Valene explained to the Duvall parents that the groom’s folks typically footed the bill for the rehearsal dinner. Lucy’s parents selected the single most expensive restaurant in the basement area, even though Lucy didn’t think that was what Valene meant. But Axel’s sister took that information in stride, making it part of the guided chaos that was this Earther wedding experience. She also explained who attended and who didn’t. Earther wedding traditions apparently only went so far where her parents were concerned and they refused to ask their other three daughters to remain in their quarters while the rest of the family partied and ate exotic food.
Although both families had adult children standing in the front row during the ceremony, the Duvalls did not feel the same way about Axel’s siblings, there were so many of them. Maybe some of his brothers could just stay home. Valene smiled through it all and was very accommodating.
Lucy didn’t care about all that. Part of her wanted to go because Axel would be there and it was one more chance to see her good “friend” before heading back to Alpha-Prime. When he and Francine set up house on Alpha-Prime, Lucy expected she would only see them at annual family gatherings, weddings, births or the inevitable death ceremonies. That would be enough.
While she didn’t get to marry Axel, Lucy enjoyed hanging out with him. He was funny. He understood her. He wasn’t judgy—a term she’d learned from Valene—about anything. Axel thought she was beautiful when the only other person in her family who’d told her that was Francine.
Perhaps they could meet occasionally to discuss the latest Dirk Crusher book. They’d have to arrange a long-distance shipment from Earth to feed their passionate reader fancy.
Axel expected to remain on Earth after his marriage to Francine. He’d mentioned it when they visited Cam’s beautiful lake house. He’d pointed out the property he wanted to purchase nearby. Those plans would certainly change tonight. Her parents would never let Francine reside on Earth. They had plans. They always got their way.
The evening might be inspired by Earther traditions, but she knew traditional pre-wedding get-togethers, especially ones that involved arranged marriages, were often rife with arguments concerning what trades would be offered to the families on each side for the betterment of their family coffers. Rich Alpha families alternated between showing off what amazing thing they were doing for the married couple and trying to get as much from the other family as possible before the wedding ceremony was complete.
She’d attended a wedding where both fathers stood in the front row yelling and arguing across the aisle over the minutia of the trades until bride and groom spoke their vows. Each father claimed the other family had gotten away with far too much.
Lucy’s family was not so petty as to argue little things, but they would definitely argue for Francine and Axel to live on Alpha-Prime.
Her father had secured five very desirable properties for his daughters. As the first to wed, Francine and Axel would get first choice. Hence Ardelia’s outrage at not being the first to wed, although she was the eldest.
Lucy wondered if her parents had compromised to soothe Ardelia’s anger. Perhaps Francine and Axel would get their choice of four properties on Alpha-Prime because Ardelia would have already chosen the best for herself. Lucy looked forward to more than one “discussion” once her father pulled out the old-fashioned green property ledger holding whatever properties would be offered for their selection.
First discussion, why only four selections instead of five? Second discussion, which of the four remaining places will be chosen? A third possible discussion, or rather loud argument, would likely ensue if Axel stood his ground and told her parents and the assembled crowd that Francine was going to live on Earth in a cabin on a lake near his brother once they were married. What if he didn’t want to make any selection from the old-fashioned green property ledger?
Whatever happened, Lucy expected lots of fireworks—another word she’d learned from Valene, who explained it was basically loud booming explosions with various colors of spewing choreographed lights launching into the sky.
She had offered it up as a possibility once Francine and Axel walked down the aisle as husband and wife. Valene explained they could set a timer on a romantic firework display to explode overhead as the newlyweds walked hand in hand down the aisle and into their future life together.
Lucy suffered a vicious spasm in her heart during the explanation and left that particular decision solely to Valene.
There was a knock at her door and Francine popped her head in. “Are you ready to go to dinner? Mother and father are waiting.”
“Sorry, I was daydreaming about one of the details for your coming wedding.”Not a lie.
“Oh? What part?”
Lucy quickly fastened her earrings in place. “Sorry, I can’t tell you. I promised Valene it would be a surprise.”Also not a lie.
Francine grinned. “Valene is awesome. She’s worked really hard on this Earther wedding.”
“She has,” Lucy agreed.
“And that’s not to say you haven’t worked hard as my wedding director. I’m so glad I picked you.”
Lucy gave her a knowing look. “Because Ardelia would have been a pain in the patootie.”
Francine laughed. “Where did you hear that? And what is a patootie?”
“A patootie is a backside.” Lucy pointed to hers. “And I learned it from Axel and Valene’s aunt Dixie. She’s something else. Quite a character.”
Her sister nodded. “Valene has mentioned her more than a few times. She sounds a bit like Grandma Matilda. She was always so much fun.”
Lucy nodded. “Yes. She was.”
They joined the rest of their family at the entryway to their temporary quarters. Even though the restaurant wasn’t far away, her parents had arranged for transportation in the form of something called a golf cart.
Golf, Valene had instructed, was an Earther sport involving whacking little white balls into holes in the ground from a distance and the golf carts were used to convey the golfers from one faraway hole to the next. If Lucy played golf, she’d run through the grass barefoot from one hole to the other and leave the golf cart behind.
The ride to the restaurant didn’t take long. Before she knew it, her family was seated across from the groom’s family in a quiet room at the back of the restaurant closed off from the other patrons.
