Horace Hawthorne began to pant heavily as though he had run a marathon. Amelia suddenly had a premonition that something terrible was about to happen.
True enough, she had barely taken a step forward before her grandfather collapsed in his seat, clutching his chest with a shivering hand. His eyes were wide with fear, but his gaze was focused on Amelia. He reached out a weak hand, as though wordlessly calling for her attention.
"Grandpa!" Amelia screamed out as she darted down the aisle, and Matteo quickly picked up her long trailing skirt so that his new wife — oh wait, the ceremony was interrupted; she wasn't technically his wife yet — would not trip and fall on her face. The table was in an uproar, as people began to surround the Hawthorne patriarch in an attempt to check up on him.
