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“Petra, Petra, one of the kids broke the chocolate fountain. Come fast,” said Aunt Sue.
When I rushed to the sweet crime scene, Gabriel was already fixing the issue. The man was always there when you needed him.
The rest of the night went smoothly. Our first (second) dance went without any issues, except I had the pleasure of witnessing Gabriel’s improved dance moves once more. The following dance, Gabriel invited Mom to the floor. The lady radiated brighter than a light bulb. But the familial dances didn’t end there. After my mom, Aunt Sue grabbed Gabriel’s hand and turned the compulsory mother-son dance into a mom’s sister-son dance. Chivalrous as ever, Gabriel accepted the forced invitation and danced Aunt Sue off her feet. Finally, Gabriel invited Aunt Tracy to dance so she wouldn’t be left out.
In the meantime, I danced with Dad. “I wish your sister could see how beautiful you are on your wedding day,” Dad said.
“Me too, Dad. Me too,” I said, feeling bittersweet.
Afterward, the DJ changed the music to a fast-paced tempo while the alcohol continued pouring into everyone’s glasses. I didn’t need any when I had the love of my life dancing with me on the dancefloor.
Aunt Sue realized her biggest chance at marrying Kimberleigh into Gabriel’s family was to get closer to Troy. So the entire night, she and Kimberleigh sat next to him as Aunt Sue blabbered about how wonderful her daughter was. Luckily, Troy had enough composure to listen quietly to Aunt Sue’s marketing ploy.
To save Troy from Aunt Sue’s incessant badgering, I placed myself as a barrier between the two. “Aunt Sue, can I have a word with Troy?” I asked.
Aunt Sue didn’t like the idea of losing precious minutes in her marketing campaign, but since I was the bride, she didn’t quite have a choice.
“I hope my aunt didn’t tire you too much,” I said.
“Not at all. I learned to disassociate since my days as a boxer. I’m still not sure what she spoke about.”
I chuckled. “No worries. Nothing worth mentioning. I still hope you’re enjoying the wedding.”
“Yes, I appreciate the invitation. However, I would’ve preferred His Majesty not to forget about the kingdom. Not when peace finally seems to settle between our brethren.”
“Were there times when it wasn’t as peaceful?”
Troy realized he overspoke. “Yes, many of them coincided with the grueling wars in The Ordinary World.”
“Since Gabriel is still in charge, I assume he came victorious out of all of them.”
“Indeed so. For then, he didn’t have a weakness.”
“And now he does, huh?”
“Milady, you must realize you don’t gain only Gabriel as your husband. You also gain an entire kingdom and a slew of enemies. Your choice to remain human can create an array of problems that can weaken Gabriel’s hold on his people and his adversaries.”
“I appreciate your concern, Troy. This proves again Gabriel made an excellent choice in selecting you as his second-in-command. But you forget that besides being human, I am also a time traveler. And something tells me I shouldn’t hurry to seal my fate. Call it a woman’s intuition.”
“Excuse my defiance, Milady, but a woman’s intuition is not an appropriate criterion to make a life-changing decision.”
“Fine. Since you’re so direct, I’ll answer the same way. I want to find out more about Gabriel’s past. When I feel confident I know everything about him, then I’ll turn. Does this meet your appropriate criteria?” I asked.
“Indeed so,” Troy said sternly.
“You should loosen up, Troy. You’re too tense. Your past self shouldn’t define your present self.” I patted him on the back.
Troy gazed at me in surprise but then relaxed. “You might be correct, Milady.” We both exchanged smiles.
I went to join Gabriel in a conversation with my parents. With the amount of fun we had, no one noticed the sunrise behind the horizon.
“As much as I don’t want the fun to end, I believe it’s time,” I said to Gabriel.
“The guests may stay. We have other plans,” Gabriel said.
“What other plans?” I asked.
He took me outside and showed me a massive yacht bobbing not so far away from the shore.
