Attempting to battle her chaotic thoughts, Penny was relieved when, for the next twenty minutes, everyone’s attention was focused on the head table. Once the sumptuous five-tiered wedding cake was rolled out for display, the newlyweds were filmed and photographed after finishing up with their toasts. The newlyweds would depart for their honeymoon at noon tomorrow, and return before the scheduled reopening of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. After flying out privately for a stay at Jake’s Bridgeport Bay Hotel in San Francisco first, Jake and Danielle would travel up the Pacific coast and escape to their northern California hideaway.
There was a lull in activity after the cake was sliced and served. A crew of servers scoured the reception area, quickly scooping up the remaining dishes and utensils. Within twenty minutes every table in the entire ballroom had been cleaned and rearranged in preparation for the final band to entertain onstage.
All the tables had been shifted to skirt the edges of the massive ballroom, opening up the entire area for dancing. While Jake escorted his new bride out onto the dance floor, Brian and Dawn ventured over to the head table to converse with the remaining members of the wedding party.
“How about some champagne? Mom—Craig?” Setting up the flutes on their table, Sam poured for his mother and Craig first, and then filled flutes for him and Penny. Still remaining seated while attempting to control the boys, both Nat and Olivia decided to forego the champagne.
Soft music began drifting through the room. Lighting up the lush greenery in the solarium, where the remains of the radiant amber sunset cast a faint warm glow, sparkling miniature lights draped the exterior windows.
Penny studied the magnificent stone fireplace, that was centered between the lobby and reception area. Majestically crowning the soaring vaulted ceiling, the chimney stretched upward through each and every floor. Concrete castings of dragonflies, sprinkled with iridescent sand, had been randomly inset throughout the mortar bracing the stones of the fireplace when it’d been built. With the roaring fire crackling, there was an intermittent flickering of iridescence that set the entire structure aglow. Penny was startled to observe, that as the lights were dimmed, clusters of luminescent dragonflies appeared to be, magically, in flight.
Pairing gracefully to a sentimental romantic ballad, the bride and groom were reintroduced with applause as they swept across the dance floor.
“Mom—did you remember to bring along my camera?”
With a smile, Shirley reached into her carry-all, promptly pulling out the case housing Sam’s thirty-five millimeter.
“Penny, would you mind taking a few pictures?” When Sam smoothly pulled her into his arms, to quickly run through the basic operation of the camera, Penny found it was extremely difficult to concentrate. Leaning back, she suddenly become aware of his shaky indrawn breath. What a relief, she thought—Sam appeared to be just as affected by her as she was by him.
Sam’s smile was unsteady when he gently twisted her around, gazing intently into her eyes. “We’ll dance later. Okay?”
With a shaky smile, Penny nodded.
Reluctantly pulling away, Sam glanced over at his mother. “May I have this dance?” he requested, with obvious tenderness.
Shirley answered with a radiant smile.
Gently raising her from her seat and silently offering her his arm, he carefully escorted her out onto the dance floor. For several minutes they drifted along slowly and gracefully, in perfect time to the music.
Shirley was aglow with happiness when Sam finally returned her to the table. After settling back in her seat, she gazed at her son curiously. “Where in the world did you learn how to dance like that Sam?”
He smiled, wryly. “Vanessa made me take lessons.”
“Humph. Probably about the one and only good thing that woman did for you.” Shirley’s tone of voice was uncharacteristically vehement.
Sam barked out a laugh, appearing astonished by her candor. “Mother—you’re talking about the woman I married. But that’s alright,” he reassured her, turning his eyes back to Penny.
Appearing uncomfortably indecisive, Penny was aware of her stomach fluttering nervously as Sam continued holding her gaze. She quickly returned her attention to the camera. After snapping several pictures of Sam with his mother, Penny switched her angle and added a few quick shots of Shirley with Craig. With his dark auburn hair only touched by a hint of gray, Craig was the picture of health for a man his age. The contrast between them was evident as Craig cradled Shirley tenderly in his arms, and the pose brought tears to Penny’s eyes.
Apparently recognizing the disparity of Penny’s thoughts, Sam quickly stood up from the table, in an obvious attempt to distract her. “I’m, most definitely, willing to admit, that I made a huge mistake when I married Vanessa.” Meeting her gaze, he held it reassuringly. “Maybe the biggest mistake of my life,” he whispered into her ear, as he carefully pulled the camera strap from around her neck and laid the camera on the table.
Craig turned to Shirley, somewhat reluctantly. “Well, sweetheart. I’d say we’ve probably had enough excitement for one day. I’m tired.”
“Me, too,” Shirley admitted. “It’s been a beautiful day for Jake and Danielle—hasn’t it? I can’t wait to see all of their pictures.”
After running through a succession of farewells to everyone who was seated nearby, Craig tugged at Shirley’s chair while easing her gently to her feet.
Penny smiled reassuringly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” After a shake and a squeeze to Craig’s outstretched hand, Penny wrapped her arms around Shirley and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.
While Craig hovered behind Shirley, Sam wrapped a steadying arm around his mother as they moved slowly through the crowd, and began their escape to the lobby.
Penny dropped back into her seat at the table. Reaching for assurance, she was sipping on her second glass of champagne when Brian and Dawn returned.
“Penny. You’ll dance with me, won’t you?” Engaged in another friendly argument with Dawn, Brian was obviously suffering her rejection. Reaching over to grab Penny’s champagne from her hand, he rested the flute on the table.
Suddenly, a disapproving voice cut in, “Hands off, Brian. She’s gonna dance with me.”
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