Chapter 10
Friday wedding of Mary Desmond & Richard Burk
“No, do not let the bride’s father take another drink. He’s already drunk as a skunk and can barely walk in a straight line. Any more boose and the bride will have to drag his prone body behind her down the aisle,” Nina growled low into her wireless headset.
“Nina, the best man says he doesn’t know where the rings are,” her other assistant Vicky told her, sounding panicked.
“I have the rings. Mark was acting way too idiotic to be trusted to hold on to the rings for longer than an hour. I’ll pass it off to him right before they come out to the altar.”
“Nina? Nina can you hear me? There’s a problem with the musician,” her part time intern Tammy whispered into the headset.
“What’s the problem? Speak a little louder Tammy because I can’t hear you whispering.”
“THERE IS NO MUSICIAN! She never showed up this morning for practice.”
Nina dropped the bow she had been tying to one of the small vases on the front entranceway table and started to stomp her way toward the area in the center of the arboretum where the ceremony would take place. “Why am I only hearing about this now?”
“I’m sorry. I thought she was just running late, then I got distracted running errands and helping to set up the reception room. I tried to get the reception band to step in but they set up in reception and are taking a break before they go on later.”
“Tammy, look in my emergency kit in the bride’s dressing area and bring it here. I should have the wedding music on my ipod. We can tap into the sound board and play it from there.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” a man’s voice said from behind her.
She turned to find Esan watching her with a bemused look on his face. “No, I’ve got everything under control. I brought you here to check out the venue and the way the reception is set up, and to give you ideas of what you might want for your gathering.”
At that moment, the employee on the ladder trying to hang a wall ornament yelled out as he almost lost his balance. Esan looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, if you could make sure Tom doesn’t fall and break his neck, I would appreciate it.”
He winked as he walked off to help steady the ladder. She would love to keep watching him but she had to get back to work. The man was beyond distracting. He had kissed her twice and both times left her flummoxed. All she wanted both times was to get naked with him. Thank God Zen interrupted the second kiss. At this point, she could not trust herself to be alone with the man.
Glancing up at the oval-shaped glass dome rooftop of the arboretum, she stared out at the stars twinkling in the distance. This had to be her favorite venue of all time. Botanical gardens spread out in all directions from the center, and a waterfall and stream on the outskirts of the area contributed sounds of nature, along with a few birds chattering who were allowed to live in the environment. She could almost forget she was on a large space cruiser, but instead on a planet’s surface, walking in a forest.
“I think thisss will be the perfect venue,” Esan suddenly said from behind her.
She jumped around to face him, her heart racing. She didn’t realize how much she had been lost in her thoughts. “What?”
“Thisss isss the venue I want.”
Nina nodded and smiled. “I thought it would be.”
“After the wedding, could we remain here ssso that we could discusss how we might ssset everything up?” he asked.
“Of course, I had planned to suggest that.”
She was called away for another pre-wedding emergency and left Esan to take a seat in the back to observe everything. When the vows were being said she couldn’t help but wipe tears from her eyes. No matter how many of these she did, when she watched the love being expressed between the couple getting married, it always got to her.
Her eyes traveled the arboretum where she had placed the seating in a circular pattern. She stopped when her eyes landed on Esan. He had brushed his blond hair down and back, leaving his face exposed and emphasizing his chiseled features. He was looking at her as well. Her heart beat faster and she felt her palms get a little sweaty. Why did he make her feel like this?
“Nina, should we start preparing for the reception now or wait?” Tammy asked.
She answered as she turned to head toward the entrance of the arboretum. “Start on things now. Make sure that the appetizers are ready for guests when they start arriving. It will keep them busy while pictures are being done. Make sure someone assists the photographer and keep him on schedule.”
Two and a half hours later, Nina took another lap around the reception room to make sure all the guests were enjoying themselves. There would be music and dancing for another thirty minutes, then the happy couple would depart to head to the honeymoon suite. She had snuck out for a few minutes earlier to check the honeymoon suite as she had done for Sersan. Now all that was left was arranging the collection of the wedding gifts to be shipped to the couple’s home, and give orders to her clean up crew.
Her team was well trained to handle the rest. This was the perfect time to take Esan back through the arboretum. She told him he could stay during the reception but he said he would feel more comfortable waiting in his suite until the reception was over. She couldn’t blame him. He probably changed into comfortable clothes and shoes. She was personally ready to get out of the heels she was wearing.
She texted him to meet her at the arboretum. It wouldn’t take him long to get there and she only had to take the elevator up two floors from the level the reception was on. The arboretum would allow for a small buffet but there was no dance floor so the reception had to be set up in a separate location. When she stepped off the elevator, Esan was already there waiting for her.
“You’ve worked hard tonight. Did you want to possstpone thisss until another time?” Esan asked.
“No, I’m fine. My team is finishing up the reception and I want to get notes on the gathering as soon as possible. I heard that you have recordings of potential mates that you need to review.”
“Yesss, I was looking through some of the recordingsss and profilesss while you were working the wedding. So far, there are only a few that I would be interested in meeting in person.”
She ignored the slight jealousy she felt at hearing how he already found some potential mates. This was what she was doing here, helping him find someone else. She needed to focus on her job.
“I thought we would have you in the center of the arboretum where we had set up the platform for the ceremony. The platform will be removed of course. Instead, there will be benches placed throughout the walkways inside the arboretum so that you can find private moments to speak with each candidate. We could set up a few tables with glasses of wine and light fare.”
“That soundsss perfect. My only requessst isss to ussse low lighting like in the chapel ssso that we can sssee the ssstars above usss. It makes me feel at peace looking at the stars.” He glanced up as he said it.
She was drawn to him and wanted to ask so many questions. Instead, she looked up at the stars. It was a beautiful setting.
“It is peaceful. I will arrange the lighting expert set up everything. We can have a preview two weeks prior to the event.”
“That’sss sssomething elssse I wanted to tell you. I need to do the gathering by next weekend.”
“What?”
“I’m sssorry for the short notice but the government of my people isss demanding I sssend the lissst of femalesss I would like to have come for the gathering by tomorrow and the officialsss are alssso demanding that the time frame for the event be bumped up. If I don’t want to comply I would have to go there to hold my gathering. I really don’t want to do that.”
Nina placed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “This complicates things. I have another wedding that I have to plan for at the arboretum next Friday.”
“What if I hold my gathering on a Sssunday. My people aren’t very religiousss, ssso that would not hold much meaning for usss.”
“I suppose that could work. I’ll have my team help me with the wedding and take on more responsibilities so that I have a little more free time.”
“Then there’sss only one thing I need you to do for me right now.”
“What’s that?”
“Come back to my sssuite and help me narrow down the lissst of femalesss. I won’t be able to view every sssingle video. If you could help me go through the profilesss and narrow them down, it will help me tremendousssly. Then I can watch the videosss tonight and have my ssselection sent off to my people’sss government in the morning.”
“This feels ... rushed,” she told him.
“I know, but if I want a Reptan female, I have to abide by the governing rulesss for gatheringsss.”
“Okay, I’ll come help you pick out profiles,” she agreed. She wasn’t sure this was the best thing to do, but she was already committed to helping him arrange his gathering. How much harder would it be to pick out a few women for him to take a look at? The final decision would be his.