THE WEDDING THAT NEVER WAS

The Smith-Spencer welding was to be the social event of this or any season in Port Charles. Everyone was invited, including the Governor, who was a personal friend of Frank Smith, the bride's father. The bride's gown was the rarest Chantilly lace. And everything was planned in exquisite detail, including the shipboard ceremony on the Smith yacht.

Even the groom, Luke Spencer, was more or less resigned to his fate. There were worse things, he decided, than to find himself marrying more money than he'd ever dreamed of making. He didn't exactly love his bride-to-be, Jennifer, but he also knew he could never have the woman he did love, Laura Baldwin. After a passionate, if unconsummated, goodbye to Laura, he promised never to darken her door again.

Laura was not quite ready to hear Luke say adieu. She wrote a testament of love for him which she planned to deliver before the ceremony. When Laura's husband Scotty found the letter he let her have it and then crashed the wedding and dumped Luke in the drink. Jennifer was thus left at the altar on her wedding day, which went off without a "hitch."

The groom, presumed drowned, swam around the yacht undetected, close enough to hear Smith put out a contract on him. That's when Luke knew he had to run from Port Charles if his life was to be worth anything. Soaked to the skin and thoroughly exhausted, he soon surfaced and found he'd caught the golden garter after all. There, standing on the dock, was Laura Baldwin--ready to help him in his getaway. Now, if they can just survive, maybe Luke will get married next time--for keeps.