Suddenly a Bride (23 page)

“I may not be married, but I
’ve seen enough couples in here to know women don’t need big diamonds in order to be happy
,” Gerald said.

She shook her head.  “Trust me, Chris. 
If you get the ring and necklace I picked out, then she’ll be even happier.
  It’s much better
than what Randy gave her.
”

“It is
?” Chris asked, liking the idea he could make her happier than Randy did.

“Show me this necklace, Gerald,” she said, tapping the glass with her perfectly manicured fingernail.

Rolling his eyes, he obeyed and handed it to her.  She held it up for inspection, her smile growing wider.  “This is perfect!”

Chris examined the
diamond chain that led to
a diamond heart with a sapphire in the middle.  His gaze fell to the pri
ce tag, which was $22
,500.  They’d just used $25,000 to make the down payment on their new home.  The ring and necklace would exceed that.  It mad
e absolutely no sense to him that jewelry should cost the same as a down payment on a house.  The house, after all, was more practical.  Then he thought of Caitlyn and how much happier she’d be with this ring and necklace than with what Rand
y had given her.  And if there was
one thing he wanted more than anything else, it was to make
Caitlyn happier. 
If he made her
happier, maybe she’d love him.
She might even love him more than she ever loved Randy.

“I’ll take these,” he told Gerald.

Caitlyn’s mom shrieked in pleasure and handed the necklace to Gerald.

“Are you sure?” Gerald asked.  “This is a lot to spend.”

“Oh come now.  You heard him,” her mother said.  “He’s putting my little girl’s happiness above his need for something like a sports car.  What could be better than that?”

Chris wasn’t sure what a sports car had to do with buying jewelry, but he let that part of the conversation go so he could focus on buying the ring and necklace. 
After Ger
ald ran a credit check on him, Chris
ended up
filling out a credit card application.  The process took longer than he would have liked, but
in the end, he ended up with a black box holding the ring
and necklace.  The only thing that held him back from buying the $3999 earrings that went with it was the fact that Caitlyn’s ears weren’t pierced.  Even if the grand total of $35
,
508.94 made him experience a momentary shiver of cold terror, he assured himself that it was worth it if Caitlyn would be happy.

As Chris and Caitlyn’s
mother left the store, he asked, “Caitlyn will like this, won’t she?”

“Of course, she will,” she said.  “It’s much better than anything Randy ever did for her.”

And that made him
feel
much better about the whole thing.

Chapter Eighteen

T
he next evening after dinner, Caitlyn
and Chris decided to relax on the couch and watch TV.  Her back settled against his chest, and he had his arms around her.  Content, she closed her eyes, not paying attention to what was playing on the TV.  Instead, she was thinking about her first prenatal doctor visit the next day and wondering how far along she was.  She wasn’t sure what to expect, but she was glad
Chris would be with her.

“Did you know that most historians believe rock and roll began in 1954?” Chris asked.

Surprised, she opened her eyes and glanced at him.  “What in the world made you say that?” The movie they were watching had nothing to do with rock and roll or the year 1954.

“I’ve been studying up on music on t
his world, specifically music history in
the United States.”

Figuring he
was curious about Earth
, she shrugged.  “Okay.”

“And the 8-tr
ack was popular from 1965
to
the mid-1970s.  In 1935, William Winchell
came up with the term disc jockey, and the term first appeared in print in
Variety
in 1941.  Though heavy metal began around 1964 to 1970, Black Sabbath came out with the album that is considered
to be
true heavy metal in 1970.  In September 1983, Rick Dees debut
ed
the Top 40 countdown.”

Laughing, she turned in his arms so she could get a better look at him.
  “What have you been doing?  Studying up on music trivia or something?”

“Well…yeah.”

She
brought her hand up to the back of his neck and massaged it.  “Are you going to study TV next?”

He frowned.  “Why would I do that?”

“For the same reason you’re studying music.  To learn?”

“But I don’t need to learn about TV.”

“How come?”

He opened his mouth to speak but then smiled.  “I thought you might like knowing I am learning about music.”

Shifting so that she was str
addling him, she gave him a
kiss.  In a lot of ways, he did the cutest things.  “I think it’s great that you’re learning new things, but I don’t need you to lear
n about music.  You should study
things you’re interested in.”

“I am interested in music.” With a slight shrug, he added, “Kind of.”

She chuckled and leaned forward to give
him another kiss, this time letting her tongue brush his lower lip.  He opened his mouth for her so she could deepen the kiss.  Letting out a contented sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and
drew him closer to her.  His arms tightened around her waist.

When the kiss ended
, she said, “I don’t think you should be spending time on things you’re ‘kind of’ interested in.  You should spend time on things you’re passionate about.”
With a wicked grin,
she moved her hips
.  “I miss those pants you used to wear.  The ones made of cotton.”

“You don’t like me in jeans?”

She couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed like that disappointed him.  “To be
honest, I could feel you
better through the cotton.  You know, when you had an erection.” She smiled suggestively and moved her hips again.

Clearing his throat, he
asked, “You don’t like me in jeans?”

“I didn’t say that.  I said I could feel a certain part of you better when you had on the other kind of pants.”
By the uncertain look in his eye, she realized he didn’t understand what she meant.  Finally, she said, “I want you to wear what you want to wear.  As long as you can take the pants off, that’s all that matters.”

He frowned
.  “Do you just want me for
sex?”

She giggled.  “What?”
She couldn’t remember the last time she heard anything more absurd!

He released his hold around her waist and said, “I’m not in the mood.”

“Not in the mood?  Since when have you
not
been in the mood?”

“Is sex all you think about?  I mean, there are other things we could do.”

Blinking, she struggled to figure out what was going on.  She couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or embarrassed.  “Chris, is there something wrong?”

After a long moment, he said, “I just don’t feel like
talking about
it, alright?”

Reluctant, she got off of him and sat on the other side of the
couch.  She wasn’t sure what she could
say.  Something was obviously bothering him, but if he didn’t want to talk about it, then there was little she could do to make him.  “I won’t bother you about having sex.  If there’s anything you want to talk about, I’ll listen.” Giving him a tentative glance, she added, “Okay
?”

He ran hi
s fingers through his hair and sighed.  “Okay.”

She watched the
TV for ten minutes when he stood up and went to the bedroom.  As much as she wanted to follow him and insist he tell
her what was going on,
she thought better of it.  He was new to this world and didn’t understand the nuances involved in being in a relationship so she’d give him time to get comfortable with talking to her about his problems.

Another ten minutes past before she decided to turn off the TV and read a book, preferring to lose herself in a romance novel than to watch a suspense
movie
.
  The movie
had been his idea, and if he
wasn’t going to finish it
, she saw no reason to.

She made decent progress in the book when it was time to go to bed. 
Unsure of what to expect, she went to the bedroom and opened
the door to find that Chris
was
already
asleep.  Well, maybe that was his problem.  He could be tired.  Or maybe something was going on at work that was stressing him out.  With a shrug, she got into her nightclothes and noticed her silky shorts were a little snug around the waist.

There was no way the doctor was going to believe she was supposed to be a month along in her pregnancy.  She didn’t know when a woman started getting thicker around the waist, but she knew
it wasn’t
this soon
.  It
was weird to realize she was really carrying a child, and in some ways, it didn’t seem real yet.  She supposed that would change when the baby started kicking.

She glanced at a sleeping Chris and smiled.  So he was having an off day? 
Everyone was entitled to one of those once in
a while
.  She slipped into bed next to him and snuggled up to him.  In his sleep, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.  Smiling, she soon fell asleep.

***

The next afternoon, Chris got ready to get off work early, and on his way out, he stopped by Mark’s cubicle where he was finishing his diagram of the jet’s engine.

“Hey Mark,” Chris greeted.

Mark looked up from his project.  “
What’s up?”

In a low voice, he asked, “What are you doing Sunday?”

“Nothing.  Why?”

“Well, Caitlyn’s mom is planning a wedding to surprise Caitlyn, and she said I need a best man.  She suggested And
y, but I told her I’d ask you
.
  There’s a
wedding rehearsal this Sunday at two.  Can you come?”

“Sure.  When is the actual event?”

“Next Saturday at one.  Caitlyn doesn’t know.  Sandy’s going to take he
r
there.  Both Caitlyn and Sandy think they’re going to a concert.”

“
You mean Sandy doesn’t know?”

“Not according to Caitlyn’s mom.  Her mom thinks Sandy will ‘spill the beans’ if she knew, whatever that means.  I don’t see what the wedding has to do with beans.”

Mark chuckled.  “That’s an expression.  It means to tell someone what’s going on.”

“Oh.” In that case, it made sense.  Caitlyn wouldn’t be surprised if Sandy told her.

“So you want me to be at the rehearsal and wedding?”

Chris nodded.  “If that’s okay?”

“Sure.  I’ll be there.  It’s actually good.  I’d like to know how people on Earth get married, at least in this culture.”

“All I’m learning so far is that it’s expensive,” Chris muttered.

“Oh yeah.  They can run up to $10,000.”

“Are you kidding?  So far, it’s been more like $35,000.”

Mark’s jaw dropped.  “What are you going to spend $35,000 on?”

Chris’ watched beeped.  “I have to go.  Caitlyn’s first prenatal
visit
is in half an hour
.”

“Let me know what happens.”

“I will.  I’ll tell you where the rehearsal is at tomorrow, okay?”

“Sounds good.”