Free Refracted Crystal: Diamonds and Desire by M. J. Lawless Page B

they had fixed on the day now pinched her slightly. That, however, was a small cross to bear.
    She had been almost trembling with excitement as they had driven up to San Francisco City Hall, the imposing beaux-arts building that looked like a more ornate model of the White House, though tinged in the most delicate blue. Around them extended the luxury of a wide, open space, with boulevards leading towards the rest of the city and, lifting back her head, she could see the large dome of the rotunda reaching up towards a clear, bright sky.
    The sound of the other car drawing up behind her made both her and Daniel turn and they waited as the doors opened. Anne got out first, dressed in a pale outfit that, she confided, had almost caused her to stop breathing when she had been told that Daniel was to buy it. “Dior!” she had hissed in Kris’s ear. “A real Dior!” Even Andrew had made a great effort, having cheerfully submitted to a tailor to provide him a suit to replace his typical designer uniform of jeans and T-shirt.
    They had arrived the morning previously, as had the last occupant of the car. In a two piece dress suit that made her look as formidable as Kris had always remembered her, Elaine Christiansen beamed as happily as Anne and Andrew as she looked on the pair. “I won’t admit that I wasn’t surprised,” she had said meeting Kris again, “but in some sense I was not completely surprised. He needs you, you know.”
    “Have I passed the test, then?” Kris asked, unable to keep a certain tartness out of her tone of voice, although Elaine had never been anything but kind to her. The older woman’s eyes narrowed slightly at this, and she tilted her head to one side.
    “I’m sorry,” Kris immediately apologised. “I just remember something you said when we first met: he usually prefers them taller and skinnier.”
    At this Elaine laughed and shook her head. “I’m the one who should apologise.” Her eyes narrowed again, however, though this appeared to be an attempt to scrutinise Kris, evaluate something about her clearly rather than to criticise her. “I suspect that marriage might be exactly the thing that is required now,” she said rather enigmatically.
    That all of them were here now, however, meant that Kris was ready to take what was in many ways the most important step of her life. She had been nervous that morning, her stomach fluttering a little, at the memory that this was not the first marriage for Daniel Stone, but she quickly pushed that thought aside. There were to be no ghosts here on this day: they had been exorcised a long time ago.
    Entering through the glass doors, decorated with ornate blue and gold designs, they passed the circular base of the marble staircase beneath the beautiful rotunda overhead. When first she had seen it, Kris had immediately wanted to marry there, but Daniel had laughed and shook his head. “While I could possibly get a city official to give us more than ten minutes there, if that ever got out someone might view it as bribery. In any case, I want a little more privacy when we actually tie the knot.”
    “Are you ashamed of me, then?” she had asked, teasingly.
    He shook his head and looked at her, his hazel eyes shining and dragging her towards him with invisible bonds.
    They climbed the magnificent staircase until they came to the Mayor’s Balcony on the fourth floor. Beside large, semi-circular windows that poured in clean, white light, the carved arches of the ceiling above them curved up to meet the roof of the rotunda. Ornate urns marked the edge of the marble parapet, and as Kris and Daniel crossed the gleaming floor with their three guests behind them, an official waiting for them at the far end. She was a stolid black woman, dressed herself in a suit and smiling at the two of them as they approached.
    The ceremony itself was simple and civil. Kris had searched her soul about this: deep inside, she thought of her father and the strong