"I can't believe she came," Carol hissed, her eyes following the brunette as she walked through the door.
"Dan's biological mom?" I asked, looking where my wife was looking.
"She was with my dad just long enough to give birth to my brother and then walk out on them. I can't believe she would show up here." Carol shook her head in disbelief, watching the older woman break into a group of my in-law's friends, smiling and laughing with them before they nervously broke away.
Dianne, Carol's mother, my mother-in-law, walked over to where my wife and I were sitting. Hurt was written across her face as she approached us, eyes beginning to water with tears.
"Oh, mom," Carol said sadly. I stood up and offered the older woman my chair. Dianne shook her head, motioning for me to sit back down.
"I can't stay here with that woman in the room," Dianne muttered, glaring at the brunette. Her silver-blonde hair glistened in the candle light of the room, cascading over her shoulders and falling half way down her silk-clad back.
"That's not right, mom," Carol hissed.
Carol's bright yellow hair and pert features were an echo of what Dianne must have looked like when she was young. I had seen pictures of my mother-in-law as she had looked thirty years ago, when she was only 31 herself, and she and my wife could have been identical sisters. Now, smile lines next to her mouth and wrinkles next to her eyes, I imagined Dianne as an older version of my wife. The face that I would wake up to for years to come.
"He's her son, too,' Dianne said. "She has just as much right as I do to be here tonight."
I looked around the room at the guests. Dan and his fiancΓ© sat in the middle, groups of people swarming about them to congratulate them on their upcoming wedding. It was late in the party and I had already given my congratulations. Standing up, I offered Dianne my arm.
"May I escort you home, madam?" I asked politely, smiling at Dianne.
"Oh, would you mind?" Dianne asked, her dark eyes twinkling, her lips turning upwards in a smile.
"Not at all," I said honestly. "My back is a bit sore from this morning, and I would like to go lay down." I had spent the first part of the day in this very room with a few of Dan's other grooms men, moving tables and hanging decorations for our friends pre-wedding party. The wedding itself wouldn't be until the next afternoon, but I was already tired of all the people gathered there for the occasion.
"Let me go tell Harold I'm leaving, shall I meet you outside?" Dianne asked, already walking towards her husband.
"Sure," I said after her. "I'll be there in five minutes." I looked down at my wife; she was smiling up at me.
"That was so gentlemanly of you," she said, reaching up and grabbing hold of my hand. She lifted my fingers to her lips and kissed them softly, her moist flesh caressing mine. "Thank you so much for helping mom."
"Entirely selfish reasons," I said, smiling down at Carol. "I want her all to myself, not to share with this room of bores."
Carol's musical laughter filled my ears and I smiled with pleasure, happy to have cheered her up some.
"Now, try not to scratch out any eyes while I'm gone," I teased. "I'll see you back at the hotel after the party, all right?"
Carol nodded, still smiling up at me, and kissed my fingers again.
"You're so great," she murmured. "I'll see you later."
I bent down to kiss my wife's head and turned to leave the room. Dianne was standing outside the door, preparing to put her coat on.
"Allow me," I said in a soft voice, reaching up and holding the coat so that she could easily slip in to it.
"You're so kind, Troy," Dianne sighed, wrapping the sides of her coat around her slim body. Carol told me how hard Dianne exercised to keep herself in trim shape.
I offered my mother-in-law my arm again, and she took it, squeezing my flesh lightly with her hand.
"You know," she said, "It wasn't always this way. Used to be that when I walked in to a room all the eyes watched me with jealousy. Now it's pity. Why is that?"
"No one pities you," I said, trying to cheer her up. "I'm sorry that that woman had to ruin your evening."
"We can't help it," Dianne sighed. "Some things happen. I loved every moment of raising my children, and if it hadn't been for that woman, I wouldn't have had my Dan. I guess I should be thankful that she didn't want any part of his childhood."
I remained silent, the air around me awkward, as we reached my car. I opened the door for my mother-in-law and she slipped inside, smiling at me gratefully.
"All comfy?" I asked. She nodded and I shut the door, walking over to the driver's side to get in myself.
We rode in near silence the ten minutes to our hotel, a modest place in an inexpensive part of town. Some of the other guests were staying at the Hilton, where the wedding was taking place, but my wife and I and her family had selected this location for itΓs affordable rates so that we could stay longer than just the weekend. Pulling the car into a spot, I sighed deeply.
"Are you all right?" Dianne asked, putting her hand on my leg. The touch felt good, and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Just sore," I replied, stretching my arms behind the seat and trying to tighten some places in my back. "I think I took on too much when I offered to help move the piano."
Dianne laughed, but looked concerned.
"You should let me give you a massage," she suggested. "I used to do it all the time for Harold when he would come home from work. He jokes that that's what kept him going even after he could have retired."
I turned my face towards Dianne, smiling at her.
"Thanks," I said. "But I should probably get to bed."
"If you go to sleep like that you won't have pleasant dreams," Dianne said, her chin in a stubborn position, an expression on her face that I often saw on Carol when I knew Carol wouldn't stop until she got her way.