“Perfect.” She winked.
He laughed and hugged his sister close. “Thanks, Valene. I do appreciate all you’ve done.”
“You’re welcome. And you’ll see. This wedding is going to be absolutely perfect.” She sounded so confident, it was difficult not to be swept up in her enthusiasm. Even so, regardless of the perfection of this wedding, the most important part was not going to be quite right.
Francine as his blushing bride was never going to be any part of perfection, no matter how hard his sister worked to make this a magical day for them.
Wedding Day
The sun shone down with perfect clarity for the wedding ceremony scheduled in the early afternoon. Regretfully, from Lucy’s point of view, the day was expected to be perfect for an outdoor wedding in Arkansas.
In the distance through the lovely forest of trees, she could see Maxwell the Martian dangling from the Alienn, Arkansas, water tower. A smile shaped her mouth until reality set in. This day would be a very long ride on the struggle bus. She’d overheard Valene say that to Aunt Dixie several days ago.
As if sensing Lucy’s thoughts, Valene approached with one man carrying a spray of lovely flowers and another carrying a waist-high pillar. All were headed for the stage.
“Okay,” Valene said in a rushed tone. “Put the pillar there and the flowers on top.” She pointed to a place along one side of the platform. “Then go back and get the matching set and put them on the opposite side. Try to make it even.”
There was a single step platform in place where the officiate would stand to join Axel and Francine. Fresh bunches of flowers on pedestals framed the outer walkways. Chairs waited like soldiers facing inspection on either side of a wide path down the center, ready for the bride and her maid of honor to walk down and greet the groom and his best man.
Lucy’s eyes lingered on the archway decorated with fresh flowers, green vines and tiny lights that Axel had requested. She would pass under it once, on her way with Francine to the altar. After the ceremony, the newly married couple would walk beneath it as man and wife.
Lucy tried not to think about that. She’d cling to Cam’s arm and try not to cry copious useless tears.
Because there would be a few humans also attending the wedding, all the Alphas involved were warned to be careful about what they discussed at the reception.
The skies were clear, blue and beautiful as Lucy readied herself for the difficult event. She went with Valene from the Nebula Nail Salon directly to the wedding venue.
A former residence turned into a restaurant and then into a little-used warehouse of sorts, the venue had seen a surge in popularity since Maxwell the Martian had been added to the water tower several years ago. The spot became a popular party, wedding, and event place for the surrounding area.
Lucy kept busy with Valene seeing to the endless last-minute details of the ceremony and the reception.
“Come with me, Lucy. The rest of the wedding party is arriving from the nail salon. You’ll be responsible for staying close to Francine until the ceremony starts. Try to keep her calm. I understand your mother has been picking at the bride all morning as they got their hair and nails done.”
“Picking?”
“You know. Unproductive remarks and digs about things Francine doesn’t need to think about today.”
“Like what?” Lucy didn’t mean to be obtuse, but her mind had been wandering to its own unproductive places.
“You know, like how she has to convince her new husband to move to Alpha-Prime, how the ceremony on our home planet will be so much better than this honky-tonk affair. Where she heard that term, I’ll never know. Perhaps Aunt Dixie was paraphrasing when she told me what she overheard.”
Lucy tried not to laugh, but every story about Aunt Dixie made her smile or laugh out loud. It helped lighten her morose attitude. “Okay. I’ll stick to Francine like glue and deflect my mother.”
Valene glanced at a pretty bangle on her wrist. It looked not unlike the bracelets Axel and Francine had chosen to exchange instead of the more traditional Earther finger rings.
“In exactly one hour the ceremony begins. In forty-five minutes, everyone except you, me and Francine will head out to the chairs where all the other guests are.
“You and I will ensure Francine is dressed and completely ready to go. I’ll head down the aisle to my seat up front with the groom’s family and signal the lady playing the piano on my way. The maid of honor will walk down the aisle next, then the bride.”
Lucy nodded and swallowed hard.Struggle bus, here I come.
“Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention,” Valene said in a hushed tone. “Directly after the ceremony when the bride and groom walk down the aisle, followed by the best man and maid of honor, the foursome will not go directly to the reception.”
“Where will we go?”
“The photographer wants to get some shots of everyone in the bridal party before they start eating. He set up a place in the room where the bride is getting ready. So just head there. I already told Francine so she knows, okay?”
