Chapter
20: Viva Las Vegas
“Okay, we gotta find a way to cover our asses if we want to get married
this weekend,” Shiri said as she and Daniel made their way back from the
hospital to her place.
“What do you suggest?” he replied.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t even think with all these drugs
in my system,” she answered, popping a pill into her mouth. ‘Another damn
pain killer,’ she angrily thought.
“Why don’t we go to Las Vegas this weekend?” Daniel suggested.
“Yeah, the only place where they won’t notice us,” Shiri
sarcastically remarked.
“No, seriously,” he continued. “If we invite Darren and Chance
along, it’ll look like we’re going out there to take some time off.”
“Hey, maybe you’re on to something.” Shiri rolled the idea over in
her mind. She liked the way Daniel thought. “Okay, I think we should do it.
It’ll be so much easier on us than if we tried to hide it in LA.”
“Then it’s agreed, we’re going to Las Vegas over the weekend and
getting married.”
“Yeah, we’re getting married,” Shiri quietly replied. She was
unsure of herself at this point and kept wondering if this wasn’t a big
mistake that she was making.
~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel picked up the phone three days later to call Chance and tell her
his plans. He knew she was all alone. Darren had gone to San Francisco to for
the rest of the week. He’d be back before the trip to Vegas, but it was still
better to check in on Chance to see if she was holding up.
“Hello?” she sullenly asked after four rings.
“Is this Sweet Misery speaking?” Daniel replied noticing the tone in
her voice.
“Yeah, and her little friend PMS too,” Chance answered back even more
angrily.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just called to see how you
were doing without me and Daz,” he said a little more lightly.
“I’m doing real shitty if you really wanted to know,” she retorted.
“What do you really want, Danny?”
“Well, maybe this’ll make your day. Would you like to go to Las Vegas
with Shiri and me this weekend? We were thinking about doing a little gambling
and some other sorts of stuff, and I was just wondering if you wanted to join
us.”
“Yeah, sure! I’d love to!” Chance told him. “But what about
Darren?”
“Bring him along too. We don’t want you to be all alone in a city
where there are too many drunks and gamblers,” Daniel replied.
“Thank you so much, Danny. You just made my day. I finally have a good
reason to go shopping,” Chance said. “Hey, is Shiri up for some shopping? Or
is she still not allowed to get out of bed still?”
“Her appointment with the doctor is today. That’s gonna make the
decision. If you wanna wait, she’ll be back in a few hours.”
“I can’t wait. I have to get out of this place. I swear, one more
hour in solitary confinement and I’m gonna lose my mind!”
“Alright, I’ll talk to you later then. I’ll give you a call around
nine tonight to give you the details. Bye, hon.”
“See ya, sweets.” Daniel hung up the phone and headed for Shiri’s
living room. She was sitting on the couch reading a book and slowly nodding off
as her drugs began to take affect.
“Chance is coming,” he said.
“Great,” Shiri replied unenthusiastically.
“Come on, stay awake a little longer. We still have to go see the
doctor for your check-up,” Daniel told her as his arms gently wrapped around
her body and carried her to the bedroom.
“I don’t wanna go,” she whined. As he set her on the bed, she
pulled the covers over her face and made herself comfortable.
“But you have to go. If you don’t, we won’t be able to get married.
Besides, don’t you want to know the results of the blood test?” he asked as
he picked out some old clothes for her to wear.
“Yeah,” Shiri reluctantly replied as she sat up in bed. She took a
look at the clothes Daniel had set on the covers for her and became disgusted.
“You have awful taste in clothing.”
“Well, why don’t you just get up and find your own clothes,” he
said as he left the room.
Shiri made her way out of bed and looked through her close for something
a little more decent than a sweatshirt and track pants. The two of them left
half an hour later and headed straight for the doctor’s office.
While in the waiting room, Shiri began to look through the magazines in
order to keep from falling asleep. On the corner of one coffee table was a
bridal magazine. ‘It has to be a sign,’ she told herself as she picked it up
to look through it. ‘Oh, my God! I’m getting married this weekend!’ Shiri
almost screamed.
‘Don’t panic, don’t panic,’ her mind reassured her as she began
to hyperventilate. ‘Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.’ Shiri
took her own advice and calmed down just before the doctor called her into his
office.
“Come on,” Daniel said as he patted her shoulder. He helped her up
and they walked down the hall to on of the offices.
The doctor came in a few minutes later holding a manila folder under his
arm. It was the same man that had helped save Shiri’s life, good old Dr.
Smith.
“Good afternoon,” he greeted them with firm handshakes. “How are
you doing, Ms. Appleby?”
“Much better,” Shiri answered.
“That’s good,” Dr. Smith replied as he put the folder on the top of
his desk. “Are you ready for the results of your DNA test?”
“Yeah, I’m kinda nervous, but I have to know,” she said, taking
Daniel’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
Dr. Smith pulled a sheet of paper out of the folder and looked at it for
a few moments. He didn’t look too surprised by the results, but then again, he
was a doctor. He’d probably seen everything already. Shiri gazed over at
Daniel and could see that he was anxiously waiting to find out what the piece of
paper said.
“Well, it seems to me we have a match,” Dr. Smith finally said.
Daniel and Shiri exhaled at the same time only to stare at each other in
amazement a few seconds later.
“What?” Shiri asked, her mind still unable to comprehend what she had
just heard.
“There is a 99.99% possibility that Chance Malone is your sister,” he
said.
Shiri covered her mouth with her hand as it slid open with the news.
Daniel looked at her in the same amount of shock. He also wasn’t expecting the
news.
“This is… This is… Shit,” Daniel replied as he tried to figure
out how this was going to affect everyone once they found out.
Shiri stared at him for a few moments also trying to figure out how this
would affect everyone they knew. They came to the same conclusion.
“This is gonna mess up everything,” Daniel said first. “How are we
gonna tell her?”
“I don’t know,” Shiri almost cried. “This is so unfair. I was
hoping that she would be my sister, but I was hoping that she wouldn’t, you
know? I didn’t want to break the news to her.”
“I know, me neither,” he comforted.
“Might I suggest giving it a little time to get adjusted to, then break
the news to Ms. Malone?” Dr. Smith finally spoke up.
“Yeah, probably,” Shiri distantly answered as she stood up and headed
for the door. She and Daniel left the office in utter silence. Neither one
wanted to discuss the matter further. Both remained in their distracted state
for the rest of the day until Daniel decided to make a few calls to the airlines
in preparation for their trip to Las Vegas.
“Do you think it’s a good idea that we go to Las Vegas this weekend
and get married?” Shiri asked.
“Yeah, even though things have become so very fucked up. We need to
keep up with the act otherwise someone is going to catch on that something’s
awry. And we just can’t tell Chance that we’re not going. She’s gonna
wanna know why,” Daniel reasoned just before making another phone call to one
of the hotels.
“Okay, I understand. I can see what you mean. Maybe it would be better
if we just act as if this never happened.” Shiri walked out of the living room
and headed towards her bedroom. She lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling for
a few minutes before Daniel found her there thinking.
“What’s wrong?” he immediately asked.
“Nothing, I’m just wondering why all this stuff is happening to
me,” she said.
Daniel sat down on the bed and replied, “Maybe it’s because all these
events lead to something so much better than you could ever possibly imagine. It
happened to me.”
“How?”
“I found you,” he simply answered. Shiri stared at him for a little
while as she pondered over what to say next. Her lips cracked into a smile as
she rose off the bed and kissed him.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe this will all lead some something so much
better,” she said.
~~~~~~~~~~
Days later, Daniel, Shiri, Darren, and Chance were on their way to Las
Vegas in a private jet. The ride was comfortable, maybe a little too
comfortable. Shiri easily fell asleep once the plane was in the air. She
didn’t even wake up as Darren and Chance were going crazy, from what Daniel
told her. She found herself in a hotel room that night with the covers around
her body.
“Where am I?” Shiri immediately questioned when she pulled herself
up.
Daniel walked into the room at the sound of her voice and replied,
“You’re at the MGM Grand hotel.”
“We’re already in Las Vegas?”
“Yeah, and maybe it’s time for you to get up. You’ve been sleeping
for the last few hours. And we’ve got to find a little chapel to have our tiny
wedding at.” Daniel began to pull her out of the bed and drag her to the
living room in the terrace suite.
“Damn, how much did you spend on this place?” Shiri asked.
“None of your business,” he replied. “Besides, what does it matter?
I’ve got millions in the bank. I can spend whatever I want. Did you really
want to spend your wedding night in a cheap motel?”
“Don’t even go there,” she warned.
“I won’t. Let’s just going. I’m growing impatient,” Daniel said
as he took her hands again and led her out of the room.
“We’re getting married!” Shiri almost yelled down the hall, but
stopped herself short when she realized this was supposed to be a secret. Daniel
looked at her as if he really didn’t care that she was yelling out for the
world to hear. He was probably the happiest person at the moment. He was about
to get married to the girl of his dreams, and nothing was going to stop it from
happening.
The two of them reached the hotel lobby and bolted out the door to find
the first available chapel down the road. It was called the Candlelight Wedding
Chapel. The area was small, yet something about it told Shiri it was the perfect
place. They made the arrangements quickly and Shiri didn’t even bother to
change into one of the dresses that they were renting out. They all looked
hideous compared to some of the ones she saw out in LA.
Daniel, on the other hand, brought one of his suits along from back home.
He quickly changed and they were off to the alter.
“Ready?” Daniel asked her.
“Yeah,” Shiri replied nervously.
They walked down the aisle together, arm in arm, ready to take the next
step of the relationship. The minister began the ceremony with the usual prayer,
then proceeded with the vows.
“Do you, Shiri, take Daniel as your lawfully wedded husband?” the
minister asked.
“I do,” Shiri softly whispered.
“And do you, Daniel, take Shiri as your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do,” Daniel replied without any doubt in his mind.
“With the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce
you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Daniel leaned in as Shiri stepped closer. They stared at each other for a
few seconds, then went in for the kiss. Shiri smiled after it was over, then
kissed Daniel again.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you,” he replied.
They both ran out of the chapel, happy at the fact that they were finally
joined together for eternity. They headed back to the hotel for Champaign and
dinner at the restaurant. After a few too many drinks, they decided to head back
to their room. In the hall just outside their door, they bumped into Chance and
Darren.
“What have you guys been up to?” Chance asked as she made her way
towards them.
Shiri giggled and grabbed a hold of Daniel’s jacket. “Nothing
much,” she replied, looking at him with a strange glare.
“Okay,” Chance said, not wanting to bother the drunken couple. She
and Darren headed to their room as she and Daniel headed for theirs.
“Do you think they’re onto us?” Daniel asked.
“No,” Shiri replied loudly. The door swung open and they entered the
dark room. She took one look around then saw the terrace. “Do you really wanna
stay here tonight?” she asked.
“Why?” he replied.
“Because I think we should go out on the terrace and do something a
little wild for once in our lives. Nobody would think that was out of the
ordinary. Everyone knows we’ve been together for the last few months. Besides,
it’s normal. Look at Chance and Darren. They’re not afraid to show their
love for one another out in public. Why can’t we?” Shiri reasoned.
“Alright,” Daniel replied with a sly smile. “Let’s make love on
the terrace to celebrate our wedding.” Shiri smiled and led him outside into
the warm night air and towards a long deck chair.
~~~~~~~~~~
Just before the morning sun rose above the horizon, Daniel slowly awoke
from his peaceful sleep. On top of his chest lay Shiri wrapped in a bathrobe
with her arm around him. He gently brushed a few black strands of hair out of
her face and softly kissed the top of her forehead. She looked up at him and
smiled.
“Good morning,” she whispered.
“Morning,” he replied.
Shiri’s lips made their way towards Daniel’s in a soft, slow motion.
“I love you,” she whispered into his ear.
Daniel nibbled on her neck to show the same feeling. His fingers ruffled
through her hair as they lay in each other’s arms. A few moments later, Daniel
pointed to the horizon just as the sun was coming up. Shiri stared at the golden
rays making their way through the atmosphere. She was awed by the beautiful
sight and never took her eyes off it. “It’s so beautiful,” she said.
Daniel nodded in agreement, then held onto her a little tighter. He could
see the scene unfold in front of him. Everything was so right. Nothing could
possibly go wrong. Suddenly, a soft piece of music drifted into his head. The
song was old, maybe almost by ten years, but it was perfect for this morning.
“To really love a woman to understand her, you’ve got to know her
deep inside. Hear every thought, see every dream, and give her wings when she
wants to fly. And when you find yourself lying helpless, in her arms, you know
you really love a woman,” Daniel softly sang into Shiri’s ear. She looked up
at him sharply. She knew he wasn’t the type to actually sing anything.
That’s the whole reason Darren joined the band. But this, this was special.
This was the only time she had ever heard him sing anything. And he was now
singing to her a song she adored. She felt so special and so loved at that
moment; she looked away from the sunrise and kissed deeply kissed him.