and sweet. After they exchanged vows, he led through the exchange of rings, and then raised his paws and uttered a short prayer. He then recited the Lord's Prayer, and when he finished, the ceremony was over.
"Now what?" Jessie asked fearfully.
"Now we leave, quickly and quietly," Kit whispered back, stepping back from the dais, genuflecting, then turning back up the aisle with Jessie in tow.
"Wait a minute, bro," Vil called as she came up behind them. Kit slowed to a stop and turned around, and found himself staring at his uncles, Zach and Jake, and his aunt Maxine, as they hurried out of the pews and started towards them.
"No, Vil," he hissed. "I have no idea what insanity possessed you to bring them here. You know how I feel about them, and I'm very disappointed in you."
"They asked to come, bro, and promised not to say a word. And I wanted them to be here. I wanted them to see it, bro, see that you won't knuckle under to them. I wanted them to see you and Jessie get married and know they couldn't do a damn thing about it, so they can't possibly deny that you are your own fox and are no part of them. And, I wanted them to see you. I wanted them to see that you're happy, and you're happy because you broke away from the family. Call it a little bit of poetic justice, but I wanted them to see that you made it despite them."
"Why would they want to be here?" he asked.
"That's obvious, bro," she winked. "Very soon now, you're going to have the keys to the castle, and they know it. The lawsuit's a moot point, and they've agreed not to challenge me killing the old will and reinstating you as a member of the family. They have to acknowledge you now, no matter how much they hate you."
"She's right about that, Luke," his uncle Zach said through a tightly controlled voice, shooting dark glances at Jessie, who inched behind Kit protectively in the face of so much open hostility. "We can't deny that Vil is going to win, and so we must make… concessions."
"Don't call me that," Kit growled. "My name is Kit. Do not ever call me by his name!"
"The past is over, Kit," Maxine told him. "It's time to reconcile the family and move on, even despite this marriage."
"The family can go to hell, Maxine," Kit told her coldly. "You wrote me off for dead years ago, so just go right on pretending I don't exist, because I'll never give you so much as the time of day."
"You're such hypocrites," Jessie flared at them, stepping out from behind Kit and staring them down in a moment of bold anger. "Where were these calls to reconcile after his father died? Nowhere, that's where! I'll bet you knew then that you could reverse his father's will and get him back in the family, but you didn't do anything! You just abandoned him, and now, when he's about to get control over you, you want to reconcile and bring him back, and act like all those horrible things you did to him don't even matter? You're so arrogant, you can't even say I'm sorry! If I were you, that would have been the first thing I said if I was in your position, but you can't even do that! The only one of you that even came close was his uncle Brian, and he only gave that after Kit backed him into a corner over what you did to him when he was a young fox! You don't care about Kit. You don't really want to reconcile with him, you're just trying to keep your money! You're so transparent it's almost funny!"
"What else would you have us do, little miss?" Jake said, in a surprisingly honest tone. "We honestly have no idea what else to do. We were just as much subject to his father's demands as he was. Lucas held all the keys to our family's power, and we were subject to him. After he died, well, I guess none of us really thought to go against him, even in death. And, honestly, Kit has not exactly offered any olive branches to us, either. When his father died, he could have asked to come back to the family, and we might have tried to help him. But he chose instead to flip us off at the funeral, and he has married you, which is very much against our wishes."
Vil actually laughed. "Oh, that was rich!" she said with a giggle.
"Why should he? You're his family!" she said in a heated tone. "You were supposed to be there for him, and you left him all alone! Do you want to see why he'll never forgive you? Just look right here!" she declared, pointing at Kit's damaged left ear. "How much worse could it be for him, laying in a hospital bed, in all that pain, not knowing if he's going to live or die, and being all alone!"
His three elders fell silent. Against that argument, they had absolutely no defense, and they knew it.
"Did you come here to hear what Vil told you from his own lips? Well, let me tell it to you so he doesn't have to talk to you. We don't want your money," she declared in cold, concise words. "Kit told me that money is a curse, and God he proved it once I got to see how his family is. You deserve that money, because you deserve the misery it's put into your life! So take your money, and I hope you all choke on it!"
She took his paw, turned, and stormed down the aisle with a surprised Kit in tow.
And in that moment, he'd never been prouder of his wife.
She led him back to the side door leading to the limo, the door through which they came, and Kit slowed her down and gathered her into his arms. He kissed her, gently and tenderly, then nuzzled her neck and just held her. "I love you, my pretty kitty," was all he could say to show her how much he appreciated her standing up for him, and for understanding, truly understanding. He never felt closer to her than he did at that moment, and knew beyond all doubt that his place would always be at her side.
She understood.
"What is it about you that just cows my aunts and uncles?" Vil asked with a laugh as she reached them. "First Brian and Sarah, and now Zach, Jake, and Maxine! You're something else, Jessie," she grinned.
"It's because your aunts and uncles are so shallow and stupid," she answered.
"Not stupid, just so arrogant they can't possibly see anything from another point of view," Jessie chuckled. "And certainly unable to bring themselves to admit that they don't rule the roost. Well, bro, you ready to leave Boston?"
"It can't be soon enough for me," he said honestly.
Vil rode with them this time, taking them back to the airport in their limo. Kit's paws were shaking from the brush with his family, and Jessie held his paw reassuringly. Just seeing them brought back so many bad memories, and he found himself almost feeling physically sick, how much he wanted to get out of Boston, get away from them. But it was a thankfully short ride back to the airport given it was late at night and traffic wasn't bad, and in short order they were again at the hangar holding the jet. Vil got out with them and walked them into the hangar with her bodyguards following them. "Now, I've taken care of everything," she told them as they went into the warmer hangar. "If you have any questions, just call me. Oh, here," she said, handing them a digital camera. "Are you going to be alright, bro?"
"I guess. I'm very mad at you right now, sis."
"I know, and I'm sorry about that. But you had to face them eventually, if only just to show them one last time that you're free of them. I think you'll understand after you think it through. And I still love you, Kit. I always will. You're my brother."
She pushed herself into his arms, and he hugged her despite his anger.
Vil hugged Jessie fondly. "It's so cool to know you're my sister now," Vil told her with a bright smile. "You take good care of him, Jessie. He's very special."
"He's the most special male on Earth," she said with a contented sigh, grabbing his arm and leaning against his shoulder.
"Just sit back and enjoy the ride, guys," she smiled. "I've taken care of everything. And I'll see you in Cincinnati."
"You're coming?" Jessie said with an excited gasp.
She nodded. "Your parents invited me and Sheila, and I accepted. I don't know about her."
Kit snorted in laughter. "She's actually going to do it," he realized.
"Do what?"
"Bring Sheila into her house, despite my warning."
"Well, you did warn her then," Vil chuckled. She kissed Kit on the cheek, then kissed Jessie on the cheek, then turned them around and started pushing them towards the jet. "Now get going! You only get four days, so don't waste them standing around here! Get out of Boston, you crazy kids!"
Kit and Jessie climbed the steps into the plane, then turned and waved. They didn't wave just to Vil, they also waved to her panther bodyguards, who had been so helpful to them. "Take care of her!" Jessie called to them, and one of them–Kit couldn't tell them apart–just smiled and nodded, then placed his huge paw on her back gently in a display of that promise. Her bodyguards urged her back as they went into the jet, and they saw them standing well away as the jet's engines were started, and it began to turn to taxi out.
"Please find a seat, we're already cleared to taxi and take off and we'll be in the air in just a few minutes," Avery's voice called over the intercom.
"Are you okay, love?" Jessie asked as they sat on the couch, and she leaned against him.
"A little angry. A little scared. Too many bad memories all at once on top of it," he said with a sigh, taking refuge in her arms when she opened them to him. She pushed him down until his head was in her lap, and he just closed his eyes and accepted her gentle, soothing attention as she stroked his hair and gently pinched and played with his ears. She urged him to relax, and as the plane took off and lifted into the air, pushing him into the couch and against her stomach, he grabbed hold of her gorgeous longhaired tail and draped it over his shoulder. She laughed softly and teased his nose with it, then stroked it down his shoulders and side as her paw played with his hair and ears. She soothed him, soothed in ways even he didn't understand completely, and he took solace in the comfort of her presence. He relaxed, and the momentous nature of the day took its toll on him.
As the plane leveled out, Kit drifted off to sleep.
Jessie just leaned back and kept her paw and tail on him, letting him feel her, smell her, be reassured by her presence and sleep peacefully. She was touched and thrilled that she could bring him peace, that he loved her so much that he trusted her with his most intimate secrets, allowed her to know him completely and utterly to such point that she could understand the deepest parts of him, that he would sleep with his head on her lap, a tender demonstration of his love and trust in her. She loved him so much, it was so… fulfilling to not just hear him return her love, but show it to her, show her in ways he didn't even notice, such as this.
They were married now. She was now Misses Vulpan, and nothing on Earth could possibly make her happier than that one simple thought.