Suddenly a Bride

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “Why?”

  “Because they’ll assume we got married because of the baby.”

  “But we did get married to have children.”

  “In this country, people get married because they love each other. Well, there are some who get married because the woman is pregnant, but that’s not exactly the ideal reason.”

  “You weren’t pregnant when we bonded.”

  “True, but they don’t know you’re from another planet. So if they find out I’m pregnant already, they’ll assume the worst.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

  Oh boy. He didn’t get it, and she didn’t know how to explain it. And her mom was heading in their direction. “Look,” she quickly said, “let’s just wait until next month before we mention it, alright?”

  Though he looked disappointed, he nodded. “Alright.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Thanks.” Turning toward her mom, she let go of Chris’ hand and hugged her. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Hi, Caity,” her mother replied.

  She grimaced. No matter how many times she told her mother she hated that nickname, her mother refused to listen. Forcing aside the urge to bring it up yet again, she motioned to Chris. “I got married, Mom.”

  Her mother stiffly nodded. “So I heard. Nice to meet you.”

  Chris shook the hand she extended to him and grinned. “You have a wonderful daughter, Rachel.”

  Her mother balked. “Excuse me?”

  Caitlyn slipped her arm around Chris’. “My mother prefers to be called Mrs. Rogers.”

  “Yes,” her mother added. “It’s a matter of respect.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m still learning the proper manners on this world.”

  Her mother’s eyes widened, and hoping to cover up for his slip of the tongue, Caitlyn laughed. “That’s a good one, honey. Mom, guess what? He’s an engineer. Isn’t that exciting?”

  “Yes. Well, that is a step up from being a DJ on the radio. Congratulations, Chris.”

  Caitlyn shot her sister and Sandy a ‘please help me’ look. They left the picnic tables where they were setting out the condiments and headed over to them.

  Sandy led the way over to them, Lexie close behind. “Hi, Chris. I see you’re meeting the family.”

  Caitlyn’s mother arched an eyebrow. “So you’ve met him already?”

  “He came into the diner a couple of times,” Sandy replied. Turning to Lexie, she continued, “Chris, this is Caitlyn’s sister.”

  Lexie offered her hand so he shook it. “Yes,” he began, “I remember seeing your picture on Caitlyn’s wall.”

  “Lexie’s getting married in two months,” Sandy told Chris.

  “Speaking of which, where’s Nick?” Caitlyn could use another newbie in the group to help take the focus off of Chris. She didn’t care much for the way her mother kept scanning Chris up and down, obviously sizing him up—and probably finding him lacking.

  “Nick couldn’t make it,” Lexie replied. “He had surgery.”

  “Yes,” her mother added, looking at Chris. “He’s a doctor. His job is an important one, you know. He saves people’s lives.”

  Caitlyn suppressed the urge to groan. Whatever was her mother trying to prove? She had pulled the same thing on Randy when she realized Caitlyn’s ‘fling’ with him had gotten serious. “Engineers have important jobs too, Mom.”

  “Yes, but do they perform open heart surgery?” her mother asked.

  “You still have people doing things like that?” Chris replied.

  Caitlyn wondered what the men on his world did for medical problems. By his comment, she assumed that they’d moved beyond surgery to find something else to take care of health problems.

  Her mother huffed. “There’s no need to be insolent.”

  “I’m not.” Chris shrugged. “I’m just saying where I come from, we don’t need to go inside someone else’s body to fix what’s wrong with them. We moved beyond that two hundred years-”

  “Hey, look!” Caitlyn interrupted in a high-pitched voice. “I see Andy made it.” Not that Andy was her favorite person, but right now, he proved a suitable distraction.

  “Why wouldn’t he?” her mother asked. “He’s always valued family. I can’t imagine that he’d get married without asking his family to attend. It’s only right, after all.”

  Caitlyn bit her tongue.

  “Where I come from, families don’t attend the bonding ceremony,” Chris told her mom. “Believe me, it isn’t something you’d want to witness.”

  Caitlyn cleared her throat. “Chris is shy. Having everyone there while we—” she glanced at Sandy who snickered—“um…got married would have made him uncomfortable.” Now if that wasn’t an understatement, she didn’t know what was.

  “Well, Lexie is having the most wonderful wedding,” her mother said, her smile growing wide. “We’re going to have it on the beach. We booked the best photographer and caterer as well. Chris, have you had fresh lobster?”

  Chris furrowed his eyebrows. “You mean, fresh as in you don’t cook it before you eat it?”

  “What? Of course not.” Her mother shot Caitlyn a startled look. “Exactly where did he come from?”

  “Um, I was just thinking,” Sandy began as she cleared her throat, “I think it’s great Caitlyn found someone. It’s romantic, Mrs. Rogers. Chris came into the diner one evening, and it was like love at first sight. They had an instant connection.”

  Her mother waved her hand as if to dismiss the comment. “Romantic? I’ll tell you what’s romantic. We’re going to have two doves that will fly into the air when Lexie and the doctor share their first kiss as husband and wife.”

  Caitlyn caught Sandy’s eye roll and fought the urge to chuckle.

  “It was Mom’s idea,” Lexie told Caitlyn.

  “Doves are beautiful birds,” her mother said. “Why, just imagine it, Chris. While the harp strums out the “Wedding March” and Lexie shares her first marital kiss with the doctor, the doves fly up into the sky together.” She clasped her hands over her heart and sighed.

  “I can’t help but notice you keep calling Nick ‘the doctor’,” Caitlyn noted.

  Her mother laughed and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Well, that’s because he is a doctor.”

  Lexie groaned.

  Blake called out that it was time to eat. Breathing a sigh of relief, Caitlyn led Chris to the picnic table away from her mother. She’d had enough of her mother’s subtle putdowns. She’d been proud of Randy, and she was proud of Chris. Both were good husbands who believed in working hard and treated her well. She was sure Nick would be the same with Lexie, but she didn’t envy Lexie having to tolerate a doctor’s hectic work schedule. While she and Chris sat across from Blake and Sandy, she patted Chris’ hand and smiled. He smiled in return before he bit into his hamburger.

  Chapter Eleven

  After they finished eating, Caitlyn’s father patted Chris on the back. “Do you play pool?”

  Chris glanced at Caitlyn. “Pool?”

  Caitlyn smiled. “It’s a fun game. You use a stick to shoot balls into holes on a table.”

  Chris didn’t see what was so fun about that but decided to take her word for it. Wiping his hands on the napkin, he stood up and joined her father as he went over to Blake and Andy to ask them if they wanted to play. Once they said yes, he went over to Randy’s dad, but Randy’s dad wasn’t interested. So Chris followed Caitlyn’s dad, Blake and Andy into the house.

  “The pool table is in the recreation room,” her dad told Chris.

  Blake chuckled. “Yeah. Dad was thrilled when all the kids left home so he could finally have room for his toys.”

  “That’s not fair, Blake. I wasn’t necessarily thrilled.”

  “You were singing and dancing.”

  “Okay, maybe a little. But your mother refused to let me have any fun toys until you and your sisters were out of the house.” He turned to Chris. “By the way,
you can call me Jed. Caitlyn’s mom is big into being referred to as Mrs. Rogers, but I’d rather be called by my first name. I figure we’re all adults.”

  Chris nodded. “Jed it is.” He already liked Jed, though he wasn’t sure what to make of Caitlyn’s mom. She seemed harder to connect with—something that was so unlike Caitlyn.

  Jed stopped outside a room and motioned for the others to enter. “This is it, Chris. What do you think?”

  Chris scanned the large table in the center of the room with balls resting inside a triangle, a couch with a large TV, a minibar, and a dart board. “It looks like you’ll never get bored in here.”

  “Exactly.” Jed grinned and motioned to the minibar. “Want anything to drink?”

  “No thanks.” He’d already had lemonade so he didn’t see the point in drinking something else.

  “Well, I’ll have a beer,” Andy said.

  “Me too,” Blake added as he picked up a stick and rubbed a blue chalky substance on the tip. Handing the stick to Chris, he picked up another one and did the same thing. “Are you any good?”

  Chris glanced at the table and then turned his gaze to the stick in his hand. “I’ve never done this before.” What exactly was the point to this game?

  “You’re kidding,” Andy replied as he took a beer from Jed and placed it on the table in front of Blake. Taking another beer and opening it, he added, “I thought everyone played this game at some point in their lives.”

  “Well, he’ll play it today.” Jed smiled and took a stick from the rack while Blake handed one to Andy. “I’ll be your partner, Chris.” He set his beer aside on the bar and removed the triangle from the balls. Setting a white ball in front of the colored ones, he said, “There’s nothing to it. Whatever kind of balls I shoot into the hole will be ours.” He shot the white ball and it split the colored balls across the table until one of the solid ones went into a hole in a corner pocket. “There we go. Chris, you and I will try to get all the solid colored balls into one of the holes, except for the black one.”

  Chris nodded. It sounded simple enough.

  “When you get a ball into a hole, you get to go again,” Jed explained before he shot the white ball and almost got a red solid ball into the hole.”

  “Close but no cigar,” Blake snickered. “You won’t win this game, Dad.”

  “We’ll see,” Jed said, glancing at Chris. “If you’re good at math, you can do well at pool. It’s just a matter of figuring out the angle you need to shoot the ball at.”

  It was then that Chris understood the game. Up to then, it had made little sense why knocking a ball into a hole was any fun, but throw in the geometric challenge and it suddenly took on an interesting twist. Chris watched as Blake positioned his cue stick at the white ball and made a somewhat decent shot at the yellow-striped ball.

  Chris judged what Blake did wrong and then walked around the table as he mentally planned out what would happen if he tried to hit each solid ball, except the 8 ball, into every hole. He must have taken too long, however, because he noticed the impatient look Andy shot him. Clearing his throat, he finally picked which ball seemed to be the one that would most likely get into the hole first and angled the cue stick like he’d watched Jed and Blake do.

  His eyes traveled from the white ball to the purple one, and he calculated the angle he’d need to shoot at to make it work before he tapped the white ball. The white ball hit the purple one which sank into a side pocket.

  Blake let out a low whistle while Jed patted him on the back. “Way to go, Chris.”

  Pleased by Jed’s words, Chris smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Go on and try another one,” Jed replied.

  With another careful scan around the table, Chris decided to try for the orange ball, and as he judged, it sank into the corner pocket. His smile grew wider. “This is a fun game.” And so he proceeded to get all of the remaining solid balls into the holes. “Now what?”

  The three men stared at him, their mouths hanging open.

  Chris blinked in surprise. “Did I do something wrong?”

  Jed burst out into laughter. “No, son. You did it exactly right. I knew when Caitlyn said you were an engineer you’d be a natural at this game.”

  “Yeah, great.” Blake sighed but grinned. “If you’re on his team, it’s great. But for the rest of us, it’s not so great. Next time, you can at least make me and Andy think we have a chance to win the game.”

  “Oh.” Chris hadn’t thought of that. “So you want me to play poorly?”

  Blake laughed. “No, but you could give us a few shots before you bulldoze us. I can’t believe that was your first time playing this game.”

  “Caitlyn married a smart guy,” Jed added as he brought the balls back up to the table and put them into the triangle. “Chris, how about letting Blake and Andy get some balls in next time before you show them what you got, huh?”

  Chris smiled, detecting the friendly suggestion for what it was and nodded. “I guess I can do that, but if they take too long, I might get bored.”

  Jed chuckled again. “I like you, son. It’s nice to see my little girl happy again.”

  Chris wondered what Jed meant by that. Wasn’t Caitlyn always happy? She seemed like the kind of person who was naturally that way, but maybe it had something to do with women being emotional.

  “I think I’ll go first this time,” Andy said as he set down his beer. “I want to get in one shot this time.”

  “You better before he beats your butt again,” Jed joked.

  “I’ll go easy on you two this time,” Chris told Blake and Andy, deciding he might as well play along.

  It wasn’t his habit of delaying a win if he didn’t have to, but he thought there was some merit in extending this game. The men played two more games and then decided it was time to get back to the women.

  After Chris went to the bathroom, he caught sight of Andy who was lounging in one of the chairs in the living room. “Aren’t you going to join the others?” he asked, his gaze traveling to the patio doors. On the patio, he saw Caitlyn rubbing her forehead while her mother talked to her. He wondered what that was about.

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you,” Andy said, bringing Chris’ attention back to him.

  “Really? What about?”

  Andy stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. With a shrug, he said, “Oh, I wanted to say hi. Caitlyn and I grew up together, so she’s like a sister, you know?”

  Since Chris had no idea what having a sister was like, he didn’t respond.

  “Anyway, I wanted to congratulate you on your marriage,” Andy continued.

  “Okay. Thanks.” After receiving congratulations from the others, Chris surmised the congratulatory process was a tradition on this planet. He’d have to remember that for when he and Caitlyn attended Lexie’s wedding.

  As Chris made a move to pass Andy, Andy stepped in front of him. “You know, Caitlyn and I grew up together.”

  “You already mentioned that.”

  “Well, you see those pictures?”

  Chris glanced at the wall down the hallway from where he’d just walked. “Yeah.”

  “Want to see what Caitlyn looked like when she was younger?”

  Curiosity piqued, he nodded.

  Andy led him down the hall and motioned to one of the pictures. “This is her baby picture.”

  Chris took note of the baby with soft auburn curls and wide smile. It was fascinating to see a baby picture, but much more so that it was her picture. They didn’t take baby pictures on his world. In fact, he couldn’t recall them taking pictures at all of people unless someone made some honorable distinction to society. He felt a grin cross his face as he mentally memorized Caitlyn’s baby picture. Would their baby look similar to her?

  “Over here,” Andy continued, “is her high school senior picture.”

  Chris turned his attention to the other picture and recognized the younger version of Caitlyn. She had another warm smile. She
did a lot of smiling. Once again, he wondered what her father meant when he made that comment about her finally being happy again. It seemed that she was always happy.

  “And over here is the picture of her wedding to my brother,” Andy said, tapping the photo.

  Chris felt his smile falter as he recalled her mother going on and on about how romantic weddings were. All the fancy stuff about sending doves into the air seemed excessive, but he had to admit seeing Caitlyn in a white gown took his breath away. Seeing her next to another man, however, did not. He recalled seeing a picture of her with Randy in her apartment. She had since taken it down, but then he recalled the comment she made the night of their bonding ceremony. She said just because someone died, it didn’t mean you stopped loving them. It hadn’t bothered him at the time when she said it, but now he was taking a careful look at how she looked next to Randy. Did she smile like that when she was with him?

  “She and my brother were in love for ages,” Andy continued, pulling Chris’ attention to him. “I mean, if you happened to be in the same room with them, it was a ‘three’s a crowd’ type of situation, you know?”

  Actually, Chris didn’t know what he meant, but he nodded as if he did.

  “Yeah. They were the perfect couple. They got married right out of high school. It was so 50s of them to do, but since he died at twenty-nine, I guess it was good they didn’t wait.”

  “I guess,” Chris said, not so sure he agreed.

  “That’s why we were all shocked to learn she got married again. It’s so weird, you know. It’s like you just fell out of the sky or something.”

  Chris offered a weak laugh. Andy had no idea how close to the truth he was.

  “With Randy, she couldn’t talk about anything else. It was Randy this and Randy that all the time. But she didn’t even mention you until right before today.”

  Shifting from one foot to the other, he shrugged. “We didn’t…” What was the word again? “Date for long.”

  “It was love at first sight, huh?”

  No, not exactly, Chris thought. The bonding ceremony had nothing to do with love. It was a matter of preserving the genetic line from one generation to another.