Martha hurried over to Kara.
“Darling, it’s time to cut the cake.”
The photographer stood
poised beside the cake waiting to take a picture, so Ross and Kara followed
Martha to the table. Hmm. The cake had turned out better than she expected. The
white columns between the layers gave the cake a classical air which offset the
vivid purple flowers scattered among the columns. Kara picked up the pearl-handled,
silver knife Annie had provided, but before Ross could put his hand on top of
hers to help her with the first cut, Justin charged across the floor and dived
under the table. The table collapsed, smashing and scattering a huge
stack of glass plates and dumping the cake down the front of Kara’s dress. Pandemonium reigned as
Justin howled and squalled. Sue hauled him out from under the table and smacked
his bottom. “I told you not to run indoors. Look what you’ve done.” The barrage
of noise increased, so Bobby picked Justin up and carried him outside.
Nobody knew what to say.
Justin had not only ruined the cake but also the bride’s dress. Kelly flew across
the room with wet and dry towels to do makeshift repairs. Careless of her new navy
suit, she scraped the cake from Kara’s dress and tried to get the stains out of
the heavy fabric, but the colored frosting didn’t budge.
“I’m sorry, Kara. I can’t
get it all out.”
Kara felt a wild desire to
laugh building in her throat. To think that Kelly would be the one to help her!
She took a deep breath. “Thank you for your help.”
“Do you want to change?”
Ross picked up her hand and chaffed it gently between his own.
“No, it’s okay,” Kara
answered, managing a wan smile. She actually didn’t mind about the dress. After
all, she never planned to wear it again. Ross would expect her to treasure the
dress because she wore it on the day they got married, so she’d have it professionally
cleaned, sealed, and packed and store it under the bed or in a closet somewhere.
A vision of her first dress
torn and ruined flashed in her mind. She buried the thought as soon as
possible. If she lived to be a hundred, she never wanted to think about that
dress or that night again because that night she found out who and what she really
was.
A wave of dizziness passed
over her. She forced herself to breath normally. If she didn’t stop taking such
shallow, rapid breaths, she’d hyperventilate.
So, she received her guests
with icing staining her wedding dress. It didn’t matter. The detachment that
made the ceremony bearable hadn’t failed her. What a relief.
great excerpt, Elaine!
ReplyDeleteOh, now I'm very curious about the backstory...and what lies ahead.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Here's MY SWEET SATURDAY SAMPLE
Thanks for stopping by Iris and Laurel. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteGreat scene! I was definitely surprised when Justin destroyed the table, cake, and Kara's dress. I also was surprised by her detachment. You did a great job of making me want to read more to find out what's going on and what happened with her first torn dress.
ReplyDeleteVery intriguing. This is moving up my tbr pile. :-)
ReplyDeleteLadies, thank you for stopping by. If you're curious about Kara's dress, scroll down to this past Tuesday's post, and you can see it.
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely a wedding to remember! Kara handled it a lot more diplomatically than most brides would.
ReplyDelete