Chapter 28
Drake
The next two weeks flew by. We'd visited Portavira after Lythikos, and Penelope's parents hadn't been that hard to get on our side. We'd played a polo match. Iris, Hana and Jimmy versus Emma, Maxwell, Tim and I. Painful to admit, we'd actually lost to the first team, even though we were with one person more. During our stay in Portavira, which was about two and a half days, Ron got through three more security walls on Constantine's laptop, and he had gotten down to the last two. When we travelled to Kiara's home, that's when the real troubles began.
With troubles I meant, Ron's security battle, getting Kiara and her parents to come to the wedding, and… Iris and Jimmy having to teach Emma and me the official wedding waltz. Kiara and her parents had been slightly distant on our first day there, so we'd decided to turn in early for the night and discuss the wedding in Jimmy's room.
'We're not getting married in a barn, Emma,' Iris said, her eyebrows raised. 'Oh come on, we could ride in on horses, how fun is that?' I nodded agreeingly. 'I think Emma's right. Horses, whiskey, how is that not an amazing wedding?' Iris chuckled and shook her head. 'Please Jimmy, tell me you're team Iris in this.' 'I am, Iris,' Jimmy said, with a grin. 'I don't think it's necessary to have an extravagant wedding, but I'd prefer not to find any hay… anywhere… by the end of the night.' Emma folded her arms jokingly. 'Well, you guys aren't any fun. Just imagine, riding in on our horses, cowboy hats and boots. Great.' I slid my arm around Iris' shoulders, and winked at her. 'Don't worry, Valentine. We won't get married in a barn.' I paused. 'Maybe we could get married in a bar!' 'Yeah!' Emma cheered, making Iris and Jimmy groan.
Emma grinned at me. We were only joking, of course we didn't want to get married in a barn. We'd actually talked about it before, when Iris and Jimmy were talking to Kiara's parents. Both Emma and I liked the idea of getting married in Bellatio's vineyard. I'd already called Mark and Bree, because I was pretty sure that Iris and Jimmy were going to love the idea. Mark and Bree did too, and so it was settled, unless Iris and Jimmy didn't agree.
'This double wedding is going to be harder than we thought, isn't it?' Iris joked, as she eyed me. I grinned and shook my head. 'I don't think so, Valentine. Emma and I actually thought of something else.' Emma nodded happily. 'We were thinking, maybe we should get married in Bellatio's vineyard, by sunset…' Iris' eyes lit up as she looked at me. I smiled down at her and nodded. 'I already called your parents, they loved the idea.' Iris shrieked happily and wrapped her arms around me. 'I love it too!' Jimmy nodded agreeingly, and shot Emma a loving look. 'I do too. That's settled!' Iris pecked my lips, and her eyes were so loving, it was almost palpable. 'Thank you, for arranging that.' I smiled and pecked her lips once more. 'You know I'd do anything for you.'
She smiled and bit her lip. 'That's why I'd love to do something for you too. How about, we ride up to you guys on horses? Through the vineyard.' Emma's eyes started sparkling, and even Jimmy smiled. 'Damn, Valentine, I couldn't possibly love you more,' I said, making her giggle. 'I know, babe.' She looked at Emma and cocked her eyebrow. 'I think it's time for us to start searching for wedding dresses.' Emma nodded, and her face grew sullen. 'Yeah, after my first dress was ruined.' She looked up and put her hand on her heart. 'Damn, I still miss it.' Iris nodded. 'It didn't deserve to die like that.' 'Ah well. Jimmy didn't either, so I'm good. I'll pick out a new dress.' We all chuckled. After giving me a kiss, Iris walked over to the other side of the room with Emma, and Jimmy immediately looked serious. 'Okay, Drake. We have to talk about the thing we've been putting off.' I sighed and shook my head. 'Not ready.'
Jimmy wrung his hands. 'We have to be. The wedding is getting close.' I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. 'Okay. Best man and bachelor, bachelorette parties. Who do we choose?' 'Well, I was thinking, if I pick Maxwell to be my best man, you could pick Tim?' Jimmy suggested. I nodded agreeingly. 'Best man is also brother in law, that's good.' He sighed. 'Then there's the thing I've been dreading. Usually you'd pick your best man to arrange your bachelor party, right?' I nodded. 'Well, I'd always thought it would be you… so I never thought of anyone else.' He rubbed his neck and grinned. 'Whiskey tastings sound better than whatever Maxwell is capable of arranging.' I laughed and agreed immediately. 'What about Tim?' Jimmy suggested.
I cocked an eyebrow and turned around on the couch, looking at Iris. 'Valentine, is Tim capable of arranging a bachelor and bachelorette party or would he Maxwell up the place?' Emma and Jimmy chuckled, and Iris grinned as she caught my eyes. 'I love my brother to death, and I'm pretty sure he'll have amazing ideas, but he needs Hana to get it done.' 'Then why don't we ask Tim and Hana together? Hana will make sure that the girls like it, and Tim will make sure the guys won't fall asleep doing girly stuff,' I joked, as I looked at the girls, who smiled back calmly. 'You're going to wish you hadn't said that, Walker,' Iris said, biting her lip mischievously. 'And I'm going to make sure he'll regret it,' Emma added, grinning big. Jimmy and I chuckled.
Jimmy and I continued discussing some wedding details, when Emma shrieked. 'Iris!' My head shot up, worried, as I looked at the girls. Iris had jumped up, and ran out of the room, covering her mouth with her hand. Shit. Pregnancy related nausea. 'Guys, we'll continue this tomorrow, okay? The nausea has been returning throughout the day. I think she needs some sleep,' I said, as I stood up. Emma and Jimmy nodded. 'Sure, tomorrow we're going to start practising the wedding dance,' Jimmy said, a grin on his face. Mine, however, fell. 'Fine,' I moped, and quickly followed Iris, hearing Emma and Jimmy chuckle behind me.
I jogged over to Iris' and my room, and found her in the bathroom. 'Darling, are you okay?' I asked, knocking on the door. 'I'm okay, our little blob is telling me he wants to grow,' she joked, even though her voice sounded quite tired and shaky. After a little while, I heard the water running. She was brushing her teeth, and the moment the water stopped, she came out of the bathroom, looking pale, and sat down next to me on the bed. 'It's all worth it, right?' She said with a smile. I wrapped my arms around her waist, gently lifting her onto my lap. 'I think so, Valentine, but it's easy for me to say.' I stroke her cheek with my thumb. She was pale, sickly pale, but I was still looking at the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. My woman.
'I just… can't wait until the first sonogram. I can't help but stress a little bit about…' She fell silent, and her eyes were vulnerable. 'Whether it's healthy… and whether it has a heartbeat by that time.' She smiled slightly. 'It wasn't planned, but I've never wanted anything unplanned so badly.' I smiled and pecked her lips. 'I get it, Valentine. Me neither. We can't do anything but wait, even though it's killing us.' I stroke her cheek again. 'We can, however, do something else.' Her eyes widened slightly as I picked her up and put her down on the bed. 'I'm not coming on to you, but I need you to take off your shirt and lay down on your stomach please,' I said.
She smiled, 'you really are the sweetest, aren't you?' I felt a blush rising to my cheeks, so I frowned instead. 'I can't tell you this isn't a hundred percent unselfish. I mean.' I paused and grinned slightly. 'Seeing you without a shirt will always be a great thing.' She laughed and pecked my lips softly. 'Okay, then you get to take it off.' I smiled big, making her laugh even harder. I took the hem of her shirt in my hands, and took it off. I tried not to stare at her half naked body too long, but she was wearing the bra I loved most. 'Damn, Valentine,' I whispered softly, and let my fingers slide over the curve of her breasts. She bit her lip, and smiled slightly. 'Now, lay down on your stomach before I lose self-control,' I warned. She winked, and lay down on her stomach.
I undid her bra, and brushed it aside, slowly letting my hands travel over her back as I sat down on her lower back. I started massaging her, and she agreed with my movements. 'You're really good at this, Drake,' she said, slightly surprised. 'I have so many hidden talents,' I joked, and lowered down to give her a kiss in her neck. She sighed contentedly. I smiled and massaged her entire back for a while, until she suddenly turned around, put on her bra again and sat up to hug me. 'You are the best future husband ever.' This time I didn't feel it coming up, it just came up, quite quickly. I blushed, and tangled my hand in her hair. 'Only the best for you, Valentine, you know I think you're way better than me. Should at least give you the best.'
She pulled back, and her head shot up. 'You take back those words, Drake Walker!' I cocked my eyebrows. 'Which ones?' 'The ones where you said I'm better than you.' Her eyes turned lucid. 'Honey, there's no universe in which anyone is better than you…' she grabbed my hand and put the other on my cheek. 'I fell in love with you, because to me, you are the most special and amazing person I've ever met.' Her hand tangled in my hair and gripped it softly. 'I mean that with all my heart. You give me so much more than I could've ever hoped for.' I felt a slight lump in my throat as I pulled her closer. 'Don't go soft on me, Valentine. You know I'm not good with that.' She smiled and pecked my lips softly. 'I'll be more than proud to call myself Mrs Walker in two weeks.' I felt a sudden pang of happiness and warmth spreading through my body, causing me to smile big. I pressed her down gently and hovered over her, the smiling turning mischievous. 'You have no idea how badly I want you to be Mrs Walker.'
Her eyes turned somewhat darker as she said the words that made me go crazy. 'Prove it.'
'Gladly,' I replied.
The remainder of days at Kiara's were uneventful, apart from Iris and Jimmy getting her and her parents to agree to come to the wedding. Right before we wanted to move on to Fydelia, Madeleine's estate, Ron had broken through one more layer of Constantine's decoding. We'd tried to stall our depart by giving a few interviews so he could finish the action.
In the meantime, Danny and Jake helped Iris and Emma prepare for Fydelia. Madeleine definitely wasn't the easiest person to convince, or so we thought. Even though she felt embarrassed she wasn't picked to be the future Queen, she didn't want to let Cordonia down, so she had agreed to coming to the wedding quite quickly. Her parents were somewhat harder, but Iris managed to persuade Adelaide, and Jimmy managed to talk Godfrey into it. Neither Emma nor I got a good feeling from Godfrey, but we managed to keep our mouths shut until we were headed for House Beaumont. Jimmy, Emma, Iris and I were sitting in the royal plane when Emma couldn't take it anymore. 'Say, this Godfrey…'
Iris looked up. 'Oh thank god. You noticed it too?' I nodded agreeingly. 'Godfrey was acting suspicious.' Jimmy frowned. 'I know, I can't put my finger on it. He really didn't want to come to our wedding, but after Madeleine and Adelaide had already agreed, there was hardly a way back for him.' I cocked my eyebrows. 'But why wouldn't he want to come, what's the big deal?' Iris, Emma and Jimmy were all staring at me. 'Seriously no clue,' Emma sighed. 'Maybe we'll find out later.' Iris smiled. 'We have other things to keep busy with, Walker.' My eyebrows were still raised. 'This is hardly the company for such sexual innuendos, Valentine,' I joked. She chuckled and shook her head. 'Savannah!' I smiled big.
Savannah.