Page 27 of Kranow (Brides of the Mylos #4)
The two weeks seemed to pass in a flash, with everything there was to do. Marley decided against a traditional cake, given the beach and barbecue theme, opting instead for ice cream cakes from a Dairy Queen a few miles away from their beach wedding location- one a Cupid Cake for herself and Kranow, and several ice cream cupcakes for her friends and their security team. Melissa, being familiar with the area due to having lived there for many years, volunteered to go pick these up after the ceremony while the food was being barbecued, after everyone had fun playing in the surf.
Marley also surprised herself by deciding to not wear a wedding dress, instead opting to wear a bathing suit and sarong ensemble. It sounded much more comfortable and would be much easier to deal with instead of having to change out of a gown in order to join in the beach fun with everyone. The hardest part of the planning actually came down to what music she wished to play. She decided a fifties and sixties theme would appeal to everyone, and elected to make up a play list for them to listen to while barbecuing.
“ But what about the first dance? ” Steven asked.
“ Dance? I ’ ve seen pictures of the beach, Steven. It ’ s a covered picnic area with charcoal barbecues and lots of picnic tables. No dance floor! ”
“ But there ’ s got to be dancing! Oh, what if after the barbecue, we use a babysitting service and head to a local night club, There ’ s gotta be one that ’ d be suitable, ” he insisted. “ One where we could talk, have a few drinks, and enjoy some dancing without it being pick up city. ”
Melissa looked up from where she sat feeding baby Lapresh. “ We could just set up some Bluetooth speakers and dance on the sand. ”
“ Should have thought of that myself, ” Darla said, chagrin lacing her tone heavily.
“ That wasn ’ t allowed in Hawaii, so it didn ’ t occur to me, either, ” Marley consoled her.
“ It escaped me, too, ” Steven said. “ Such a simple solution at that. I feel a bit of an idiot, now. ”
“ I think we ’ re all just getting to where we ’ re overthinking everything. I thought, hey, it ’ s a beach party only Marley and Kranow will be doing vows. So, how to get music to a party on a beach? Then it came to me, ” Melissa said.
“ I meant to ask, just how cold is it in July in Scotland? ”
“ The island is in the Gulf Stream, so it ’ s quite warm actually. I was told I could wear ordinary summer clothes, you know, like shorts, t-shirts, and stuff like that, and be quite comfortable, ” Marley told him excitedly.
“ Oh, tell him about the seals! And the plane! ” Darla prodded.
Marley grinned. “ We fly to the island from Glasgow, on this little plane and it lands right on the beach! And there are seals around there, and there ’ s this local company that works out of the youth hostel on the island. They offer surfing lessons and stuff. I ’ ve booked us a session with them where we ’ ll get to go snorkel with the seals! ”
“ Oh, wow! That sounds so cool! ”
“ I know, right? I ’ m so excited about it! I just hope Kranow likes the idea as I ’ ve booked him to do it, too. ”
“ Oh, I bet he will. I swear these Mylos warriors will try anything at least once! ” Steven said, laughing.
“ Oh my goodness, yes. Remember them at the luaus? ” Darla asked before launching into an explanation for Melissa ’ s benefit.
“ Oh my God, yes! The conch horn blowing contest! ” Melissa shook with laughter. Marley smiled, a deep pang of regret stabbing through her. She wished she ’ d been there and realized that she had had that chance, with Melissa. If she ’ d ignored that spiteful inner voice and reached out, she just might have been invited. Or if she ’ d booked a ticket to any of those public luaus, she might have even been to the very first that the Mylos had attended, with Darla. Now she ’ d never be able to attend. Sure the beach barbecue at Grayton was going to be great and the beaches and swimming and all was going to be fun on Barra, too. But they weren ’ t her beloved Hawaii. She ’ d done that. She ’ d barred herself from Paradise and now she was lucky that she even got to experience a beach on Earth at all.
“ Oh no, don ’ t cry, sugar! ” Darla said, alarmed. “ It was all this talk of Hawaii, wasn ’ t it? You really miss the place. Oh, shoot, ” she said, looking about wildly. “ We really messed up decorating this place with reminders, didn ’ t we? ”
Marley shook her head. “ No. I just realized they won ’ t ever let me go back, so I ’ ll never get to go to experience one of those luaus with you guys. And I could ’ ve, back when I lived there, if I hadn ’ t been such a royal bitch. ” She cried harder.
“ What is going on? ” was said in a roar. All eyes jerked t the now open doorway. Opening and closing his fists, his scales beginning to make themselves known, stood Kranow. The sound startled Lapresh, who jerked, pulling himself off the nipple in surprise before scrunching up his face and beginning to cry.
“ We were talking about the wedding and laughing over some stuff that happened at Darla ’ s and Melissa ’ s, ” Steven said defensively.
“ It ’ s okay, ” Marley reassured him, standing up and running towards Kranow, arms wide. “ I ’ m just hormonal or something. “ She clasped him tightly. Kranow gazed into her eyes searchingly, holding her firmly against himself. “ I can ’ t believe it! I wasn ’ t expecting you until the day after tomorrow. ”
“ I wished to surprise you, ” he said, satisfied by what he saw within the depths of her eyes, his expression gentling.
“ Well, you did! And here I thought you ’ d not get here until the day before the wedding! ”
“ And that ’ s our cue to leave, ” Melissa said, jiggling Lapresh as she held him against her shoulder. The infant snuffled loudly, then gave a soft hiccup. Kranow eyed the infant, a guilty look crossing his expression.
“ My apologies. I did not intend to frighten your young. ”
“ No harm done. I ’ m sure when you walked in, it looked bad. You were just defending your girl, here, ” Melissa said with a soft smile. Kranow returned the smile before dropping a soft kiss to the top of Marley ’ s head.
“ Yes, indeed, but I need to be more mindful. ” He glanced around. “ Where are the rest of the young? ”
“ Oh, it ’ s okay, they aren ’ t here, ” Darla replied.
“ Yeah, they ’ re at a birthday party. Sergeant Timmons ’ kid turned seven, ” Steven supplied.
“ Sergeant Timmons? ” Kranow wrinkled his brow, trying to place the name.
“ He ’ s one of the former military training here. He works in ship ’ s maintenance and his son is going to be moving into my class, ” Marley said, another sad expression crossing her face. “ If I still have one, that is. ”
“ You do! ” Darla cried. “ School ’ s just on hiatus right now until they figure out who that DNA belongs to. It ’ s not in the system, neither in the Mylos database nor in any belonging to any human law enforcement, so it ’ s not someone who ever applied to be a bride nor is it any of the military folks or a known criminal or anyone else who ’ d be in the databases. ”
“ Yeah, but then who was it? ” Marley cried out. Kranow pulled her closer against his chest and began rubbing slow, soothing circles on her lower back.
“ They ’ ll find out. And when they do, they ’ ll be sorry they were ever born, ” Darla promised darkly. “ We ’ re all family, and you don ’ t mess with our family. ”