Stephanie was absolutely stunning as a bridesmaid, and Kyle couldn't look away from her.

Morgan had put all the bridesmaids in similar lavender purple knee-length dresses, but to Kyle, Stephanie stood out as the most beautiful of the group. Her gorgeous red hair had been pulled back in an elegant chignon and clipped with a diamond barrette, and her lips were painted a beautiful plum color that seemed to make her white teeth pop and her green eyes shine like emeralds. And when she walked down the aisle, looking at Kyle with that stunning smile on her face, he couldn't help but feel his heart stop in his chest.

God, I'm the luckiest son-of-a-bitch on the planet.

The fact that someone like Stephanie wanted to be with someone like him still blew his mind. A part of him was left almost wondering when the other shoe was going to drop, and Stephanie was going to realize she could do much better than the likes of him. Kyle was determined to enjoy his time with her, however long she let him stick around.

Just as he was thinking that, though, Stephanie's eyes slid away from Kyle and seemed to fix on someone sitting past him to the right. Her smile immediately dropped, and the stunned look on her face was pretty obvious. Kyle's smile also fell, and he followed Stephanie's gaze to where she was looking; he noticed a man with reddish-blonde hair and a beard sitting slightly away from the other people. His eyes were fixed on Stephanie, and Kyle immediately felt anger flare up inside of him.

He knew without a doubt that that was Stephanie's ex-boyfriend, Leon.

How he had gotten into the wedding when Morgan and Marcus had been so careful about security, Kyle didn't know, but it looked like he had slipped in anyway. The fact that Stephanie had noticed him was upsetting, and Kyle quickly glanced back at her to make sure she was okay. She had turned to face forward toward the altar, determinedly not meeting Leon's gaze, but Kyle could see the pink tinged on her cheeks and the slight frown lines on her face.

That asshole better not make a scene.

Before Kyle could turn to look back at Leon, the organ music changed, and everybody in the church got to their feet. Kyle stood up too as Morgan and Aiden began walking down the aisle together, Morgan's face glowing with nervous excitement as she fixed her eyes on Marcus standing at the altar. Kyle looked over at Marcus, who had an identical expression of love and happiness on his face as he stared back at his bride-to-be, and Kyle couldn't help but smile as well.

These two were clearly made for each other, and Kyle felt genuinely happy for them. True love was hard to find, and Stephanie had explained a bit to Kyle about what Morgan and Marcus had gone through to get to this point in their relationship. They truly deserved each other.

Morgan and Aiden finally arrived at the front of the church, and Aiden kissed his sister on the cheek before passing her over to Marcus, who took her hand with a wide, happy smile. Kyle looked over at the bridesmaids, and saw Stephanie glowing with an identical happy smile; her eyes slid over to Kyle's, and the two of them shared an affectionate grin.

For a brief moment, Kyle imagined that it was himself and Stephanie standing at the altar together. The errant thought rather surprised him, since he couldn't remember ever once daydreaming about his wedding day, but the thought came to him unbidden. For some reason, the thought of Stephanie standing before him wearing a white wedding dress and a veil, smiling at him with love in her eyes, made his heart speed up with happiness.

This wedding was definitely putting him in a marriage mindset, with all the beautiful flowers and organ music and Morgan looking so radiant in her wedding dress. Kyle could picture himself and Stephanie having a wedding like this someday, but for today at least, he would be careful not to scare her off with talks about marriage and the future.

And especially since her ex-boyfriend had apparently crashed this particular wedding, Stephanie's mind was probably focused on other things...

As the pastor spoke to the congregation and began to read the marriage rites, Kyle kept half his attention on the man sitting nearby to his right. Leon kept his eyes up front, and though Kyle couldn't tell exactly, he rather thought that Leon was staring directly at Stephanie the entire time. Stephanie determinedly kept her eyes on Morgan and Marcus, not giving anything away, and Kyle couldn't help but feel proud of her.

Morgan and Marcus read their vows, staring into each other's eyes with all the love and affection one would expect from a bride and groom on their wedding day. And when the pastor finally said "I now pronounce you husband and wife", and the couple leaned in for a kiss, Kyle couldn't help but smile and applaud along with everyone else in the congregation.

The organ music began to play again, and the newlyweds walked back down the aisle, followed by the rest of the wedding party. Kyle glanced back over at Leon, who he saw still had his eyes on Stephanie as she walked out of the church.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kyle!"

Stephanie finally spotted Kyle through the throngs of people milling around inside the country club, and she hurried toward him, weaving through the many people milling around. Kyle smiled as he saw her, and the moment she was in front of him, he pulled her in for a kiss.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look today?" Kyle asked, keeping his hands wrapped around her waist. Stephanie blushed and smiled.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she said, reaching up to lightly grasp his lapels, and after a moment her smile faded. "I actually came over here to tell you something... as I was walking down the aisle, I saw Leon sitting in the congregation."

Kyle's smile fell into a grimace. "Yeah, I know. I saw the expression on your face change when you noticed him, and I was able to put two and two together. Was he the man with the red-blonde hair and beard?"

Stephanie sighed, frowning. "Yeah, that was him. I can't believe the nerve he had to show up here! I made sure to tell Morgan and Marcus I saw him at the wedding, and they were both pretty upset. They assured me this country club has security so he won't be able to get in, but a part of me is betting he'll turn up at some point anyway."

"Well, in case he does show up, do you want to give him something to remember?" Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow at her. He nodded toward the stage. "Let's go play your song right now."

Stephanie's eyes widened. "What? Seriously?" she asked, sounding suddenly nervous. "But the dancing hasn't started yet – everyone's about to sit down for dinner."

"Exactly. We'll serenade them while they eat," Kyle said, grinning. "C'mon, now's the perfect time. We'll run it by Morgan and Marcus first, what do you say?"

Stephanie still looked nervous, but after a moment she gave a tremulous nod. "Alright, fine. Might as well get it over with."

"That's the spirit," Kyle winked, and Stephanie giggled nervously as he led her over to where Morgan and Marcus were standing and greeting guests.

Morgan was happy to let Stephanie and Kyle play right now – in fact, she seemed positively delighted to give them the stage right now, feeling like now was the perfect time for Stephanie to display her talents to everyone. In a matter of minutes, the two of them were ushered onto the stage where all the instruments were set up, and Stephanie went to grab her violin that she had stowed away nearby.

"...Excuse me, everyone?" Kyle tapped the microphone, and the chatter filling the reception area quieted down into nothing. "Yes, hello. My name is Kyle Lancaster, and this lovely young woman beside me is Stephanie Ryan, one of Morgan's bridesmaids."

Stephanie smiled and waved awkwardly, and the crowd smiled and whispered amongst each other.

"We know that you're all about to enjoy a lovely dinner provided by this wonderful establishment, but before you do, Stephanie and I have prepared a piece to play in honor of the new Mr. and Mrs. Sato – Stephanie will be performing on the violin while I will be providing piano accompaniment. We hope you all enjoy."

The crowd gave a smattering of polite applause as Kyle made his way over to the grand piano and Stephanie stepped up to the microphone with her violin in hand. She perched her violin on her shoulder and brought her bow up to the strings, taking a deep, steadying breath.

Stephanie and Kyle made eye contact, and Kyle gave her a smile and a nod before he began to play the opening notes.

All of Me by John Legend

After the first few measures, Stephanie began to play the melody, the legato notes sounding beautiful and sweet alongside the piano. The song started out rather quiet, but the music soon swelled into a beautiful sweeping chorus, and Kyle could feel his heart rate increasing as he and Stephanie continued to play. Beautiful music often brought out strong emotions in him, and Stephanie's playing was phenomenal – Kyle tried to pull back his playing to help emphasize hers, and she took full advantage. Her music would decrescendo and crescendo flawlessly with the flow of the song, and although Kyle was completely focused on the music, he could tell the audience was utterly captivated by the performance.

Finally, the song finished, and the crowd burst into raucous applause, many of the guests standing up to give them a standing ovation; one or two people in the back even whistled. Stephanie brought her violin down to her side and gave a bow, smiling with her face flushed. She then gestured to Kyle, who stood up from the piano bench and bowed as well.

"Thank you all so much," Stephanie spoke into the microphone as the crowd continued to applaud. "And congratulations to Morgan and Marcus – I love you guys so much, and I hope you both enjoy your special day!"

She and Kyle both stepped off the stage, and they were suddenly approached by Morgan, who had tears in her eyes as she beamed at them. Without a word, she pulled Stephanie into a crushing embrace.

"Steph, that was incredible!" Morgan sobbed, holding her tightly, and Stephanie smiled as she hugged her back, mindful of the violin still in her hand. "Seriously, your playing is phenomenal! Oh my God, and Kyle playing alongside you on the piano – I can totally understand now why he's famous...!"

Stephanie giggled at her friend's excited rambling. "I'm glad you liked it."

"Seriously, that was amazing, Steph," Marcus said to Stephanie from behind Morgan, and Stephanie was surprised to see his tears shining in his eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Stephanie said, her own eyes filling with tears as she smiled at him.

The applause finally faded away, and the people began talking amongst themselves once again. Several people approached Stephanie and Kyle to congratulate them on such a beautiful performance, and Stephanie found herself shaking hands with multiple strangers, getting complimented on her violin playing. Kyle, too, was getting complimented by people, but of course he was used to getting this sort of treatment from people after performances.

Finally, Stephanie was able to extricate herself from everybody and go back over to the stage to put her violin back into its case. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she packed it away.

"You played beautifully, Steph."

Stephanie immediately stiffened when she recognized that voice, and she looked up to see Leon standing behind the stage, slightly hidden behind one of the large amplifiers, but he stepped up and walked toward Stephanie the moment she noticed him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, her voice flat with anger. "You weren't invited, Leon."

"I know, and I'm sorry for showing up like this," Leon said apologetically, gazing into her eyes. "But I'd heard that you came back from England last week, and I knew I had to see you."

"I have nothing to say to you," Stephanie said firmly, glaring at him. "You should leave now before you're kicked out by security."

"I made a mistake, Steph," Leon said without preamble, taking an imploring step toward her. "I realize that now. I've been miserable these past six months without you, and I haven't been able to think of anything except how I can fix what I did."

"You cheated on me for over a year, Leon," Stephanie stated, her voice wavering slightly with suppressed anger. "I loved you while you were sleeping around with multiple women, including Marcus's sister. You have some nerve showing up at this wedding today when you knew she and I would both be here!"

Leon now looked a bit uncomfortable. "Yes, I know this probably wasn't the best idea, but I didn't know how else I could see you. I had to tell you how I felt, Steph, while I still had the chance."

"And I'm telling you where you can shove your feelings," Stephanie snapped.

Before Leon could respond, someone came up to Stephanie's side and slipped their arm around her waist. "I think you should leave," Kyle said firmly to Leon, glaring at him.

Leon glared right back at Kyle, clearly noticing how close he and Stephanie were. "And who are you?"

"Take a wild guess," Kyle sneered. "Now, I'll say again: I think you should leave."

"Stephanie and I were having a private conversation," Leon argued, clenching his jaw as he glared back at Kyle. "Can you give us a moment?"

"He can stay," Stephanie insisted, looking up at Kyle as he looked at her. "There's no secrets between us."

Kyle blinked before giving her a small grateful smile, and Stephanie smiled back. Before either of them could say anything else, however, Marcus and a few other gentlemen approached, all of them with angry expressions on their faces.

"That's him," Marcus pointed to Leon, and the other men went over and grasped his arms. "Please escort him out."

"Wait, no –!" Leon struggled against the security guards, but they ignored his protests as they began to move him toward the exit. "Stephanie!"

"Leave quietly, and we won't have you arrested for trespassing!" Marcus snapped angrily.

That shut Leon up, thankfully, and as he was being led out, Stephanie immediately wrapped her arms around Kyle's waist, burying her face in his shoulder. Kyle hugged her tightly, rubbing a hand up and down her back, and neither of them moved until Leon was finally out of the building.