Chapter 30

The wedding reception was in a rented hall a short drive from the church, close to Barbara's and Raul's homes.

All of the traditional rituals were performed, beginning with the reception line. Bobby and Sammy, as participants in the ceremony, joined the bride and groom in greeting and shaking hands with all the guests.

Bobby was pleased to see his mother's former college roommate, Debbie Nichols, come through the line. He had met her before, but this was the first time he'd seen her since learning that she had been his mother's first female lover.

He gave her a broad smile, and surprised her with a hug as well. When he released her, Debbie gave Barbara a questioning look, to which Barbara smiled and nodded. Debbie then had a rather pink hue to her face, particularly when meeting Raul, while Barbara did her best to fight down her giggles.

Later, after Raul removed Barbara's garter, Teresa and Sandy did their best to herd all of the single males present to vie for it. Most kept their hands in their pockets as Raul fired it like a rubber band into the crowd. The males in its path all parted, like the Red Sea before Moses, until it surprised someone who thought he was safe in the back row.

The dodgers turned to see where it wound up, and discovered it had come to rest on Scott Roger's shoulder. With obvious reluctance, he retrieved it, and then turned to look at Teresa accusingly.

"I had nothing to do with it!" she exclaimed. "It was just fate, honey."

"A likely story!" he shot back, then grinned at her.

When it came time for Barbara to toss the bouquet, no herding was necessary to assemble a large group of single females. Barbara took note of Teresa's placement before turning her back, and firing the bouquet over her shoulder into the crowd.

The line drive trajectory caught everyone by surprise, including Teresa, as it bounced off her chest to land at her feet. But she recovered in time to reach down and grab it.

Scott immediately cried foul. But his sister merely looked innocently back at him, and as his fiancée glared at him, he quickly conceded that he wasn't going to win his appeal.

As the festivities moved on to the bride and groom feeding wedding cake to each other, Bobby and Sammy were surrounded by their friends, congratulating them on becoming sibling-in-laws.

"So which house are you all going to live in?" asked Morton.

"Ours," answered Bobby.

"It's bigger than ours," said Sammy. "My dad says it needs some work, but we'll have the money from selling ours if we need it to fix anything, or maybe add on to it."

"And we'll still have plenty of room for Julie to drop by," added Bobby, reaching for Julie to give her a quick hug and release. Julie gave Sammy and Bobby an embarrassed but grateful look.

"Do you get to chaperon your parents on their honeymoon?" asked Patty.

"No," laughed Bobby. "We'll be back in your neighborhood."

Sammy giggled at Patty's raised eyebrows. "We'll be staying with Dave and Collette," she explained.

"Oh my god!" Patty exclaimed. She looked at the Simpson siblings. "Can you all go a whole week without any sleep?"

"I think we'll manage to work something out," said Collette with a grin. "Don't you think about coming up to do a panty raid on us or something, Patty. We know where you live, too."

It was 7:30, and Julie checked her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time. The wedding reception festivities were still going strong, with people eating and socializing.