Encala (48 page)

“
Does someone have to get
married to get you to visit?” Jess asked, and she put Allen down
and hugged Emily tightly.

“
I’m sorry, it’s been busy.
How exciting that Pat is getting married,” Emily smiled and looked
around the ranch. “Nothing’s changed.”

“
Nuthin ‘cept you, Tiny.”
Emily sighed and turned around to face Jeff.

“
Hello, Jeff,” she said,
politely.

“
You’re holding up well,
Short stuff,” he said smiling.

“
Jeff, she’s married, go
feed the cows.” Alec said, and picked up Emily’s bags. She followed
them into the house. Emily stood at the counter and snapped green
beans as she listened to her aunt talk about the wedding and Pat’s
fiancé.

Emily was enjoying herself. Something as
menial as making dinner was relaxing, and she was enjoying talking
about little things. Allen was in the front yard playing with the
neighbor’s 5-year-old son, and she was able to see him running and
playing from the kitchen window.

“
How are things with you?”
Jess asked, wiping her hands on a towel.

“
Same ol’ same ol’,” Emily
said, smiling. “Boring life, ya know?”

“
Yeah I do, how’s that
husband of yours? He’s quite handsome,” Jess said.

“
He’s good, probably
enjoying some alone time.” Emily began to blanch the
beans.

“
If he ever goes missing,
Jeff talked about you for weeks after you left,” Jess said, winking
at Emily.

“
Oh yay, I’ll keep that in
mind,” Emily said, and laughed.

“
We have a dress fitting in
town at 7pm, is that ok?” her Aunt asked as she rifled through the
fridge.

“
Sure”

“
Boys, come eat!” Jess
yelled out the window. Emily started piling food onto the table.
She smiled when she saw everyone sit down around the table and
begin to eat and talk. She was finding it was the little things she
missed.

After dinner, it was time for the fitting,
so Emily kissed Allen good-bye and left him with Alec, then climbed
into Jeff’s truck. He was taking Jess and Emily into town because
he had to go in for feed. Emily made sure and let Jess ride in the
passenger seat beside Jeff.

“
What ya been doing,
Teeny?” Jeff asked, watching Emily in the rear-view
mirror.

“
Not much, hanging out with
my husband and his guards,” she said, grinning.

“
Your husband has
bodyguards?” he asked, frowning.

“
Yes, lots of them,” Emily
couldn’t help but chuckle.

“
Didn’t we tell you? He’s
an ambassador, right, Em?” Jess said.

Emily nodded.

The rest of the drive was in silence. Jeff
grumbled a good-bye when he drove off from the church. Emily was
surprised to have the fitting in a church, but the tailor was a
member of their faith and offered the church.

“
Go get dressed, I’ll meet
you there,” Jess said, and Emily headed for the
bathrooms.

She pulled the light pink dress out of the
dressing bag and stripped, then slipped it on. She looked at her
exposed back in the mirror and frowned. She looked at herself from
the front, and shook her head, disappointed. Her sides were also
exposed, and the dress was a little lower cut than she would
normally wear. Taking a deep breath, Emily walked out with the
others.

Emily cringed, there were three others in
the exact same dress. One was close to 250 lbs, and the other two
were both over sixty. She smiled when they made a fuss over how
beautiful she looked in the dress, and then stood up on a table for
her fitting. She could feel herself blush as everyone watched.

“
Does the bride have
something against backs?” Emily asked, as the woman pinned the hem
and told her not to move.

“
You’re lucky that much is
covered,” the tailor said, disgusted. “The way she prances around
town in that half shirt and short shorts, it’s
disgraceful.”

Emily tried to ignore the argument that
ensued and just thought about how wonderful all of this was. She
missed some of the mundaneness of the mortal world, no attacks, no
feedings, and no life threatening hidden passages.

“
Ok, done,” the lady said
when she’d finished with Emily’s dress. “I’ll have it ready by
tomorrow night.”

Emily stepped down, careful not to disturb
the pins, and ran back to the bathroom to change. There was another
argument when she got back to the room. The tailor was trying to
explain to the heavy-set maid of honor why she needed to wear a
girdle, and the two older bridesmaids were talking about how
bridesmaid dresses used to look.

Jess gave Emily a frantic look, and Emily
put her hand on her stomach, “I think all the travel is making me
sick.”

Jess’ eyes got wide, “Oh we should get you
home, Dear.”

Jess called Jeff and told him they were
ready to leave. It was only a few minutes later than Jess and Emily
were in the truck, on their way back to the ranch.

“
That was fun,” Emily said,
after a few minutes of silence.

“
Well, Pat’s fiancé is a
little… well...” Jess tried to think of a good word.

“
Flakey,” Jeff
suggested.

“
She’s not a
flake.”

“
She’s a women’s lib lovin’
flake,” Jeff said.

Emily smiled, “You need a girlfriend, then
you wouldn’t be so hostile.”

“
That an offer,
Sweetheart?” he asked, looking in the rear-view mirror.

“
In your dreams,
Hoss.”

Emily hopped out of the truck when they got
to the ranch and went in to check on Allen. Allen was sitting in
Alec’s lap, and they were watching an old John Wayne movie
together.

“
How’d it go?” she asked,
kissing Allen on the cheek.

“
Your son has quite the
imagination,” Alec said. “So I decided to show him some real
heroes. No more of these… what do you call them?”

“
Heku,” Allen said,
watching the movie intently.

“
It’s just a phase, I’m
sure,” Emily said, and went into the kitchen to help clean up. Jess
made a fresh pot of coffee and she and Emily sat down to visit.
Alec came in a short time later with Allen asleep in his
arms.

“
I think he’s had enough of
the Duke,” Alec said, handing Allen over to Emily.

She kissed his cheek, “We’ll see you
tomorrow.”

“
Sounds good, why don’t you
bring some eggs in when you come,” Jess said, smiling.

Emily nodded and headed out to the old
bunkhouse where she used to live. Emily changed both of them and
curled up next to Allen on the bed. She soon fell asleep to the
sounds of cows in the pasture.

Emily woke up to the rooster and looked over
at Allen, he was still fast asleep. She got up, dressed quickly,
and walked out to the chicken coop. She gathered the eggs into the
basket and checked on Allen, he was coloring in bed. Once he was
dressed, they headed into the house. They could smell breakfast
from outside, and Emily smiled.

“
Good morning,” Emily said,
handing Jess the basket of eggs. Allen ran into Alec’s outstretched
arms.

“
Hope you’re hungry,” Jess
said, flipping pancakes on the griddle.

“
Starving, what can I do?”
Emily asked, and started cracking open the fresh eggs for scrambled
eggs.

As soon as breakfast was over, Jess looked
at her watch and gasped, “Emily! We’re going to be late for the
makeovers.”

“
Makeover?” Emily
grimaced.

“
Oh come on, it’s not going
to hurt you to be made up for once,” Jess laughed.

“
I’ll bring Allen along
later,” Alec said, sitting down to color with Allen.

Emily nodded and followed Jess out to the
car. They crawled in and rode silently into town. Emily cringed
when she saw the beautician assigned to her. She had blue and pink
striped hair and rings in her nose and eyebrows. Her make-up was
heavy black, and she had a blue tear tattooed on her cheek.

Emily decided to just endure it and sat back
to listen to Jess visit with other members of the wedding
party.

“
Don’t forget, Jennifer,
hair up,” the owner said to the girl doing Emily’s hair.

“
Can’t I wear it down?
It’ll cover my back,” she said.

Jess shook her head, “Bride’s order, hair
has to be up.”

Emily nodded.

“
What colors of make-up do
you want?” the girl asked Emily.

“
Nothing dark,” Emily said,
eyeing the beautician’s black eye shadow.

Emily watched for three hours as the
beautician curled her hair and intricately piled it on top of her
head with coiled tendrils falling softly down on her shoulders. She
was impressed that her make-up was very light and natural
looking.

“
Come on, Emi, we have to
get dressed,” Jess said, frantically.

She went along with Jess. She knew they had
plenty of time, but her Aunt was frenzied and nervous. In the car,
Jess babbled about people who were coming, and those that couldn’t
make it. She was nervous about meeting the bride’s mother and kept
referring to them as ‘new age’ parents.

Emily hurried and got dressed. The bathroom
was full of last minute fittings and make-over adjustments. It
didn’t take her long to get dressed. The dress didn’t allow for a
lot of work, not even a bra was an option with the backless
creation. She pulled on the pink heels and walked out of the hectic
bathroom, hoping to find Allen.

Emily found Allen and Alec sitting alone in
a room off of the main church lobby. She slunk into a chair and
picked Allen up.

“
Pretty scary, isn’t it?”
Alec said, smiling.

“
Yeah, not really my
thing,” Emily shrugged.

“
We appreciate you coming.
We don’t have a lot of family and Pat wanted as many in the wedding
as possible,” Alec explained.

Emily nodded, “It’s ok, it was a good excuse
to come visit.”

“
Emily!” Jess
yelled.

“
I better go,” Emily said,
checking to make sure Allen’s tie was on straight.

Emily was lined up behind the maid of honor
and handed a small bouquet of pink roses and white carnations. She
smiled as Allen ran down the aisle with the ring and into Alec’s
arms.

Emily was glad for her quaint bonding
ceremony. She didn’t have to go through all of this with Chevalier
like she had with Keith. She marched slowly down the aisle and
blushed as she felt eyes on her exposed back. She took her place
alongside the bride and looked out over those gathered.

One man caught her eye. He was watching her
closely and smiled when she looked at him. Emily couldn’t help but
blush, even when their eyes met he didn’t look away. She didn’t
catch most of the ceremony. She spent her time trying to look at
anyone but the dark haired stranger who was watching her. Once the
ceremony was over, she walked with the others into the reception
area where there was to be a dance.

“
Allen is tired. I’m going
to take him back to the ranch,” Alec said when he found
Emily.

“
Coward,” she called to
him.

“
Yes I am,” Alec said,
grinning, and then left with Allen.

The music started and Emily watched the
couple take their first dance together.

“
Come on, Small Fry, let’s
dance.” She flinched at the voice.

“
No thanks, Jeff, I don’t
dance,” she said, but he took her hand anyway and dragged her onto
the dance floor.

She felt his rough hand on the skin on her
waist, and he took her other hand.

Jeff’s dancing was uncoordinated and clunky,
and she had to fight to stay on her feet in the awful pink heels.
She was relieved when she heard the voice behind her.

“
May I cut in, please?” the
soft and tender voice said.

Jeff huffed and let Emily go. She turned and
saw the tall, dark haired stranger that had been watching her
earlier.

Emily tried not to panic when she felt his
hand against her back, and she took his other hand in hers. He spun
her, and then pressed her body close to his.

“
I didn’t catch your name,”
he said, looking down at her.

“
Emily, and
yours?”

“
I’m Exavior,” he said,
smiling. Emily froze when she saw the elongated canines.

He bent down and whispered into her ear,
“I’m not here to hurt you.”

He spun her around and brought her back
close to his body.

“
Who are you?” she asked,
anxiously.

“
I’m just here for the
wedding, the same as you,” he said to her, calmly.

“
What faction?” she asked,
and he dipped her and looked into her eyes.

“
No factions tonight,” he
said, and lifted her back up.

“
I’m warning
you…”

“
Relax.” He spun her again
and pressed her against him using his hand on her back, “I’m just
surprised you are here unprotected is all.”

“
I can handle myself,” she
whispered.

He laughed, “I’ve heard that.”

“
It’s not fair that you
know who I am, and I don’t know anything about you,” she said,
looking around her for an easy out.