Chapter 19
Sam
“I don’t see what the big deal is Meri. Just tell me who you want to come and I will have the invitations sent out.”
Meri was quiet for a time, not like her at all. We were going over wedding arrangements, something that I was more involved with than her. She was almost four months along now and she was getting tired easier. Her last day at work was yesterday and I was happy to have her home with me where we could be together more.
“It’s not that easy Sam. Why don’t I give you a list later?”
“The wedding is in two weeks. We need to get these sent out.” I stopped and chuckled.
“What?”
“Why am I more worried about this than you are? Just give me a number and I will leave that many open.”
“Just five or so. No more than that.”
I stopped when she gave me her number. I had several hundred coming and I didn’t know what to say. It was times like this that I realized I didn’t know everything about my bride to be.
“Why so few? Don’t you want your family to come?”
“I don’t have much family. I thought I told you that before. No one that I invite is going to be related to me.”
This was the first I was hearing of it. “When did you tell me that?”
“When you asked. It was a while ago. You know that my parents are dead, right?”
Why didn’t I remember something like that? I remember Ashlyn mentioning that she didn’t have much family, but I hadn’t put the two together. I felt bad for even asking about it now. “Well don’t worry. We are family and I have a huge family that you will have to contend with. It will be a mess for the most part, it always is, but soon enough we will have another addition to ours.”
“I like the sound of that, but I am not having a brood, two is my limit.”
I wanted more and I knew that she would be a good mother. When I thought about her not having any parents, I wanted to know more. Did we have a conversation and I was just so love drunk that I don’t remember it?
“So when did your parents die?”
“When I was young. I don’t remember either one of them.”
“So who raised you?”
She giggled at me and asked me why I had all of these questions all of a sudden. I didn’t know how to answer. I wanted to know everything about her and even now I got that she was still so mysterious to me. It really was a shame.
“I was raised by the state and several foster families, places like that. I left when I was fifteen and came to the city. I never looked back.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted to kiss her. She smiled at me and asked what that was for.
“I am sorry I didn’t know that. I wouldn’t have asked you such stupid questions.”
“It’s fine, really. It was a long time ago and I don’t know what I am missing. I have great friends that are like family. Ashlyn has been a lifesaver more than once.”
“She says the same thing about you, though I never have got the full story on that.”
Meri paused for a moment and then smiled to herself. “She almost got involved with a pimp. I knew the man she was going to meet. It was a chance meeting that I met Ashlyn. She was naïve to city life and I saw something put in her drink. It was their way of getting her under their control. I got her out of there and she stayed with me for a few weeks until she got a job. Then she started to climb the ladders of the rich. I don’t know how she did it, but Ashlyn came from not much of anything like me. I feel like we were meant to meet and I am glad I was able to help her. I never would have imagined that she would come to my rescue in much the same way.”
I was taken aback by so much of it. For one that Meri would be wise to such a thing or to even imagine Ashlyn almost becoming a prostitute. I am still not sure what she does, but she knows a lot of powerful men. She made introductions for me that I never thought possible. Ashlyn ran on favors and it was hard to even think of her wasting her lobbying skills on something so dark. “I can’t imagine it.”
“Well this was long before she dressed all fancy. Ashlyn comes from a small town and she has some family, but she rarely sees them. I don’t know what she was doing here to begin with. I think the lights brought her here.”
“Is that what happened with you?”
She smiled and shrugged. I pulled her to me, kissing her neck. Every day I was with Meri, I swear I fell more in love with her.
“Something like that.”
“Well I am sure glad you came.”
Our lips met and she pushed me away after a moment. “Me too, but if you don’t give me some space, we are never going to get anywhere with these plans. I still don’t see why we need to do all of this.”
“Because it is expected. You’re right though about not having much time left. Where were we?”
She wasn’t thinking about the wedding anymore. As proper as she liked to be about it, the secret really was that Meri wanted sex more than I did. I could see it in her eyes and I for one was thankful for all of the pregnancy hormones coursing through her. It just meant that I got what I wanted a lot more than before. Sometimes I had to pace her to make it through the day without being completely exhausted.
It didn’t take long for us to get sidetracked and before I knew it, I had Meri underneath me and I was pushing inside of her. She had this look of contentment on her face and it was hard to deny how much I loved to know that I was the reason for it. I had known for some time that I was put on this earth to please her and all of the other women were just practice in the end.