Don Corleone, notoriously straitlaced in such matters, though his stout wife was screaming joyfully
with the others, disappeared tactfully into the house. Seeing this, Sonny Corleone made his way
to the bride's table and sat down besides young Lucy Mancini, the maid of honor. They were safe.
His wife was in the kitchen putting the last touches on the serving of the wedding cake. Sonny
whispered a few words in the young girl's ear and she rose. Sonny waited a few minutes and then
casually followed her, stopping to talk with a gust here and there as he worked his way through
the crowd.
All eyes followed them. The maid of honor, thoroughly Americanized by three years of college, was
a ripe girl who already had a "reputation." all through the marriage rehearsals she had flirted
Sonny Corleone in a teasing, joking way she thought was permitted because he was the best man
and her wedding partner. Now holding her pink gown up off the ground, Lucy Mancini went into
the house, smiling with false innocence, run lightly up the stairs to the bathroom. She stayed
there for a few moments. When she came out Sonny Corleone was on the landing above, beckoning
her upward.
From behind the closed window of Don Corleone's "office," a slightly raised comer room, Thomas
Hagen watched the wedding party in the festooned garden. The walls behind him were stacked with
law books. Hagen was the Don's lawyer and acting Consigliere, or counselor, and as such held
the most vital subordinate position in the family business. He and the Don had solved many
a knotty problem in this room, and so when he saw the Godfather leave the festivities and enter
the house, he knew, wedding or no, there would be a little work this day. The Don would be coming
to see him. Then Hagen saw Sonny Corleone whisper in Lucy Mancini's ear and their little comedy
as he followed her into the house. Hagen grimaced, debated whether to inform the Don, and decided
against it. He went to the desk and picked up a handwritten list of the people who had been
granted permission to see Don Corleone privately. When the Don entered the room, Hagen handed him
the list. Don Corleone nodded and said, "Leave Bonasera to the end."