Lars looked around the room and asked, “Any objections?” He winked at Valeria who, by now, had tears in her eyes.
The room was silent. Lars continued, “Before we adjourn, any other business?”
Sudden understanding flooded Valeria’s heart.
Alex looked at Valeria with love. “Yes. I wish to marry this beautiful woman sitting next to me.”
“Val, do you wish to marry Alex?” Lars asked.
Valeria could barely speak as she replied, “With all of my heart!”
“It is not this council’s duty to approve or disapprove matters of the heart. But, as a matter of consideration, this council unanimously and enthusiastically applauds this union! This meeting has come to a close.”
Alex kissed Valeria and held her. When she looked up, she saw Camille standing next to her beaming. Camille wiped her own tears and then handed a box of tissue to Valeria. Ava sniffed, “I need one, too!”
Camille cleared her throat. “All right, people! Can I have your attention please?” Everyone quieted.
“As some of you know, we have been busily preparing for our bride and groom these past few weeks.” Alex brushed away Valeria’s tears and she kissed him, wondering how all of this could have been in progress for weeks without her knowledge. “Thanks to Lars and Tav, we have a plan that will permit us to move the celebration to its proper location.”
Suddenly overwhelmed with joy, Valeria let out a loud sob. Camille stopped and turned to Valeria. “Oh, I guess I should make sure it’s all right with you. We, that is, Alex and I, thought you should be married tomorrow in the garden at Morgana. Is that all right with you?”
By now, Valeria was so happy that all she could do was cling to Alex and sob, occasionally whispering, “I love you!”
Alex glowed with pleasure. He pulled her around to face him. “Beautiful, I didn’t want to tell you what I was working on until I knew we could pull it off for sure.” She clung to him tightly. “I hope you are all right with all of this!”
Valeria laughed through her tears. “All right with this? I have never been so happy in all of my life!”
“All right, people!” Camille proceeded. “We have a limo for the bridal party.”
Lars interjected, “Everyone is going the back route except Tav, Daph, and Paolo. Remember, there are guards around the entire camp. They may stop you. Please allow them to do their job!”
Camille lifted her arms. “Time is a wasting; Mani, Lars, Ava, and of course, the bride and groom—in the limo!” Then Camille turned to Caleb. “As best man, you can ride in the limo with us. We’ll wait for you if you want to put on your full suit. Otherwise, you can ride in the front.”
“Hmm,” Caleb’s brow furrowed for a moment. “That’s cool, but I would really like to talk to Tav. Can I ride with him?”
Camille nodded. Valeria and Alex walked out to the limo and loaded in. Lars popped a bottle of champagne and poured it into crystal flutes.
“To the bride and groom!”
Valeria took her glass, as tears continued to stream down her face, and
clinked it against the other’s flutes. Then she turned to Alex and Camille and choked, “Thank you!”
Alex’s expression left little doubt that he was as pleased to give this to her as she was to receive this special gift. Camille brought out a platter of hors d’oeuvres and Ava immediately grabbed four finger sandwiches before passing the tray around. The engine started up and there was a knock on the window. It was Paolo. Camille lowered the window.
Paolo brushed back his jet black hair and then looked away for a moment, clearing his throat, and said, “May I speak to Valeria a moment?”
Camille shrugged. “It’s up to her.”
Valeria refused to make eye contact with Paolo. “You can say whatever you have to say to me in front of my fiancé and my family.” Alex squeezed her leg.
“I would like to…” Paolo glanced at Alex. “I would like to attend your wedding, if possible.” Paolo swallowed and glanced down. “I understand if you prefer that I do not.”
Valeria looked at Alex, who shrugged. “I don’t care,” she said nonchalantly, still not meeting his gaze.
Paolo continued, “Thank you. Also, I hope you will permit me to give you a wedding gift. Camille has seen it. I hope you will permit me to offer this gift to you.” Paolo looked at Camille and she smiled, nodding at Paolo.
Camille spoke, “Val, I think you’ll want to keep this gift!”
Valeria shrugged again.
Alex nodded at Paolo and said, “Thanks pal.”
Paolo stepped back, the window went up, and the limo pulled away with Paolo looking very alone.
Camille waved her arms dramatically. “All right, we need to discuss details now…” Camille talked the whole way, providing Valeria with every detail of the wedding...
her wedding!
Valeria heard parts of it, but she was so thrilled, most of it went past her.
It seemed like minutes, instead of hours, when the limo pulled onto a dark road that looked more like a lane and a half, surrounded by heavy forest. After thirty minutes, the limo pulled over, and Lars and Mani jumped out and pulled a couple of artificial trees aside that were evidently camouflage, revealing a gate. Lars opened the gate while Mani directed the limo, and Shinsu’s Mercedes, onto the narrow dirt road. Lars replaced the trees and closed the gate, and then Mani and Lars jumped back into the limo.
“What is this all about?” Valeria asked.
Alex patted her leg. “We wanted you to have your wedding here at Morgana. But there is still a lot of danger in this, beautiful.”
Lars spoke. “We’ve tracked Jeremiah through southern Italy and back to Abatao. According to Shinsu, Jeremiah is distracted with his marriage to a sixteen-year-old virgin back in Abatao. That should keep him occupied for at least a few weeks. Then, thanks to Lars and Ava, plus a rented child, we had decoys lead the council to the orient. The major search has been called off. The rumor is that you all chose hell over beheading. We’ve installed an electric fence and infrared sensors, as well as a team of guards. We believe we can pull this off.”
“Beautiful, we have an escape plan, and this is vital—if anything happens, you must leave immediately. Do I have your agreement on that?”
“Alex, I am so very grateful for this! But if there is a risk of anything happening…I just could never forgive myself if anything happened to anyone.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Did you forget? We’re immortal!”
Camille nodded. “Besides, evidently, you’re safer here than in Africa!” There was a light snickering amongst the oracles and, finally, Valeria realized that they all knew.
As they drove down the dark path surrounded by low hanging trees, Valeria saw lights as they approached the main house, with its massive shape. Valeria saw hints of preparation for the next day; tables and chairs had been set out, and lights were strung throughout the bushes and trees.
When the limo stopped, the rest of the oracles hopped out except for Alex and Valeria. Alex took Valeria’s hand in his. “I would like a little bit of private time with you—if you don’t object.”
“Never!”
She heard Camille say something about Valeria needing her “beauty rest” and she smiled and nodded. She didn’t want to miss a moment of her time here. She wanted to appreciate being with her family, but at the moment, she was lost in the dream of her and Alex and their wedding at Morgana.
The limo continued down to their beloved cottage. As expected, there was a fire in the hearth. Alex took Valeria’s hand and they walked up the porch, surrounded by hydrangea, to the double doors that she had left abruptly almost four months prior. The cottage was as magical to her tonight as it was the first time she had seen it. Alex had constructed it for her, with her belongings that he had purchased or rebuilt for 2,500 years. It was a home truly built of love.
Inside, she brushed her fingers along the leather volumes that ran along the back wall. She stopped and smiled when she saw
Walden
and
Sense and Sensibility,
their two favorite books,
next to each other
.
She glanced at the door to Alex’s studio and pulled him in there, past his supplies and then to the amazing paintings, bronzes, and stone sculptures of her that Alex had created over the centuries. She loved the knowledge that the room was there, although she rarely entered it as it seemed a touch narcissistic. Then he took her hand and led her back into the great room. She sat down on the couch reveling in the luxury
and familiarity of the home she adored. She snuck a glance at the archway to the bedroom where they would make love the next night. Valeria loved everything about the cottage. It was the outward expression of his love for her.
She especially loved that Alex was here with her again. “Are we really going to be married tomorrow?”
Alex nodded. “Are you all right with that?” She threw her arms around his neck. “I guess that’s a yes,” he said.
He went into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of 2002 Ladera Cabernet and held it up for her approval. She hadn’t tasted it since…she cast off the memory of packing their cottage that awful day the previous February. Instead, she remembered the first time they had shared a bottle of it in front of the fire.
“You know, I would have been fine with Tom marrying us at two a.m. in the African outback.”
Alex returned with a glass and she
cozied into him as they stared into the fire’s blaze of orange, yellow, and blue. She swirled the glass slowly, admiring the rich color and smell of the wine. She lifted it to her lips and took it into her mouth, savoring the extraordinary flavor. She realized her eyes were closed and when she opened them, Alex was staring at her, his mouth turned up in a sensual smile of admiration.
“I’ve been hoping that this would all be worth the delay. Just now, your face, as you sipped the Ladera here in our cottage, made it all worth it for me.” His eyes glowed with pleasure as he took a sip of his wine, too.
Her heart pounded as much from his closeness as from the thrill of what was to come. Alex lifted his hand to the side of her face and pulled her mouth to his. For the first time in a month, she felt heat behind his kiss. Her arms went around his neck and she pressed into him, relishing the thrill of his mouth on hers. He moved his mouth a millimeter away from hers, and breathed.
“They’ll be here in a few minutes,” he murmured.
She leaned closer to him and then playfully took his lower lip into her mouth as she brushed her teeth lightly over it. “Tell them to come back later,” she whispered.
Alex kissed her for just a moment.
“Already tried. Camille’s not having any of that. Probably just as well.” He drew a deep breath and stood. “Give me a moment,” he said with a hint of excitement.
With the warmth of the fire, and the taste of Alex’s mouth on hers co-mingled with the Ladera, she couldn’t help but imagine the next night; she felt the heat of desire run throughout her entire body. Alex returned a moment later. She immediately noticed that he was wearing the watch she had given him. In his hand, he had the sterling silver box, intricately designed, that she immediately recognized was the box for her engagement ring. She had been forced to leave it here four long months ago.
He smiled at her with an intensity that made her heart pound.
“Beautiful, there are some modern traditions that we have forgone for various reasons. But I would like to do this right.” He kneeled in front of her and flipped the box open. He removed the note she had left for him.
She remembered the simple words she had written, “Until we meet again.”
He opened the note and pressed it to his lips, as if it had been a lifeline. Then he set it on the coffee table. She saw the exquisite engagement ring he had given her the previous October. It was a brilliant blue stone, one of a kind, the same color as their eyes, a color now described as oracle blue. Alex had named it the “Cassandra Crystal.” The stone was entwined with delicate platinum grapevines that ran around the edge of it.
Alex took her hand in his. “Valeria, will you do me the extraordinary honor of being my wife?”
“There is nothing I want more.”
Alex bit his lip, attempting to restrain a smile. “Nothing else?”
Valeria blushed and laughed. “All right, perhaps a few more things.”
“Well, I’m very pleased to hear that because I’ve been dreaming of making love to my wife for a very long time.”
With his words, the electricity between them nearly sizzled. After all the months of feeling that she was being held at bay, now she knew—she could actually see the raw desire in his eyes and feel the heat growing between them.
“May I keep your ring until tomorrow? There’s a wedding band that goes with it.” He winked.
“Can I wear it until you have to go?” Alex nodded and slid it onto Valeria’s hand. As she glanced at her hand in his, with the ring adorning her finger, she felt a bubble of pure joy rising inside. Her arms broke out in goose bumps and she could not longer contain her emotions as they overflowed from her eyes. “And what is that?” She pointed to the other box he held in his hand.
He sipped his wine. “This?” He raised his brows as he picked up the box. “This is a wedding gift.” She opened the box. It was a double strand of perfect pearls with a pendant of diamonds surrounding another Cassandra Crystal, and matching earrings with a single pearl and a small teardrop Cassandra Crystal. Valeria couldn’t speak for several moments.