“I’m not going anywhere.”
“You know what I mean.”
She eased closer to him. They were almost touching. “I do know. You’re talking about us being at that crossroads together. You think as long as we both stay unattached there is the possibility we might go down that different road on any given day with no advance notice needed at all. If we get attached to other people, we can’t go down the road together. Not for a long time. Maybe never.”
Rafe nodded. “Exactly. Not sure I like the near finality of that. In fact, I am damn certain I don’t like it at all.”
O’Hare shrugged. “I’ve arranged it so you don’t have to worry about that. When your grandfather told Tactical what was happening, she called me to pass on the information and to have me come to Predator for this meeting. After she got off the comm, I sent a message to Paul asking him to marry me. I know he’ll accept, and we will be married soonest.”
Hawkins stared at her. Today was a day for surprises. If this was a battlefield, he would be dead five times over. He opened his mouth and then closed it. There was much to say, but he didn’t know how to arrange his jumbled thoughts into coherent sentences.
She beat him to it. “I knew you would be worried about me. About us. I took the matter out of your hands.” Hawkins flashed back to Emily Legrand making the decision to ram her Bandit into the OrCon battleship and sparing Raferty the decision to fight and die for her or to run away and leave her behind. The important women in his life were always sparing him the tough decisions.
She took a small step forward and embraced him. They kissed. She leaned back and regarded him. “I love you.”
“I love you,” he replied. His voice caught a little. They kissed again. They held it and clung to each other. This would the last one, and they both knew it. Certainly for a long time. Maybe forever. Oh, they would see each other with their spouses and give each other the social kiss on the cheek but nothing like this. This was the last kiss that would identify who they were for all these years and what they have meant to each other for their entire lives. This could be the last kiss between them that would really matter. They held the kiss for what seemed like an eternity. It wasn’t long enough.
They broke apart. She smiled at him. “Go tell your future wife that you look forward to the wedding.”
Hawkins replied, “And let me be the first to congratulate you on your upcoming nuptials.”
O’Hare held her smile. “Thank you.” She turned and walked out. She would report the result of their private conversation to the others. Raferty got a beer, drank it down, and went into his stateroom to prepare for the most important meal of his life.
Chapter 52
Hawkins was escorted into the palace and returned to the room with a view within the Queen’s private quarters. He was dressed casually and was surprisingly relaxed considering the importance of this occasion. There was a small table already set up for two diners. Next to it was a portable food heating unit. Rafe suspected the food was already in that and there would be no servants coming in and out of the room. He moved to the windows and admired the view.
A moment later Alexis entered from another door. Hawkins assumed that particular door went further into her personal domain. She was dressed casually while still looking regal. He admired the ability to pull that off as she approached him. He smiled, and she returned it as she moved next to him at the windows. They both looked out on the city. She spoke softly without looking at him. “I love this vista. No matter what is happening in the Empire, the scene is always peaceful and relaxing.”
She turned to him. She was close, and he noticed every detail of her face. She was beautiful.
Alexis spoke, “I have been neglectful in one important aspect. I have not thanked you for your recent achievements on the battlefields on behalf of the Empire. You achieved important victories at a time when they were sorely needed. I realized that me calling you here from your hunting grounds in the Badlands was damn inconvenient. You not only came, you brought your entire force with you. You have done your work well and now that it is complete, I release you from any further commitments, Raferty.”
Her tone clearly meant he was released from any further commitments off the battlefield also. She was giving up.
He looked at her for a moment before speaking. “I brought all my ships because they all volunteered to come here.” He smiled now. “They never could pass up a good fight.” His smile faded as he regarded her with no expression. She returned the gaze with the same uncommitted look.
He extended his left hand toward her and stopped halfway with his palm up. She placed her right hand in it. He held her hand silently for several moments. He liked holding her hand. He led with that. “I like holding your hand.”
She nodded at the compliment. “I like it also.”
He continued. “If my behavior earlier has caused you to withdraw your offer, I wish you would reconsider.”
“What has changed from this afternoon?”
“Basically, the change is I have come to my senses after receiving some advice. The advice was ‘trust her.’ I thought about it, and it was sound advice. I still don’t see what you get from the arrangement, and I still feel you can do better than me, but I can’t believe you have a hidden agenda. I treated you with great disrespect earlier today. Over the last several months, you have provided my people with much-needed support. You have always personally treated me with respect and kindness. I see no evidence that you deserve anything less than respect and kindness in return. I fell well short of that standard this afternoon, and I am truly sorry for that behavior. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me, and we can begin again.”
Alexis smiled at him. “You can turn the proposal down with no consequences to you or your flotilla.”
“I would prefer to accept if the proposal is still there.”
“It is still there,” she said softly.
He said just as softly. “I would be very honored to be married to you.”
She smiled a wide, bedazzling smile. Then she leaned toward him and said in a low confidential tone, “You should probably kiss me now. It would seal the deal.” So, he did.
They broke apart, but he still held her hand. She gestured to the table, and they moved there.
She stopped at the heating unit. “I will serve if you would pour the wine.”
“Of course.”
Both stood on opposite sides of the table as Raferty poured wine into two glasses and she moved food to the two plates. He held her chair for her, she sat and thanked him. He moved to his chair. They ate while talking about subjects that had nothing to do with the current situation between them. The meal concluded, and they adjourned to the nearby couch. They sat close together, not quite touching. She reached for his hand and held it firmly.
Rafe asked the obvious question. “When will the marriage take place?”
“In three days. A practice will be held in two days. Our tailors will meet with us tomorrow here at ten o’clock for you. I will start earlier. We will do a fitting, then eat the midday meal, and do more fittings. The attire will be extravagant, of course, but nothing like it would have been for a normal royal wedding.” She paused and then added. “I know you won’t believe this as you go through the process, but we really are cutting it to the bone.”
Raferty nodded. It was a quick timetable, but that was probably a good thing. Less chance for some bad event to happen or someone reconsidering his or her commitment.
Now Hawkins brought up the one subject he had doubts about. “Alexis, what will our wedding ceremony consist of?”
Alexis smiled at the trepidation in his voice. He was clearly dreading some drawn out, lavish spectacle. “Well, in that regard, you are in luck. Ordinarily, our wedding would be the social event of the year. The planning would take months. It would cost in the millions, there would be several events we would have to attend over many days, people coming in from all over the Empire plus foreign dignita
ries, and it would drag on for an eternity. In these times, that all would be in the poorest of taste. People have lost loved ones, and their lives have been altered forever by the war. Last thing anyone needs to see is the upper class have a good time and partying the night away.” She smiled at him. “It will be a quick and small affair. In the midafternoon, we will be married by the high cardinal in the Upper House in front of the peers and whatever attendees you and I invite. It will be televised live and recorded to be shown throughout the Empire. Unlike many marriages, we will be the only two up front with the cardinal. The royal family did away with best men, groomsmen, and maids of honors two hundred years ago as the selections for such positions were always political and led to hurt feelings and insulted honor. After the ceremony, we return to the palace for refreshments and to greet our guests in a more relaxed atmosphere. Then we will leave and retire to my personal quarters for the evening. Food will be put in place so we are not disturbed. Your grandfather kindly offered us the use of the guest house at Haven Hill for our honeymoon. It will be for one week as that is all my schedule will allow, and I assume you will want to return to the Badlands.”
She paused and looked at him intently. “I hope I did not overstep by agreeing to the honeymoon and setting up the timeline. Please forgive me if I did. I do not mean to do this without your input, but decisions had to be made. I thought you would enjoy the time at Haven Hill.”
Rafe shook his head. “I am not offended at all. I think it is an excellent plan. I look forward to it.”
Alexis smiled broadly. “You’re just happy it is a quick and simple ceremony.”
“That too.” Hawkins smiled at her and then his smile froze. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered.
She leaned toward him with a look of concern. He looked at her in alarm. “I have absolutely no plan for our wedding rings,” he confessed. “Haven’t even thought about them.”
Alexis laughed. “No need. The royal family provides the rings for all royal weddings. A long time ago, the family realized that the best people who could get appropriate rings for one of our royal weddings were, well, us. That set the standard, and it has not changed. Rings for the wedding follow a royal pattern and are already made. There are actually no choices or decisions involved. I am given the opportunity to approve them, but I really have no choice but to accept them. The only thing left is to have them sized properly. That will be tomorrow after the fittings. Each of us will wear one ring and the royals always wear them on the ring finger of the right hand.”
Hawkins sat in thought as he quickly reviewed the process in his head. He couldn’t come up with anything else that might be important. “It all seems to be in hand.”
“People around here know how to put together any social event in about a minute and a half. Plus, they have been planning my wedding since the day I took the throne. Current events have changed much of that planning, but it is easier to take things out than to put them in. The planning process has been ongoing for years and modified as required by today’s situation within the Empire.”
She gave Raferty a serious look. “Speaking of years of planning my wedding, I owe you a few answers on why my marriage is important right now.” Hawkins started to shake his head, but Alexis overrode him. “I do owe you that.” She sat back into the couch’s cushions and began. “They have been planning my wedding since day one of my reign, but I have never shown much interest in acquiring a consort. I would catch some heat about it occasionally. This has picked up over the last few years because of my lack of interest and the fact that members of the royal family, especially women, do not live long lives.
“The war has only increased the nagging because of one special circumstance. If I were to die suddenly, the crown would pass to my Uncle Thomas, my father’s youngest brother and the last of the royal line from that generation. He would rule and, on his passing, the crown would go to his eldest son, Boris. The problem with all that at this particular time is Uncle Thomas has been married for decades to his wife Varya. It was an arranged marriage meant to strengthen ties between us and the Orion Confederation.” Alexis frowned. “It didn’t seem to do much good considering the current situation. Anyway, Varya is from a prominent Orion family who made their fortune in electronics and have strong political ties within the OrCon government. The family runs a corporation with many Orion government contracts and is contributing greatly to their war effort. On top of that, their son Boris was educated in the Orion Confederation and is close to Varya’s family. Nobody thinks mother and son are OrCon spies or anything close to that, but nobody wants to see Varya sitting next to Thomas when he is on the throne and then see Boris sitting on the throne. There is also the feeling that if Thomas succeeded to the throne, then certain anti-royal media elements would play up the OrCon ties within Thomas’ family and create problems for the monarchy with large segments of the people. If I got married and produced heirs, all that goes by the wayside. I need a consort and soon.”
She looked at Hawkins intently as she continued. “Now, what sort of consort? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want a consort who will be around all the time. Earlier today, you said many men were more suited to be my consort than you. Most of those men would move in here or spend a great deal of time here and be constantly underfoot. I would have to provide my consort with a staff and something to do. I would have to interact with all the members of his family because they would all want to meet the Queen and stay in the palace. If my consort pursued his own career from here, the media would follow him around and would constantly be asking me about my husband’s activities. I don’t want that. The only member of your family who would be around is your grandfather. We know and love each other already, and he would not be star struck by the new royal addition to his family. Nobody is going to follow you to the Badlands to file daily reports on your activities. If I am asked what you are doing, it will be a military secret. The media will soon tire of asking questions and getting no answers and will move on to other pursuits.”
Hawkins smiled at his fiancée. “So, one of my many upstanding virtues is I wouldn’t be around?”
Alexis quickly placed her other hand over the hand she was already holding so both her hands held Raferty’s left hand. “I know that sounded badly, and I didn’t mean it like that. Most of the time we will be apart. It is who we are. Before you depart, you will have to leave several… uh… samples to be combined with my eggs to ensure an heir is produced. The embryo will be grown outside the body so as not to interfere with my activities.”
That was one of the standard birthing procedures throughout the universe now. Medical science could grow babies as long as they had the starting materials and permission from the would-be parents. There had always been a strong movement opposed to this type of procedure, and a sizable percentage of women still carried babies to term feeling it was a more nurturing way to produce children. However, the great majority of professional working women did not subscribe to that theory. Hawkins was not surprised at all by the Queen’s declaration of how their children would come into existence.
Raferty nodded in agreement with everything she had said. He was not offended by the idea that Alexis didn’t want him laying around the palace. The fact is that if he was restricted to Zelenka, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. In such an instance, he would stay at Haven Hill most the time, but he knew he wouldn’t come up with anything that would hold his interest for a great period of time. It suddenly occurred to him that the Badlands was his sole motivation in life. He was surprised by the epiphany, but he was sure it was true. This was not the time or place for an in-depth review of that revelation, but he would have to think that through and soon.
Alexis continued, “We each have our own lives, and I want that to remain. We will have children together, and I want to spend time with you, but our lives will have long periods of separation, and I think we can both accept that.”
She paused and waited for his response. He tho
ught for a moment and looked at her. “Let me ask one question. I hope you won’t find it too forward or insulting. While we are apart all this time, will you have… gentlemen friends around?”
She shook her head emphatically. “No possibility of that happening. I have none now nor will I acquire any.” She smiled slightly. “After all, I will be a married woman. Also, I would respect my husband and my marriage too much to do such a thing.”
She now looked at him. The same question hung between them. He shook his head. “No chance. I wouldn’t want to, and even if I did, my crew wouldn’t allow it. They realize the advantages there are to being the Queen’s consort, and they would ensure I didn’t screw it up.”
“We are agreed on that particular topic then?” asked Alexis.
Rafe nodded, “We are.”
They talked of other things, people, and experiences. They drank tea and had dessert. The time passed quickly and soon enough it was nine o’clock.
Alexis smiled at her soon-to-be husband. “I am enjoying the conversation, and we have so much to learn about each other, but we have to cut this short.”
Rafe smiled back. “Parents gave you an early curfew, did they?”
She smiled a sterling smile now. “No, but my staff basically did. Five minutes after you depart, the exact time of your departure will be known all over the palace and beyond. It would also be noticed if you didn’t depart, and that news would travel further and faster.”
Hawkins nodded in understanding. The last thing either of them needed was the gossip pipelines flowing with information about them. His departure, or lack thereof, would be in the media by the morning, and nothing but trouble could come from that. Hawkins was still in the public spotlight, and the Queen spent her life in that harsh light, so the media would love any story about the two of them. He stood up and used their clasped hands to help her up. Together they walked to the door hand in hand. They stopped there and stood close to each other. He took her free hand in his free hand so both hands were being held. He smiled at her.
Smoke on the Wind Page 31