The Last Letter

My dearest Michael,

our first date was amazing!

You are such a gentleman.

I loved holding your hand.

I owe George one for introducing us...

My dear Michael,

thank you for inviting us over to Sunday dinner.

I enjoyed meeting your mother.

Although, I'm not sure how she felt about me...

Hopefully, in time she wl learn to love me.

as I lay here watching you sleep, I realize

I'm in love with you.

I'm whispering in your ear, "I love you."

My dearest Michael,

I've written so many letters, but tonight, I can't find the words.

I guess that means it's time to stop writing for a while...

tomorrow, I'll be Mrs. Michael Wright.

Sometimes, I feel like I don't belong in this world.

But those feelings wont last forever.

One day, I'll be a bride with a pretty white dress,

and pretty hair,

with a church filled with all of my friends.

I'll marry a handsome man with strong eyes

who will be a hard worker and he'll take care of me.

And, we'll have lots of babies.

Lots and lots of babies.

Catherine and Michael

have prepared their own vows.

My beautiful Catherine.

Here on this day I stand a man deeply rich.

Above all other blessings, you are my greatest gift.

I am honored and humbled

by your commitment to me,

and in front of God and in front of all these people,

and in front of Pastor,

I commit my life to you.

Michael.

You're everything I prayed for.

You are beautiful and you take care of me,

in ways that every woman dreams of.

You are my blessing.

I wouldn't want to live this life without you.

And...

I long to culminate our dreams,

with a child born from this love.

You've saved me in ways

you'll never understand.

My one desire is to spend

every day from now until eternity loving you.

This is the beginning

of your lives together.

Love each other through everything.

I want everyone in this room to stand

and extend your right hand to this couple.

This is your covenant with them.

To support their union.

With the authority granted by the only true God,

I now pronounce you man and wife.

You may kiss the bride.

Thank you, Pastor.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Wright.

I'm sure we're okay.

May a mother dance with her son?

Of course, Mrs. Wright.

Well, you're Mrs. Wright now, as well.

Mother.

You look so handsome. May I?

-Yes. -Mmm.

You have made the worst

mistake of your life.

Come on, Mom. Don't do this in here.

Well, you don't give me any choice.

You don't return my calls. I've barely even seen you since you got engaged.

Mom, you've been nothing but negative. Why would I return your calls?

I am simply being honest, sweetheart.

Somebody has to have a clear eye on this.

We don't know anything about this girl. Nothing.

-Mom, I know all I need to know. -Hmm.

Okay?

I know she loves me

and I love her back. What else should I know?

Please, don't be so naive.

All this puppy love is for peasants, sweetheart.

Oh, thank you for that lovely dance.

-What I gotta do is top my wife up. -All right.

Hear ye, hear ye. All right, I got it.

Speech here, speech.

A little something...

Uh.

Today, these two lovers begin their lives.

Although I introduced them,

I like to think of myself as just a tool in a divine plan, you know?

I know I'm a tool. I know people think that. But this is different.

Um, from the bottom of my heart,

I wish you both a lifetime of love, friendship and happiness.

-Cheers. Here's to you guys. -Brother, thank you, man.

-Happiness. -Cheers.

Cheers, here's to them. Cheers.

I... I hope you don't mind me coming.

Oh, you know, I get it. It is a bit unorthodox.

Your ex-fiancee show up to your wedding.

Hmm. I just wanted to stop by and say congratulations.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Catherine?

Honey, what's wrong?

Are you happy?

Excuse me?

Are you happy?

Happy doesn't describe what I feel.

Good. That's what matters.

I haven't slept in a month.

-So, I'm just stressed out, I think. -I know.

I just hope your happiness lasts.

We were happy once.

-We were happy once. -You remember?

I do remember. Yes, I remember.

Enjoy your day.

It's your day.

-Thanks, Claudia. -Oh, baby.

Good morning, Mr. Wright. How are you?

-Good morning, Julie. How are you? -Good, good.

You've got several messages on your desk and one is highly urgent.

-Highly urgent. -Yes.

-Let me guess. Mother dearest? Yup. -Sounds like it.

David, all right.

I'm doing all right.

Hello?

Ms. Clark?

No.

Catherine Clark?

But... Uh, that's my maiden name. How can I help you?

I'm Mr. Tines from Firestone Insurance.

Okay?

May we speak?

One moment.

Hello.

May I come in?

What's this about?

It's about the fire at the Smiths' house.

You were one of the foster children there, yes?

Yes, but that was some time ago.

May I?

Case number X-3052,

March 17th, 2012.

With Catherine Clark, now Wright.

I'm sorry, what is this about?

Oh, we're reopening the case.

But... I'm not sure why you need my help.

That was almost 20 years ago.

The Smiths' son recently came into some money.

He hired me to investigate.

He never believed that it was an accident.

And, the Fire Marshal's report was inconclusive, at best. So...

Still not sure why you need to speak to me.

You were there.

What I am specifically interested in is

what happened before the fire?

Claudia and I were upstairs, doing our homework.

George and Mr. Smith's son, Nathan, were downstairs, watching the football game.

That's it.

Right there.

The official police report states

that you and Claudia were the first two out the house.

Yes. That's right.

How were the two of you

down the stairs and out of the house

before the guys who were downstairs by the front door?

Well, the TV was loud.

Mr. Smith liked it that way.

He had that TV on so loud that you couldn't hear anything,

anywhere else in the house.

Hmm.

How'd you know about the fire?

I could smell burnt wood.

But no one else could?

Okay, um... What happened when you went downstairs?

Well, I told Claudia that I smelled something.

So, we went down the stairs.

And, when we got down there,

the door was closed to the den where the guys were.

I could hear the game. It was piercing through the walls.

And, um, we went back to the kitchen and that's where we saw the fire.

Then we went down to the den and started pounding on the door but they

couldn't hear us.

You know, Mr. Smith always kept that door locked.

He didn't like to be disturbed.

How'd you finally get their attention?

We went outside around to the back and

we saw them through the window just oblivious, just laughing and smiling.

So, Claudia finally threw a rock through the window.

And then they tried to open the den door but the flames were everywhere.

Is that when Mr. Smith broke the glass in the window?

That's right, yes.

And what happened then?

Well, he helped George and Nathan out first but

by that time the flames had risen all the way to the upper floors.

And the ceiling came down on Mr. Smith.

Hmm.

And where was Mrs. Smith at this time?