Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2019 17:02:08 +0000
From: Isuccum <Isuccum@protonmail.ch>
Subject: Caleb 63

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Caleb
Chapter 63

By the time that Jerry graduated from university, Sheila had had her last
operation and had just managed to pull herself up onto her legs and stand
on them for the first time in nearly ten years. Walking, however, was not
yet on the cards. That would take yet more physio and a lot of effort by
Sheila, if it was going to happen at all.

Jerry did extremely well at university and graduated with an honours degree
which gave him plenty of choice when looking for a position in a
hospital. He had done some of his practical training at the same hospital
that Sheila had been in for all of her operations and he chose to go back
there to kick off his career. He had only been working for six months
before he made a call on Judy when he knew that Caleb and Sheila were
out. The next day he took both families out to dinner, which was something
he had arranged before his visit to Judy. At the restaurant, he ordered
some champagne and as soon as it was delivered he knelt on the floor in
front of Sheila 's wheelchair and asked her to marry him.

Sheila didn 't even have to think and said, "Yes, " straight away. People
sitting at tables nearby who had seen Jerry go down on his knee and saw him
slide the engagement ring onto her finger broke out in applause. When the
applause died down, she looked at her mother and asked, "You knew this was
coming, didn 't you? "

 "Yes, my dear, Jerry came and saw me and asked my permission yesterday. I
gave it willingly and gladly. I know you will be with the best person to
take care of you and keep you happy. " Judy answered.

 "This is one time when it was right that you knew something before his
mother. " Amelia said, alluding to the time when Jerry had been naked in
front of Judy for the first time.

The champagne got poured and toasts were drunk. Their meals were then
served to them. Jerry had explained to the management of the restaurant
what was going to happen and they had carefully let him know when the meals
were close to being ready so that once he had proposed they could be served
straight away. The rest of the evening was very pleasant and their table
received top service the whole evening.

A month after Jerry proposed to Sheila, she went for some tests and was
told that there should be no problem with her carrying a baby to full term
and giving birth to it naturally. Of course, she would have to be monitored
very closely and would probably spend the last three months or so of the
pregnancy in bed. Sheila and Jerry were so pleased with this news that they
celebrated it by finally consummating their relationship in the only way a
loving couple can.

It had been agreed by Judy, Sheila and Caleb before Jerry ever came to be
known to the family, that if Sheila ever got married, Caleb would escort
her down the aisle. So when Jerry asked Caleb to be his best man, Caleb had
to refuse, and reminded Jerry that he was going to be helping Sheila. Jerry
then asked Mark to be his best man and Mark happily agreed. Simon and Ewan
were honoured to act as ushers.

Sheila asked Carol and Natasha to be her bridesmaids as they had both
become good friends with Sheila in the years since they had first
met. Carol took on her role with gusto and organised a hen 's party for
Sheila, which Sheila was going to remember and chuckle over for the rest of
her life.

Jasmine had become a florist and offered to do the flowers for both the
church and reception at cost and gave Sheila her bride 's and bridesmaids
bouquets and also the buttonholes for the male members of the wedding party
as part of her wedding present to the couple.

Allan had opted not to go to university, choosing to become an events
organiser with a local company and learn as he earned. He offered to
oversee the caterers and decoration of the reception venue.

Sean, now Detective Inspector, and out of the closet, suggested he might be
able to wangle a paddy-waggon for the happy couple to use as a bridal
car. The offer was politely declined. But Sean still received his
invitation to the wedding and also to Jerry 's stag party.

Plans were made and exactly a year after Jerry had proposed he and the rest
of the boys were off to the Lake District for his stag weekend. One of the
doctors that Jerry was working with, and learning from, offered him the use
of his houseboat which he kept on Lake Windermere with the one proviso,
that they did not release the boat from its moorings.

Before they left for that weekend two of the party each had a private talk
with Jerry. Both had received the same response. So it was that on the
first night on the boat Mark arranged with Sam to use his phone to take a
video when he got the nod. Mark waited till there was a bit of clear space
in the middle of the floor and going down on his knee he asked Caleb to
marry him.

 "Funny you should ask that. " Caleb responded as he pulled a ring box out
of his pocket and opening it he continued, "I wanted to ask you that same
question. My answer is yes, what is yours? "

 "Yes, of course. Thank you my love. " Mark responded. He looked at Sam and
asked, "Did you manage to get all that? "

 "If he didn 't I did with Caleb 's phone. " Thomas answered. Then the
whole group laughed. Caleb had done exactly the same as Mark had done, only
with Thomas instead of Sam. Thomas and Sam had let on to each other what
they knew before any of it happened but had kept it secret from everyone
else.

There was a lot of shaking of hands and patting on the back as the group of
good friends congratulated Mark and Caleb. Somehow in the melee, Sean
managed to cuff the two together.  "Just so that you remember who you 're
engaged to, when you get too drunk. " He said smiling. It wasn 't until the
early hours of the morning when everyone was either sleeping where they had
last sat down or were finding somewhere to sleep that Sean released the two
from the cuffs and wished them a good night pointing towards one of the few
cabins the houseboat had. By mutual consent, the friends had left the one
bedroom free for Mark and Caleb. They all knew that the two had chosen not
to have penetrative sex until they were sure who their life partner was
going to be. Now that it was confirmed they were giving them the
opportunity to have a little privacy should they want to go the whole
way. As it happened, they both felt they had drunk a little too much and
the privacy afforded was not really what they would like for such a
momentous occasion and chose to wait for better circumstances.

When they woke the next morning they first looked at the video 's the twins
had taken and opted to send Sam 's one to their families by way of
announcing their engagement. After doing that they left their private room
and joined the party for the rest of the weekend, arriving back home on the
Monday feeling rather worse for wear. It was a good thing they had both
taken the week after the stag do off to help prepare for the wedding.  This
also gave them the opportunity to spend some intimate time together and
give themselves to each other.

From the time of the accident which left Sheila in a wheelchair, Caleb had
learnt to keep secrets and there was one more that he had been keeping for
a few weeks. It was something only he and two others knew, but there would
be a good number learning it in the not too distant future.

Duncan had offered to escort Judy to the wedding as he felt she should not
have to stand alone. Admittedly he would be sitting behind her in the
church, but he was going to be her companion for the day; and Caleb would
sit next to his mother once he had completed his duty of escorting his
sister to her groom. Thomas was going to be the driver who chauffeured Judy
and Duncan to the church and on to the reception afterwards. Sam was the
driver for the bridal car which Jerry had hired. A classic Rolls Royce.

On the day Duncan and Thomas arrived at the Matthews ' home in good time
and whisked Judy off to the church. Sam arrived in the Rolls a few minutes
later and patiently waited for Sheila to be wheeled out to the car along
with Caleb. A second Rolls pulled up behind Sam from the same hire company
with one of their drivers. This car was to carry the two bridesmaids who
had been at the Matthews ' home to help Sheila get ready.

Sam pulled up outside the main door of the church and quickly got Sheila 's
wheelchair out of the boot. He opened it out as Caleb began to help Sheila
out. Then Caleb left Sheila sitting on the seat and had a quick whispered
conversation with Sam who got a huge grin on his face and gave Caleb a
thumbs-up. Sheila also smiled as Caleb pulled her veil down over her
face. As had been arranged at the rehearsal the two bridesmaids had moved
over and opened the doors of the church to allow Sheila to enter.

Caleb turned back to Sheila and pulled her into a standing position and
then almost carried her over the rough ground to the door of the church
where he put her down again, still standing. Caleb signalled to the priest
who asked the congregation to stand and the organist began playing the
wedding march.

Mark being the third person in the know, whispered to Jerry, "Turn and look
at your beautiful bride. "

Jerry turned and looked and his mouth fell open, then changed into a huge
grin as he lifted a hand with his thumb pointing up. What Jerry saw was
Sheila, walking, not riding, down the aisle.  Sam was standing at the back
with the wheelchair, ready to run it down to Sheila if she needed it but
she was determined to walk the whole way. This was the longest distance
Sheila had walked in one go in ten years. The secret which had been kept
from all but Caleb and Mark was that Sheila had been walking little
distances for the last month. This was Sheila 's gift to her husband.

At first there was a bit of silence as everyone who was there who knew
Sheila realised this was a huge thing for her and the family.  Judy was
totally shocked by it and might have fallen over had not Duncan reached out
to steady her. After the surprise began to wear off, first one, then
another and soon the whole congregation were clapping loud enough to almost
drown out the organ. The organist did have to play a bit longer because
Sheila 's walk took more time than they had rehearsed for, but he didn 't
mind in the least.

When Sheila got to the front, Simon and Ewan quickly moved a two seater
couch in behind the happy couple. This had been planned in with the idea
that Sheila would transfer from her wheel chair to share the same seat as
her groom.

Sheila was able to remain standing while priest made the introductory
comments then Caleb and Jerry supported her as she sat down. The priest
then asked "Who gives this woman to be married to this man? "

Caleb was still standing beside Sheila and turning towards their mother he
held his hand out to her and replied, "The most wonderful mother in the
world. "



This is the final chapter of this story. I 'm guessing that as you 've read
this far you have enjoyed it. Please take the time to write to me and let
me know what you liked about it. Comments from readers are the only guide I
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Unfortunately for all my older readers/fans I had my previous email closed
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Cheers

Rick