Lucy frowned. “Why can’t Axel come?”
“Earther tradition,” Valene said. “It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony.”
No chance of that, Axel thought. He’d heard the bride’s family was insisting on an enchanter veil for the bride regardless of any other Earther tradition. Wouldn’t want to see the bride until the wedding ceremony was concluded and nothing could be done about it.
Lucy spent the rest of the time noticeably not looking at him. Once they finished making plans, the trio stood up and exited the restaurant.
Valene said good-bye and dashed off with a wave, leaving Axel and Lucy alone.
He looked at her. She looked at his chest.
“Are you mad at me?”
Her gaze shifted to his face. “No. I just…you know… I…” Her eyes welled up with tears that somehow managed not to spill over her lower lids.
Instinctively, Axel reached for her, his only thought to offer comfort. She took a step in his direction, but clearly thought better of it and stepped further away, swiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands. Without a word, she shook her head and turned to walk quickly away, he assumed to her family’s basement quarters.
Axel almost felt like crying himself. What was he going to do? How could he marry Francine?
How could he not?
Lucy spent another sleepless night in her family’s temporary quarters. Today was going to test her mettle. Valene, Lucy and Francine were headed to downtown Alienn, with special permission, to spend the day at the Mission to Marry Bridal Boutique.
Valene arrived at their quarters early to escort them into town. Francine and Axel’s sister seemed to hit it off right away. Francine took Valene into her room to show her a picture of something she had in mind while Lucy went to tell her mother they were leaving.
“Are you going to wear a different dress here on Earth?” their mother asked when Francine and Valene joined them. “We can have the one I selected for you shuttled here from Alpha-Prime in time for the ceremony.”
“No,” Francine said firmly. “I’d like an Earther dress for my Earther wedding and not some complicated concoction from Alpha-Prime.”
Surprisingly, their mother simply said, “As you wish. Would you like me to go with you girls today? Eventually, I’ll have to select a dress for the wedding, too.”
Valene spoke first. “If you don’t mind, Mrs. Duvall, I’d like to get the bride’s dress selected first. We’ll likely have to do a few fittings and adjustments once the selection is made. We’ll return to town to select the family attire in a couple of weeks.”
Once again, their mother seemed content to let them proceed with the wedding preparations without her.
Valene led the way to the parking lot. “Axel let use his big truck today so we don’t have to be squished into my little car.”
Lucy opened the door and helped Francine into the front seat, showing her how to use the seat belt. She then climbed into the back seat, only then realizing uneasily that the vehicle’s interior smelled like Axel. She breathed deep, letting his scent settle into her lungs.
On the back seat next to her was an Earther book. She picked it up. The series character’s name was Dirk Crusher, the title,Just Die Already. The cover featured a flaming building in the background with the silhouette of a man framed into the foreground, gun in one hand and knife in the other. A well-used semi-tattered bookmark poked out from just inside the back cover. It had small pictures of two other books by the same author, L.M. Scott.Die in Due Timeand alsoDo or Die.
Lucy read the blurb on the back cover. Intrigued, she opened the book to the first page to see if it was as good on the inside. She read half of the first chapter by the time they got to the Mission to Marry Bridal Boutique.
She moved the bookmark from the back to keep her place and exited Axel’s vehicle, inhaling one last breath of his scent on the way out. It was torturous, but one look at Francine’s face was enough to center her. Her sister didn’t deserve the weight of this burden Lucy carried, so she shook off her melancholy and prepared to be upbeat and excited about the day.
“It’s sort of strange to select wedding clothing without Axel here, isn’t it?” Francine said quietly to Lucy as Valene led them into the store.
Lucy shrugged. “Earther tradition.”
Valene spoke with the employee who greeted them. The three of them were led down a hallway into a nice room with several overstuffed chairs. One corner featured a low pedestal in front of a three-paneled mirror for the bride to see the details of any dress she tried on.
“Can I get you some champagne?” the clerk asked.
Valene answered for them all. “Yes. Please. We’ll be here awhile.”
The clerk stepped out of the room and Lucy asked, “How does this work?”
