To Del the mayor said, ‘Dear, you have arranged a limousine, I presume.’
    ‘Yes, it’s waiting.’
    ‘Then just delay here two minutes, so I can pop downstairs and be sure the police 
escort is ready too.’
    ‘You’re an absolute jewel,’ Del said, kissing his cheek.
    The mayor departed, and Tommy said, ‘Who’s Ingrid?’
    Examining herself in the marble-lined foyer’s ornate mirror, Del said, ‘That’s what 
some people call my mother.’
    ‘Of course. Will she be very upset that she wasn’t at the wedding?’
    ‘Oh, she’s here,’ Del said happily.
    Still capable of surprise, Tommy said, ‘How?’
    ‘I called her as soon as we arrived, before I showered, and she flew up in her other 
jet.’
    On the way down in the elevator, Tommy said, ‘How could you possibly manage to 
arrange all this so quickly?’
    ‘You took so long selecting your wardrobe,’ she said, ‘that I had time to make a few 
calls.’
    An enormous black stretch limousine waited in front of the hotel, in the shade of the 
portico. Mummingford stood beside it. He had flown up from Newport Beach with Ingrid.
    ‘Miss Payne,’ he said, ‘may I offer my best wishes for much happiness.’
    ‘Thank you, Mummingford.’
    ‘Mr. Phan,’ said the butler, ‘I offer you my congratu-lations. You’re a fortunate 
young man.’
    ‘Thank you, Mummingford. I think I’m more than fortunate. I’m blessed. And 
bewildered.’
    ‘I myself,’ said Mummingford, ‘have functioned in a state of perpetual bewilderment 
ever since coming to work for Mrs. Payne. Isn’t it delightful?’
    The Chapel of Everlasting Bliss, one of Las Vegas’s more well-appointed wedding 
mills, was bedecked with so many hundreds of red and white roses that Tommy feared an 
attack of hay fever. He stood by the altar railing, trying not to fidget, smiling 
stupidly because the place was full of people smiling at him.
    Designed primarily to provide a suitable quasi-religious venue to impulsive 
out-of-state couples who arrived in Vegas either alone or with a few carloads of friends, 
the chapel seated only sixty people. Even given such short notice of the ceremony, 
friends of the Payne family filled the pews to capacity, and another thirty stood in the 
side aisles.
    At Tommy’s right hand, Roland Ironwright, the magi-cian, said, ‘Relax. Getting 
married is a snap. I did it myself eighteen hours ago in this very room.’
    Accompanied by a nine-piece band, Frank sang, ‘I’ve got the World on a String,’ as 
only Frank had ever been able to sing it, while Mrs. Payne gave Del a final once-over in 
the vestibule at the back of the chapel.
    Then the band struck up ‘Here Comes the Bride.’
    Scootie entered from the vestibule, carrying a nosegay in his mouth, which he brought 
to Tommy.
    Behind Scootie was Mai, Tommy’s sister, radiant as he had never seen her. She carried 
a white basket full of rose petals, which she sprinkled on the carpet as she advanced.
    Del appeared, and everyone seated in the chapel rose to beam at her as she approached 
the altar.
    Somehow Frank managed to ad-jib additional lyrics to ‘Here Comes the Bride,’ adding 
lines like ‘she looks so groovy, like she stepped out of a movie,’ without diminishing 
the beauty and solemnity of the piece. Indeed, if anything, his version enormously 
enriched the old standard, and he sounded fifty years younger than he was, not like a 
crooner at the twilight of his life but like a young swinger in the days of the Dorsey 
Brothers and Duke Ellington.
    When Tommy handed the nosegay to Del and took her arm to lead her to the altar, his 
heart swelled with love.
    The minister was mercifully swift in the performance of his sacred duties, and 
precisely when it was needed,
    Roland Ironwright cut open a fresh orange and produced the wedding band from the 
heart of the fruit.
    After the minister pronounced them man and wife at 11:34 in the morning, less than 
eighteen hours after they had first met, Tommy and Deliverance indulged in another kiss 
of earthshaking power, only the second they had ever shared, and the onlookers applauded 
joyously.
    From his place in front of the band, Frank called out to Del’s Mother, ‘Hey, Sheila, 
you wonderful broad, come up here and do this number with me!’
    Del’s mother joined him, and they shared a micro-phone to belt out an up-tempo 
rendition of ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin,’ which served as a recessional.
    In the receiving line outside, Del reminded everyone about the reception at the grand 
ballroom of the Mirage at seven o’clock that evening. It promised to be the party of the 
year.
    When the two of them were alone again with Scootie in the back of the limousine, 
returning to the hotel, Del said to Tommy, ‘Are you tired yet?’
    ‘I don’t understand it, but I feel as if I just woke up from the longest sleep on 
record. I’ve got so much energy it’s absurd.’
    ‘Lovely,’ she said, snuggling against him.
    He put his arm around her, suddenly excited by the warmth of her and by the exquisite 
perfection with which her supple body moulded to his.
    ‘We’re not going back to the hotel,’ she told him.
    ‘What? Why not?’
    ‘I told Mummingford to take us to the airport. We’re flying back to Orange County 
right away.’
    ‘But I thought… I mean… aren’t we going to… Oh, Del, I want to be alone with you.’
    ‘I’m not going to ask you to consummate until you know all of my secrets,’ she said.
    ‘But I want to consummate,’ he said. ‘I want to con-summate this morning, as soon as 
possible, right here in the limo!’
    ‘Have you been eating too much tofu?’ she asked coquettishly.
    ‘If we go back to Orange County, we’ll miss our own party this evening.’
    ‘It’s less than an hour flight each way. We have maybe two hours of business when we 
get there. We’ll make it back with time to spare.’ She put a hand in his lap. ‘With time 
to consummate.’
    In her house on Balboa Peninsula, Del led Tommy upstairs to the studio where she 
created her paintings.
    Canvases were hung on all sides, and others stood in stacks against one wall, at 
least a hundred altogether. Most of them were exceedingly strange landscapes of places 
that could never exist on this world, scenes of such stunning beauty that the sight of 
them brought tears to Tommy’s eyes.
    ‘I painted these by remote viewing,’ she said, ‘but someday I hope to travel there.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘I’ll tell you later.’