Lady in Red Pt. 02 Ch. 24

"Their latest adventure off the coast of Africa seems to have cemented their legacy. I've watched that video a few dozen times and I still can't believe everything that took place. I have to commend you, Ted, on having the courage and conviction to go on that journey and to board the ship with those young men. Steve tells me that you saved his life."

"Ted has been somewhat reluctant to talk much about what he did and what he witnessed," responded Paula. "He's becoming more like these other warriors we have in the room. He doesn't brag, and he's reluctant to be too graphic. He saw Steve battle that monster from ten feet and he'll only tell me that Steve was incredible. It was brutal and barbaric, but it needed doing.

"Your grandson once again proved his love and devotion for our daughter. I couldn't be prouder of them, of all of their friends, and of Ted. He's shown me a side of him I never guessed existed. He's absolutely fearless," bragged Paula as Ted blushed.

"Could I have everyone's attention?" came Kate's voice over the sound system as guests began to quiet down. "As Maid of Honor, and sister of the bride, I wanted to thank everyone for making the journey to Sparta and to welcome you all to Valhalla to help us celebrate the pending nuptials of our Queen and our Warrior King."

Applause filled the room and Kate smiled as she waited for it to abate. "Yes, you heard me right! It's no secret that Gwen is the Queen of the Spartan Nation and Steve is our Warrior King. They've earned the titles the hard way; and I'm here to tell you that they're accurate. All you have to do is visit any store, business, shop, or restaurant in Sparta to hear the pride that everyone feels for my sister and her soon-to-be husband.

"You only need to look around this room to realize the high esteem they command. We are graced with the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the presidents of the United States, Russia, and France, along with former presidents, justices, senators, and some high ranking military. We thank all of you for coming and we wish you all the very best. Have a great visit; enjoy the meal tonight, and tomorrow, in my opinion, the greatest wedding in history!"

Gwen and Steve hugged Kate when she returned to the great room from the balcony. "Sis! You laid it on a bit thick didn't you? We have some very important people here and you're telling them that Steve and I are a queen and king! What must they think?"

"Gwen, look around! Why are they here? It's because you and Steve rule! I simply voiced it clearly for everyone to understand. Not one person appeared to disagree," pointed out Kate. "Get used to it. You guys are our King and Queen, especially here in Valhalla! This is your 'house', and you rule!"

Saturday morning arrived with typical July Fourth weather. It was sunny and predicted to reach eighty degrees in the afternoon. Everyone in the production was at the LiR Center by eight AM, ready for a dress rehearsal. The production was scheduled for five PM with the wedding to begin fifteen minutes after the show ended.

Signs and banners were everywhere. Many spanned the street and were attached to buildings across from each other. Every business and available wall space along Main Street had signs, pictures, flowers, and mementos plastered to them. Lady in Red productions had hundreds of vendors supplying food, snacks and drinks to anyone wanting them. Lady in Red had promised to keep it all coming until midnight Sunday, thus making the reception a two day affair.

Huge screens had been placed all along Main Street as well as other venues in Sparta, including parking lots and even some vacant lots and fields. A director was set up in the rear of a tractor trailer. He would be selecting which of the dozen cameras he would be best to broadcast at any given moment. Those that could not get into the LiR Center would still have the opportunity to watch the production and the wedding on the big screens and from numerous angles.

By four PM, LiR was packed to capacity with guests. For security reasons, those deemed important by various agencies were sitting inside in air conditioned comfort, while everyone else was outside the building, enjoying the free food and drinks, as well as the ability to view everything on the Jumbotrons.

At five, the curtain rose to a dark stage. Everyone immediately became quiet as they waited for things to begin. A small spotlight suddenly went on, illuminating Steve. An unseen orchestra started playing and soon Steve was singing. He had managed a lesser hit with the 'Theme from Love Story' and Charlie selected it for the wording at the beginning of the program and the emotion it evoked.

"Where do I begin?

To tell the story of how great a love can be,

the sweet love story that is older than the sea,

the simple truth about the love she brings to me.

Where do I start?"

Steve sang it beautifully and the audience was hooked immediately. Tears were flowing down the cheeks of some of the romantics in the audience before Steve finished.

The spotlight went dark and suddenly another went on, this time shinning on Gwen. Once again the orchestra played and Gwen sang 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and those watching were once again quite emotional as Gwen sang the song beautifully.

The stage went dark for several seconds before the lights came on. The scene showed Gwen sitting at a table in a busy food court. People were seen walking past as Gwen read a book and occasionally looked up at the people passing by. Then Steve suddenly pulled a chair back and sat down across from her.

"Hi! I'm Steve Hammer. I see you're reading 'Lord of the Flies' and I'm wondering if you're in Ms. Summers' English class?"

The show had begun! The audience was enthralled as they watched the first encounter between Gwen and Steve. There was considerable laughter when Gwen told Steve that she couldn't go out with him the Saturday before school began because she had to study.

Charlie realized early on in the planning of the show that he needed to keep the program moving and merely introduce small snippets of the eight years the production was meant to cover. He had spent considerable time talking with Jordan and going over videos from the more memorable moments in the very active and amazing love story of his friends.

He used others to describe scenes, like the near drowning and the championship football game. He had Kate and Charlotte worriedly discussing the events while Steve was beneath the surface of Emerson River and Gwen was treading water, waiting for him to surface. He also relied a lot on Amber to recreate much of her broadcast, only with the camera on her as she described the events. Because of the skill of the actors, it came across as very dramatic to the audience.

Johnnie Dee was the narrator for the program. His deep voice and perfect delivery helped everything flow smoothly. He appeared briefly in a couple of scenes, but he mostly did offstage narrating.

For the football game Sparta won to gain Steve's date with Gwen, Charlie had Lisa, Kate and Paula discussing it before Steve stopped Gwen as she was leaving the bleachers. Ted was given his big moment as he delivered his 'talk' to Steve in front of family and friends. Of course, the first dance and the ensuing first kiss was part of the program and people loved it.

Scenes moved rapidly, made possible by Charlie utilizing so many of Gwen and Steve's friends and family to voice the action that was offstage. Gwen performed her report to the nation following the terrorist attack on her high school. She wore a red bra and was made up to appear bloodied.

"Sparta came under attack today. Five terrorists, steeped in hatred and driven by ignorance attempted to destroy our school, and kill our students and staff. But what these cowards did not count on was the courage and determination of us Spartans."

As Gwen revisited that tragic speech, goose bumps formed on many watching the show. That clip had been shown thousands of times in the days and years after the attack, but it had never lost its dramatic effect on those hearing it.

Gwen was shown going to the hospital with Steve six times in the course of the two hour production. To see how often he had been treated served to drive home the courage and daring that was a big part of his character.

Roxie and Sam did very well with their roles. Nadiya and Naomi were fan favorites for their parts. The program helped the public to understand the dynamics of the group and just how important each friend and relative was to the couple. As Gwen had once pointed out in an interview, they had friends that would take bullets for them, and some had done exactly that!

Another highlight of the show was the scene where Gwen announced, with no apparent reason to believe it, that Steve was returning from Colombia on the helicopter that was about to land at the hospital.

Charlie was well aware that the viewers would want to hear Steve and Gwen cover many of their hit songs, so he worked as many of them into the show as he could. He shortened some of them to keep the program at two hours.

By hitting only the most dramatic highlights and featuring Gwen and Steve singing, with more than a little help from Jordan, the program seemed to be over far too soon, although it ran a few minutes over the promised two hours.

Gwen and Steve performed their biggest hits, several of which included Jordan. They managed a brief glimpse of what their concerts were like by playing 'We Will Rock You/ We Are the Champions', 'Born to be Wild' and one of the group's biggest hits in the remake of 'Hate Myself for Loving You'. Steve, Gwen, Charlie, Jordan, and the band sang and played as well as they ever had and the audience obviously loved it. Behind them on the large screen, a montage of their performances in the capital cities on Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, and Kiev was shown. The replay of the dance Steve and Gwen performed under the full moon in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background drew the most response from the audience.

The scenes were usually highlighted with footage of the events flashing across the huge screen behind the performers. The effect was a very dramatic and it created personal trip through the eight years of Gwen and Steve's relationship.

The streets of Sparta were filled with dancing people as the driving beat of the music blared over the huge screens. Not being inside the LiR seemed to be a good thing for the more dedicated partiers. The entire town was rocking as everyone danced, sang along, or simply applauded each performance.

Gwen's rendition of her huge hit 'Woman in Love' was extremely well received and near the very end of the program she belted out 'I Need a Hero' from a set made to look like the hospital ship. As Gwen began singing, the huge screen in the background featured two helicopters approaching at maximum speed

"Where have all the good men gone,

and where are all the Gods?

Where's the streetwise Hercules"

I need a Hero!"

Everyone realized the song could well have been written about Steve. He was the Hercules that Gwen was singing about. When she sang that he had to be 'larger than life', it fit Steve perfectly.

The scene of Steve climbing down the ladder of the rapidly moving chopper and then hanging with one hand as he brought his rifle around with the other still caused watchers to gasp in amazement. Charlie had mixed in some previously unseen footage taken by Cheryl. He had edited the video so that Chancellor was never shown, but Steve's bloodied and amazingly toned upper body filled the screen.

There could be no doubt that he was indeed the warrior as he fought and defeated his huge opponent. Gasps were frequently heard as people saw the video for the first time of Steve up close during the fight to the death. His determination and raw emotion were obvious to viewers. The ending of Gwen's song showed the two lovers reunite and collapse to their knees on the deck as they held each other. The stage went dark and boisterous applause and cheers began. Suddenly another spot light snapped on to reveal Steve standing in a tux and waiting for the din to abate. The audience quickly went silent, realizing there was more to come.

The orchestra once again led Steve into a song. As he sang, his exploits from the previous eight years played across the screen behind him. On that stage, just minutes before he was scheduled to take his marriage vows, Steve proceeded to make 'My Way' his song. He never suspected at the time that it would become his theme song the rest of his life.

"And now the end is near,

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case of which I'm certain.

Steve walked back and forth on the stage as the spotlight followed him. That he was extremely comfortable with the lyrics and the style was very evident. His face was still swollen and his black eye readily apparent as he grinned and seemed to laugh at himself as he delivered the song better than he ever had before. When he reached the lyrics about biting off more than he could chew, the big screen showed Gwen escorting him into the hospital several times, the terrorist holding a sword to his throat, and a brief shot of him squaring off with Chancellor. He finished his performance very strongly.

"The record shows I took the blows,

And did it my way.

Yes, it was my way!"

Once again, the stage went dark. The audience held its applause this time and waited almost a minute. When nothing further happened, extremely enthusiastic whistles, cheers, and applause rang throughout LiR and on the streets of Sparta.

Charlie had finished the show with Steve since it would take Gwen much longer to prepare for the ceremony. She had to put on her gown, get her hair put up, and replace her makeup. She began preparing as soon as she finished her last song.

Even so, Steve quickly changed into his Navy Dress uniform and was ready long before her. He joined Paula at a rear exit of the LiR building. He hugged her briefly as she flashed a huge smile and gave him a thumbs-up sign. Then Charlie nodded to Steve that the fifteen minute intermission between the show and the wedding ceremony was over. Steve began escorting Paula down the street behind the building.

Because of the huge crowd in Sparta for the wedding, the planned route the wedding party would walk was increased to seven actual blocks! Even with that great distance to cover, Steve and Paula stepped into a huge crowd as they exited the building. They were the first of the wedding party to make the walk. The next couple, Nadiya and Hans would begin walking two minutes after Steve and Paula left.

Steve and Paula smiled and nodded to the thousands of cheering well-wishers as they moved the three blocks away from LiR, made a left turn and walked the block to Main Street, before another left and the three blocks back to the front entrance of the LiR Center, where the wedding ceremony was to take place.

Signs, placards, flowers, and flags were everywhere as Steve escorted Paula down the streets of their home town. Barricades had been set up in the street, maintaining a ten foot wide path for the party. Well wishers and revelers were packed from the barricades back to the store fronts, and many were leaning from second and third story windows and balconies as they yelled their approval and threw confetti at each member of the wedding party as they passed.

The wedding party followed. Nadiya and Hans were next, followed by Naomi and Jared, Vlad and Anna, Ashley and Richard, Becky and Pete, Charlotte and Billy, Stephanie and James, Jen and her current beau, Jordan and Charlie, Lisa and Jason, and then Kate and Chip. All of the women were incredibly beautiful. There were whistles and compliments all along the route.

Finally, it was time for Ted and Gwen to begin their approach to the front of the LiR Center. Just before Gwen left the building, her face appeared on the huge screens that were located all over Sparta. Duchess Kate was shown placing a Tiara on Gwen's head.

As the camera backed off from the close-up, Gwen's wedding gown came into view for the first time. Whistles and cheers sounded immediately. Viewers at home were spellbound.

Gwen was wearing a beautiful red wedding gown that fit her curves perfectly. Some of her ample cleavage was tastefully displayed. A long train trailed behind her as she made her way onto the street holding her father's good arm.

The entire town was made aware of Gwen making her appearance as the yelling, cheering, whistling, and noise makers created a roar that carried well beyond the city limits. Gwen smiled and waved as she walked down the flower covered street with her extremely proud father. As they passed, spectators went into prolonged curtsies and dramatic bows.

All along their path, people were calling Gwen's name and shouting how beautiful she was. Confetti poured down on them whenever they were near taller buildings. Many women in the crowd openly wept as they watched the storybook procession pass by.

"Long live the Queen!" was suddenly yelled by a man near the hardware store. His voice boomed and reverberated up and down Main Street. Soon others took up the chant. It was tremendous theater and the viewers at home were spellbound as the screen showed views of Gwen from many angles, and all to her advantage. Her make-up was flawless and perfectly covered what was left of the marks Chancellor had placed on her.

Gwen felt her heart rate increase at the outpouring of love and respect shown to her by her friends and neighbors, as well as total strangers. She worked hard to keep tears from running down her cheeks as she smiled and waved to the amazing number of well-wishers.

Finally she entered LiR. The traditional wedding processional played as Ted escorted Gwen up the steps to the stage where Steve, the wedding party, and Chief Justice Hamilton awaited. Gwen looked into Steve's eyes and saw the same mixture of love and pride that she knew he was seeing in her eyes. Her father placed her hand in Steve's and moved to join a sobbing Paula in the first row.

The ceremony itself was kept brief. When Justice Hamilton told everyone viewing that Gwen and Steve would now give their vows, the orchestra suddenly began playing.

Gwen began singing, and after one stanza, was joined by Steve. Charlie and Jordan had written 'Wedding Day' just for the occasion. As the couple sang, Charlie and Jordan, who also had microphones, backed them in a simple, but very romantic love song. The couple sang their vows to each other as they pledged their fidelity and love. When the song ended, there wasn't a dry eye in Sparta.

Justice Hamilton spoke briefly on the meaning of marriage. "Normally, I would give the couple a brief talk on the importance of sacrifice, responsibility, integrity, fidelity, and honesty. I won't be doing that today. This couple has spent the past eight plus years demonstrating to the country and to the world the proper way to conduct a relationship. I personally saw them both dive into the very cold waters of the Potomac River on a cold January day to save the lives of people facing death. You're all familiar with their considerable assistance to hospitals, charities, veterans, children, and those less fortunate.

"Henceforth, when I conduct a wedding ceremony, I will be citing Gwen and Steve as prime examples of just how couples should conduct their lives. There'll be no pontification by me this day. I simply ask that this couple continues to shoulder the responsibility of being role models for others. I wish them the very best and I'm extremely proud to be asked to officiate at this amazing ceremony."