“Oh, goodness, did we interrupt y’all having a party or something. I thought I heard people in the background.”
“We were just having dinner at an Italian place here on the ship. We’ll have to bring you and dad here when you come up to visit sometime,” I told her.
“Sounds like a plan,” Dad replied. “We’ll let you boys go so you can finish your dinner.”
“Talk to you soon!” Mom added. “Love, you, bye!” She blew a kiss into the phone before disconnecting the call.
“Really? You didn’t take five minutes to let your parents know about getting matched?” Carl asked, shaking his head.
“Or that you had nothing to worry about anymore with your blood pressure?” Kit asked.
I swallowed. “I just…I needed time to wrap my own head and feelings around it all, before having to deal with theirs. Especially with the mating thing. I wasn’t sure how she’d take it with us being a throuple. I mean, I knew she’d end up happy for us, and my dad too, but their initial reaction was what worried me.”
“I understand,” Kit said. “Multiple partners are not as socially accepted among humans.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I told my dad already,” Carl said. “He’s been waiting for us to get in touch with wedding plans, and I’d told him your mom probably would be involved.” He speared another bite of cannoli. “Now that’s all out in the open, let’s get back to my birthday. You guys need to try this. You haven’t even taken a bite yet and if you don’t, I’ll finish mine and take yours too.”
That was not happening, I decided, immediately going for my first taste, Kit doing likewise. He was right. It was absolutely delicious and I was the luckiest guy in the universe. I had two very understanding mates and parents that were accepting. Who knew failing at being a soldier thanks to my health would end up being the best thing to have ever happened to me, as it set everything else in motion.
30
KITTINIR
“Pffft, we might as well have shouted ‘release the kraken!’ when we spoke to your mom and gave her my dad’s phone number,” Carl chuckled.
“I think we've confused Kit again,” Alec said, studying my face.
“I do not know what kraken are,” I admitted, “nor what they have to do with your mother being able to communicate directly with Carl’s father.”
“Well, guess we know what tonight’s movie is then,” Carl replied gleefully, rubbing his hands together.
“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea?”
“Yep.” Carl handed over his tablet to me. “Here, honey, this is what a kraken is.”
I looked, blinking. “His mother is like a giant mythical beast who tears ships asunder?”
“Not quite. More like between the two of them, they demolished every obstacle in their way of getting the result they wanted.”
“And one which we were happy to agree to,” Alec added.
“Ah. I get it now.”
“Good, because we’re getting married this coming Sunday, at 2 p.m.”
Carl’s announcement wasn’t completely a surprise, as we had told her we wished for the ceremony to be within two to three weeks, and that was twelve days ago.
“I’ve already let Xero know, and apparently, on top of our original three weeks, we now have another three, so we can take a two week honeymoon before returning.”
“We still haven’t decided where we want to go,” Kit pointed out.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Carl said, going over to the replicator and ordering up three mugs of mint hot chocolate. He placed them on a tray and carried them over to the breakfast bar. Alec and I made a quick move to claim a barstool each. “So, how about we each pick a place on Earth we’ve always wanted to go, even if it’s more fun than strictly romantic.”
I nodded, taking a quick lick of the whipped cream on top of my drink. “Sounds fair. We can spend a few days in each location easily with the use of a shuttle.”
“Great. So, Alec, you first. Where is somewhere you’ve always wanted to go but never thought you could?”
