Suddenly a Bride (26 page)

She picked up a strawberry from the plate next to her and said, “Well, my mother doesn’t approve of my books for several reasons.  One, they’re romances, which means they’re trash so they’
re not real books.  Two, I’ve been warned if I ever put my real name on them, I’ll be disowned.  Three, I haven’t gotten
up the nerve to publish anything, so everything I’ve written is on my
laptop.”

“Who cares what your mom says?  Life’s too short to be bound by what someone else says.  If I’d listened to people, I wouldn’t be here today.”

And that was true.  The men he’d worked with said he was wasting his money in venturing to another planet to find a life mate.  They said there were no guarantees the women on Earth or
Alar
is
would be willing to bond with him.  After what happened on their planet, it was understandable that they would worry that females on other worlds wouldn’t be open to a lifetime commitment with them.  The women who’d been on their world hadn’t been, and they res
ented being trapped into a life-
mate relationship.  It didn’t make for the happiest of circumstances, and the hearta
che often led to early deaths of
the men who initiated the bonds.  It was the main reason why he refused to let some system pi
ck out his life mate for him, a
nd it was why he worried about Chris.  He didn’t want to alarm Chris by telling him his chest pains might be a warning sign.

Turning his attention to Lexie,
he
asked, “Does Caitlyn tell you everything?”

Laughing, she shook her head.  “Caitlyn and I mig
ht be sisters, but she’s closer
to Sandy.  After she married Randy, I didn’t
see
her much.
  She married him when I was ten, so I didn’t know her that well to begin with.
”

“But does she tell you if she loves her husband?”

Lexie ate the strawberry and reached for a cube of cheese.  “You
want one?”

“Sure.”

As she handed him a couple of strawberries and cheese cubes, her fingers brushed his and he experienced a tingling sensation race down his spine.  That hadn’t happened with a woman before.  He studied her, trying to detect if she
noticed the spark between them and noted the way her cheeks flushed.

Clearing her throat, she said, “I don’t need Caitlyn to tell me she loves her new husband.  It’s written all over her face.”

“It is?”

“Yeah.  I met her and Chris at my parents, and her face was glowing and she couldn’t stop smiling.  It was actually nice to see her happy again.  She didn’t smile for the longest time after her first husband died.  In some ways, I envy her.  Twice she’s been married, and even better than that, she’s been happy each
time.”

Mark breathed a sigh of relief.  Good.  Chris shouldn’t have a heart attack then. 
Perhaps he was just worried Caitlyn didn’t love him.  “Do you think Caitlyn told Chris she loves him?”

Lexie ate a piece of cheese, and he figured he better eat some of his so he started to eat what was in his hand.  “I haven’t talked to her since the barbeque at my parents, but I’m sure she’s told him.” Smiling at him, she leaned fo
rward to get her glass of wine. 
“Your friend has nothing to worry about.  Caitlyn’s completely in love with him, and when she marries someone, she sticks by him through thick and thin.”

He smiled.  “I
’m
glad to hear it.”

As he got ready to ask Lexie if she’d like to grab a bite to eat after the rehearsal, Chris came up to them
with a goofy grin on his
face
.
  “Hi, Mark.  Hi, Lexie.”

“Hi, Chris,” Lexie greeted and held the plate of food up to him.  “Want some?”

“No thanks,” Chris said as he sat down.  Turning to Mark, he added, “Caitlyn told me she loves me!”

Lexie shot Mark a ‘see?’ look, and Mark chuckled.  “Good to hear
it
, man.” He lifted his hand to do a high-five, but Chris’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion so Mark patted him on the back.

“Anyway,”
Chris began
, “I was wondering if Caitlyn’s going to like being surprised with this.” He
motioned to the people who were gathered at the rehearsal.  “Will she like showing up and realizing she’s getting married to me again?”

Lexie shrugged.  “I’m not sure, but one thing I do know about Caitlyn is that she hates it when our mother butts into her life.”

“Butts?” Chris asked.

“Interferes,” Mark inserted.

Chris sighed.  “So you think she might be upset next Saturday?”

“I’d
drop a few not-so-subtle hints
her way
,” Lexie replied.  “Better to be safe than sorry.  Plus, it gives her a chance to work on her hair.
  Believe me, no woman wants to get her picture taken unless her hair looks good.
”

Mark laughed.  “I’ll take note
of that.”

Chris drummed his fingers on the table.  “Can you give me some suggestions on giving Caitlyn no
t
-so-subtle hints?”

“Let’s see…” She glanced at the sky while she uncrossed and crossed her legs.

Mark’s eyes traced the curve of her tanned legs unti
l they settled on her feet which
were in sandals.  She was hot.  He
was finding the more he talked and looked at Lexie, the more excited he got about spending time with her.  Such hadn’t been the case with the other women he’d come across on this planet so far, and he silently thanked Chris for inviting him here so he could meet her.  Who knew Chris’ life mate had such a great sister?

Lexie took a deep breath—something Mark enjoyed more th
an he thought he should—and
told Chris, “Tell Caitlyn she might want to wear white next Saturday.  Tell her you’
ve been talking to her mom about a surprise.  Tell her you need to take a
good look at her ring finger.”

“Which one is her ring finger?” Chris asked.

She held her hand up and pointed to the third finger on her right hand.  “She should start connecting the dots.”

“How about humming the
‘
Wedding M
arch
’
?” Mark suggested.

Lexie smiled at him.  “Nice.  That’ll get her attention.”

“What does the
‘
Wedding M
arch
’
sound like?” Chris asked.

Before Lexie wondered why Chris didn’t know something so embedded in
to the American culture on Earth
, Mark hummed it for him.

Lexie shot them a wicked grin.  “You want to know what she and R
andy used as their wedding song
?”

Though Chris didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it,
the twinkle in Lexie’s eyes was
too much for Mark to resist.  “What did they use?”

“
Beethoven
’s
Symphony Number 5
-
Allegro Con Brio
,” she said.

Thankfully, she hummed it for them because Mark, who thought he was doing well in his research
,
hadn’t heard of that one.  “It sounds like Caitlyn was storming down the aisle.  It’s not exactly a romantic piece.”

“That was the point,” Lexie replied.  “Our mother disapproved of her marriage to Randy, and she was determined to marry him anyway.  They had the pianist cued to play Darth Vader’s theme from
Star Wars
if our mom decided to object to the marriage.”

Now
Star Wars
was something Mark was familiar with, so he chuckled.  “It’s too bad I don’
t know your mother.”

“You’re not missing anything.”

Chris frowned.  “You don’t like your mother?  She gave you life.”

Lexie nodded as she sipped more wine.  “She did, and she reminds her children of that all the time.  She got pregnant, had us, and we’re on the hook to do her bidding for the rest of our lives.”

“Is that how mothers are on this world?” Chris asked.

She shot Mark an amused look at the way Chris worded his question
as she said, “No, n
ot ideally.  At some point, mothers are supposed to let their children grow up and live their own lives, free to make the decisions they want.”

Her statement ended off on a note of regret, and Mark wondered about it.

Clearing her throat, she added, “Caitlyn will make a great mom.  She’s never tried to force anyone to be so
mething they weren’t meant to be
.”

At that, Chris’ face lit up.  “I think she’ll be a good mother too.  I’m really lucky she married me, and what’s even better is she loves me.”

For a brief moment, a wistful look crossed Lexie’s face.  And then her mother came over to them with another man.

“We’re ready for the rehearsal,” her mother announced, clapping her hands together.  “We don’t want to burn daylight.  Let’s get going
!”

As the three stood up, her mother turned to Lexie.  “After the rehearsal, we need to go to the jeweler to make sure your engagement ring h
as been properly enhanced.”

Engagement ring?  Mark turned his attention to Lexie, hoping she’d deny it, but she nodded.  His smile faltered.  He should have known
someone as great
as Lexie would be taken.

Her mom told Chris, “We can’t have you outdoing a doctor now, can we?” She giggled and went over to Lexie.  Wrapping her arm around Lexie’s shoulders, she added, “The doctor insisted you have the best.  You’re very lucky.”

Lexie offered Chris an apologetic smile, and Mark had a nagging suspicion that she wasn’t all that excited about marrying the doctor, whoever he was.  He glanced around at the other guests.  “Is the doctor here?” he asked Chris in a low tone.

“I don’t think so,” Chris replied.  “I haven’t seen him.  From what Caitlyn says, he’s always working.”

Which meant he didn’t spend much time with Lexie.  Good.  The situation with Lexie might not be so hopeless after all.

The other
man who’d been silent up to that point
came up to them.  “I’ll be the groomsman.” He shook Mark’s hand.  “My name is Andy.”

“He’s Randy’s brother,” Chris said.

Mark blinked for a moment and then laughed.  “You’re kidding.”

Andy stiffened.  “What’s so funny about that?”

“Don’t you have a sister named Sandy?” Mark asked.

“Yeah.  So?”

“Do you realize all of your names rhyme?”

“I don’t see what’s so funny about that.”

“It’s hilarious
.”

Andy rolled his eyes.  “There’s one in every crowd.” Looking at Chris, he said, “I heard that Caitlyn said she loved you.  That’s great.  Let’s hope the lov
e is permanent.  It rarely is
when the couple gets married because the woman got knocked up.”

Mark stopped laughing and stepped toward him.  “Hey, leave Chris and Caitlyn out of it.  I get it.  You’re touchy about the whole name thing.  I’m sorry I mentioned it.” Really, had he known Andy didn’t see the humor in it, he would’ve watched what he said.

Andy grunted and went over to the minister.

“What a joy,” Mark commented, not hiding his sarcasm. 
“Don’t pay attention to him.  You didn’t marry Caitlyn because she was pregnant.  You told me that Andy didn’t have a girlfriend or wife.  Now we know why.  The guy’s a jerk. 
You ready to get the rehearsal underway?”

Though Chris agreed, he didn’t look as happy as he was before.

“She wouldn’t have said she loved you if she didn’t mean it,” Mark said.

Chris indicated that he heard him but didn’t say anything.

“Talk to Caitlyn when you get home about what Andy said.  I’m sure she’ll put your mind at ease.”

“I’m fine, Mark.  It’
s okay.  Let’s get this rehearsal over with.”

With a sigh, Mark followed him to the m
inister, hoping he would
talk to Caitlyn.  He didn’t want to see Chris’ insecurities lead to more chest pains.

Chapter Twenty