The Witness Read Free Page B

said. He wasn't looking for another.
     
Matt placed one arm around his father's broad shoulders'
     
the other around Kendall. "We needed each other. We're a complete family now."
     
"I only wish Grandmother could have been here," Kendall remarked sadly.
     
Matt gave her a sympathetic smile. "I wish she'd felt up to making the trip from Tennessee."
     
"It would have been too hard on her. She's here in spirit though."
     
"Let's not get too maudlin," Gibb cut in. "These folks came to eat, drink, and be merry. This is your day. Enjoy it."
     
Gibb had spared no expense to guarantee that their wedding would be remembered and talked about for years to come.
     
Kendall had been shocked by his extravagance. Shortly after accepting Matt's proposal, she had suggested that they have a private ceremony, perhaps in a pastor's study.
     
Gibb wouldn't hear of it.
     
He held to the tradition of the bride's family financing the wedding and insisted on hosting it himself. Kendall demurred, but Gibb, with his disarming, winning personality, had shot down all her arguments.
     
"Don't take offense," Matt had told her when she expressed her dismay over Gibbs elaborate plans. "Dad wants to throw a party, the likes of which Prosper has never seen. Since neither you nor your grandmother is financially able to do it, he is pleased to foot the bill. I'm his only child. This is a once-in a-lifetime event for him. So let's give him his head and let him run."
     
It hadn't taken long for Kendall to be swept up in the excitement. She selected her gown, but Gibb took control of everything else, although he considerately consulted her before any major decisions were finalized.
     
His strict attention to detail had paid off, because today his house and lawn looked spectacular. Matt and she had exchanged vows beneath a latticed arch bedecked with gardenias, white lilies, and white roses. Inside a large tent was an elaborate buffet of salads, side dishes, and entrees to suit every palate.
     
The wedding cake was a breathtaking sculpture with several tiers. The creamy frosting was decorated with clusters of fresh rosebuds. There was also a chocolate groom's cake with fudge icing drizzled over strawberries nearly as large as tennis balls.
     
Magnums of champagne were chilling in tubs of ice. The guests seemed dedicated to drinking every drop of it.
     
Despite such glamour, the reception was truly a family affair. Children played under the shade trees. After the bride and groom initiated the dancing with a wedding waltz, other couples crowded the floor until everyone was dancing.
     
It was a fairy tale wedding. Complete with an ogre.
     
Kendall, unaware of the menace surrounding her, couldn't have imagined being happier. Matt held her close and twirled her about the dance floor. With his tall, slender physique, he seemed made to wear a tuxedo without looking awkward.
     
He was incredibly handsome. His evenly defined features and straight hair gave him the aristocratic bearing of a robber baron.
     
"You have that elegant, aloof air about you. Like Gatsby," Kendall had once told him teasingly.
     
She wanted to go on dancing with him for hours, but guests were vying for a dance with the bride. Among them was Judge H. W. Fargo. She all but groaned when Matt relinquished her to the judge, who demonstrated no more grace on the dance floor than he did in the courtroom.
     
"I had my doubts about you," Judge Fargo remarked as he swung her into a turn that almost caused her a whiplash.
     
"When I heard they were hiring a female to be this county's public defender, I had serious misgivings that you could handle the job."
     
"Really?" she said coolly.
     
Fargo was not only a terrible dancer and a lamentable judge but a sexist to boot, Kendall thought. Since her first appearance in his courtroom, he'd made no effort to conceal his "misgivings."
     
"Why were you apprehensive, Judge?" she asked, struggling to keep her pleasant smile in