Page 7 of Proslo

“Expected, thanks to your schedule. Your pilot and the moving crew know to allow you thirty minutes.”

Junrig smiled at me. “There you go. Best hurry.”

I nodded, smiling back at him. He was quite right. It would take me at least ten minutes to get to my bachelor quarters here aboard the ship, plus I needed to stop somewhere and get her some flowers. That was what human male suitors did according to the vids I watched, and I was not about to let my mate down.

5

BETTY

There were shops, cafes, restaurants, and parks with real plants and even the Star Trekkiest of food replicators and holo suites aboard the ships of the Fleet. It looked practically utopian, which probably should have alarmed me, but didn’t. Instead, it looked like a wonderful dream, very close to what I’d wanted.

“Well, I wanted to get far away from where I lived and made all those two legged mistakes. I was going to go to school, become an RN, get a job in another state, and foster and later adopt a kid or two," I reminded myself. “And here it is - a place so far ain’t none of those assholes or anyone they know likely to ever cross my path, free tuition, a personalized degree to become their equivalent of an RN, and getting to use their advanced tech we don’t have access to on earth because of rules, and wow, neighborhoods that I still only would be able to dream about.”

And the kid thing was definitely going to become a reality, no doubt about it. Only now it might involve biological children. Admittedly, that concerned me a bit, given my age. Still, mega advanced science and healthcare, so that was probably me worrying about nothing.

The vid ended and Lechand approached me with a tablet once more.

“I’ve been informed that he’s going to be a little late as he was in hula class and wishes to clean up after his exertion first,” he said, tapping the screen to show me a very attractive Mylos. Unlike most of the ones I saw in the ads for the Bride Program, he was older. His hair had started to gray a bit at his temples and his face had lost the softness of youth. He was a damn fine looking man, alright. Much better looking than any of the losers I’d dated so far.

“That’s fine,” I said, drinking him in. I mean, I was going to have to do this, right? We were already alien married according to the contract and treaty, so I might as well get to enjoy myself along the way. And sometimes people in arranged marriages fall in love. Maybe I’d be one of those lucky ones. Maybe what I’d thought of as my bad luck striking again was actually me winning the man and happy life lottery.

“In light of that, I contacted your landlady, who is on her way to bring you your cat and his supplies. She said she would accompany the movers back and take care of everything so you could bring your furbaby straight on up. Her words exactly.”

“Oh. She didn’t have to do that.”

His smile grew wider. “She also said to stand like this,” he placed his hands on his hips and stared me straight in the eyes, “and tell you that you better make good on your promise and invite her to the wedding, which she reckons should be in Guam as Hawaii has too many tourists who will wander into all the pictures.”

I giggled. That did sound just like Mrs.Titschmarch. “I’ll have to see what the wedding budget is.”

“Oh, it’ll be covered. You just need to select a place and choose a reasonably sized guest list of no more than a hundred and Xeranos will be happy to help make the arrangements. It’s all paid for by the Fleet, including the guests’s travel and accommodation expenses.”

I’d known that but had no idea they’d do that much. I certainly would have never imagined going to Guam, but if we were traveling down by one of their saucers, why not? Might be anyplace on the globe, since it would be just as easy for them to fly us wherever and no pesky airport layovers and connections. This really was starting to look like a fairy tale.

As if reading my mind, Lechand leaned over and tapped an icon on the side of the screen. “Here, you can read up on Guam and anything else you might like. And if you want to read more about Dr. Proslo, simply tap here,” he demonstrated without actually touching the screen, “and his profile will reappear.”

I decided to read up on my new husband first. I’d just finished reading his short biography and began looking at tourist information for Guam when the building shook a bit.

“Sounds like he’s here,” Lechand said cheerfully, standing up to face a door in the rear. True enough, moments later the door opened and my new mate strode in. His eyes flicked across the room and met mine and I stood up, clutching the tablet to my chest. It was as if time stood still, our gazes locked onto one another. His picture had not done him justice. He wasn’t merely tall - he was imposing and his very presence seemed to fill the room. His long legs ate up the distance between us and he was halfway to me before I realized he was clutching a bouquet of red roses and what looked to be a box of Whitman’s chocolates in his hands.

“You brought me candy and flowers,” I said, a real smile found its way onto my face.

He nodded, thrusting them out at me. “All the vids showing middle American courtships showed this was proper.”

I tried to think of what he possibly could have watched for this to be true, especially with the Whitman’s candy sampler. This was seriously old school. It was also incredibly thoughtful and sweet. None of my previous so-called men had ever thought to buy me so much as a pack of gum or a candy bar and had certainly never purchased me flowers. Guess that should have been a big red flag, huh?

“These are perfect,” I murmured, burying my face into the roses. To my surprise, these actually had a scent. I took a deep appreciative sniff. “Absolutely perfect.” And damn it, now my eyes were welling up with tears again.

“Then why are you crying, mi-shida’a?”

“Because it’s so, so…thoughtful,” I sniffled.

He reached a thumb out and swiped my tears away. “Then you shall always have flowers and candy. Perhaps not so large a box, though, as the ingredients show them to be -”

“Quite fattening and tooth rotting,” I finished, smiling through my tears. “I like peanut M and M’s, maybe we can get a bag of those on occasion, to share.”

His eyes smoldered. I’d read about such a thing in the many romance novels I’d borrowed from the library but certainly had never seen such a look myself, until now.

“You would share your candy with me?” he rumbled in a low voice which practically melted my panties right there on the spot. Holy moly, this man was affecting me. If he looked and spoke to me like this all the time, I’d share everything that was mine with him. Maybe their AI knew what he was doing after all.