5. Betty
5
BETTY
T here were shops, cafes, restaurants, and parks with real plants and even the Star Trekkiest of food replicators and holo suites aboard the ships of the Fleet. It looked practically utopian, which probably should have alarmed me, but didn’t. Instead, it looked like a wonderful dream, very close to what I’d wanted.
“Well, I wanted to get far away from where I lived and made all those two legged mistakes. I was going to go to school, become an RN, get a job in another state, and foster and later adopt a kid or two," I reminded myself. “And here it is - a place so far ain’t none of those assholes or anyone they know likely to ever cross my path, free tuition, a personalized degree to become their equivalent of an RN, and getting to use their advanced tech we don’t have access to on earth because of rules, and wow, neighborhoods that I still only would be able to dream about.”
And the kid thing was definitely going to become a reality, no doubt about it. Only now it might involve biological children. Admittedly, that concerned me a bit, given my age. Still, mega advanced science and healthcare, so that was probably me worrying about nothing.
The vid ended and Lechand approached me with a tablet once more.
“I’ve been informed that he’s going to be a little late as he was in hula class and wishes to clean up after his exertion first,” he said, tapping the screen to show me a very attractive Mylos. Unlike most of the ones I saw in the ads for the Bride Program, he was older. His hair had started to gray a bit at his temples and his face had lost the softness of youth. He was a damn fine looking man, alright. Much better looking than any of the losers I’d dated so far.
“That’s fine,” I said, drinking him in. I mean, I was going to have to do this, right? We were already alien married according to the contract and treaty, so I might as well get to enjoy myself along the way. And sometimes people in arranged marriages fall in love. Maybe I’d be one of those lucky ones. Maybe what I’d thought of as my bad luck striking again was actually me winning the man and happy life lottery.
“In light of that, I contacted your landlady, who is on her way to bring you your cat and his supplies. She said she would accompany the movers back and take care of everything so you could bring your furbaby straight on up. Her words exactly.”
“Oh. She didn’t have to do that.”
His smile grew wider. “She also said to stand like this,” he placed his hands on his hips and stared me straight in the eyes, “and tell you that you better make good on your promise and invite her to the wedding, which she reckons should be in Guam as Hawaii has too many tourists who will wander into all the pictures.”
I giggled. That did sound just like Mrs.Titschmarch. “I’ll have to see what the wedding budget is.”
“Oh, it’ll be covered. You just need to select a place and choose a reasonably sized guest list of no more than a hundred and Xeranos will be happy to help make the arrangements. It’s all paid for by the Fleet, including the guests’s travel and accommodation expenses.”
I’d known that but had no idea they’d do that much. I certainly would have never imagined going to Guam, but if we were traveling down by one of their saucers, why not? Might be anyplace on the globe, since it would be just as easy for them to fly us wherever and no pesky airport layovers and connections. This really was starting to look like a fairy tale.
As if reading my mind, Lechand leaned over and tapped an icon on the side of the screen. “Here, you can read up on Guam and anything else you might like. And if you want to read more about Dr. Proslo, simply tap here,” he demonstrated without actually touching the screen, “and his profile will reappear.”
I decided to read up on my new husband first. I’d just finished reading his short biography and began looking at tourist information for Guam when the building shook a bit.
“Sounds like he’s here,” Lechand said cheerfully, standing up to face a door in the rear. True enough, moments later the door opened and my new mate strode in. His eyes flicked across the room and met mine and I stood up, clutching the tablet to my chest. It was as if time stood still, our gazes locked onto one another. His picture had not done him justice. He wasn’t merely tall - he was imposing and his very presence seemed to fill the room. His long legs ate up the distance between us and he was halfway to me before I realized he was clutching a bouquet of red roses and what looked to be a box of Whitman’s chocolates in his hands.
“You brought me candy and flowers,” I said, a real smile found its way onto my face.
He nodded, thrusting them out at me. “All the vids showing middle American courtships showed this was proper.”
I tried to think of what he possibly could have watched for this to be true, especially with the Whitman’s candy sampler. This was seriously old school. It was also incredibly thoughtful and sweet. None of my previous so-called men had ever thought to buy me so much as a pack of gum or a candy bar and had certainly never purchased me flowers. Guess that should have been a big red flag, huh?
“These are perfect,” I murmured, burying my face into the roses. To my surprise, these actually had a scent. I took a deep appreciative sniff. “Absolutely perfect.” And damn it, now my eyes were welling up with tears again.
“Then why are you crying, mi-shida’a?”
“Because it’s so, so…thoughtful,” I sniffled.
He reached a thumb out and swiped my tears away. “Then you shall always have flowers and candy. Perhaps not so large a box, though, as the ingredients show them to be -”
“Quite fattening and tooth rotting,” I finished, smiling through my tears. “I like peanut M and M’s, maybe we can get a bag of those on occasion, to share.”
His eyes smoldered. I’d read about such a thing in the many romance novels I’d borrowed from the library but certainly had never seen such a look myself, until now.
“You would share your candy with me?” he rumbled in a low voice which practically melted my panties right there on the spot. Holy moly, this man was affecting me. If he looked and spoke to me like this all the time, I’d share everything that was mine with him. Maybe their AI knew what he was doing after all.
A rap on the glass entrance door had us turn our attention towards it.
“That’s Mrs. Titchmarsh!” I exclaimed. “And she’s got Pumpkin!” I couldn’t help the squeal that came out with those words. My furbaby was here, peering out of the backpack carrier I used to take him on walks with me and to the vet.
Lechand called out, “I’ve got the door,” and sailed past us, throwing it open.
“Thank you so much,” he told her.
“Yep, sure thing. Oh, my, aren’t you two tall drinks of water for a thirsty woman?”
Lechand laughed. “I see the moving crew are here as well,” he said, pointing to another Mylos who had just appeared in the parking lot.
She whirled around. “Where’d he come from?”
“The roof,” Proslo replied. “They came with me on the shuttle.”
Lechand reached into his pocket and fished out a set of keys before calling out the door to the man. “Do you know how to operate one of their motor vehicles?” he pointed towards an SUV parked in the far corner of the lot.
“I do,” the man replied, inclining his head.
“Here, catch!” Lechand tossed the keys at him and the man deftly plucked them out of the air.
“Xeranos will instruct you on where to pick up a truck rental.”
The man inclined his head. “Blethis also knows how to operate these, and we are both cleared for larger sized commercial vehicles.”
“Excellent. One of you can drive the truck back here and the other one my car. Then you can all follow the lovely Mrs. Titchmarsh to Betty’s apartment.”
She nodded vigorously. “I’ll do you one better. Follow me to the Ryder truck place, boys. I’ll show you the right size to get and we can get going from there.”
“How will they get my stuff up if we’re taking the shuttle first? Will it come back for them?”
“One of the cargo transports will meet them at the local landing field in your town,” Lechand replied. “There’s one currently loading at a grocery warehouse and it will have enough space for your things.”
“Oh, okay then.”
Proslo brushed his lips gently across my forehead before stepping back and taking my chocolates from me. My face burned as I realized I’d stood there this whole time just clutching these things in my hand while she still had my cat. She cackled, coming inside and holding out the straps to Pumpkin’s backpack.
“Before we go, someone needs to get the stuff for him out of my car.”
“I’ll help with that,” yet another Mylos said, appearing from the side of the building.
“There’s a ladder or something to the roof, isn’t there?” I murmured and Proslo laughed, showing a dimple in his chin that had me coming simply undone once more.
“Yes,” he replied, leading me towards the door in the back. “But we shall take the stairs.”