The Dinner; Part 3

Luckily these are all pretty short parts, eh?  Here's some Velvet for ya'll.  Gee Whiz, she cracks me up.  

Enjoy!

***********

Velvet buzzed around the house putting things in order.  She hummed to herself while she did so.  She’d been humming one tune or another all week, a wide smile spreading across her face whenever she thought about it.  Her son.  Was married!  Her son was married to a beautiful young woman.  And Velvet would invariably sigh and get misty and think about how romantic it all was, how proud of him she was, how thrilled she was to have a new member of the family.

She wondered aloud every night to Jonah about how the newlywed couple’s honeymoon might be going.  Was he taking her dancing?  Had they been on a winery tour yet?  Do you think they’re finding the accommodations to their liking?  What do you think they’re doing right now?!

Jonah would raise his eyebrows, place his bookmark in whatever he was reading and kiss her patiently on the cheek, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to get any reading done at all with her in such a chatty, bubbly state, and then he’d place the book on the bedside table and gather her to his side and entertain her hypotheticals and musings until she’d exhausted herself.  Then, each night, with her eyelids falling and her words soft and slow, he would kiss her gently, lower her to the pillows and turn out the bedside lamps.  Then she’d curl up next to him feeling warm and cozy and giddy and content.

And it was also fun to have a secret!  It made her feel electrically charged! 

She’d made arrangements to have the couple’s things brought over to the guesthouse and managed to have it done while the girls were off at school.  She’d had wedding announcements printed and other than the printer and Jonah now only Avalon knew, which was pretty remarkable because Velvet was no good at all at keeping secrets.  Well, at little, fun, exciting secrets like this one, anyway!

And she’d planned this dinner with all the verve and fervor of a woman possessed.  She wanted everything to be perfect.  Her son and his bride were back from their honeymoon and she wanted to welcome them back with this family dinner and surprise the family!

Of course she knew there were rumors.  She pretended like she didn’t hear them, pretended as if she wasn’t aware, but Velvet knew.  Well, she hadn’t been terribly discreet.  Bruch at the bistro with champagne and all that.  Then having Grey’s handsome roommate bring all her son’s belongings over—she’d had to tell poor Phelan what the hell was going on.  Then of course she’d had those announcements printed up and Judy at the printer’s was bound to tell someone, and She’d accidentally showed Avalon too… And Lord only knew who Maggie’s father and sister and cousins had told. 

Nevertheless, the family didn’t really know, she hoped, and in any case this would be a lovely, wonderful, thrilling, beautiful, perfect night with the family.  She sighed warmly and adjusted a place setting lovingy.

“This looks beautiful Sweetheart.”  Jonah spoke from the door between the foyer and the dining room.

She spun with a grin and practically flew at him, wrapping her arms under his arms and pressing herself into his chest.  “I’m so glad you’re home.”  She murmured as he squeezed her against him and placed an adoring kiss atop her head.

“Me too.”  He held her for a long moment and they both admired the perfectly set table, and she thought about the evening ahead.

“Smells great too.”  He commented as she pulled back to look up into his handsome face.  God she adored him.  She went up on tiptoes and he lowered his head to accept the kiss she wished to give.  She felt so romantic lately.  Grey’s marriage made her think about her own love story with Jonah and she seemed to fall in love with him all over again.  She felt like that girl again, and he was her gallant hero.

“What’s the occasion?”  commented a churlish voice from the door between the dining room and kitchen.

Jonah pulled up, out of the kiss, abruptly, and Velvet giggled.  If she had a dollar for everytime their children caught them being intimate she’d probably double her fortune.  Jonah always got a little more embarrassed than she did.  And this was just an innocent little kiss!  He was adorable.  She caressed his cheek before turning to Viola.

“Family dinner!”  She half-sang.

Viola looked stormy and insolent, with her arms crossed and her hip cocked.  “I’m going out.”  She said with a smirk.  “I told you last week that I had plans.”

Velvet was dismayed.  “Oh No!” 

Viola simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

“No, no, no, no, no.”  Velvet’s perfect plan was crumbling.  “Vi-i!”

“Mo-om.”  Mocked Viola.

“Young Lady.”  Said Jonah sternly, earning a glare from the teenager.

“What’s the big deal?”

“Your brother got married!”  Velvet blurted desperately.

The dining room was silent as Viola looked from Velvet to Jonah.

“We’re having a celebratory dinner this evening so that the family can get to know his new bride.”  Said Jonah calmly.  “It was, of course, to be a surprise.”  Velvet felt his gentle hand on her shoulder and she blushed.

“And you’ve got to be here Viola, you’ve just got to!”  said Velvet imploringly.

“Are you guys serious?”  Viola asked incredulously.

Velvet nodded vigorously.

“Holy Shit.”  Declared Viola.

“Language.”  Sighed Jonah, sounding more weary than sharp.

Velvet bit her lip.  She knew how the girl felt.  “Holy Shit indeed.”  She said with a sly smile at Viola, who couldn’t help smiling a little in response.

Velvet waited for the small playful spank on her ass for being so fresh but it didn’t come.  With a measure of disappointment and confusion she turned to Jonah.  Was he O.K.?  He wasn’t even looking at her, he was looking at Viola.

“Why don’t you see if you can help your mother in the kitchen?”  He suggested, sounding a little strained.  “I’m going to go get a drink—you want anything Velvet?”  Now he looked at her and he seemed perfectly mild, but somehow less than present.

She considered a cocktail but shook her head.  “Not yet.”

He bent to place a dutiful and almost brotherly kiss on her cheek and then exited the dining room toward the den.  Velvet watched him go with some regret.  What had gotten into him all of a sudden?

“Is he mad at you for swearing?”  Asked Viola, with a little amusement in her tone.

Velvet bit her lip.  She certainly hoped not.  That would be peculiar.  “Maybe I shouldn’t set a bad example?”  She pondered aloud.  She turned back to Viola and the girl shrugged. 

“What time are they coming?”

Oh!  All other concerns flew right out of Velvet’s head and she turned with single-minded zeal back to the task at hand.  This was going to be wondrous!

“Six-Thirty!”  She practically squealed with excitement.