~ Ten ~

We showed Kalia and Fiore the picture I had taken of the photo in Christian’s room. Neither of them recognized the woman posing with Christian. I felt relief that it wasn’t Maia, but it was short lived because now the puzzle had gotten more complicated. Were all the events of the recent months connected? How many people were involved? With Ian dead, we should finally be free of all the trouble he had caused.

“Oh…that reminds me,” I reached into my back pocket. “I did take one thing.” I handed Christian the envelope and saw the immediate surprise in his eyes. He pulled the contents out, considering it was already open, and began reading to himself.

“What is it?” I asked, though he handed me the letter.

“Apparently, I had a wife,” He turned to Aaron. “And she wasn’t very happy with me.”

“What?” Fiore looked angry.

We all looked at him. “According to this letter, I left her. I wanted a divorce and she was going to fight it. She begged to work things out.”

All of us sat speechless.

“How is it signed?” Fiore was the first to speak. I handed the letter back to Christian.

“Love, Sam. That’s all,” he said. He crumpled the letter in one hand.

“Sam? As in Samantha Maureen Fitzgerald? Like on the passport you saw,” I said. I turned the envelope over to look at the postmark. It was postmarked from Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“Whoever is responsible for this did some serious planning.” Fiore took the wadded paper from Christian, smoothed/ it and handed it to Kalia.

“So let me get this straight,” Kalia started, placing it on the coffee table. “You had a wife, left her, she wanted you back, and then, you died before you could make a decision?”

“That sounds about right.” I stood, ready to go upstairs and forget about this for a little while. I reached out to take back the letter when Kalia grabbed my hand.

“What’s this?” she asked, moving my hand toward Aaron so he could see.

“It belonged to Christian’s mother. He gave it to me today.” I couldn’t help but beam as they admired my ring.

In the days following our new discoveries, we solved nothing but paid no more attention to the puzzle. With the wedding date fast approaching, we threw ourselves wholeheartedly into the preparations. Aaron had all the proper documents made for Christian, since we needed to get our marriage license and he no longer had access to them. Kalia, Fiore, and I went to the bridal shop for one last fitting, the invitations were sent, the band picked, the flowers ordered, and the backyard was cleaned and landscaped to prepare for the ceremony and reception.

It was to be a small, intimate wedding. Aloysius was arriving the day before and Aaron was beside himself with happiness. We listened to stories about him every chance we had. Though Aaron didn’t see him that often, he seemed to have a close relationship with him anyway and had nothing but good things to say.

As the big day got closer, I felt more anxious and though I tried to hide it, Christian picked up on it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when we were finally alone in our room, after cleaning the entire first floor.

“Nothing, why?”

“I don’t know. You look…sad?” Christian had the remote hovering above his head, commanding it with a wave of his hand. His practice was really paying off.

“I’m just nervous.” I dodged the remote and climbed up on the bed.

“Cold feet?” He waved the remote to the nightstand and moved to my side.

“Not at all. It’s just been too quiet lately. I keep expecting something to happen and when it doesn’t, it makes me more anxious.” I snuggled into his awaiting arms.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I can protect you now.”

“I know. I guess I’m afraid something will happen at our wedding. Tell me I’m being silly.” I looked up at his face.

“You’re being silly,” he said and kissed me. “Our wedding is going to be perfect. You’ll see.”

“I hope so.” The knot in my stomach stayed.

We were all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Aaron’s great-grandfather the next day. It was also the last night Christian and I would be in our own room before the wedding. Kalia was trying to make it as traditional as possible. Christian would spend the night in the living room with the men. Fiore and Kalia would spend time with me, once they finished decorating the backyard and the gigantic tent they had rented. I was glad I wouldn’t be spending the evening alone.

As usual, the day dawned cloudy. The weather was much warmer than usual but it threatened to rain any minute. Aaron and Kalia left for the airport shortly after seven. The rest of us made sure everything was ready for Aloysius’s arrival.

“It seems strange not having to worry about what our guests will be eating,” Christian cleared the kitchen table of our newspapers. “Why is there a refrigerator?”

“It was in the house when they bought it. It’s not plugged in,” I explained and went to open the door. Christian smiled when he saw Kalia’s art supplies neatly stacked on the shelves that in any other household would contain food.

“This is going to take some getting used to.” He smiled. “What happens if we do decide to eat food?”

“Nothing really. We just have no need for it anymore. It doesn’t even seem appetizing to me. I think the only smell I still enjoy is the smell of coffee, cookies baking and chocolate, of course. Even so, I still don’t have the urge to eat or drink those things,” I explained.

“It’s just weird not to hear my stomach growl.”

When we heard the front door open, Christian and I exchanged looks of anticipation.

“I guess it’s time,” Christian said as we met Fiore in the hallway.

“Lily, Fiore, Christian, this is Aloysius,” Aaron said, setting down a suitcase.

An impressive man moved into view. He was a bit shorter than Aaron but with the same facial features and green eyes. The biggest difference was that his long hair, tied in the back, was a black as deep as ebony. He dressed casually but impeccably, from his blue button-down shirt to his black jeans, and polished dress shoes. He stood and surveyed us from head to toe and for some reason, none of us dared to move. It wasn’t until he extended his hand to Fiore that the room seemed to relax.

She took his hand first, then Christian, and finally me. When his fingers closed on my hand, he held my wrist with the other hand. He stood like that for close to a minute, not saying a word, but his eyes widened. I looked to Aaron for an explanation but none was offered. What had they told him about me? He nodded and smiled then motioned us into the living room.

“We’re so glad you could make it,” I said and looked at Christian so he knew I was speaking for both of us.

“Me too. I’m glad Aaron contacted me. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss something so important.” His manner was serious but his smile was warm. I relaxed a little more, trying to put his reaction at touching me out of my mind.

Aaron and his great-grandfather started chatting and trying to catch up when we all noticed how anxious Kalia looked. Her fidgeting was unusual for a vampire.

“What’s wrong, Kalia?” Aaron asked. We all turned to her.

“We have a lot to do tonight so Lily will have to go upstairs early. I was wondering if we could do what we planned now?” She looked at Aaron and winked.

I didn’t know what I had expected when I saw her so anxious and I realized at that moment every muscle in my body had tensed. Seeing her wink, I let myself relax.

“I don’t see why not,” Aaron said and Kalia ran to the kitchen. Fiore’s smile confirmed she was in on the secret.

Kalia returned with her hands behind her back and a look on her face as if she was ready to burst. Aaron stood to go to her side and motioned for Fiore to join them.

“We wanted to do this tomorrow but then we realized you would need to prepare,” Kalia said through her smile. Aaron looked at her with encouragement. Fiore laughed at the look on my face as Christian and I sat on the edge of our seats. “Aaron, Fiore, and I have a wedding gift for you.” She stepped toward me and handed me what was behind her back.

I held what she handed me but couldn’t manage to open it. Impatient, Christian took it from me and opened it.

“Round trip tickets to Lima, Peru?” he asked, shocked.

Kalia clapped her hands together but stopped mid-motion when I threw my arms around her, all but knocking her over. I did the same with Aaron and Fiore.

“I know how much you love the place,” Kalia explained.

“You didn’t think we’d let you go without a honeymoon, did you?” Fiore asked. Christian had hugged her and Kalia when we heard Aloysius clear his throat. We turned our attention to him.

“I hope you don’t mind if I travel with you. I have an apartment there and would love it if you used it. I have some things to take care of and I promise to give you all the privacy a honeymoon requires.” He waited for protests but there were none. “You won’t even know I’m there.”

“We would be honored,” Christian answered.

“Thank you so much. I can’t believe you all did this. How long were you planning this?” I asked.

“Not long. You know how hard it is to keep secrets from each other,” Kalia explained. We all laughed.

“I can’t believe it. A month in Lima! I can’t believe it.” I couldn’t wait to get upstairs and pack.

“Go ahead. Go pack. We will start setting up the chairs for tomorrow,” Kalia responded to my thought. I looked at Aloysius.

“We’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted after the wedding. I know how busy this time can be,” he said.

“Once you go up, Lily, you have to stay there.” Kalia led me to the stairs as the others waved us on with smiles on their faces.

“I can’t believe we’re going to South America,” Christian said as he opened our suitcases on the bed. “This all feels like a dream.”

“Tell me about it! So much has changed.” I dropped a pile of clothing on the bed and walked over to wrap my arms around his neck. “By this time tomorrow, I’ll be your wife.”

He backed away enough to look at my face. “Any regrets?”

“Absolutely not,” I answered without hesitation. “I can’t think of anything I want more.”

“Neither can I,” he answered and kissed my lips. “Let’s get this packing done before they kick me out of the room.”

We packed our suitcases and made sure we had our tickets and passports ready to go for tomorrow night. We would be leaving for the airport from the reception and would have no time to do anything besides change our clothes and grab our luggage. Shortly after we were done, there was a tap on the door.

“Time for the groom to leave the bride alone with the girls,” Aaron poked his head in the room. My stomach did a somersault. This was not going to be an easy night.

I kissed Christian goodnight but had to be pulled away from him by Aaron. He laughed as he dragged Christian, who kept his arms stretched out to me, toward the stairs. I stayed frozen where they left me. If I felt like this now, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get through tomorrow. It didn’t make a difference though. All I cared about was that tomorrow I would be Lily Rexer. Everything else could wait.