Chapter 10: Love and friendship.

Of the measures of my life of which I"m proudest, the friendships I have formed over the years run a close second only to the love I share with Ginny. My grief and sense of loss at Dare's passing were deep and difficult to put aside. Dare had not been a pet, she had been a companion and fellow adventurer, the first and truest member of the Legion of Light. And my friend.

But it was time to take Ginny's hand and announce to the world our love and commitment, a day I had been hoping and planning for since that day all those years ago at the rock and gem shop's counter. The day whose anniversary we had selected as our wedding day. So I tucked a piece of Dare in my soul to accompany the one I'd always had in my heart and I moved on.

I woke up on my wedding day with a light heart and a smile. I had spent the night at home on Earth. The wedding rehearsal and dinner the night before had gone smoothly. Hardly surprising when the majority of the wedding party were Legionnaires with their thoughts lightly meshed together.

To say that I had over committed myself with chores on my wedding day would be an understatement. Fortunately Con had anticipated several of the problems and had prepared a few things in advance to make my big day a little less burdensome.

I had committed to jumping almost 100 people from Chocowinity, as well as my five guests from Taluat. Getting them to Angel's Camp was not the big deal, but our parents had been worried that returning them to the proper locations would be a big distraction for Ginny and I.

Con's solution was 'disposable' jump bracelets. These were single use devices that simply dissolved into dust after they had discharged their single store of Light energy.

Then there was Legion Air.

Yes, we had finally named our first cruiser Kes. Her twin, which we kept at the Montecristo station, we named Aya. Our first ship, the mighty PSP, we named Beloth. We did indeed wind up with our own 'Legion Air', and that did please my Mother to no end.

We started out with a plan to reconfigure Beloth to carry our 100 people, but we chose a simpler strategy. The morning of the wedding, with the Chocowinity guests gathered in the driveway leading up to Grandpa A.J.'s house, I simply reached out and jumped them as a group onto the green of the third hole of the Greenhorn Creek golf course. This green was directly behind Grandma and Grandpa Carson and Cyrus and Felicia's houses, and we ushered them through their two back yards into a fleet of waiting buses to make the short drive to the bridal green where we were having the ceremony. As each of them boarded the bus, a disposable jump bracelet was slipped onto their wrist. They had received instructions on using it back in Chocowinity.

Finally I jumped to the shrine on Taluat and found my five guests dressed in their Earth finery and waiting. I jumped them directly into Grandpa and Grandma Carson' house where Mike was waiting.
I slipped one of the dark blue disposable bracelets on Master Lev's wrist, and followed with the wrists of the other four.

"Obviously when it will be time for the guests to go home I will be busy being the groom. These bracelets are your way back home." I said, touching Lev's bracelet.

"When the time comes and you are inside and safe from observation, grab the bracelet with your free hand and think 'home'." I explained. "Once you have made this jump the bracelet will dissolve into dust. You have met the Legionnaires. Eru will be with you during the ceremony, and one or another of them will be with you at all times to act as translator. Enjoy this day with me, and thank you."

My transportation duties done, I ran upstairs to the room that had been set aside for the use of the groom's party, and Con and Arden helped me get into my tux. I was wearing a traditional gray cutaway jacket, trousers, shirt and tie that had once belonged to my Great Grand-Uncle Lowell, who was the only McKesson before me who was tall and slender enough to match my frame. Con was wearing Grandpa A.J.'s matching tux, and Arden, Dad, Cyrus and Fred also wore matching tuxes, all loaned to us from various McKesson Clansmen. Con made a final adjustment to my boutonnière and slid his hands up to my shoulders and gave me a brilliant smile.

"I have never felt so human as I do today. Thank you again Dave for the honor of being your Best Man!"

"Constantine, this is the way it should be. You are closer to me than anyone in all the worlds, except for Ginny and my parents, and of course they have different parts to play in today's events. I only pay you the honor you deserve."

With a round of smiles and handshakes everyone headed downstairs except Dad and I. I waited, knowing he would have thought long and hard about what he would say to me when this time came.

"Son, your life has led you along paths no one before you has traveled, and to places no other man before you has been. I cannot compare our lives and offer you counsel based on what I know about life. The only counsel I can offer is based on what I know of you."

Dad stopped then and hugged me. I hugged him back. You are never to old to hug your Dad.

"Son, you have never failed to make me proud. No father could be prouder of their son than I am of you. People offer you their loyalty because you are a man worthy of it. People trust in you because you are trustworthy. You have vision and a sense of purpose and the will to accomplish the goals your vision and purpose set you. That you have a heart that loves so deeply and so completely is what your Mom and I consider our greatest accomplishment as parents. We both love you very much!"

When he stopped, it was my turn to hug him.

With dried eyes and wide smiles we made our way downstairs and into the waiting limousine that drove us the short drive through the resort to the club house and the bridal green.

There had been some debate as to who would perform the service. Both Uncle Ambrose and Grandpa A.J. had often performed weddings back in Chocowinity, a traditional aspect of their respective positions as a ship's Captain and head of the McKesson Clan. The minister at Ginny's church on the other hand had been the family's spiritual advisor and family friend since before Ginny's birth, and had been looking forward to the day he would perform her wedding ceremony since the day he had baptized her as a baby. In the end it was decided that Ambrose would give an introductory speech as part of the ceremony and leave the rest in the good hands of Reverend Spencer.

Between the McKesson and Parkin contingents, along with a good number of our friends and former classmates and their families from Angel's Camp, we had a very large guest list, or at least I considered 500 people to be huge. The wedding planner that Mom had introduced Ginny to had been ecstatic, especially when Grandpa A.J. quietly told her that money was no object.

A string quartet, friends of Mom and Grandma Carson from San Francisco, were playing classical music near the raised platform where the ceremony was going to take place. People were in their seats and looking expectant as Con and I found our places.

The quartet shifted music, and the procession started.

Arden escorted Alicia, Cyrus escorted Felicia, Fred escorted Chet's sister Gloria and Dad escorted Sarah Granger. As the bridesmaids and groomsmen got themselves arranged, the music shifted again and I looked up to catch that first glimpse of my Blossom. I cheated a little and used my Light-boosted vision to zoom in on her at the back of the 'aisle'.

I can only describe my goddess as shimmering in white lace and beads and flowers, whose angelic face shone like the sun, framed by the gentle swirl of her golden hair. Beyond that initial impression, her walk up the aisle is something of a blur to me. It was as if I blinked, and suddenly she was before me, and I was transfixed by her eyes and her smile.

Reverend Spencer gave a brief prayer and welcomed us all, then introduced Uncle Ambrose, who stood and walked over to stand before us. He smiled and winked before turning to speak to the crowd.

"Victor Hugo once said 'There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.'

"It is not Grand Spectacle that brings us here today. It is Grand Souls. These two young people have grand souls, and grand hearts! It is their love that brings us here today. Dave McKesson and Virginia Parkin's love for each other and our love of them. Someone dear to Dave's heart once said to him

'Always remember. Love is the purest feeling, the wisest thought and the strongest reason. Always!'"

I looked at Ginny. She too saw my memories of those words in my thoughts.

"For their love, of each other, of life, of their family and friends. For their love of all of us gathered here to celebrate with them, Always remember!"

Ginny and I both were in tears when Ambrose finished. The audience applauded him, and Ginny and I both hugged him.

"Thank you for remembering Beloth." I whispered.

He looked me in the eye and gave a small nod as we separated. I saw tears in his eyes as well.

The ceremony continued on, again blurry and indistinct in my memory, except for the beauty of Ginny's eyes and smile before me. We did not follow the current conceit of writing our own vows, instead before we exchanged vows we addressed the crowd, to quote together, in the perfect unison only two tightly linked minds can, a few words from Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet', often used in wedding ceremonies.

"Remember that love gives nothing but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.
And think not that you can direct the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, will direct your course."

I scanned the crowd as we spoke the words, finding faces I was looking for, trying to catch their gaze for just a second before moving on. Borthun and Yela, Eru and the rest of the Legionnaires who weren't standing beside me. Mom, Grandpa A.J., Grandma and Grandpa Carson and Uncle Aaron.

Their faces barely had time to register though and were were through the recital and speaking our vows. I remember the moment when I slipped the ring I'd shown Ginny the day I'd proposed on her finger.

We both said our "I do"s with strong clear voices.

And then I was kissing my bride. A brief brush of the lips at first, and then a full, warm, soulful kiss. Being able to share thoughts is an advantage at times like these. I was able to tell my bride I loved her, even as our lips were pressed tightly together. As we each pulled back slightly, Con whispered, as he had promised.

"Okay you two. Take your eyes off of each other for just a moment, turn to the crowd and smile big!"

As we did, I heard Reverend Spenser say the words I had been waiting over half my life to hear.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. David McKesson!"

I do remember many moments from the reception with great clarity. We had issued 150 invitations, and expected 200. I was told later that it wound up being 275 at the peak. The first dance with my wife. Watching my new bride dance with her father. Holding my mother in my arms as we danced and seeing the joy and pride in her eyes.

The food was delicious, and for once not prepared by anyone I knew. This perhaps explains why I'm not bothering to give you my typical blow-by-blow description. The champagne flowed freely, but I cleared Ginny and I of its effects with a wash of Light towards the end of the evening.

The highlight of the evening for me was Con's speech.

He had 250 people rolling in the aisles, as he spoke. We officially titled it the "I'm not gay" speech.

"I love my friend Dave. Through him I learned to feel love.

But I'm not gay!

It was in observing Dave that I grew to understand love.

But I'm not gay!

Everything I know of friendship, emotion, loyalty and caring I learned from Dave.

But I'm not gay.

I can say without hesitation — I am not gay!

Dave though? Sensitive, caring, loving and supportive Dave? About Him I'm not so sure."

That was just his opening salvo. He followed with a tour of my life cast from a hilarious point of view that had even the poor folks from Taluat who were getting it via translation laughing so hard they were gasping for breath.

As all good Best Men do, Constantine did get a little serious at the end.

"All kidding aside, I can tell you from the bottom of my heart. If I had come onto this world needing to be taught what it meant to be human, I could have chosen no better teacher than Dave McKesson. Ultimately he has done something more remarkable than that. He taught me how to be a good human."

With the afternoon quickly threatening to turn into evening, and the last of my few minor transportation duties done, Ginny and I left in the back of a very impressive limousine. Our driver was Sheb Halliday, wearing a big grin and that same chauffeur's uniform we'd seen him in when he picked us up at the airport in Raleigh, just before my sixteenth birthday. He didn't expect us to still be in the back when he got it to where he was taking it, and we weren't.

I jumped us to our bedroom on Meadow, Ginny didn't know it, but it was only a brief stop.

"Still not going to tell me where we're going, dear husband?" Ginny asked.

"Sorry, sweet wife, but the surprise will be worth it, I promise you." I pushed her into the bathroom to change and closed the door.

<Aren't you going to help me get undressed?> She thought through the door.

<Of course Blossom!> I thought back, and I jumped all her finery straight off her and into a pile beside me.

"oooh! Thank you sweetie!" She hollered through the door.

While I kept a mental thread in contact with Ginny, I quickly jumped myself to the 'retreat' Con and I had prepared for this night, used its bathroom, a perfect and exact replica of our own, to clean up a little myself, slipping on the silk boxers I'd bought just for tonight, and then did a quick double check on my preparations. Everything looked perfect. I pulled the chilled champagne out of the cooler side of the little storage unit we had placed here as the only furniture. I added ice to the ice bucket sitting on top of it from the ice bin in the freezer side and then jumped back to our bedroom.

"Let me know when you're ready to come out sweetie. Its part of the surprise!" I said through the door. A good ten more minutes passed.

"Ready!" She called out.

I jumped her, me and our bed all at one to the retreat.

"Blossom, you can come out now." I said.

When Ginny walked through the bathroom door I stopped breathing and I was instantly erect. She seemed to be wearing several layers of white, wispy nearly-nothing. Through them I could see that she had shaved. The wisps of material that draped across her breasts did nothing to disguise the fact that her nipples were as erect as I'd ever seen them.

"Oh Baby!" We both whispered simultaneously.

Recovering a little from the initial reaction, Ginny looked around. She saw our bed, the champagne and the fridge/freezer cabinet that it sat on, and beyond that trees and flowers and blooming shrubs. A thick, luxurious bed of grass grew beneath our feet.

"Davey? Where are we?" She asked.

"Look up." I answered.

Hanging in the black sky above us was Meadow, swirls of bright blue and white and glorious.

"Oh my God!" Ginny gasped.

"Sweetie, on our wedding night I wanted to give you the stars, but in the end I settled for the Moon. I hope you like it."

It had taken a large leap of faith and a little persuasion from Constantine to even consider building a little bubble of livable space on Meadow's moon. I saw in Ginny's eyes that it had been worth it.

We did not come to our marriage bed as new, fumbling young lovers. We were lingering and leisurely, and only briefly did we climb into moments of urgent need. We spent the evening with our minds and thoughts tightly joined, we sipped champagne, we nibbled on fresh fruit and played games with the chocolate sauce and honey that accompanied them.

That concern I'd expressed about not knowing if I could top our sexual performance on the night we achieved mental fusion and slipped into the light proved to be no worry at all.

All that effort I'd put into developing physical constructs from the light had not yet provided anything useful as far as my duties as a Legionnaire, but when combined with my now considerable telekinetic skills, provided some very interesting applications when applied to my duties as a newlywed.

I'm proud to say it was a four 'Oh Davey!' night.

We might have wished for a leisurely and decadent breakfast in bed, but I received my 'wake-up call'.

I had left a little bundle of my consciousness sitting in Captain Bob's mind, set to wake me when Bob began his landing approach in Marseilles. It was not one of those abilities I had let anyone know about, except for Ginny of course. She had in the past few weeks, and several times last night alone, been me and I her. She knew everything I knew. It really came in handy, as often as I overextended myself with obligations, to be able to let others help keep track of the details for me.

I woke Ginny and told her we needed to get ready for the rest of our honeymoon to begin. As we showered and dressed, I checked on the McKesson Group's Citation, which had spend the long hours through the night, as Ginny and I had been occupied exploring and expressing our connubial bliss, flying across the Atlantic towards Marseilles, France. The crew was within minutes of landing at the Marseilles airport. The minute the jet was on the ground I jumped Ginny and I into the cabin. Tracy Anders, Captain Bob's wife, only jumped slightly when we appeared.

"You guys sure do have your own definition of 'jet-setter' don't you?" She laughed.

"How was your wedding night?" She asked Ginny, after hugging us both.

"Out of this world!" Ginny replied with a coy smile.

We did have to go through customs, and our passports got stamped. We were met by a chauffeured limousine, this one most definitely not driven by Sheb. Our chauffeur was a young, well endowed woman who didn't seem to mind displaying her wares to either of us. As we settled into the soft leather seats Ginny giggled and poked me in the ribs.

"I suppose if I liked girls, I'd be interested in those."

"Well I love you, and I still thought they were interesting."

"Tonight maybe I'll let you pretend I'm her." Ginny teased.

"No Blossom, I'd rather think that tonight she'll find someone who will let her pretend she's you." WE both laughed, and my comoment earned me another poke in the ribs.

Our driver delivered us dockside in the harbor of Marseilles, one of the Mediterranean and southern France's busiest ports, and from a large commercial dock we boarded directly onto the 'Magician', a 47 meter luxury yacht. The two week rental of it was our wedding present from Uncle Ambrose. This ship was the very definition of luxury. We had a crew of ten, room for ten guests was wasted on just the two of us. The Magician was 150 feet of world class luxury.

The details of our honeymoon do not deserve mention, really. It was a honeymoon - you now what we did. We ate world class meals and made love, shopped and made love, basked in the sun and made love, swam and made love. We met people, local and tourist, saw the sights, just as you might expect.

Except...

Midway through the first week, in the middle of a sweaty and passionate coupling, me sitting on the floor and Ginny sitting on my lap facing me, riding me slowly. Our minds were fully fused and the world once again dripping diamond and silver Light, we scanned ourselves, sweeping our senses across my body to where my erection sat fully seated in Ginny, up her torso, where the piece of us that was Ginny spotted it first, a blip of Light pinging back into our senses, instantly causing our fusion to crash apart.

"Davey, we did it!" Ginny screamed. We certainly did.

We were pregnant!

When our two week honeymoon was over and it was time to go home again, where to go was a simple decision. We were in the Mediterranean. A daylight jump to the Montecristo station on Meadow would put us there with our clocks already used to the local time. We planned our departure for the afternoon so could make a quick trip home to Angel's Camp before dinner.