“T, where did you find this?” she kept looking at the picture as her eyes filled with tears.

Tina replied softly, “I hope you don’t mind. I stole the original from your wallet while you were not looking so I could enlarge it.”

“Oh, T…this is the best gift…and getting you as a bonus…this is getting better and better,” Bette smiled through her tears and pulled Tina into a hug.

“Bette, you have such a beautiful smile…I hope to see it often.”

“Just be by my side for the rest of our lives and you got yourself a deal.”

They fell asleep in each other’s arms with the smiles on their faces.

Whistler (next morning)

“Dear friends and family, we are gathered here in the presence of witnesses for the purpose of uniting in matrimony Elizabeth Porter and Christina Kennard. The contract of marriage is most solemn and is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously with a deep realization of its obligations and responsibilities…” Marilynn, the wedding official, paused and smiled at Bette and Tina. “Please remember that love, loyalty and understanding are the foundations of a happy and enduring home. Your love awakened your hearts that were waiting for the right time, the right place and the right beat. No other human ties are more tender and no other vows more important than those you are about to pledge.”

Everyone heard a loud sobbing at the far end of the little cozy room in the hotel that Bette and Tina chose for their marriage ceremony. Bette turned her head towards the sound and saw Alice crying hysterically on Dana’s shoulder. Dana waved her hand and smiled sheepishly as if saying, ‘Continue please, don’t pay attention…’

“I’m sorry…I’m just sooooo happy,” Alice managed to say before burying her face back into Dana’s hair.

Marilynn smiled and continued, “Now it’s time for your wedding vows. Tina…”

Tina took Bette’s hands in hers and looked into her eyes, “Bette…there’s really not much to say except that I love you and I know that you’re my soulmate. You are my special one…my present and my future…my last and my forever. I can’t imagine my life without you and I will never let you go. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Now it was Helena who made a sound, unable to keep herself from crying and Dylan rushed to her side, offering her a box of tissues. Helena delicately applied the tissue to her eyes, trying to preserve her lady-like dignity but in the end her shoulders shook and she whispered, unashamed of her tears, “This is so beautiful…”

“And now we’ll hear from Bette…” Marilynn said gently. She saw it all in her line of duty but she could never have enough of the happiness that such events were bringing into the lives of everyone present.

Bette gently squeezed Tina’s hands and smiled, “Tina, from the very first moment I saw you, I felt a special connection with you…unbreakable, in fact. No matter what was happening in our lives or who was in our lives, you were the only one that had my heart…completely, absolutely, irrevocably. And from now on my heart will always be yours, forever. I love you.”

“Do you, Elizabeth Porter and Christina Kennard, take each other to be spouses for life? Do you promise to love and comfort each other, honor and keep each other in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for better or for worse and be faithful to each other as long as you both shall live and for all eternity?”

“Yes…” two voices joined in one reply.

Marilynn looked at Helena, their best maid, and asked for the rings. Helena, smiling happily and wiping away her tears, placed two specially made trinity rings into Marilynn’s hand.

“Bette, place the ring on Tina’s finger and repeat after me…I give you this ring in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love. With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship and with my soul I will love thee forever.”

Tina did the same and their hands joined again, this time bound for all eternity.

“Now that you have joined yourselves in matrimony, may you strive all your lives to meet this commitment with the same love and devotion that you now possess. By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Province of British Columbia, I now pronounce you spouses for life…you may kiss each other.”

“Bette…I love you,” Tina whispered before their lips touched. The kiss was gentle and slow as if they were saving their passion for later. When they ended the kiss amidst the cheerful voices of their friends, Bette’s face brightened with her unique Porter smile and she replied, “I love you more than I can say and I will always love you, T…you are the best I ever had.”

THE END.