by Tia LaBeau
“Oh, so you need back up then?” Cleo asks. She sucks her teeth.
I laugh. Bastian seems to sooo need backup. He’s a wise man. I’ll give him that.
“Cleo, if you don’t mind I’d like you to do the foo fooey stuff with me,” I admit.
“Is that order?” she asks.
“It is,” I say, stamping my foot down. I pretend to whine. “Please, please, mister. Help me pick out my dress. Whaa!”
“Okay, stop your fucking whining. I’ll help you. Sheesh. Universe knows you’ve followed all of my orders long enough. I’ll follow orders from you only this one time. This is only as a wedding gift.” She smiles. She rubs my back. “I’m proud of you Freda. If mom and dad were here, they’d be so proud of you too.”
“Even though I’m marrying a pirate?” I ask.
“Even though you’re marrying a pirate. I don’t think any of us expected anything less from you, Freda.”
I smile. I suppose that’s right.
Bastian walks off with Xerxes, and I walk off with Cleo and Celeste.
“Oh,” Celeste says as we walk past a petite woman with jet black hair and big beautiful almond shaped eyes, “this is Liso. She’s the one I told you about. She’s the one getting ready to marry the Senator.”
“Hi,” Liso says, extending her hand. “And you are?”
“I’m Freda,” I say, taking her offered handshake.
Liso’s eyes are full of light and full of questions. There’s something very comforting about her hands as if she has fixed something inside of me that I didn’t even know was broken.
She releases my hand. “So you’re the one who is marrying the Pirate King from Havenu? That’s very nice, and thank you.”
“Thank you for what?” I ask. I’m not sure what she’s talking about. Also, after feeling her touch, I feel like I should be the one thanking her.
“Thank you for making it so that I can get to exactly where I need to be,” Liso says. “Also, the Edener is very handsome.”
I’m not sure what she means about getting to where she needs to be, but before I can ask her what she means, she waves and walks away. What a strange woman.
“What was that about?” I ask Celeste.
“What was what about?” Celeste asks me in return.
“What she said. She said that I made it so that she could get exactly where she needed to be.”
Celeste shrugs. “You never know with a Moon Company Bride.”
I lock arms with Cleo. I guess Celeste is right. You never know.
What’s Next?
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