for the pictures to be taken ahead of time, remember?"
"I do. But we don't have to be there until three o'clock." "Let's go get glasses of iced tea and take them with us,"
Jane suggested.
"I've already checked into a room. You need to bring your suitcase in and check in as well. I've ordered soft
drinks and iced tea and coffee to be sent to suite 5200 where the pictures will be taken," Shelley said.
"Oh, Shelley, how good of you."
When they entered suite 5200, Mel was already there, and so was his mother.
"Janey, you look fabulous," he said before he gave her a quick kiss. "And you smell wonderful."
Addie was sitting in a chair sipping a glass of iced tea and said nothing.
A moment or two later, Jane's parents arrived, with all three of Jane's children. Mike and Todd looked so good in their tuxes that Jane got misty. Katie was wearing a long yellow dress and matching sandals. Jane had never seen this outfit before. "You look wonderful. Where did you find such a pretty dress and shoes?"
"At Nordstrom — on sale," Katie answered smugly.
The pastor who was doing the service followed Katie in. "What handsome people you are. The photographer is coming along behind me."
A man loaded down with a big bag arrived a minute later. "Is everybody here? I'm not late, am I?"
Jane soothed him. "We're all early."
He set up his camera on a tripod and started with Jane and Mel alone. Then with Jane and her family, then Mel and his family. He was taking three pictures of each group just so they'd have a choice in case someone had their eyes closed.
After this, he grouped them all in front of a wall ofdraped windows and pushed them around until he was satisfied. Then he took three more pictures.
Miss Tarlington showed up and said, "It's time to go. I need to show the wedding party where to stay until the guests are all in place."
They followed her in a private elevator that took them directly to the floor where the wedding would be held. There were soft chairs, two coffee tables with bowls of mints and glasses of water.
"I'll be back for you shortly," Miss Tarlington said. Jane suddenly realized someone was missing. "Shelley, where is Paul?"
"He had an emergency in Miami. There was a fire in the kitchen and he had to take the insurance policy and some other paperwork down there last night."
"Oh, that's too bad. I really hoped he'd be here." Shelley said, "So did I."
They could hear people in the hallway outside the room chatting as they were passing through to the wedding room. Jane had seen it before. It was set up with pews like a church but without any sense of a particular religion. They waited until they couldn't hear anyone else in the hallway. Miss Tarlington came to fetch them, and line them up properly. She took Mel and Uncle Jim down a side hall, opened a door, and said, "You stand on the left side and face forward."
She went back and took Todd and Mike, and Michael and Cecily next.
Jane and Shelley were standing in the back behind a door.
They peered around and saw Mike take his grandmother's arm and start down the aisle with Michael following. They were seated in the first pew on the right. Then Todd took Addie's arm with her daughters and their husbands following them to the front pew on the left.
Then Shelley walked down by herself.
There was a brief wait while Mike took his mother's arm and escorted her to the front next to Shelley. Jane was surprised that everyone stood and looked back at them with big smiles.
The ceremony itself was relatively short. Rings were exchanged for the second time. Mel took Jane in his arms and gave her a serious but dignified kiss. A sound system burst into "Here Comes the Bride" and the two of them walked back slowly, stopping to shake hands with a number of people close to the center aisle. Mel was well represented with what looked like half the police force, some in uniform, most in plain suits.
Jane and Mel stood beside the door, while Todd and Mike escorted the Grants, Katie, and Addie's family back down the aisle. Uncle Jim brought Shelley down the aisle. Then everybody else was left to file out neatly from front to back and be pointed to the dining room by Miss Tarlington. Some of Mel's friends hung back to congratulate Mel and Jane. A few of Addie's rich clients stopped to compliment her as well. She smiled and thanked them for coming, then joined the rest of the crowd, ignoring thewhole of Jane's family. Jane could hear Mel grinding his teeth and muttering.
The rest of the family went to the dining room, leaving Jane and Mel alone for a minute or two. "I'm sorry, Mel. But you know the way she acts. It's normal for her."
"You're right. It's sad though."
They made their way, arm in arm, to the dining room, and again everyone stood up and applauded. When they sat down, Miss Tarlington spoke into a microphone. "Someone at each table will find a penny concealed in their napkin. Mr. and Mrs. VanDyne have told me that those who get one are entitled to take the flowers on the table home."
There was a great rush to open napkins.
The wedding party was already seated, and Addie got up and leaned over Jane's shoulder, "What happened to my flowers?"
"They've gone to a nursing home. I'd told you repeatedly that I was choosing my flowers."Then she turned to Mel and asked, "Did you get the penny?"
Addie had apparently wanted to please her clients so much that she'd provided three courses: salad, choice of salmon or filet mignon, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and an array of desserts on a buffet at the back of the room for later.
Addie had provided a huge wedding cake and Mel and Jane did the obligatory cutting of the first slice and
feeding each other a bite. When the waiters started clearing tables, Mel and Jane circulated. Jane had invited very few people. Ted's wife and children, and the nice lady, Mrs. Jefferson, from Thelma's funeral, and a very few neighbors and women she'd known from the room mother's group.
Mel made a point of introducing her to his assistant, Officer Needham, who was wearing a bright red suit and a big matching hat. Jane said Mel had told her what a great researcher he thought she was and Jane hauled her along to meet her parents and children.
Eventually the room was cleared and guests were herded into the room where the dance was to be held. Some of the guests starting slipping away. And as Mel took her arm for the first dance, Officer Needham, ear to her cell phone, whispered something to him.
His response was a huge grin. "I'm going to dance with my wife while you gather up the team."
"What's this about?" Jane asked as they started to dance.
"The reporter from the New York Times has found Miss Welbourne's children. Or we think they are." "Where are they?"
"Right here in Chicago. They're living in a rental in Evanston. They never left the area. That trip to San Francisco was a sham. Janey, I'm so sorry but—"
"It's your job, Mel. I understand. Now go! I'll dance with Uncle Jim, my dad, and Ted instead." When she'd finished dancing with them, she went to find Mrs. Jefferson, the nice church lady she'd met at Thelma'sfuneral. "I guess you learned to waltz when you were a girl. Would you do this next dance with me?"
Mrs. Jefferson smiled. "I learned dancing at a girls' school. I still remember."
When Jane and Mrs. Jefferson took the floor, other couples backed away, smiling. The photographer took several pictures, and other guests who'd brought cameras along joined in. As soon as the waltz was over, Jane bowed to Mrs. Jefferson and stood beside her, holding hands as others took more pictures. Both ladies did a curtsy. Jane then asked Mrs. Jefferson if she needed a ride home. "Ted Jeffry doesn't drink. He'd be glad to take you."
"No, thank you, Mrs. Jeff — I mean Mrs. VanDyne. My grandson is arriving to fetch me in a few minutes."
Jane stayed in what was supposed to be the honeymoon suite. She didn't mind that the groom wasn't there. He was doing his job. If she'd ever had the chance to be sent on a book tour, she wouldn't dream of making him take time off to go with her.