After the contentious custody battle, Frank & Mary go on with their lives as usual. But it isn't until an eventful night at Ferg's that Frank starts to wonder if maybe his life might be missing something. Now that his niece has a normal life, maybe...
Authors Note:Technically the story ended after "Full Circle" but I have a small series in mind for their wedding before I get to the real epilogue (Fun fact: It wasn't supposed to be a small wedding series but once I got writing I just couldn't stop!) So I'm just going to consider anything I come up with now "Epilogues" Maybe that's not how epilogues officially work, but work with me people! LOL
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One would think that the idea of becoming the future Mrs. Adler would have filled Joey's heart with nothing but excitement and joy. But as the days turned into weeks, and those weeks turned into months, nothing could have been further from the truth.
It wasn't that Joey regretted her decision to say yes when Frank proposed to her on that pier. On the contrary, that night had been one of the best moments of Joey's whole life. Marrying Frank wasn't a problem at all. In fact, Joey wished that she and Frank could have magically become man and wife the second Frank placed her beautiful engagement ring on her finger. Things would have been a lot easier that way because they would have been able to bypass all of the wedding planning and the stress that came with it. But everyone knows that that's not the way engagements and weddings work.
All magical fantasies aside, Joey had no idea that planning a wedding would leave her feeling so empty and hopeless. It didn't make any sense because when she thought about living the rest of her life as Frank's wife, she had nothing but positive and hopeful feelings. But the more Joey started to plan their special day, something just didn't feel right. At first, she couldn't put her finger on it but she couldn't shake it no matter how hard she tried.
At first she figured that it was the cost that was bothering her. It's not that Joey wanted some over the top ceremony with white doves and chocolate fountains. She just wanted something small and personal that felt more like a party than a formal wedding. But the more she looked into it, even the most modest weddings seemed to be so expensive and she had a business to start and lawyer bills to pay off. Adoptions weren't cheap and she also had surprise boat for Frank to save up for.
But once Joey set a budget and got the costs under control, that nagging feeling of dread just wouldn't go away and she couldn't understand why. She tried to search her heart for the real reason she was so freaked out and the only thing Joey could come up with was the fact that so much blood, sweat, and tears went into just one day. For as much as she loved Frank, Joey just didn't see why one day should matter so much.
Maybe Joey had started to see things that way after she finally got a small taste of what Frank must have gone through when their loved ones were on his case about proposing to her. Because the more Joey discussed her potential wedding plans with her family and friends, the more Joey felt the walls start to close in on her. Everyone cared way too much about their wedding day and all Joey felt was pressure to make them all happy. As silly as it sounds, the more Joey started to worry about having a cool wedding, the more she couldn't get on board with actually going through with it.
