King of the Golden Gate by Kerry Newcomb

Author:Kerry Newcomb
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504002301
Publisher: Open Road Media

Chapter 10

July 13, 1890

Today’s social event notice concerns the wedding of Nathan Hale Liberty, the son of the late lamented Winthrop Liberty, and one of San Francisco’s most eligible bachelors. Nathan’s partner-to-be along the blissful highway of life and matrimony is the attractive young widow Deirdre Lynn Patterson, formerly of Boston, Massachusetts. The nuptial vows will be exchanged this afternoon in the lavishly decorated great hall of Liberty Mansion, followed by a reception in the formal gardens, barring rain.

Edmund Cutrow is to be best man. Mr. Dacus Ormesby will give the bride away in lieu of Mrs. Patterson’s father, who is deceased. Arlene Cutrow will be maid of honor. Space prohibits printing the guest list, but suffice it to say that San Francisco’s finest, and visitors from as far away as New York City, have been included.

The couple’s honeymoon plans have yet to be announced, but this reporter has heard rumors of an around-the-world cruise. The Daily Alta wishes the happy couple fair winds, sunny skies, and prosperity.

Silver kings and their queens and attendants. Younger men and women groomed to one day take their places. Elected officials from city and state. A senator and two congressmen. Representatives of the federal bureaucracy. A sprinkling of bohemian types for color and members of the religious community to provide dignity. All wound their respective ways among rose gardens and manicured walks and sculptured trees hung with floating banners. Booths placed at strategic intervals housed musicians and carnival-like games, puppet shows, mimes, and recitalists. Still other booths offered wines of every imaginable type from pale, delicate Liebfraumilch to robust Burgundy to regal champagne. Booths literally bursting at their beribboned seams held succulent broiled game hens, steaming cuts of marinated beef, pit-roasted baby pigs, and fresh seafood iced down in great cedar tubs. Pedestals crowned with constantly replaced platters of hors d’oeuvres were scattered about under trees and next to fountains. To cap off the groaning feast, yet more booths held desserts: pecan, walnut, and fresh peach pies; great wedges of cheese; baskets of polished fruit. The final, stunning pièce de résistance was bouquets of chocolate roses created especially and without regard for expense by Ghirardelli, the renowned candymaker. The bouquets were arranged for the pleasure of the guests in tiny wicker baskets beneath a shading canopy cooled by blocks of ice.

Drake leaped softly from the carriage driven by Gabe, who continued on. Strolling nonchalantly down the street, Jeremy waited for the policeman on the corner to turn his back, and then scaled the vine-covered wall and dropped feet first into a bed of lantana. Pleased with the ease of entry, Jeremy dusted bits of greenery from his tuxedo, patted his neatly combed hair, and noticed he had not made his entrance totally unobserved. Two nuns, startled from a heated discussion of John 8:59 and why Jesus felt it necessary to hide himself, were staring at him. The younger of the two, prim and pretty beneath her raven habit, took a tentative step toward Jeremy, at the same time peering at the wall behind him to see if any more strange men might be dropping in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.