The Wedding Singer

The Wedding Singer

DISCLAIMER: The characters of Reggie Higgins and Ian Ware belong to MGM Studios and the makers of Fame. The song "Too Busy Being In Love" is sung by Doug Stone, on the "From The Heart" album

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This was a little idea that came into my head, and I just had to get it out! It's a stand alone piece, set way into the future. It doesn't have any bearing on the "Same Old Lang Syne" series (honest!) - not unless you want it to that is! I leave it purely to the reader's discretion.

The guests at the wedding reception looked up expectantly as the wedding singer took the stage. The wedding singer, for his part, was far less happy about the matter. As someone who thought the days of playing at weddings were far in his past - in fact, they'd never been in his past at all - he wasn't too happy with the thought of playing at this one.

However he didn't exactly have a choice.

And at least it was only one song.

One song, especially composed for the happy couple.

Ian Ware shook his head as he got up on the stage. How did I get talked into this?

"Hello?" he said into the microphone. Almost instantly, everyone's attention was on him. It was a small enough wedding, and everyone knew why he was there.

"I was asked to do this as a special favour to the bride and groom. It's not really my thing, but if I can't make an exception in this case, then when can I?"

The crowd laughed politely. Actually, they could see that Ian was quite nervous about this, which was amusing, seeing as he was used to playing to crowds far larger than this.

Ian gently strummed the guitar, ascertaining if it was in tune. "Whenever people write about me," he began, "They usually end up saying what a prolific songwriter I am. And if they're feeling sarcastic, they'll usually put in something about the amount of love songs I write, and how they're inspired." There were more chuckles about this. All that Ian was saying was quite true. "So this song is brand new...and it's a reply to people like that. And it's also the kind of wish that I'd make for the two people married here today...that they can find that kind of love."

The crowd applauded.

"So," Ian continued. "If the happy couple could take the floor....."

They did so, the bride wiping her eyes as she began the first dance with her new husband, to Ian's song.

If I had taken the time to write down a few lines
Every time that you cross this heart of mine
And put them all in a book
How much time would that have took
The words and the years have a way of slipping by
Oh no, too bad, there goes the chance that I had

I could have written a play so sweet and so funny
Given old Mr Shakespeare a run for his money
Written the words to the prettiest tune
That would never leave a dry eye in the room
My only excuse for not doing enough
Is that I was too busy being in love
Yes I was too busy being in love.

Brand new phrases appear everytime you are near
All these words you inspire after all these years
But I never reach for a pen, break the mood that I'm in
Before I knew it the words were gone again
Oh no, too bad, there goes the chance that I had

I could have written a poem to make young lovers crazy
Could have written a movie for Hepburn and Tracy
A beautiful song and it starts with your name
Written my way into fortune and fame
But I have no regrets for not doing enough
I was too busy being in love
Yes I was too busy being in love.

The crowd broke into applause, all except the bride and groom. They were too busy staring into each other eyes, still dancing even after Ian had stopped played. He smiled at the sight, and shrugged to the band, indicating that from now on, it was their show.

He headed away from the stage to the other end of the hall. He had better things to do tonight than stand on the stage singing.

"So, can I interest the mother of the bride in a dance?" he said.

The mother of the bride smiled at him - she hadn't stopped smiling all day, even through her tears. "Well, I'm not sure....whatever would my husband say?"

Ian smiled wickedly as he pulled his wife from her chair. "I'll have a word with him Reginald," he assured her as they began to dance cheek to cheek.

"Look at them Ian," Reggie said, as their daughter and her husband walked by, oblivious to everyone else in the room. "Don't they look beautiful?"

"That they do." Ian was used to this - ever since Karen and Tony had announced their engagement, Reggie had come down with a serious case of "rose-coloured glasses".

"Remember when we looked at each other like that?" Reggie asked wistfully.

Ian pulled back a little and looked at his wife. "You speak for yourself Reginald," he said, mock indignantly. "I still look at you that way."

Reggie stepped a little closer into his embrace, closing the distance between them. "You know what I mean." She laid her head against his shoulder, reveling in his scent. No matter how long she had been married to Ian, it never ceased to amaze her how much in love they were, how much they needed each other. She'd been looking at her eldest daughter all day, and was thrilled to see the same look in her eyes when she looked at Tony as she had when she looked at Ian. "Isn't she the most beautiful bride you've ever seen?" she continued.

Ian pretended to think about that for a moment. "Second most beautiful," he concluded. "She's almost as beautiful as a bride that I saw twenty-five years ago....exactly twenty-five years ago." He kissed his wife. "Happy anniversary."

Reggie smiled again. Getting married on her parent's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary had been Karen's idea, and both Reggie and Ian had been touched by the gesture. Karen had always said that her parents had the strongest marriage she'd ever seen, and that particular wedding date seemed an especially well-starred one to her. Reggie smiled happily as her twenty-three year old daughter, her first born, danced by, still smiling at her husband. She remembered well the day she'd found out she was pregnant, how worried she'd been over Ian's reaction, scared about how a baby would fit into their touring schedule. And Ian's face when she'd told him...the joy, the excitement, the love. And the day she was born...Ian's face the first time he held her....twenty three years seemed to have gone by in a flash.

She looked around the room at the people around her, people who loved her and Ian, who had gathered here to celebrate this wedding. But mostly, her thoughts were of her children.

Amy, twenty-one, relishing her duties as chief bridesmaid, especially the one about dancing with the best man. Clearly, no-one had told her that the obligation was only for the first dance, as she showed no sign of letting Tony's younger, but equally handsome brother get away. As Reggie watched, Karen and Amy stopped side by side on the dance floor to share a joke. Reggie remembered all the times she'd had to almost literally pull them apart when they were younger and sort out their fights. They were far beyond that now.

Over in the opposite side of the room, Reggie could see Alan, their eldest son, dragging her mother out to dance. Ian followed her gaze over. "I told him to do that," he confided in her.

"I was expecting him to spend most of his time trying to convince the band to let him play with them." Alan had definitely inherited his father's musical talents. As she spoke, Reggie saw a guilty look flit over Ian's face. "What? I know that look, you've bribed him with something to keep him away from them. Tell me."

"Well, I kinda said, if he was good enough, and if the rest of the band agreed that we might....I mean we could...."

"Spit it out."

"....Let him play on one of the songs on the next record," Ian finished in a rush. Seeing her look, he pressed on. "C'mon Reg, you know how good he is. He's so much better than I was at nineteen, and I didn't see the harm...."

Reggie shook her head. "You're incorrigible." She'd seen this coming for a while. Alan was definitely talented, there was no doubt about that, and Ian was tremendously proud of him. "We'll see," she said firmly, ending the subject for then, although she had no doubt that she'd end up giving in to the two of them. She always did.

"Look over there," Ian said, shaking his head, as their other son convinced his other grandmother to get onto the dance floor. "Where did we get him from?"

Reggie's gaze softened as she looked at Jonathan. She knew she shouldn't have favourites when it came to her own children, but there was a very special place in her heart for Jono. Alan may have inherited his father's musical skills, but when it came to looks, Jono was his father's son, without question. "He looks just like you did at the same age," she told Ian.

"Except for the punk clothes," Ian pointed out. "And the hair."

"Except for that," Reggie agreed. It never ceased to amaze her how much Jono was like Ian when they first met. It wasn't only in looks, but also in character. Ian could be shy when he first met people, and Jono was as bad, if not more so. He was just as serious about his craft as Ian was about his - Jono loved English, and wanted to be a writer.

"He's getting knocked back!" Ian laughed, as his mother rebuffed his younger son's attentions. Instead, the older lady took the hand of the girl sitting beside her, and got her to dance with Jono.

Reggie and Ian shared a smile. After Jono, they had agreed that their family was big enough with four children. They hadn't intended to have anymore. Then little Natalie had come along thirteen years ago, to really out the finishing touches to the family. Ian had made her his pet from the start, for much the same reasons as Reggie had a soft spot for Jono - Natalie looked just like her mommy.

Reggie's thoughts were interrupted by her father, who, upon seeing his daughter's entire family on the dance floor, decided to get the five children together for a family picture. Reggie and Ian stood in with them for one, then got one of the five on their own. As she looked at them, with Ian's arms wrapped around her, Reggie felt like the luckiest woman in the world. She had a successful career, a wonderful husband, and five beautiful children. All of whom, she noticed now, had one thing in common - they all had the same eyes.

Ian's eyes.

Not many people knew that his eyes were the first thing she had noticed about Ian. Quiet and shy he may have been, but his eyes spoke volumes to her. They always had. She always knew what she was thinking, just with one look.

Just as, when she looked into them now, she knew he was feeling the same way she was.

"Quite a group we got there, wouldn't you say Mrs Ware?" Ian echoed her thoughts precisely. "Guess we must've done something right."

Reggie took another look at her children, then turned to look at her husband. Twenty-five years of memories flashed by in her thoughts. "You know Ian," she said. "When I think of all we've done in the past twenty-five years, all the shows, the tours, the awards....none of it ever made me as happy as I am right now. Does that sound silly to you?"

Ian smiled as he pulled her close for another dance. "Didn't you listen to the song I did earlier?" he asked her. "That's what I was trying to say in it. We could've toured more, I could've written more songs, lots of things like that. But our family, us, those five kids over there....that's what it was all about. Nothing else mattered except for them." He kissed her cheek softly. "As long as we're together, that's all that matters."

Reggie remembered some of the shows they hadn't done, offers they'd turned down. "And you've no regrets?"

Ian's voice was calm, confident. "Not a one." He kissed her lips, then, staring into her eyes, quietly sang some of the song he'd performed earlier. This time, it wasn't for the guests, or for Karen and Tony.

It was for them.

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