I Will Love You Forever Pt. 2 Ch. 15

Nick jumped to his feet and went for Douglas.

"Nick!" Hana cried out just as he reached Douglas. "Don't! It's alright!"

"The hell it is!" Nick shot back.

He had stopped in front of Douglas and was glaring at him. Then his glare went from him to the others in his family.

"I didn't want you here." He said his voice low and intense. "I only told you about Hana out of respect. I didn't want to invite you, but she wanted to give you the option to say no. I like a fool agreed with her. You all knew that she was Japanese before you came so why you're here is beyond me unless it was just to raise hell.

Just as you prefer that I was marrying a black woman, I prefer that you weren't here. Consider yourselves uninvited to the wedding. Feel free to stay at the hotel until your departure date which is January second. Tyler you drove didn't you?"

"Yeah but Nicky come on! These people aren't your family!"

"You're wrong there." Nick replied. "They are my family. We've been through more shit together than you can even begin to imagine. I knew that you would have issues and that's fine; but they're your issues. What I didn't expect was the blatant show of disrespect. I expected the snide comments and was prepared for them, but this... I want you all out of here. Mom and dad, I'll take you back to Abby's and then check you in at the hotel."

"Nick." John said softly. "Maybe they could..."

"No." Nick said firmly. "They've made their position clear and there's no point in trying to pretend that they didn't. I'm only surprised that my father hasn't said anything yet."

"I don't need to." Louis said as he stood up. "Just so you know, I didn't want to be here anymore than you wanted me here. I only came because your mother wanted to come although for the life of me I don't know why. She isn't any happier about this than I am. I'm done here, let's go."

"Wait... please." Hana said softly.

"I... I made dinner, so will you please stay?" she asked looking at Julia seeing the indecision in her eyes. She communicated with her mother to mother and as one who understood what it felt like to have a child make a choice that was less than pleasing.

Just as Julia was going to speak, Louis jumped in.

"We're not staying. Nick, let's go."

Everyone watched in silence as Nick's birth family gathered their things and headed for the door. As they left, Hana realized that she now knew exactly how Patricia had felt. After they were gone, Hana let the first tear fall. Patricia took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen and hugged her.

By the time Nick got back, dinner was on the table. He could tell that Hana had been crying and felt horrible. He hugged her and kissed her before taking her into his office.

"Baby I'm sorry. I never should have let them come."

"We had to try." Hana said softly.

They stayed in the office for a few more minutes before joining the others for dinner. Hana ate very little, but the others had no problems with their appetite. Abby noticed that Hana wasn't eating and addressed it.

"Hana, they aren't worth losing any sleep or wasting any tears over. They came with their minds already made up. The thing to think about now is that by this time tomorrow, you and Nick will be married. So why don't you try to eat a little more of this delicious dinner that you made?"

"Honey she's right." Nick said taking her hand in his.

"Kenjiro, is that what you thought of us?" Hana asked.

"Yes it was." Kenji replied. "It hurt to think like that, but Patricia was and is my life. If I had to do it again, I would make the same choice."

Hana didn't say anything for several minutes. Finally, she smiled at him.

"Patricia and I are very fortunate women to have men such as you and Nick in our lives."

The mood at the dinner table lightened and became festive as last minute plans for the wedding were discussed. At midnight they brought in the New Year together and then parted ways.

***

Andrew sat on his cot with his back against the wall. His eyes were closed and in his mind, he was at home. He was dressed in his pajamas instead of the blue prison uniform and he was warm. He could smell his mother's fresh cinnamon rolls as they baked. His mouth watered just at the thought of them. In his mind, it was ten in the morning instead of six am. In his mind, he was just waking up. He had nowhere to be. He was still on break from school.

The sound of the clanging bell announcing roll call pulled him from his reverie. He got to his feet, put on his jacket and took his place outside of his cell. He was in Cell block A which was designated for the good prisoners and he was determined to stay there. So far he had managed to keep his nose clean. He found it hard to believe that he had only been on 'the rock' for a few weeks. It felt more like a lifetime ago since he saw Kenji for the first time and his life began a slow descent until he was now where he was.

A few minutes later he was in the dining room eating breakfast. Instead of it being a leisurely affair, he had twenty minutes to eat as much as he wanted. After breakfast, he would be taken back to his cell where he would read and daydream about home and the life that he had lost.

On occasion, he would hear talk about escape and when he did; he closed his ears. He heard the stories about those who attempted it and decided that he didn't want to join their ranks. Full, but not stuffed from breakfast, Andrew was taken to his cell where he began to read one of several books that he got from the library But what he really wanted was news from the outside world.

He knew better than to ask the guards or the inmates that had visitation rights. The inmates that had visitors didn't know any more than he did. All of their conversations were monitored and any news was strictly about family.

Andrew inhaled and then grimaced. There was a time when he loved the smell of the ocean, but no more. He decided that if he ever got out of prison, he was going to move as far away from the ocean that he could get. He closed his eyes, blocked out the sounds and smells of the ocean and began to read.

****

The sky was a clear blue on Nick and Hana's wedding day. Hana still wished that things had turned out differently with Nick's family, but she had done her best. She looked at the kimono that hung in the doorway in Kenji and Patricia's room. The sounds of the children laughing as they hung the decorations for the reception wafted through the open windows. In less than three hours, she would be Hana Alexander.

She wondered if Hiroshi and Dai would come. She had invited them to dinner, but Hiroshi had other obligations. He had given her no answer to the wedding invitation. She understood. It would be awkward to watch one's ex-spouse marry another.

An hour later, Abby, Patricia and Hattie were in the room helping her to get ready. She had surprised all of them by asking John to escort her to Nick.

"I would be honored if you would do this." She told him the night of the dinner with Nick's family.

John had been speechless and responded by vigorously nodding his head. One of the things that he would always regret was not going to either of Patricia's weddings.

Kenji stood with Nick waiting for the wedding to start.

"Are you nervous?" Kenji asked.

"A little." Nick replied with a chuckle, "But I don't know why. We've been living together as a married couple for a long time."

"Maybe it is because you don't have to keep my mother hidden any longer." Kenji suggested.

"Maybe so." Nick agreed. "Thank you for your blessing. It means a lot to us."

"Nick, I considered you my mother's husband long before this." Kenji replied. "I also consider you my father although my birth father lives."

The first strains of soft music filled the air. The minister made his way to the Nick and Kenji and urged them to their places. Nick looked around to see who had come. Charles along with his fiancée sat in the second row. Briscoe sat to Charles' left and gave him a curt nod. Paul and his fiancée sat behind Briscoe with Penny, Joel and the children sitting behind them. Abby, Patricia and Hattie sat in the front row leaving Maeve to take care of the music.

Nick's breath caught when he saw Hana coming toward him, her hand resting on John's arm. Unable to help himself, he met them half way and finished the walk to the minister with them. After thanking John, he took Hana's hand and nodded.

Thirty minutes later, Hana Takeda was Hana Alexander.

******

Notable Alcatraz inmates: Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud-"Birdman of Alcatraz" and Alvin Karpis who was the inmate with the longest stay at Alcatraz- twenty-five years and one month. He was also the last of the "Public Enemies."

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Civil Rights

The Peekskill Riots took place at Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County, New York. The riots were anti-communist with anti-black and anti-Semite undertones occurred at the announcement that Paul Robeson would be performing at a concert to benefit the Civil Rights Congress.

1949 is the first year in which there were no reported lynchings of Afro-Americans in the USA

James A. Colescott, the Imperial Wizard for the Klan from 1939-1944 dissolved the Klan (the second Ku Klux Klan) after the IRS placed a $685,000 lien against the organization.

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American history events

President Harry S. Truman reveals his Fair Deal program.

The first Volkswagen Beetle arrives in the United States.

The "Red Scare" occurs. Several celebrities including Helen Keller, Danny Kaye, and Fredric March are named in an FBI report as being Communist Party members.

Albert II, a rhesus monkey is the first primate to enter space.

Hopalong Cassidy, the first television western airs on NBC.

KDKA-TV becomes the first local, on air television station in the US.

The last of the US troops leave South Korea.

The last six surviving veterans of the War Between the States meet in Indianapolis.

Howard Unruh, a WWII veteran becomes America's first single-episode mass murderer.

The Housing Act of 1949 is enacted.

Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as Tokyo Rose

Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis retires.

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World events

The rationing of clothes ends in Britain.

Aurora Quezon former First lady of the Philippines is assassinated

India issues the London Declaration which enabled it and any other nation to remain in the British Commonwealth despite becoming a republic.

Israel is the made the 59th member of the United Nations

The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin, Germany.

Joseph Stalin attacks Soviet Jews accusing them of being pro- Western and antisocialists.

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For those of you who are wondering who the young black man that Noah fell asleep thinking about, it was Martin Luther King Jr. He had graduated from Morehouse College and was going into the ministry.