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criminalxmindsTitle: Il Attestazione Di Amore (Proof Of Love)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zamboni12
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, I just like the characters "to dance my dance" ;-)
Summary: Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
cmrossiprentiss Wedding Fest. My prompt was "Dinner Rehearsal".
A/N: Many thanks tomicrogirl8225 for her beta work. She has taken great pains to white out my story from the `German tone` and grammatical failures. THANK YOU!
All remaining mistakes are mine.
And thank you,microgirl8225 for the organization. You rock!
Il Attestazione Di Amore
Emily´s and Dave´s rehearsal dinner took place in an Italian restaurant in Fredericksburg called Ristorante Positano serving Napolitano Italian cuisine in a cozy and elegant setting. The owner, Enrico, was an old friend of Rossi and he has probably the most prominent stomach in this hemisphere.
It was never a bad sign when the owner and chief of a restaurant copiously savors his own food.
Because Enrico´s restaurant was rather small, they had to rent the whole place for their private party.
Everyone was dressed properly for the occasion, casual but elegant. Although, fancy probably would have been the better description for Penelope Garcia´s yellow-pink, showy dress, but no one would have expected any less.
They were seated around a huge round table, set with a white table cloth and white linen napkins held by silver napkin rings. Various glasses, huge porcelain plates and silverware were placed at every seat, shining and glittering, under the soft light. The middle of the table was embellished by a colorful flower arrangement made of reams of roses. A crooning Belcanto-tenor relayed by speakers hidden somewhere in the small Ristorante.
They had just finished the first course of the menu, a delicious cream tomato soup with basil, and light chatter now filled the room. Three sedulous waiters, dressed in long claret-violet, ankle-length aprons cleared the table and refilled glasses.
To Emily´s and Dave´s great joy his niece Marina has flown over from Italy. Even Connie Galen had come from Indianapolis to join their wedding.
John Cooley, had been on the guest list too, but he had declined for personal reasons. Actually, David wasn´t sad about it, it hadn´t really been the best time in Emily´s life.
When David clinked with a spoon at his glass the murmur of conversations immediately stopped and 18 pairs of eyes looked at him. He stood up, entirely the sophisticated man he was, doing one button of his dark-gray three-piece suit up. Added with a matching pale-gray tie, a lavender shirt and a lavender pocket-handkerchief he once again showed he was a man with a good taste in clothes.
“Well,” Not everything about David Rossi was sophisticated as he started his speech this way but his voice had this ironic-laden-Rossi-undertone to it.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” One hand in his pants pocket now, he gestured with his other hand round the table, smirking at his guest.
“Oh, a speech, a speech.” With little, fast claps of her hands, Penelope burst out her excitement, her flashy ear rings clicking and clacking in accompaniment.
“Shhhh.” Derek and JJ shushed her in unison.
“My dear friends, Ambassador, Father Jim,” David continued but was again interrupted by Jim Davidson.
“Hey, I´ve known you for almost 40 years now. You never called me ´Father Jim´. I´m still Jimmy, got it, Davie?” For a seasoned representative of the church he sounded more like a friend at a bar. Emily, sitting beside Dave, tried to stifle a chuckle.
“While we´re on that subject, Dave, I´m your mother in law soon,” This time Elizabeth Prentiss´ interfered with his speech, smiling mildly, but was holding out her right hand palm up to make her point.
“Please, you really can call me Elizabeth, as I told you before. My days as an ambassador are long since over and you´re going to marry my only child.”
Now Emily let out a loud laugh and Dave realized that he´d started the wrong way, but everyone seemed to be in a good mood.
“Okay, okay.” Sighing, Dave held out his hand in a conciliatory gesture. “Let me start again, okay?” Clearing his throat he gathered himself and started speaking again.
“My friends, Elizabeth, Jimmy,” He emphasized the last two names smirking at the two addressed persons.
“It´s an honor to have so many special friends and family members celebrating this occasion with Emily and myself this evening.”
“Daaave.” This time it was Hotch who chimed in stressing Dave´s name on the first syllable. “Why don´t you skip all that formal stuff and say it in your own words. As far as I know, you´re very experienced with words.” He gave Dave a lopsided-grin which was a rare facial expression the dark-haired man wasn´t really known for.
“Yeah, yeah.” Dave said, noticing that Emily had put her hand on his forearm. She bent forward and started whispering.
“Just as we talked it over, Dave. Say some words, make a toast and then,” she made a throwing gesture with her left hand, “drop the bombshell.” She grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with pleasant anticipation. Dave took her hand, kissed it and smiled back. “I can´t wait to do so.” Then he turned back to his guests.
“Obviously, although I have done this three times before,“ now the ironic undertone in his voice was back, “I´m a bit out of practice but in a state of agitation .” A general laugh around the table confirmed the guests caught on the taunt.
“You´re awful cynic for a romantic.” Emily whispered at him again.
“No, I´m awful romantic for a cynic.” Dave replied glancing at her sideways.
“Oh, yeah.” she spoke under her breath, smiling knowingly.
“First of all, Emily and I want to thank you that you are all here together with us and, more important, that you´re all will take part at our special day tomorrow.” He picked up his glass filled with Prosecco and lifted his hand for a toast.
“And because we hadn´t had something to drink for quite a while,” he smirked, “we want to drink to that. Welcome to our wedding!”
Dave clinked his glass with Emily´s and look at his wife to be. She wore an elegant but simple skirt with a wide v-neck. The jade green color perfectly matched her dark brown eyes. The bracelet with the little diamond he gave her last Christmas sparkled at her appealing cleavage. Both, eyes and jewels, seemed to be in a contest to out-beam each other. Her dark hair smoothly framed her beautiful face and her smile seemed to contain more than everything. When her eyes caught his, a tickle which he couldn´t explain, ran down his spine. He smiled back at her and she mouthed a clear `I love you´.
Refrained chuckles and a clear `clearing throat´ from Elizabeth Prentiss brought him back on focus.
“Derek, Spencer,” He looked at them,” We want to thank you for being my best men. It´s a great honor.”
“It´s a also great honor JJ and Penelope,” He turned toward them, “agreed to be bridesmaids for Emily. It means a lot to us.” A bit abashed Spencer folded and unfolded his napkin, pursing his lips while Derek, JJ and Penelope were all smiles.
“Aaron, since Emily´s father isn´t amongst us anymore, I really appreciate it that you give away the bride to me. I can´t imagine someone better than you. Thank you all for this.” He lifted his glass again. Hotch smiled giving him a nod.
“To the team, to our friends.”
“Elizabeth, I thank you for your wonderful daughter and that you trust me enough that I can make her happy. I will do everything to show you that I´m trustworthy.” He paused. “There will be another duty for you, but I´ll come to that later.” He winked at her.
“Jimmy.” Dave raised his glass while looking at his friend. “We´re very grateful that you, as one of my oldest and most loyal friends will officiate the church wedding, although you´ve known me for so long. We are very delighted and feel blessed.” Jim grinned, nodding in an approving way without saying something.
“But let me come to a more serious note.” Dave took a deep breath.
“Tomorrow, I´m going to marry not only the most wonderful woman I´ve ever met but also my best friend.” He looked at Emily, she looked a bit startled.
“After three washed up marriages I thought the bond of matrimony was a figment of my imagination.” His voice shook a little. “But then I met Emily Prentiss. We hadn´t had the best start. I was an arrogant bighead and she tried to impress me with my own theories about satanic cults.” The whole team chuckled in remembrance of the situation where Emily indeed thanked Rossi for debunking satanic cults. Emily gave him the oh, please- look.
“But she found a way to pull out the smug thorn in my flesh. She shattered my carefully preserved emotional life and made me feel again.” No one said a word, but JJ started delivering handkerchiefs to Penelope and Connie Galen.
“We worked hard on it but finally we achieved our love. Emily makes me feel wanted. It took me quite a time to realize what was different.” He paused.
“It´s love. Real love. Emily doesn´t just adores me but she loves me. Just like I am. We belong to each other. We don´t occupy each other.” A quiet sniff was heard and everyone discreetly turned to find it belonged to Elizabeth Prentiss as she tried to fight back her tears.
“I tell you all this my friends, family, to show you, how serious I am about this wedding and how much I love and appreciate this precious woman. My soon-to-be wife, Emily.” Sitting down, he bend over and gave his wife to be a light kiss on the lips, but obviously she wanted more. She reached around and pressed harder to deepen the kiss while a lot of ohs and ahs and Bravo, David from their guests undulating around them. When they finally pulled away, they were breathless and with slightly shivering hands he picked up his glass and lifted it for a toast.
“We want you all to have a lot of fun tonight. Enjoy the music, and, thanks to my friend Enrico, the best Italian food in D.C.” He clinked his glass with Emily again and took a large sip of his Prosecco before breathing out a sigh of relief.
Just then, Enrico leapt into view intoning the last measures of the famous aria “Vincero, vinceeeeero” from Puccini´s opera “Nessun Dorma”.
His huge protruding stomach tensed, his face was alarming red when he sang the high notes at the end of the aria. Applause and laughter filled the room when he finished his performance spreading his arms while trying to catch his breath.
Finally, Enrico concentrated his attention to Emily and Dave, kissed Emily´s hand and embraced Rossi. “Congratualtione, Casanova.” He said, still a little breathless.
“I will never understand why you became a restaurateur instead a popular opera singer.” David clapped his friend´s back. Enrico laughed and made this stereotype Italian gesture, rubbing his thumb, middle and index finger while wagging his wrist.
“Probably, because my Pizza is molto buono than my sharp C.” His retained Italian accent was distinctive.
“I´ll come back to it next time when we squabble about the correct deep-dish-pizza recipe.” Dave teased, accepting the nudge from his Italian friend.
Enrico turned around and grasped a small jar containing a small silver spoon.
“Now, Emily, Dave, you both need to eat this.” He took out the spoon which was now filled with a golden, mellifluent liquid.
“Honey?” Emily asked and before she could close her mouth Enrico pushed the spoon between her lips. Enrico smiled engagingly.
“Si. In Italia we say it´s the taste of dolce amore which you both will experience together.” With this words he also pushed a filled spoon into Dave’s mouth. The sticky honey filled his mouth and glued his tongue to his palate. When he looked at Emily she just shrugged clearly fighting with the golden liquid as well.
Enrico turned around again. This time he had two little bundles tagged with small cards labeled with their names and wedding date in his hand.
“Here are five white wedding almonds. It´s another ancient Italian tradition. It brings you sanitá, prosperitá, fertilitá, felicitá>/I> and...,“ he winked at David, “keeps your vita amorosa fresh and exciting.” His huge stomach heaved with laughter, Dave rolled his eyes.
The evening went on with a lot of eating, chatting and even a little singing when some of the most popular arias were played. The room smelled of melted cheese, garlic and herbs mixed with the subtle flavor of Espresso and red vine. La dolce vita.
Around midnight, Dave rose from his chair once more to address his guest again.
“Now, my friends, it´s time to open the envelopes in front of you. I suppose, there is no more word needed.” He took Emily´s hand and pulled her up into his arms gauging the reaction of their friends when they learned about the content of the envelope.
And then everything got into a muddle.
“Awwwww!” A loud scream came from the right side of the table. Penelope vented herself with her hands. “I knew it! I knew it!”
“What? What?” Reid asked rather startled. “What do you mean? What did you know?” He looked at a picture in his hand turning it up and down not knowing how to look at it right.
“ A baby.” Penelope yelled. “A real Dave-and-Emily-offspring.”
Derek leaned over to Reid and turned the picture in his hands into the right direction.
“Look, genius, this is an ultrasound picture of a baby, or to be more precise a picture of Emily´s and Dave´s baby.” He seemed to be much obliged to tease Reid.
“I´m going to be a grandmother.” There was an unmistakable edge to Elizabeth Prentiss´ voice while covering her mouth but David couldn´t really tell if it was of joy or shock. Then she got up rushed over to her daughter and fiercely clasped her in her arms. “I´m so happy. This is such a wonderful surprise.” When she looked at Dave her eyes gleamed.
“This is the duty I´ve talked about before. Our baby needs a caring, passionate grandmother.” Dave said.
“Oh, you will get the best grandmother ever.” She looked down on the nearly indecipherable picture again. “I promise.”
Father Jimmy Davidson threw his head back and laughed out loud. “Oh, Davie, you ol´ heart-breaker. Congratulations to both of you.” He rose up going round the table and kissed Emily on the cheek, taking her hands. “I hope it´s going to be a baby-girl so you both can keep him on tenterhooks.” Dave smirked made a face but said nothing.
Laughing, Emily squeezed Father Jim’s hands. “You bet!”
After all their guests conveyed their congratulations and good wishes, everything calmed down. With a last serving of Espresso, the evening ended in a perfect atmosphere.
When everyone was gone Emily and Dave thanked Enrico for a wonderful evening and all the traditional gifts.
Outside the Ristorante, while they waited for the arranged taxi Emily got up on her tiptoes and kissed David´s cheek. Then she whispered in his ear.
“We´re going to be a wonderful family, aren´t we?” Her eyes were lovely, dark and deep.
“As long as you stay by my side, everything is possible.” He gave her a light kiss on the lips. They felt warm and promising.
“You´re lovely!” She said adoringly. “I love you more than I can say.”
“I love you too, Emily. Forever?” He didn´t mean to sound unsure, but he knew he wanted this marriage to last, and do anything in his power to make sure that happened.
A smile light up her face.
“Forever.” She promised and sealed it with a loving kiss.
********
A/N: I thank my friend Britta providing support with the Italian words. I think, the words are quite easy to get but anyway:
molto bouno - much better
dolce amore - sweet taste of love/sweet love
sanitá - health
prosperitá - richness/fortune
fertilitá - fertility/reproductiveness
felicitá - luck/happiness
vita amorosa - love life
For all, who are interested in the aria "Nessun Dorma", here is a fantastic recording/vid sung by Luciano Pavarotti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdTBml4oOZ8
Author:
zamboni12Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, I just like the characters "to dance my dance" ;-)
Summary: Written for the
cmrossiprentiss Wedding Fest. My prompt was "Dinner Rehearsal".A/N: Many thanks to
microgirl8225 for her beta work. She has taken great pains to white out my story from the `German tone` and grammatical failures. THANK YOU! All remaining mistakes are mine.
And thank you,
microgirl8225 for the organization. You rock!Il Attestazione Di Amore
Emily´s and Dave´s rehearsal dinner took place in an Italian restaurant in Fredericksburg called Ristorante Positano serving Napolitano Italian cuisine in a cozy and elegant setting. The owner, Enrico, was an old friend of Rossi and he has probably the most prominent stomach in this hemisphere.
It was never a bad sign when the owner and chief of a restaurant copiously savors his own food.
Because Enrico´s restaurant was rather small, they had to rent the whole place for their private party.
Everyone was dressed properly for the occasion, casual but elegant. Although, fancy probably would have been the better description for Penelope Garcia´s yellow-pink, showy dress, but no one would have expected any less.
They were seated around a huge round table, set with a white table cloth and white linen napkins held by silver napkin rings. Various glasses, huge porcelain plates and silverware were placed at every seat, shining and glittering, under the soft light. The middle of the table was embellished by a colorful flower arrangement made of reams of roses. A crooning Belcanto-tenor relayed by speakers hidden somewhere in the small Ristorante.
They had just finished the first course of the menu, a delicious cream tomato soup with basil, and light chatter now filled the room. Three sedulous waiters, dressed in long claret-violet, ankle-length aprons cleared the table and refilled glasses.
To Emily´s and Dave´s great joy his niece Marina has flown over from Italy. Even Connie Galen had come from Indianapolis to join their wedding.
John Cooley, had been on the guest list too, but he had declined for personal reasons. Actually, David wasn´t sad about it, it hadn´t really been the best time in Emily´s life.
When David clinked with a spoon at his glass the murmur of conversations immediately stopped and 18 pairs of eyes looked at him. He stood up, entirely the sophisticated man he was, doing one button of his dark-gray three-piece suit up. Added with a matching pale-gray tie, a lavender shirt and a lavender pocket-handkerchief he once again showed he was a man with a good taste in clothes.
“Well,” Not everything about David Rossi was sophisticated as he started his speech this way but his voice had this ironic-laden-Rossi-undertone to it.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” One hand in his pants pocket now, he gestured with his other hand round the table, smirking at his guest.
“Oh, a speech, a speech.” With little, fast claps of her hands, Penelope burst out her excitement, her flashy ear rings clicking and clacking in accompaniment.
“Shhhh.” Derek and JJ shushed her in unison.
“My dear friends, Ambassador, Father Jim,” David continued but was again interrupted by Jim Davidson.
“Hey, I´ve known you for almost 40 years now. You never called me ´Father Jim´. I´m still Jimmy, got it, Davie?” For a seasoned representative of the church he sounded more like a friend at a bar. Emily, sitting beside Dave, tried to stifle a chuckle.
“While we´re on that subject, Dave, I´m your mother in law soon,” This time Elizabeth Prentiss´ interfered with his speech, smiling mildly, but was holding out her right hand palm up to make her point.
“Please, you really can call me Elizabeth, as I told you before. My days as an ambassador are long since over and you´re going to marry my only child.”
Now Emily let out a loud laugh and Dave realized that he´d started the wrong way, but everyone seemed to be in a good mood.
“Okay, okay.” Sighing, Dave held out his hand in a conciliatory gesture. “Let me start again, okay?” Clearing his throat he gathered himself and started speaking again.
“My friends, Elizabeth, Jimmy,” He emphasized the last two names smirking at the two addressed persons.
“It´s an honor to have so many special friends and family members celebrating this occasion with Emily and myself this evening.”
“Daaave.” This time it was Hotch who chimed in stressing Dave´s name on the first syllable. “Why don´t you skip all that formal stuff and say it in your own words. As far as I know, you´re very experienced with words.” He gave Dave a lopsided-grin which was a rare facial expression the dark-haired man wasn´t really known for.
“Yeah, yeah.” Dave said, noticing that Emily had put her hand on his forearm. She bent forward and started whispering.
“Just as we talked it over, Dave. Say some words, make a toast and then,” she made a throwing gesture with her left hand, “drop the bombshell.” She grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with pleasant anticipation. Dave took her hand, kissed it and smiled back. “I can´t wait to do so.” Then he turned back to his guests.
“Obviously, although I have done this three times before,“ now the ironic undertone in his voice was back, “I´m a bit out of practice but in a state of agitation .” A general laugh around the table confirmed the guests caught on the taunt.
“You´re awful cynic for a romantic.” Emily whispered at him again.
“No, I´m awful romantic for a cynic.” Dave replied glancing at her sideways.
“Oh, yeah.” she spoke under her breath, smiling knowingly.
“First of all, Emily and I want to thank you that you are all here together with us and, more important, that you´re all will take part at our special day tomorrow.” He picked up his glass filled with Prosecco and lifted his hand for a toast.
“And because we hadn´t had something to drink for quite a while,” he smirked, “we want to drink to that. Welcome to our wedding!”
Dave clinked his glass with Emily´s and look at his wife to be. She wore an elegant but simple skirt with a wide v-neck. The jade green color perfectly matched her dark brown eyes. The bracelet with the little diamond he gave her last Christmas sparkled at her appealing cleavage. Both, eyes and jewels, seemed to be in a contest to out-beam each other. Her dark hair smoothly framed her beautiful face and her smile seemed to contain more than everything. When her eyes caught his, a tickle which he couldn´t explain, ran down his spine. He smiled back at her and she mouthed a clear `I love you´.
Refrained chuckles and a clear `clearing throat´ from Elizabeth Prentiss brought him back on focus.
“Derek, Spencer,” He looked at them,” We want to thank you for being my best men. It´s a great honor.”
“It´s a also great honor JJ and Penelope,” He turned toward them, “agreed to be bridesmaids for Emily. It means a lot to us.” A bit abashed Spencer folded and unfolded his napkin, pursing his lips while Derek, JJ and Penelope were all smiles.
“Aaron, since Emily´s father isn´t amongst us anymore, I really appreciate it that you give away the bride to me. I can´t imagine someone better than you. Thank you all for this.” He lifted his glass again. Hotch smiled giving him a nod.
“To the team, to our friends.”
“Elizabeth, I thank you for your wonderful daughter and that you trust me enough that I can make her happy. I will do everything to show you that I´m trustworthy.” He paused. “There will be another duty for you, but I´ll come to that later.” He winked at her.
“Jimmy.” Dave raised his glass while looking at his friend. “We´re very grateful that you, as one of my oldest and most loyal friends will officiate the church wedding, although you´ve known me for so long. We are very delighted and feel blessed.” Jim grinned, nodding in an approving way without saying something.
“But let me come to a more serious note.” Dave took a deep breath.
“Tomorrow, I´m going to marry not only the most wonderful woman I´ve ever met but also my best friend.” He looked at Emily, she looked a bit startled.
“After three washed up marriages I thought the bond of matrimony was a figment of my imagination.” His voice shook a little. “But then I met Emily Prentiss. We hadn´t had the best start. I was an arrogant bighead and she tried to impress me with my own theories about satanic cults.” The whole team chuckled in remembrance of the situation where Emily indeed thanked Rossi for debunking satanic cults. Emily gave him the oh, please- look.
“But she found a way to pull out the smug thorn in my flesh. She shattered my carefully preserved emotional life and made me feel again.” No one said a word, but JJ started delivering handkerchiefs to Penelope and Connie Galen.
“We worked hard on it but finally we achieved our love. Emily makes me feel wanted. It took me quite a time to realize what was different.” He paused.
“It´s love. Real love. Emily doesn´t just adores me but she loves me. Just like I am. We belong to each other. We don´t occupy each other.” A quiet sniff was heard and everyone discreetly turned to find it belonged to Elizabeth Prentiss as she tried to fight back her tears.
“I tell you all this my friends, family, to show you, how serious I am about this wedding and how much I love and appreciate this precious woman. My soon-to-be wife, Emily.” Sitting down, he bend over and gave his wife to be a light kiss on the lips, but obviously she wanted more. She reached around and pressed harder to deepen the kiss while a lot of ohs and ahs and Bravo, David from their guests undulating around them. When they finally pulled away, they were breathless and with slightly shivering hands he picked up his glass and lifted it for a toast.
“We want you all to have a lot of fun tonight. Enjoy the music, and, thanks to my friend Enrico, the best Italian food in D.C.” He clinked his glass with Emily again and took a large sip of his Prosecco before breathing out a sigh of relief.
Just then, Enrico leapt into view intoning the last measures of the famous aria “Vincero, vinceeeeero” from Puccini´s opera “Nessun Dorma”.
His huge protruding stomach tensed, his face was alarming red when he sang the high notes at the end of the aria. Applause and laughter filled the room when he finished his performance spreading his arms while trying to catch his breath.
Finally, Enrico concentrated his attention to Emily and Dave, kissed Emily´s hand and embraced Rossi. “Congratualtione, Casanova.” He said, still a little breathless.
“I will never understand why you became a restaurateur instead a popular opera singer.” David clapped his friend´s back. Enrico laughed and made this stereotype Italian gesture, rubbing his thumb, middle and index finger while wagging his wrist.
“Probably, because my Pizza is molto buono than my sharp C.” His retained Italian accent was distinctive.
“I´ll come back to it next time when we squabble about the correct deep-dish-pizza recipe.” Dave teased, accepting the nudge from his Italian friend.
Enrico turned around and grasped a small jar containing a small silver spoon.
“Now, Emily, Dave, you both need to eat this.” He took out the spoon which was now filled with a golden, mellifluent liquid.
“Honey?” Emily asked and before she could close her mouth Enrico pushed the spoon between her lips. Enrico smiled engagingly.
“Si. In Italia we say it´s the taste of dolce amore which you both will experience together.” With this words he also pushed a filled spoon into Dave’s mouth. The sticky honey filled his mouth and glued his tongue to his palate. When he looked at Emily she just shrugged clearly fighting with the golden liquid as well.
Enrico turned around again. This time he had two little bundles tagged with small cards labeled with their names and wedding date in his hand.
“Here are five white wedding almonds. It´s another ancient Italian tradition. It brings you sanitá, prosperitá, fertilitá, felicitá>/I> and...,“ he winked at David, “keeps your vita amorosa fresh and exciting.” His huge stomach heaved with laughter, Dave rolled his eyes.
The evening went on with a lot of eating, chatting and even a little singing when some of the most popular arias were played. The room smelled of melted cheese, garlic and herbs mixed with the subtle flavor of Espresso and red vine. La dolce vita.
Around midnight, Dave rose from his chair once more to address his guest again.
“Now, my friends, it´s time to open the envelopes in front of you. I suppose, there is no more word needed.” He took Emily´s hand and pulled her up into his arms gauging the reaction of their friends when they learned about the content of the envelope.
And then everything got into a muddle.
“Awwwww!” A loud scream came from the right side of the table. Penelope vented herself with her hands. “I knew it! I knew it!”
“What? What?” Reid asked rather startled. “What do you mean? What did you know?” He looked at a picture in his hand turning it up and down not knowing how to look at it right.
“ A baby.” Penelope yelled. “A real Dave-and-Emily-offspring.”
Derek leaned over to Reid and turned the picture in his hands into the right direction.
“Look, genius, this is an ultrasound picture of a baby, or to be more precise a picture of Emily´s and Dave´s baby.” He seemed to be much obliged to tease Reid.
“I´m going to be a grandmother.” There was an unmistakable edge to Elizabeth Prentiss´ voice while covering her mouth but David couldn´t really tell if it was of joy or shock. Then she got up rushed over to her daughter and fiercely clasped her in her arms. “I´m so happy. This is such a wonderful surprise.” When she looked at Dave her eyes gleamed.
“This is the duty I´ve talked about before. Our baby needs a caring, passionate grandmother.” Dave said.
“Oh, you will get the best grandmother ever.” She looked down on the nearly indecipherable picture again. “I promise.”
Father Jimmy Davidson threw his head back and laughed out loud. “Oh, Davie, you ol´ heart-breaker. Congratulations to both of you.” He rose up going round the table and kissed Emily on the cheek, taking her hands. “I hope it´s going to be a baby-girl so you both can keep him on tenterhooks.” Dave smirked made a face but said nothing.
Laughing, Emily squeezed Father Jim’s hands. “You bet!”
After all their guests conveyed their congratulations and good wishes, everything calmed down. With a last serving of Espresso, the evening ended in a perfect atmosphere.
When everyone was gone Emily and Dave thanked Enrico for a wonderful evening and all the traditional gifts.
Outside the Ristorante, while they waited for the arranged taxi Emily got up on her tiptoes and kissed David´s cheek. Then she whispered in his ear.
“We´re going to be a wonderful family, aren´t we?” Her eyes were lovely, dark and deep.
“As long as you stay by my side, everything is possible.” He gave her a light kiss on the lips. They felt warm and promising.
“You´re lovely!” She said adoringly. “I love you more than I can say.”
“I love you too, Emily. Forever?” He didn´t mean to sound unsure, but he knew he wanted this marriage to last, and do anything in his power to make sure that happened.
A smile light up her face.
“Forever.” She promised and sealed it with a loving kiss.
********
A/N: I thank my friend Britta providing support with the Italian words. I think, the words are quite easy to get but anyway:
molto bouno - much better
dolce amore - sweet taste of love/sweet love
sanitá - health
prosperitá - richness/fortune
fertilitá - fertility/reproductiveness
felicitá - luck/happiness
vita amorosa - love life
For all, who are interested in the aria "Nessun Dorma", here is a fantastic recording/vid sung by Luciano Pavarotti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdTBml4oOZ8
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