Floating around the small gathering with irrepressible smiles on their faces, the couple of the night entertained each and everyone of their guests, both young and old, while every once in a while, Alora would instinctively pass a fleeting look at the door before letting her eyes linger a bit on Emerald, who was busy chatting so animatedly with Alora’s and Levi’s grandchildren, along with other kids, who had been brought to the party by their parents.
Alora continued to watch the beautiful, young woman, who had been the centre of endless double takes and once-overs since the evening started. Alora couldn’t blame her guests though; Emerald was the epitome of beauty and elegance and the people around (both males and females) couldn’t help but let their eyes bath in her ethereal glow.
Levi, who was talking to Sebastian and his wife, looked over at the unmoving figure of his wife. He gave Sebastian a look to which the latter nodded before letting his friend go to his wife.
Alora snapped out of her trance when she felt a familiar hot breath fan her ear. Her husband’s deep voice wafted into her ears. “She’s really good with children,” he commented, his eyes looking in the same direction as his wife.
Alora nodded in agreement. “She would make an excellent mother,” she smiled before her thoughts drifted to her mysterious customer, causing her smile to fade and almost on reflex, her eyes glided back to the entrance. She gave out a sigh for the umpteenth time tonight.
Levi, who was standing behind his wife, noticed the expectant look she had passed to the door. He slowly and gently laced his hands around her waist and nestled his chin in the curve of her neck. “You’ve been sighing the whole evening, my love.”
“I really thought he would make it,” she muttered dejectedly, “maybe I shouldn’t have been so expectant.” she looked at Emerald who was so engrossed in what the kids were saying. She had even subconsciously settled down on the floor of the makeshift playing area to be well surrounded by the children.
“I wanted him to see her like this. The view is so astonishing.”
Levi nodded. “You’re right. Even our Richard seems enthralled by her.” The couple looked towards their son, who stood frozen in a corner with a half filled flute in hand and his beady eyes latched onto Emerald’s frame. Alora snorted, earning a chuckle from her husband who then, went back to the matter at hand.
“But you’re indeed right. This would be the perfect moment for his arrival.”
As soon as those words left Levi’s mouth, the entrance door was pushed open slightly and a head peeked in through the crack. Recognizing the owner of the head, Alora squealed and immediately pulled Levi along with her as she hastily made her way to the entrance.
But before the couple could get to their destination, the man suddenly burst into the house, almost falling on his face as he stumbled forward. Alora’s and Levi’s eyes instantly went wide as they watched him stumble forward a few steps before gaining his balance in time to prevent himself from crashing into the full length framed picture of a grinning Alora and Levi with a big 40th marriage anniversary calligraphed on it.
Jordan heaved a sigh of relief as he was able to successfully avert the imminent crisis. His head was just some inches away from the shiny glass frame.
While he straightened himself out, still recovering from the shock of being pushed so ruthlessly, Alora and Levi had already looked back at the door to find the culprit, who had so mercilessly pushed their potential future son-in-law with frowns on their faces.
At that moment, a woman in a black and white checkered dress walked majestically into the house with her highly held blonde hair swinging side to side as she moved, a well wrapped present in hand. After fully regaining his composure, Jordan turned around to glare at Carol, who only rolled her eyes with a snicker as she let her eyes take in the beautifully decorated house.
A scowl graced her delicate face when she noticed that everyone else was already here and that only they had arrived rather late. She glared at Jordan and as she moved closer to him with a menacing look, the couple who had been taking in the exchange between the man and woman, finally awoke from their frozen state and moved towards the two.
“Jordie dear,” Alora called out with a grin as she moved towards the pair, who looked like they would rip each other’s heads off any minute.
Jordan cringed and turned away from his sister to see the owner of the voice that had called him such unacceptable nickname. Alora giggled, noticing Jordan’s cringe as she pulled him into a motherly hug.
“Alora,” he whined, “I told you to stop calling me that,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around her in return, completely surprising Carol, who stood on the sidelines, watching their exchange.
Alora giggled again, pulling away. “That’s why I told you to find me a nickname as well, so we could be even and yet, you refused to. So, don’t blame me,” she winked before pulling her husband closer. “Won’t you two say hello to each other?”
With squinted eyes, Levi gave Jordan a once-over before standing up to his full height so as to look bigger. Since Jordan had first patronized their shop, Alora had been speaking endlessly of his natural grace and elegance, of how he carried himself with such dignified propriety, of his enigmatic ambience and simply just everything about him.
Levi couldn’t help but feel jealous and he was almost close to walking away rudely but on seeing his wife’s glare, the thought vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Begrudgingly, he stretched out his hand for a firm handshake before nodding his head slightly in acknowledgement. “Thank you for coming.”
“Sure.” Jordan answered simply.
Alora and Carol could only roll their eyes with a shake of their heads. ‘Men and their egos. Such alpha males.’
Just then, Alora’s eyes met with Carol’s and she arched her eyebrows in question. Carol immediately nudged Jordan with her elbow before gesturing to be introduced.
“Oh, pardon me. Ali, Levi,” Alora smiled widely at the nickname Jordan had given her, “meet Carol, my-”
“Oh, Jordie dear, is she the lucky woman you’ve been sending those flowers to?” Alora interrupted before Jordan could state his relationship with Carol.
Comical expressions immediately graced the siblings’ face as Jordan’s eyes widened and Carol’s eyebrows slightly furrowed. ‘Flowers? Lucky woman?’, Carol thought confusedly before turning to face Jordan with a questioning look, but her brother completely ignored her gaze, his eyes trained on the middle-aged woman before him as his lips were pressed firmly in a thin line.
“She’s the lucky woman, am I right?” she asked again. When no one made a move to answer, she immediately moved closer to Carol, who remained frozen in utter bewilderment. Pecking both her cheeks, Alora continued, “oh dear, I knew it was you at first glance. You’re really beautiful and I knew that Jordie here had eyes for the good stuff.”
As she ranted enthusiastically, no one could have ever seen the mischievous glint behind her happy smile. Only Levi knew the shenanigans his wife was up to and all the poor man could do was look helplessly at his friend, Sebastian who was accompanying his wife. Sebastian chuckled at the helpless look in his friend’s eyes before shrugging and gesturing towards his own wife, who was so engrossed in her discussion with him to even notice that he wasn’t listening.
Before Levi could stop his wife from going overboard, Carol suddenly spoke, already frustrated at being left in the dark.
“Actually, I’m his sister.”