Chapter Nine
Lexi
My jaw dropped along with everyone else’s. The guests gasped, and then went so quiet, I could hear the buzz of an unseen plane. I clutched Darak’s hand tighter and leaned forward on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t believe it. I’d sensed ambivalence, but I’d attributed it to normal bridal jitters.
“I don’t think we’re getting married for the right reasons—at least…I’m not.” Toni glanced at me and Darak before continuing. “We deserve romance, moonlight dances, silliness, devotion. We should feel joy and excitement when we’re together, longing and yearning when we’re apart. We should love with abandon, recklessly, wildly, without reservation or calculation or negotiation. I want to be with someone who inspires me to be me, yet who I would follow to the ends of the earth and beyond. We should not be settling before we’ve even started.”
“That’s unrealistic and immature, Antoinette,” Phillip said stiffly. I didn’t like the guy, but I could feel sorry for him. Being jilted at the altar in front of his family, friends, and colleagues had to rank among life’s top ten suckiest moments. “This would have been a mutually advantageous merger.”
Sympathy evaporated in a pouf. Did he say mutually advantageous merger? That’s how he viewed marriage to my brilliant, gorgeous young sister? What a cold, bloodless jerk. He didn’t need a wife, he needed a doctor to verify his heart was still pumping.
Thank mascarpone and the Fates and the great unicorn in the sky, Toni had realized she’d almost married a zombie and jumped ship before the train left the station. Or something like that. My thoughts were as mixed as my metaphors. Much as I applauded her courage, I was still floored.
Out of the corner of my eye, I peeked at Mother. She was apoplectic, her panoply of composure shattered. Ears red, her mouth thinned to a slash, she mangled her Birkin clutch in a white-knuckled grip. But, the laser of fury shooting from her eyes was aimed at Darak! Thankfully, he focused on his feet so he missed the radiation of animosity.
Back off! It’s not his fault! I scowled at her. We engaged in a glowering standoff for several long seconds, before she lifted her chin and focused on the front. A moment’s thrill of victory shifted into trepidation. I’d won a tiny battle in a war I feared would be fierce and dirty. I’d never seen Mother’s anger so…naked. It had always been dressed in silk and pearls.
Toni faced the audience. She held her back straight, her head proudly, and her bouquet steady. “I would like everyone to please stay for the reception. Just because there isn’t a wedding is no reason not to party. There’s a ton of food. I’d like you to eat, drink, and dance. Have a glass of champagne—I know I intend to. If you sent a wedding gift, I’ll be returning it. If you brought one here, please take it with you when you leave today.”
Eyes on her target, she pitched her bouquet straight at me. I caught it with both hands. Then, she picked up her skirt and marched back up the aisle in a swirl of satin and lace.
Someone clapped, a couple others joined in, and then everyone applauded.
Except for me—I clutched the bouquet. Bemusedly, I wondered if the magic it contained would still work if the wedding hadn’t actually been completed. Darak didn’t clap, either. Nor Phillip. Nor my mother who continued to maim her Birkin.
* * * *
“Wow. I never saw that coming.” I slipped into a chair festooned with white-and-pink ribbons next to Darak in the reception tent. “But Toni’s doing well—really good, actually.” I hadn’t realized how unhappy my sister had been until I saw her happy. Stress lines had vanished, and her smiles were wide and genuine. A lovely bride, she made an even more beautiful runaway bride. “Her doubts about the marriage and Phillip had been growing for a while, but the wedding was barreling full steam ahead, and she didn’t know how to stop it.”
Upon finding her voice, she’d found her footing. Often courage grew out of action rather than action out of courage.
Darak said nothing, continuing to stare straight ahead.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“I’m glad your sister is happy. How’s your mother?”
“Not happy. She pretty much handpicked Phillip for her son-in-law. This is a crushing defeat, and she’s not used to losing.” I’d been afraid to leave my little sister alone with her—at first. Mother had swooped in to shame Toni into submission, but they didn’t call my sister the killer in the courtroom for nothing. When I’d left, Toni had on her big girl panties and her lawyer face and was going mano a mano with Mamazilla. I felt sorry for my mother. Nah. I grinned.
The reception tent buzzed with conversation. This almost-wedding would be talked about for months to come. The liquor flowed as freely as the conversation. Balancing silver trays on their palms, white-jacketed waiters moved around the tent serving drinks. Other “waiters” hung back and spoke into their shirt cuffs. So much for Security blending in.
A muscle ticked in Darak’s cheek. “If I had to leave, would you come with me?”
“You want to leave now? Before my sister gets here?” I narrowed my eyes. “What did my mother say to you?” I’d sensed an odd vibe since I’d found my mother and Darak with their heads together before the ceremony. Then again, nothing about this wedding had gone according to plan, so everything felt odd.
“I mean Earth.”
“Earth? As in go back to Dakon? Why?”
“I may not have a choice.”
“What are you talking about?” I frowned, confused.
“Would you care for a drink?” A waiter peered at us. “Champagne?”
I looked at Darak. “Have you had champagne before? Do you want to try it?”
“Sure. All right,” he said without much enthusiasm.
“Two, please.”
The waiter handed us two goblets. Darak took a sip. His eyes widened, and then his face broke into a genuine smile. “It’s bubbly. I like it.”
“Wait until you try it with chocolate.” The world was such a big, amazing diverse place. There were so many things I wanted to introduce him to, and now he was talking about going back to Dakon? Why? Last night, we’d taken our relationship to the next level. I’d thought things were going so well. Had I read too much into it? Maybe it had been amazing only for me—he could have been thinking, oh crap, what did I get myself into? His behavior seemed aloof, distracted. After witnessing my sister jilting Phillip at the altar, he probably realized what a dysfunctional wreck my family and I were. Who could blame him for getting out while the gettin’ was good?
But…wait. Hold the crazy train. Hadn’t he asked if I would go with him if he left? That didn’t sound like he was leaving me…
Darak clasped my hand in his. His warm touch calmed my jangling nerves. “I need to ask you something. It’s not my intention to rush you, but I may not have much time.” He peered into my eyes. “Lexi, will you be my mat—”
The guests whistled and clapped as my sister breezed into the tent. The fact that so many people cheered caused me to wonder how many of them had liked Phillip. Did they see the situation like I did—she’d escaped a fate worse than death?
She’d changed from her wedding gown into a floral turquoise sundress she’d planned to wear when she left on her honeymoon. She and Phillip had rented a private Caribbean island. I’m guessing the honeymoon was off, too. Or maybe Phillip had gone there alone. He’d cleared out after the heave-ho. Or maybe he’d scheduled a business meeting for the afternoon. I couldn’t believe his nerve—talking on the phone right up until Toni had started down the aisle. Yeah, she’d had a close call all right.
Toni grinned and curtsied then strode to the stage and took the mike. “Well. Perhaps the only thing more awkward than jilting your fiancé at the altar is showing up to work with him on Monday morning.”
The audience laughed; I winced. Working with Phillip would be hard.
My mother and father entered the tent and took their seats at our table. Dad winked at me and Darak, but Mother had apparently been stricken blind since leaving my sister because she acted as if she didn’t even see us. Fine. With the silent treatment, you got to skip being sliced and diced by her sharp tongue.
Darak released my hand to frown at a waiter in an ill-fitting uniform bent over a butler’s tray.
“I feel like I owe you an explanation for why I did what I did,” my sister said, capturing my full attention. The question had been burning in my mind. I’d intended to ask her when I’d gone to see her, but then Mamazilla had descended and ended any chance for a heart-to-heart. “As I told Phillip, I came to the realization we were marrying for the wrong reasons.
“I care for Phillip, but I don’t love him—and he doesn’t love me. When I joined the firm, he and I developed a cordial, smooth, functional professional relationship, which became a cordial, smooth, functional personal relationship. Pleasant but unemotional. I desire more out of marriage than a cordial, smooth, functional merger.” She gestured at me. “I want what my sister has.”
Every head turned.
My face burned under the spotlight. Throughout childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, my sister and I had lived parallel lives. She had done her thing; I had done mine. Now, she chose to envy and emulate me?
“You want an alien?” someone piped up, and everyone laughed.
“Maybe,” she said when the laughter subsided. My mother was making choking noises. On the positive side, my presence probably wouldn’t be required at any more family events.
“I want a man who will inspire me to howl at the moon, to laugh with, dance naked with, sing with…”
Oh, sugar factory, she’d seen us. Or heard us. How many others had? If I’d been closer to the pool now, I would have thrown myself into it.
In a whisper, my father was asking my mother if she was all right. I exhaled through my mouth.
“And, who will do those things with me. I want to be crazy in love the way my sister and Darak are.” My sister snagged a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and raised it. “I would like to toast my sister, Lexi, for living life on her terms and inspiring me to do the same.”
Yep, I had a lifetime exemption from any and all future get-togethers.
“To Lexi!”
“Here, here!”
Glasses clinked.
Growling, Darak sprang out of his seat and tackled the waiter in the ill-fitting uniform who’d been handed a tray of champagne to pass around.
Guests screamed. Toni screamed. I screamed. There wasn’t any ice cream, only broken glass, spilled champagne, and Darak grabbing the gasping waiter in a headlock. “Darak! Stop! What are you doing?” I cried.
“Security! Security!” my mother yelled. Rent-a-cops in waiter uniforms were already rushing over. It took three men to pull Darak off the server, more disheveled after he’d been wrestled to the ground. He rubbed at his neck, his fingers moving over a dragon tattoo!
“That’s him! That’s Hoodie!” I cried. “That’s the man who mugged us. He stole my wallet!”
“He robbed Lexi!” Darak growled and tried to lunge at him again, but the men held on.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Hoodie flexed his shoulders. “I’ve never seen either of them before—before tonight, I mean.”
The three security guys looked at each other.
“Let Darak go!” I ordered them.
“Absolutely not.” My mother stepped forward. “Remove the alien from the premises.” She looked at me. “I’ve had enough of this nonsense, Alexandra. I’ll be contacting Immigration and the Intergalactic Dating Agency to have him deported to his home planet.”
“No, you can’t do that!”
“Mother, no!” Toni cried, lending her support.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Hoodie backing away, trying to melt into the crowd, but I had bigger problems to focus on.
Mother flicked her wrist. “Take him away.”
I leaped in front of Security, barring the path. “If Darak goes, I go, too. If he’s ejected from the house, I’m leaving with him.” I glared at my mother. “If you send him back to Dakon, that’s where I’ll be.”
The relief in Darak’s eyes melted my heart. “I didn’t know if you’d go with me,” he said.
“Of course, I’ll go with you.”
“Nobody’s going anywhere,” my father said. He motioned Security, calling their attention to a retreating Hoodie. “Except him. You’d better grab him quick.”
Two other security dudes in waiter outfits nabbed Hoodie. The mugger, security—was anybody here actually a waiter?
“Release Darak,” my father said.
“Blake, you have no right to countermand my order,” my mother said.
“Yes, I do.” He fixed a commanding stare on the men holding Darak. “Let him go,” Dad said in a quiet voice. Did I mention my father had been a full-bird colonel in the military?
They released him, and I ran to Darak’s side and wrapped my arms around his waist. We clung to each other. “Thank you, Dad,” I said.
“You will not contact Immigration or the dating agency,” my father told my mother. “You’re going to leave Darak and Lexi alone to live their lives together if that’s what they choose.”
“You can’t stop me,” she replied, but her voice faltered.
“I can.” My sister stepped forward. “I’ll file an injunction on Darak’s behalf. Do you really want the negative publicity when your attorney daughter goes against you in court?”
My mother stiffened her spine, lifted her chin, donned her mask, and left the tent.
My father motioned to the rent-a-cops. “Call the police and have them take that man into custody.”
“Ask for Sgt. Jenkins,” I said. “She’s familiar with our case.”
He addressed Darak. “I apologize for my wife’s actions. I promise you there won’t be any more incidents.”
“You don’t need to worry about being deported,” my sister added.
“No, you don’t,” Dad said.
“Thank you,” I said.
My father wagged his finger at me. “And you, Alexandra—”
I braced for a scolding. He never called me Alexandra unless he was going to lecture me.
“Why didn’t you tell me you’d been mugged?”
“It happened last week. And with the wedding and all…” I screwed up my face. “Sorry.”
My sister engaged the gawking guests. “Is this the most fun you’ve had at a wedding or what?” she said.
They laughed and applauded. Damn, she was good.
I flung my arms around her. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, sis.”
I hugged my father. “Love you, Dad.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart.”
I returned to Darak, and hugged him. Peering up at him, I sought his gaze and hoped he could read the promise in my eyes. I had words to say to him, too, but I wanted it to be personal, and private, and not entertainment for the un-wedding guests.
My mother never came back to the reception. Sgt. Jenkins and Studmore arrived and arrested Hoodie, who’d confessed he’d found the folded wedding invitation in my wallet, recognized the address as a swanky one, and decided to crash the wedding to see what he could steal. After they carted him away, dinner was served. It turned out there were some real waiters. After my sister cut her unwedding cake, the band began to play, I put in a request, and Darak and I waltzed to “Moon River.”