After the photo had been taken much to Lena's annoyance, they were able to get their food and go back to where the rest of her family were seated at a table. The venue hadn't been set up with too many tables as most of those who were attended preferred standing to sit in most occasions, a few tables had been provided for those who wanted to take seats.
Samuel's mother was even seated at the table and talking with Leo. It seemed that everyone else except for the three of them had already gotten food.
"Well it seems like you two were able to return not looking too much worse for wear." Leo commented when he noticed that his sister seemed in less of a good mood than when she had left to go speak with the second round of guests.
"Just a tiny spot of annoyance. It has been taken care of already though so nothing that needs to be worried about." Jovani replied as he took a seat next to Evalyn. Hector and Jasmine didn't seem to have returned yet. Neither one of them came to events like this very often, thus it wouldn't have been much of a surprise to him if they had stepped outside to get some air and away from all the people.
"What do you think about everyone who's here?" Zane asked, directing the question to Samuel as he took a sip from the glass of champagne that was in front of him.
"Interesting mixture of people, can't say that everyone is friendly." He replied as he took a seat next to Julius so that Lena could sit on his left.
"Can you really say though that the mafia is a friendly bunch in the first place?" Julius joked cause some of family members to laugh at this joke.
"You'll get used to determining what is real and what is just bravado used to try and intimidate and deter without actually having any kind of power and position to back it up." Zane explained.
"I think that is something that he'll be able to figure out sooner rather than later. Some of the less pleasant members within the smaller families I believe aren't exactly thrilled about what's going on." Jovani told them.
"Little bit of time though and they will get used to it." Zane replied. For this he knew that it wouldn't be his place to intervene since Samuel was going to be shifting under Lena's care after tonight.
This meant that on the side of the Red Scorpions, it would be up to her to handle anyone who protested against what was going on or acted out of line towards Samuel. On the Vedova Nera's side, that duty would fall on Jovani. He preferred a more untraditional route when dealing with things, but he wouldn't hesitate to put someone in their place before he allowed his younger cousin to be hurt.
Once the clock hit five, everyone in the family knew it was time to make the announcement. They already discussed how they would handle things. Jovani would make the announcement first about Samuel being a part of his family which would allow the lead into the engagement announcement and the unity between the families to flow more smoothly.
"Can I have everyone's attention?" Jovani's voice boomed through the microphone. His previous laid back and joking persona was gone and replaced with a more serious and authoritative one. The moment he did this, everyone fell in line as they stopped talking and turned to face the stage. Once he was certain that everyone had stopped speaking he continued.
"First, I want to thank everyone who made time to come today, it is greatly appreciated. I know some of you are aware of the reasons why everyone has been gathered here while other's may not have heard the news yet." He paused for a second as he turned back and motioned for Samuel to come up next to him. He placed his hand on his younger cousin's shoulder as the other stood next to him with his hands folded in front of him staring out at the crowd. It somehow looked far more intimidating now that all the eyes were focused on him.
"This isn't the official initiation however I want to make the announcement that Samuel here will be reconnecting as an official member of the Vedova Nera family as my cousin. I hope that you will give him the same respect and care that you have shown to me over these years." No one cheered over this announcement as he finished speaking instead everyone just clapped.
"This isn't all of course." Jovani told them before he stepped back and to the side so that Zane could come up. Somehow the aura he gave off and the way he held himself as he surveyed the crowd in front of him before he spoke made him seem ten times more intimidating than usual.
"As Jovani has already said, thank you all for coming today. I know not all of you know each other, I'm sure you'll have no problem getting that to change over time." he started, pausing for a second before he continued.
"I think there should be another round of applause for the Vedova Nera family for being able to reconnect with their relative. We all know when unexpected events break apart families, it isn't often that we get to find them again." In response to this, the crowd gave a round of applause as some of them nodded their heads in agreement.
"I have two announcements to make. The first to official declare the unity from this time forward between the Vedova Nera and Red Scorpion families. This is a unity the rest of you over time as changes are made. The reason behind this unity has to do with the aforementioned Samuel and my daughter, Lena." as he said this, they the princess stepped forward to stand next to her father on the opposite side from where Samuel was standing. Glancing over at him, she noticed he looked rather nervous over everything that was going on.
"The biggest celebration at this event and the reason why everyone has been brought together is to congratulate these two on their official engagement. My daughter had already decided upon this engagement prior to knowing where Samuel came from, however we all know good surprises can be hidden within all sorts of packages. I hope you will help me in applauding these two and wishes for a bright and happy future for them moving forward." Zane stepped back after he had this while the crowed clapped, some more exuberantly than they had when Jovani had made his announcement.
Samuel's mother stepped forward to share a few words and to assure that she gave her consent to this and that she was also pleased to be reconnecting with her family though she wouldn't be taking on any kind of larger role in doing so.
Somehow, hearing the applause of the crowd over this and what his mother was saying seemed to help Samuel become less nervous as he looked over at Lena who was watching him to see what he would do next as Julius came over. He was the in charge of helping them to give the rings to each other.
Lena was the first one to do it since Samuel was marrying into her family. She had no problem reaching for his left hand and fitting the ring on. Samuel followed her lead and did it the same way that she had, except that he put it on her right hand since her true engagement ring was already on her left finger.
What he did after this was the unexpected part. She had expected him to step back into position as the crowd would likely want to cheer once again for them after this since it was tradition. Instead however, Samuel kissed her hand and then like the crazy, eccentric person he was he turned to face the crowd and with a huge grin on his face as he still held her hand, he raised their clasped hands above his head as someone would in a moment of triumph.
The princess was of course taken aback by this action and wasn't quite sure how to react this until the crowd started to actually cheer, almost as if the action Samuel had did plus the smile on his face had some kind of effect on them. Who knew that a smile and strange display of affection was all it took to get a room full of mafia hyped up? Even her family was cheering more than she had expected them to
Seeing this, a small genuine smile crept onto Lena's face. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing if everyone else didn't react badly to it. He certainly wasn't a traditional member of the mafia, but that didn't meant that he wouldn't be able to work to find his place within this group of crazy people.
This was certainly going to be something to remember for time to come. Samuel was perhaps one of the craziest, un-mafia like person from the outside that they had let join the family, but he also somehow held the potential to have one of the largest impact on the families moving forward thanks to his personality.. Things were certainly going to be getting interesting moving forward.
