Chapter 50

I'm warm from the memory of days to come…

They were together on the chaise in her bedroom. House was against the back, she was in front of him, between his legs and his arms were around her. They wore terry cloth robes, but their bare feet were playing with each other's. They stayed there, just holding each other and talking.

"You know," she told him, "You don't have to marry me."

"You said yes. You accepted the ring. You're not getting out of it now."

"No, what I mean is, I don't want you to feel that you have to marry me. I'm not going anywhere. We'll be together. It doesn't matter if we're married or not."

"It does to me. We're getting married. And this time, you're taking my last name."

"Hmm, I guess I could hyphenate. Victoria Marsden-House."

"That's stupid. You'll sound like a rehab center for troubled teens. Is your daughter on drugs? Send her to Marsden House."

She giggled. "Do you really want me to be Victoria House?"

"Yes. Easier for you, easier for me, easier for the Android."

"Alright, I will."

He smiled and held her tighter. She leaned back against him and looked at her ring.

"How did you manage this?" she asked him.

"What?"

"The ring. How did you manage to have the ring made just like the one you got me at Chuck E. Cheese?"

"Easy. Went to the Cheese and got another ring just like it. Then brought it to a jeweler and had him recreate it for real. Stole yours this morning so that you wouldn't have it when we got there."

She was amazed. "That's so sweet! But Greg, it must have cost you a fortune. This is a very fine pink diamond. And they cost more to begin with."

He shrugged. "I have the money."

She turned her head to look at him. "Really? I didn't think you did."

"I'm a doctor and a department head. I make good money. And don't really spend much of it."

"I thought you were in debt. Or needed money for some reason."

"Why would you think that?"

"You accepted my offer to marry me for $250,000. Why would you do that if you didn't need the money?"

He lifted one side of his mouth in a half-smile. "Maybe I just wanted to be with you. And I got to live in luxury while I did. It was a win-win."

"But the plan was that we break up."

"Anything could happen."

She leaned back again and pulled his arms tighter around her. She really was lucky to have him.

"So," he began, "Do you want another wedding like the last one?"

"Lord no! I don't know how you felt, but that was the most boring wedding ever."

"I thought it was what you wanted?"

"No, that was what my family wanted. I'd never planned on getting married, so I had never thought about what I wanted."

"So now that you are—again – what do you want?"

"I'm not sure. But certainly nothing like that."

"You know, you're marrying the same guy."

"Yes, the groom is the same, but the bride is very different."

He smiled, but said, "I don't want her to be too different. I kind of love her the way she is."

She turned her head to look at him. "Even though she's a bitch?"

"Hey, don't talk about my girl like that! Anyway, I'm a jerk, so we're a good match. Heaven help our kid."

She snuggled closer to him and smiled. "Thank you. But you're not a jerk. You're wonderful. And our daughter is an angel."

"She is that. So, if you don't want a wedding like the one we already had, what do you want?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure where to start. Grace did most of the planning last time."

Sadness touched her then. "Oh, God. Grace would be so happy about this, about us. And who will be my maid of honor? She was my only friend."

"No, she's not your only friend."

"Yes, she is. I never had time to make friends with anyone else."

He tilted his head down to look at her. "What about Anita?"

"Anita? But she's my housekeeper."

"Wow, that's pretty Upstairs, Downstairs of you. I forgot, a servant can't be present at a Marsden wedding."

"No, no! That's not what I meant. I'm her employer, she doesn't…she wouldn't…I'm not her friend."

"But she's yours."

"What do you mean?"

"She's been taking care of you, physically and emotionally for a long time. If you were just her employer, she would cook your meals and clean your place and that would be it. Tell me, did she ask for a raise when Andra was born?"

"No."

"Right. You doubled her duties, but she didn't ask for more money. And she loves the kid as much as we do."

"You're right."

He shook his head. "When will you learn that I'm always right."

She chuckled. "Okay, I'm going to ask Anita to be my maid of honor."

"What about your family? What will they think of a servant doing that?"

"Fuck 'em."

"Whoa, what am I hearing?"

"I don't care what my family thinks. They don't control my life any longer. If they want to come to my wedding and be happy for me, fine. If they're going to criticize, then fuck 'em!"

"Yeah, I figured that. What just shocked me was the word. I don't think I've ever heard you say fuck in all the time I've known you. Now, you've just said it twice in the space of a few minutes."

"Well, I do it, I might as well say it."

He laughed and his arms around her got tighter. "So we've got a bride and groom, a best man and maid of honor. What else?"

"A flower girl?" she suggested.

He suddenly pictured Andra with a little basket of flowers, looking absolutely adorable.

"Yeah." He said.

"As for the rest, I don't know. We'll figure it out. Let's just enjoy being engaged."

"Okay, I can do that."

She was silent and he sensed some tension.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"What makes you think…?"

"Stop it. I know when you're stressed. What is it?"

"What if I can't do it? What if I screw it up? What if I'm not meant to be married?"

"Will you stop! There're no guarantees and as far as relationships go, I'm the biggest screw-up there is. But I love you. And you said you love me. And we both love the Android. We've already been divorced and that didn't work so well for us. So let's do the married thing for awhile and see how that goes."

She smiled. No wonder she loved him.