He guided her inside the building. The room they entered had at least ten round tables, a large dance floor, and a head table, where Sara could guess most of his family were probably sitting. Sara spotted someone taking pictures with a professional camera and she motioned to Derek. He excused himself from her presence momentarily to approach the gentleman. Sara couldn’t hear their conversation, but she could see Derek must have had a stern conversation with the man. He gently took the camera from the gentleman and patted him on the back. Our of the corner of Sara’s eye, she saw a middle-aged woman approaching.
“You must be her. Sara. I am Joan, Derek’s mother. It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said.
Joan looked to be in her late fifties. She had red-brown hair and the same eyes as h
