join her family and their guests in the enormous tent, while everyone exclaimed at how remarkable it all was, how exquisite her wedding dress was, how happy she looked and they had never seen a more beautiful bride in their lives. And they posed for photographs.
They spent what felt like hours on the receiving line, while people kissed her, and others squeezed their hands, and congratulated them and her parents. And at last, when the orchestra began playing, she danced the first dance with Alex, and then with her father, while Alex danced with his mother-in-law, and the guests smiled at them, touched by the obvious love between the bride and groom. It was the most impressive, dazzling wedding San Francisco had ever seen. Their friends were at the bridal table with them. Eleanor’s father made a speech about how much he and her mother loved her that brought tears to Eleanor’s eyes, and they welcomed Alex warmly into the family.
People ate and drank and danced all night. Alex saw his brothers leave with two very pretty young women, which was something of a relief. Guests commented on how good the food was, and the wine, no small feat with eight hundred wedding guests, and at two in the morning, Alex and Eleanor shared a last dance, circling the floor with her in the magical wedding gown with her train attached to a narrow satin loop on her wrist. And then he whispered to her and asked if she was ready to leave. She was. She wanted to be alone with him, and it had been a long, unforgettable night. She was slightly afraid too, but didn’t tell him. He could see it in her eyes.
They had cut the enormous artistically decorated wedding cake hours before, and all that remained was for her to toss the bouquet. She stood on the stage with the orchestra for a moment, turned her back and threw it over her shoulder. She laughed when she saw that a classmate from Miss Benson’s had caught it and was thrilled. She had confided to Eleanor recently that she was hoping to become engaged soon, and Eleanor hoped that the bouquet would bring her luck.
Alex and Eleanor thanked her parents profusely before they left.
“It was the most beautiful night of my life,” she said to both of them with everything she felt for them and Alex, and the wedding they had given her.
“And mine,” Alex echoed with feeling.
“Thank you, Mama…Papa…” she said again as she kissed them. She was going to drop the tiara off at the house the next morning when they left for the train station at nine A.M. Her trunks were already packed and at the hotel, and she was going to take her wedding necklace with her to wear on the ship. Alex was pleased. As she had guessed, it had been his mother’s, and one of her favorite pieces, he said. She had been much older than Eleanor when she received it, but Alex wanted her to have it, and it was perfect on her. His father had bought it at Cartier in Paris before the war.
Alex’s chauffeur dropped them off at the hotel, just across from the house. He had reserved the largest suite in the Fairmont for them for their wedding night. They were both wide awake despite the late hour. Eleanor had stopped drinking champagne hours before. She didn’t want to get drunk or sick at her wedding, and Alex had drunk in moderation for the same reason. He didn’t want to be blind drunk on his first night with his bride. But they opened a bottle of champagne when they got to their suite, and Eleanor sipped it. They talked for a while about what an extraordinary wedding it had been. They had been posing for photographs all night long, and Eleanor couldn’t wait to see them.
“Shall we retire?” he asked gently. They had to be up at seven, to leave the hotel at nine. Wilson was to come for the dress right before they left in the morning. They had a long journey on the train ahead of them, after a big day and a late night.
Alex carefully helped her undo the fastenings on the dress, and she disappeared into the bedroom of the suite to finish undressing. It made her sad as she carefully stepped out of the dress. She hadn’t even noticed how heavy it was with the pearls carefully embroidered onto it.