Suddenly a Bride (28 page)

“Of course, I did.  That’s how she became my life mate.”

After a pause from the other end, she said, “I’ll never catch onto the lingo you young people use
today
, but that sounds a lot like you were shacking up with her for some time.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by shacking up.”

“That doesn’t matter.  What matters is that Caitlyn’s upset, and she’s bound to blame me.  You wanted to publicly declare your love for my daughter, didn’t you?  I mean, you do love her enough to do that in front of family and friends, right?”

“Yes, I love her.”

“Good because if you don’t acknowledge your love for her in a public ceremony in front of her family and friends, people are apt to believe you don’t.”

“Really?  Is that how you do it on
Earth?”

She paused for a moment and chuckled.  “As much as I enjoy your humor, this is a serious issue.  A wedding is the most important event in a couple’s life.  Weddings are romantic.  They make the woman feel secure and loved.  You do want Caitlyn to feel secure and loved, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can see how important this wedding is.  I
t’s just as important to you,
if you think about it?”

“It is?”

“Why, yes.  I mean, it shows you that she loves you enough to publicly acknowledge you in front of her family and friends.  It says that she’s happy to be with you and have your children.  It’ll give you security as well.”

“It will?”

“Think about it.  The fact that Caitlyn didn’t i
nsist on a wedding like the one
I’m putting together implies she’s
embarrassed to be with you.”

He shifted in the chair and winced.  “To be fair, it wasn’t like she had a choice.” He was the one who
initiated the process for them to be life mates, and the bonding of their lives didn’t depend on a wedding ceremony.  The rules were so different on this world.  It was hard to figure out what was right and what was wrong
on Earth
.  Clearing his throat, he added, “I’m sure she would have wanted a wedding if I gave her the choice.”

She sighed.  “I hope so, Chris.  For your sake, I hope so, but people might think she married you because of the baby.  She never once mentioned you to me or her dad or anyone else we know until that day at the barbeque and by then, she was pregnant, wasn’t she?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat and
rubbed his chest.  How much should
he tell her?  Caitlyn didn’t want him to tell anyone about the pregnancy that day.

“Your silence speaks volumes, Chris.  I’m afraid she settled for you because she had no choice, but that doesn’t mean all is lost.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No.  Fortunately, we have the opportunity to make things right.  We’ll start over with a new slate.  I’m here for you, Chris.  I want to see you and Caitlyn stay married for life.  You’d like
that, wouldn’t you?”

“We are bonded for life.”

“And with any luck, you’ll be able to say that thirty to forty or even fifty years from now.  I sure wouldn’t want you to end up as another sad statistic. 
There are too many divorces this day and age.”

He recalled what Mark said about women divorcing their husbands because they no longer loved them.  Something like that couldn’t happen between him and Caitlyn, could it? 
But she didn’t choose to marry me.  I sent out the hormone that made her go through with the bonding process that made us life mates.
If she was given the choice, she would have married him, wouldn’t she?

“I’m here for you,” her mother continued in a comforting tone.  “This wedding is the best thing you can do for you, Caitlyn, and your child.”

The front door burst open and an angry Caitlyn stormed up to him and pointed to the phone.  “Is that my mother?” Before he could answer, she grabbed the phone from him and asked, “Who is this?”

He had no idea what her mother said, but Caitlyn yelled, “There will be no wedding!” And then she slammed the phone—not once
,
but three times—until she let it fall into the cradle.  “I can’t believe her!  She’ll stop at nothing to control my life!”

Standing up, he asked, “You don’t want to have a wedding?”

“No, I don’t.  Look, I’m not mad at you.  I know how she is, but please stop listening to her.  She made life miserable for me and Randy.”

“But you married him,” h
e argued, his face flushing with
a mixture of fear and anger.  “I saw the picture of you in a wedding dress.  You had a wedding with him.  Why won’t you have one with me?”

“It’s unnecessary, Chris.  We’re already married.  That life mate whatever-you-call-it thing married us.  The state of Florida recognizes our marriage, and my mom will just
have
to recognize it too.”

“But what about publicly saying you want
to be with me
in front of family and friends?”

“That doesn’t matter.  I don’t need to stand in front of anyone to know how I feel about you.” She glanced at the open door, grunted and shut it.  “Great. 
I
bet the neighbors are loving this
.”

Pushing aside the discomfort in his chest, he said, “I’d like a wedding, Caitlyn.”

She rubbed her eyes and shook her head.  “No.  If I agree to this, then I’ll end up having to do everything else she wants or fight you over every little thing.  We have to put our foot down on this.  Don’t cave, Chris.  She’ll make our lives impossible
if we do this.”

“Don’t you love me?”

“Love has nothing to do with this.  This is all about her and what she wants.  She needs to butt out of our lives.  Don’t you see what she’s doing?”

His lower lip trembled and he fought the tears that stung his eyes.  So she loved him but not enough to tell anyone else about it.  He rubbed his chest and tried not to think of how painful it was to discover this.  The
morning had started out so well
.  He’d been happier than he’d ever been, and now…

“Where’s
the ring and necklace she made you buy?”
Caitlyn demanded, turning back to him.  She pulled the cell phone out of her purse and dialed a number.

“What?”

“She told me she had you buy some jewelry.  I’m guessing this was at my uncle’s store?”

“Uh…yes,” he softly admitted.

“Great.  It’ll be easy to return the items.” She put the phone up to her ear and asked
him
, “Where are they?”

She really didn’t want to go through with the wedding, and now she didn’t want to wear the ring and necklace he’d bought for her?

“Hi, Uncle Gerald.  This is Caitlyn.” She rubbed her forehead and sighed.  “Yeah, she’s at it again.” Groaning, she put her hand down.  “Why didn’t you stop her?” After a moment, she said, “But he doesn’t know any better.  He—” She glanced at Chris.
  “He’s not from here.  The area, I mean.”

Chris frowned.  “I’m not a moron, Caitlyn.”

Holding her hand over the mouthpiece, she whispered, “That’s not what I meant.” Removing her hand, she asked, “I’m not paying another $5000 for a ring.  I kept the one she made Randy get, but I won’t keep this one.”

The pain in Chris’ chest worsened.  She wouldn’t keep what he bought her even though she kept what Randy gave her?

“What?” she screamed.  “But we don’t have $35,000!” She gave Chris a look that told him she wasn’t happy with him bef
ore she shouted into the phone,
“You bet we’re returning them! 
I just got rid of my last credit card.  I refuse to be in bondage to another one
!”

Chris thought he could get upset since she’d so blatantly rejected him, but the pain in his chest sharpened and all he could do was sit there, hoping massaging it would make the pain go away as it’d done before.

“Where’s the jewelry?” Caitlyn asked him.

He tried to answer but the words wouldn’t come out.  It felt as if his heart was splitting in two, and he could feel the bond between them wavering.

“Chris?”

“In the nightstand,” he managed.  “By my side of the bed.”

She ran to the bedroom.

Gritting his teeth as the pain spread outward to other areas of his body,
he became aware that the bond wasn’t only wavering but it was dimming
.
  He knew what was happening; he just didn’t want to believe it.
 
He’d heard of men who
died
from broken hearts
on his world
, but he couldn’t believe a thing like that could literally happen. 
He clutched his chest and tried to steady his breathing.  If he could just get enough oxygen, it might ease the pain.
  Then he could sit and talk to her and figure out exactly what was going on.  It couldn’t be as bad as he feared. 
Surely, she could love him and not want to marry him in front of other people or wear the
ring and necklace he bought her.
  As much as he trie
d to
reason these things to himself, the bond grew weaker.

Caitlyn returned with the jewelry box in her hand.  When she saw him, she
dropped the phone
and box and
ran o
ver to him.  He tried to speak but couldn’t.  He felt her
hands on his face and chest while she called out something he couldn’t deci
pher.  His vision
blur
red
, but he was sure she ran back to the phone.  She returned to him while she talked into the phone and checked his puls
e. 
Then everything grew dark and silent, and the only thing keeping the bond intact was the fact that she was holding him.

Chapter Twenty-Two

C
aitlyn
couldn’t believe this was happening.  After the ambulance came and took him to t
he hospital, she had to wait while
the hospital sta
ff
tend
ed
to him. 
It brought back all the trips to the hospital she and Randy went to, and she couldn’t stop crying
because
she worried the doctor would tell her the same thing he’d told her the last time she’d been here: that her husband was dead.  She couldn’t go through this again.  She thought Chris was so healthy he wouldn’t have a heart attack.  With the way he made everything on his world sound, she figured he’d outlive her.

Sniffing back her tears, she called Mark, grateful Chris had programmed the number into her phone.  When Mark picked up, she asked, “Is there something on this planet that make
s your kind sick?  Like germs in
the atmosphere
or something
?”

“No
,”
he replied.  “Our bodies are physically compatible with Earth.  Why?”

As much as she tried not to cry, her voice broke when she said, “Chris just had a heart attack.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks but they kept coming.  “I don’t get it.  This morning, he was fine, and then when I got home, he collapsed on the floor and…and now he’s at the hospital, and I don’t know what’s going to happen.” She sat down in the waiting room and ignored the looks she got from others who entered through the door of the emergency room.  “I don’t know what to do, Mark.”

“Which hospital are you at?”

She told him.

“I’ll be right there.  If you get a chance to talk to him, you need to tell him you love him, okay?  I’ll explain why when I see you.”

She thought that was a strange thing for Chris’ friend to say but agreed and hung up.  She debated calling her mother and letting the meddling woman know what she’d done but resisted the urge to go into a meltdown in front of other people.  It was bad enough she couldn’t stop crying and they kept glancing her way.

“Mrs. West?” a nurse called out.

Standing up, Caitlyn hurried over to the desk.  “Yes?”

“We need you to fill out these forms.”