The wedding reception was at the same hotel where the brides got ready. A large decorated hall, tables arranged around a dance floor and a head table where the 4 would be seated. A big event for something that was supposed to be just a family dinner.
Little by little people were filling the place and greeting the parents of the bride and groom. The two couples arrived a little later, Deanna insisted on just walking by quickly and Daniel agreed because he couldn't stand being the center of attention.
- Deanna! That was beautiful - Susan told her
- Thank you.
- Really, wonderful. Did you know she could sing like that, brother? -
- No, I didn't - Deanna was feeling embarrassed.
- I just wanted to give them something special. The guys from the college helped me set up the sound - So those were the men coming out of the room I was in.
-You should have told me - Daniel told her - What was I supposed to think if I was in there messing around with all those guys?
- It was supposed to be a surprise. If I told you surely you would have said something to Harry, Harry would tell Laura and no more surprise.
- I can keep secrets...
- I doubt it -
- What does that mean? -
- You're too... frank to keep secrets -
- This itself is a big secret... –
That itself was a lie, not a secret. A lie they had to keep, even though Harry's marriage had already taken place. The idea was to hold it for at least a year to give the baby time to be born and the eminent divorce would not cause such a stir.
When the father-daughter dance arrived, Charles returned to his task of chaperoning Deanna. Dear Charles, good-natured and open, was overjoyed for his eldest child. The lady in question, though plain, was stunning and what could be better than dancing with a beautiful woman? You could see in his smile that he was enjoying the moment.
- You're supposed to go get your wife and dance with her too, Daniel
- I know, Susan -
- What are you waiting for? The tune is about to end and you're still standing here. Don't tell me you're embarrassed? -
- Don't be ridiculous.
Susan watched him walk up to her father and tap him on the shoulder. She was going to enjoy herself to exhaustion with this marriage. The hardest thing he had done up to that point was to have to take her by the waist to dance. But to Deanna it seemed like the most normal thing in the world, why didn't she have the reactions she was supposed to? It was very difficult for him to keep a stiff face; he couldn't take his eyes off her shoulders or out of her hair. And on top of that, she had a very soft but sweet fragrance.
But that wouldn't be his biggest problem that night. Things would get more complicated for him when it came time for the party to start.
The music sounded great, the sound people from Harry's classes were getting the spirits pumping to the beat of the songs. Most of the guests were young people, friends of the bride and groom or classmates, so the rhythms chosen were in keeping with their era. Laura and Harry were having the time of their lives on the dance floor, while Deanna remained seated next to her brand new husband watching.
It would have been at least polite of him to have a conversation with her. But Daniel just stared at the dance floor and made no sound. He didn't know what to say to her. No one would ask her to dance and she couldn't just jump out of her chair. This was going to be so boring. But Harry knew this would happen so he took Laura by the hand and they went to find her.
-Deanna, come on, come dance with us! -
They wouldn't have to tell her twice, she didn't even look at Daniel and came out of her little corner. He wasn't even invited; he would never set foot on a dance floor in his life.
Deanna joined the group of people around Harry and Laura and began to move. She loved the music to sing to, to listen to or to dance and enjoyed it terribly. But it seemed to Daniel that she was moving her hips too much, was that how they were dancing now? And not only that, several men were coming up to her trying to keep up.
It seemed that Mrs. Crusher had forgotten that she was married. The more he saw her, the less he liked her moving around so much. Or not... The children were sitting at a table with their grandparents. Camilla was outraged by Deanna's behavior. Jonathan, on the other hand, watched her move as if she were a fairy dancing on water. He felt he could communicate with her without using words. Carefully, while the others were distracted, he slipped out of his seat and ran out to where Deanna was. Suddenly, she felt a small hand touch her fingers and when she looked down she saw little Jonathan grinning from ear to ear. She crouched down until she could look him in the eyes and asked:
-Will you dance with me, little gentleman? –
The boy stretched out his arms and Deanna lifted him up. He wrapped his arms around her neck causing some of her hair to come loose and laughed uncontrollably as they went back and forth to the beat of the music. No one in the immediate family could believe what they were seeing, Jonathan had always been reluctant to contact people he didn't know. He had only met her a couple of times, but that was enough for him to run into her arms and he was laughing.
Daniel stood up to move closer to them. He didn't remember that expression on his son's face, although the little boy used to be very lively and active, it was obvious that he was happy now. Harry and Laura joined their dance and the boy stretched out one of his little arms as if inviting them. Deanna was oblivious to the fact that this behavior was unusual for him, she just enjoyed the music and her dancing partner. Every now and then Jonathan would hug her neck tightly and rest his face on her shoulder and Dean's heart melted. How could he be so tender and sweet? She wanted to eat him up.
Daniel couldn't get over his amazement. When the music changed to something calmer, she took the boy out of his arms and again bent down to look him in the eyes. She said something to him and pointed to his father and Jonathan nodded yes. They walked back together, holding hands, to where Daniel was.
- Jonathan wants a drink," she said as if it was nothing. She didn't know how big it was that the boy had opened up like that.
- Sure - Daniel answered.
The boy didn't want to leave her side for a moment until he fell asleep in her arms. The scene was a little strange for the rest, especially for Daniel. Susan came to take him away to relieve Deanna a little.
-It looks to me like you've got competition. This little guy just fell in love," she said to Daniel.
He would have to talk to her about her continuous comments to annoy him. It was getting to be too much.
In the distance the party was still going on and Harry was calling her from the dance floor waving both arms. Laura was too tired to keep up with her husband and went to sit with her parents for a while. Deanna waved back and stood up to leave, but before she left she turned around.
- Do you want to come over? - she asked her husband.
- No - Of course not, Daniel wasn't dancing.
Dean rolled his eyes and went looking for his friend. Of course he was going to say no, what was she thinking? This was the second time she'd left him alone and he was getting sick of it. If this was how the whole marriage was going to be, people would start talking and gossiping right away. She was supposed to stay by his side always.
The music changed at the groom's express request and some first generation rock & roll, classic, very danceable, began to play. On campus they were both known to master this genre very well. So the tunes had been chosen exclusively for them. And Deanna and Harry didn't hold back and jumped in with everything they had.
Daniel watched Laura instinctively and saw her smiling. Apparently this happened a lot. Her hair ended up coming loose with the rougher steps and that was about to become the first scandal that would involve her.