Chapter 6: Victor and Peacekeeper
"What about inviting your mother?" Darius asks the question seriously as we sit in my kitchen, preparing our toasting.
"No. She has a new life in Four. Re-married, even. Trust me, she is better off staying as far away from me as possible!" I don't elaborate that Mother and I have been estranged, ever since I was a teenager. Though it has never been explicitly addressed.
Darius shrugs. "If that's what you feel. We'll have Haymitch, of course. Colleagues from the Reconstruction Crew."
"What about your family?"
At this, my husband-to-be's expression becomes pained. "Oh, they're all dead," he explains a little too flippantly. "They were executed by the Peacekeepers. I only enlisted with them so I wouldn't die, too."
"I'm sorry."
My lover pecks me on the lips chastely. "It's not your fault," he smiles sadly.
Darius and I marry in a lovely toasting ceremony in my living room. Haymitch walks me down the aisle, and when Darius and I kiss the crumbs away from each other's mouths, the Reconstruction Crew breaks into song:
"Kiss your darlings, Oh Johnny!"
And I do. I kiss my darling.
