I’m going to get married…
It was something Beau thought he’d given up the moment he arrived on the Mermades, not that he’d thought much about marriage before that. It all felt so surreal—a feeling that was only amplified by Loriun’s sudden announcement.
“I think we should get married tomorrow.”
Beau nearly fell into the pool where Loriun was lounging.
“Excuse me?!” he gasped, righting himself. “Tomorrow?”
“I would like your mother to be there,” the Mer said. “I believe it would mean a great deal to her, to see her only child wed.”
Beau fell quiet. Loriun was right, it would mean a lot toMamá.And if his father was telling the truth about how little time she had remaining…
“And,” Loriun added, “You can consider it my birthday gift.”
Beau snorted. “Your birthday isn’t for another two weeks, and I already got you a present.”
Every fin on the Mer’s body flared out in delight. “You did?”
“Yes, now, back to the whole getting–married–tomorrow thing. How are we going to pull that off?”
Loriun cocked his head. “Pull what off of what?”
“No—” Beau rubbed his temples. “I mean how are we going to do that with so little time?”
“Ah.” Loriun settled lower into the waves. “Your parents’ home has a conservatory, correct?”
“The old greenhouse? Yeah. I think Dad still has gardeners hired to look after it. Why?”
“I could recruit some friends to decorate the space while we announce your pregnancy to your parents. Then, we could ask them to come with us to the greenhouse.” Loriun hummed. “But it would be a very small wedding. Would you prefer to wait and plan a larger wedding?”
Beau shook his head. “A small wedding sounds perfect. Can we ask Jaime and Vuos to come? They’ll be sailing us there anyway.”
A mischievous grin spread across Loriun’s face. “Certainly. In fact, I believe they are just the ones we need to… What was it? Pull this off.”
∞∞∞
When the two men set sail the following morning, Jaime’s cobalt blue boat was stuffed with bags of supplies. Both Beau and the older man were dressed in beige slacks and tailored white shirts.
“I thought I would never be able to get this out of my system!” Jaime called over the motor. “Figured my kids would do things the Mer way, and there’d be no wedding to plan.”
“Sorry for the short notice!” Beau yelled back.
To their right, Loriun broke through the surface of the water, soaring in a delicate arc before diving back into the sea. Vuos followed suit on their left.
“Ahh, look at that.” Jaime put a mocking hand over his heart. “Vuos’s boot camp is finally kicking in.”
“I would hope so. They’ve been out swimming together every other morning.”
Beau’s suit jacket and Loriun’s entire outfit were safely enclosed in a waterproof garment bag, with Vuos’s hanging over the back of Jaime’s seat.
The dark-scaled Mer was, admittedly, bemused by the whole wedding thing, but agreed to his role without complaint.
Beau’s heart felt like it was going to give out. Not only was he telling his parents he’d gotten pregnant after being explicitly told not to, but he was also telling them that he’d gotten engaged. Then, on top of that, he was springing a surprise wedding on them. The only reason he didn’t dive off the side of the boat and swim back to Miami was Loriun’s assurance that he and Vuos would physically drag Ashford Montgomery to the shore and toss him in the water if he caused trouble. That and the baby, he supposed.
The journey to Gainesville was over far too quickly. Beau’s chest thudded with adrenaline as Loriun helped him onto the dock.
“Do you promise everything will be okay?” he whispered, clutching at Loriun’s arm. The Alpha gripped Beau’s chin and tilted his face up for a kiss.
