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I didn’t want to think about it, so I shoved the thought aside and asked, “Are Gia and Lairah being overbearing about the wedding plans?”
“They have some intense ideas about our wedding,” she laughed. “I think I might want to elope.”
Now, she was talking my language. “You don’t have to convince me. I’ll take you to Vegas and make you my wife right now if it’s what you want.”
She quickly said, “Nope. I’m not ready to give up my dream of marrying you at the top of the open arms staircases.”
I wondered how I could be so lucky. How had I found enough favor with the gods to be given such a beautiful gift as Chansey?
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t even ask you if that was what you wanted.”
“I’ve already told you that I thought it was perfect,” I reminded her.
She appeared puzzled. “I don’t recall you telling me that.”
“We didn’t exactly discuss it. When we were at Rachel and Christian’s wedding reception, you told me how you pictured your wedding and I told you that I thought it was perfect. We didn’t get far into the conversation because that jackass, Evan Finley, interrupted us.”
“Yes, that I remember well. I’m sorry his stupid insults stand out more in my mind than our conversation,” she apologized.
Just thinking about that jackass had my blood boiling so I thought it was a great idea to steer the direction of the conversation back toward the wedding. “Have you thought about a date for our wedding?”
She smiled and her eyes lit up. “Yes, I’ve given it a lot of thought and I have a date in mind. How do you feel about a November wedding?”
No way! That was too long to wait. “I’d be fine with it if this was the end of October. I know four months isn’t forever, but it sure feels an eternity to me right now.”
“It’s not an eternity and four months barely gives me enough time to plan a small wedding. We haven't even told Granna and Granddaddy about our engagement yet. Have you forgotten that?”
I definitely had not forgotten that detail. “No, it hasn’t slipped my mind.”
She laughed and asked, “Are you worried about telling them?”
“I am a little nervous about it. I’ve never asked to marry someone before,” I admitted.
She leaned over and bumped her shoulder against mine. “Well, that’s good to know, but we’re telling them we’re getting married, not asking permission.”
“I know we don’t have to have their permission. That’s not what I need. It’s their blessing I want. I may be three times as old as Grady, but I still want to be respectful,” I said.
She looked at me and rested her chin against her shoulder as she laughed. “That is so bizarre to me.”
It didn’t sound like a compliment. “Does my age bother you?”
“No, I don’t think of you as your actual age. You just seem like a 26 year-old to me.” She sat up and leaned closer to brush her lips across mine. “A very robust 26 year-old.”
Her kiss and proximity stirred her Agápe scent, leaving me with an intense urgency to be closer to her. I reached for her, pulling her against my chest a little too quickly. I heard her gasp and then I saw the smile across her face, proving the sudden catch in her breath resulted from delight instead of fear.
She deepened our kiss as she rolled to her back, pulling me on top of her to rest between her bent knees. This was our first private moment since we arrived at the compound and it caused me to be overly enthusiastic. I knew I shouldn’t, but I placed my hand behind one of her knees and pulled her leg to wrap around my waist as I pressed my body into hers. A sigh escaped her lips and she pulled her other leg up around my waist. The thoughts of what I wanted to do to her returned me to my senses and she recognized the look she had become so well acquainted with when things between us had gone a little too far.
She groaned because she knew what was coming next and locked her legs around my waist. “Don’t you dare stop because you cannot keep doing this to me. It’s totally unfair!”
I reached for her legs to coax them off of me. “Move the wedding up and I’ll be more than glad to become totally fair. In fact, I’m quite anxious to be totally fair.”
A thoughtful look came across her face and she said, “October. It’s the earliest I can pull it off even with help from Gia and Lairah.”
I tugged on her bottom lip with my teeth. “That’s still three months away,” I complained.
A pouty look came over her face and the little vixen I loved tried to use her power of persuasion on me just like Sebastian said she would. “I know a way to make the next three months pass much faster.”
“Your name shouldn’t be Chansey. It should be Risky because you are playing with a fire you highly underestimate,” I assured her.
She dramatically huffed. “Promises, promises. I’m not sure I’ll ever find out if I underestimate you or not.”
Since I easily talked her into moving the date a month earlier, I thought I might push my luck a little further. “Looks like you won’t discover the truth for months, unless you want to move the date closer.” I took my hand and placed it on her thigh, moving it slowly under her dress as I said, “Come on, let’s do it.” I allowed my to words linger as I gazed into her eyes and then I added, “In August.”
When I began to laugh, she forcibly slapped my hand away from under her dress to show her unhappiness with my joke. “I can wait if you can. Maybe even until the end of December. I’ve heard Christmas weddings are beautiful.”
It was clear I had pushed my luck too far with her when she showed me how she could beat me at my own game, so I conceded. “I’ll take the October wedding.”
She smiled and I thought it was because she was getting her way, but then she told me, “The 16th is when my parents were married. What do you think?”
When she said the date and I saw her smile, I knew there would be no other day for us to be married. “I think it’s perfect.”
“I do too,” she agreed.
“Will you show me their wedding picture when we get back to your grandparents’ house?”
Her smile was replaced by something different. “I don’t have their wedding picture anymore. All of our photographs were lost in Hurricane Katrina. I have a few random snapshots that family members have collected for me, but I don’t even have a picture of the four of us together as a family.”
It had been six years since Hurricane Katrina, but I could see the devastation of her loss. “I’m sorry, Chansey.”
“It’s alright. It took me a while to get over it, but I have my memories and they’re wonderful.”
She saw the decline in my mood and said, “Nope, Curry Brennan. I’m not letting the past ruin this time together. Let’s talk about something happier.”
She was right. I didn’t want to waste this alone time because it was so rare. I wasn’t finished exploring our plans for our future so I asked, “October 16th, huh?”
“Yes, an evening wedding in October at my grandparents’ house couldn’t be more perfect, could it?” she asked.
I took her hand in mine and placed a kiss on it. “Making you my wife under any circumstances couldn’t be more perfect unless it was sooner. Where do you want to go on our honeymoon?”
“I want to go somewhere tropical with clear blue waters since that won’t be an option once you turn me.”
Her words stirred something in me I couldn’t let go, and although I knew it would start an argument, I said, “Chansey, you don’t know that you will still want to be turned after you see the fledgeling transition.”
Her relaxed posture became stiff and I knew I had spoken fighting words. The anger in her eyes gave her away, telling me she was ready to advance as she groaned, “Are we seriously back to that place, again?”
I instantly regretted my words and refused to waste this precious alone time going head to head in a battle I couldn’t win today. “No, I don’t want to spend this precious time a
lone fighting about a decision that can’t be made right now, so I’m changing the subject. Have you thought about where we should live after we’re married?”
She appeared surprised by my question. “I assumed we would live here at the compound.”
Sebastian was right. She wanted to be at the compound waiting for the first fledgeling to arrive, but it was a good choice for me because living here would allow me to continue my work as a mentor. “Sebastian said that we are welcome to live here. It isn’t far from your grandparents, so you may drive over to visit them whenever you want.”
I noticed concern across her face. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“If we live at the compound, will the others always hear everything that happens between us?”
I should have suspected her concern since it was the same as mine. “No, Sebastian has offered to have soundproof quarters built for us and the construction will begin immediately so it will be ready for us when we return from our honeymoon. Sebastian is going to contact his contractor and we’ll need to meet with him about the layout before we go back to Pascagoula,” I explained.
“Won’t that be expensive?” she inquired.
I wanted to set her mind at rest that she would never want for anything. “I don’t want you to ever worry about money. You are my Agápe and it is my responsibility and honor to care for you completely, including financially. We have an abundance of revenue so I don’t want you to worry about finances.”
“No more talk of money,” she agreed. “Do you have something in mind for our quarters because I don’t know a thing about plans or layouts?”
