Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Molly swallowed hard.
“All…all right,” she murmured.
“We won’t fail you,” Commander Torus said firmly.
Then he took Molly by the hand and pulled her out of the office and into a whole new life with him.
18
MOLLY
“Oh my goodness, doll—you look absolutely gorgeous!” Kat—the wedding planner that Commander Sylvan had lined up for them—took a step back to admire Molly in her wedding gown. “What a beautiful bride!” she sighed happily.
Molly looked at herself in the 3D viewer and felt like she was looking at a stranger. The white gown was deceptively simple. It had a rounded neckline and lace cap sleeves and it hugged her curves all the way down. A beautiful, diaphanous veil perched on her hair—which Kat had twisted into a fashionable up-do—and floated around her shoulders and arms like a delicate mist.
“I don’t know,” she said, looking at herself in the viewer. “Don’t you think it shows my freckles kind of a lot?”
Suddenly a deep, male voice spoke in her head.
“You should show them off—I like your freekles.”
Molly gasped and jumped, putting a hand to her pounding heart. She and Commander Torus had only been fitted with the thought/emotion transference devices, (or TETs as Commander Sylvan called them for short) that morning, and she was still getting used to hearing her boss’s voice inside her head.
“You’re going to have to stop thinking of me as your ‘boss’ and begin to envision me as your husband, sweetheart,” he sent through the TET link they now shared. “And don’t call me ‘Commander’ anymore. You must call me simply ‘Torus’ or one of the other ‘pet names’ we agreed on yesterday.”
“Sorry,” Molly sent back to him. “I’m still trying to get used to all this—that’s all.”
“I know, little bird.” His deep mental voice was gentle and patient, which was a good thing, Molly thought. If he had been angry or shouty, like Zach had been, she never could have stood to have him inside her head.
“I’m glad you think I’m nothing like your ex-Mate, but you’re projecting your private thoughts again, sweetheart,” Torus’s voice rumbled in her head. “Remember Commander Sylvan told us to picture a barrier in our minds when we wanted to think privately instead of projecting. Not that I mind hearing your thoughts,” he added. “But everyone has a right to privacy.”
“Oh, sorry!” Molly sent again.
“You okay, doll?” Kat’s voice brought her back from the internal dialogue and she realized the other woman was giving her a worried look.
“Oh, yes—I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Why?”
“Well, because you’ve been standing there frozen, like a deer in the headlights.” Kat shook her head. “I was getting worried.”
“Oh, I’m okay,” Molly assured her. “This is just a lot to get used to all of a sudden. I feel kind of like I’ve been caught up in a whirlwind!”
Indeed, she’d been feeling that way ever since yesterday when Commander Torus—no, just Torus—she reminded herself, had pulled her out of Commander Sylvan’s office and taken her ring shopping…
They had gone to one of the many shops that surrounded the parklands in the center of the Mother Ship. Overhead, the artificial green sun was still high in the “sky” and there were happy couples and families wandering around to the different shops and restaurants that encircled the park.
“Are you really going to buy me a ring?” Molly had asked, still not quite able to believe this whole scenario.
Torus had looked down at her. “Isn’t that what any male who was asking a human female to Join with him would do?”
“Well, yes…but you shouldn’t have to spend your own money on me,” Molly protested. “I can buy it myself—or at least pay you back.”
Torus frowned and shook his head.
“I don’t think so. It’s not proper for a bride-to-be to buy her own ring. I might not know much about human marriage customs, but I do know that.”
He had insisted that Molly looked at all the rings in the shop—even the really expensive ones. But he didn’t just stand around while she looked—the big Kindred was right beside her the whole time. When they finally chose a ring—an Andalusian diamond which looked green in some light and blue in others, (Torus said it reminded him of her eyes)—he had paid for it and refused to let her help with the expense.
They had gotten measured for wedding rings too—white gold and platinum bands that Molly loved. The jeweler had promised to do a rush job on resizing the ring for Torus—it was going to be much bigger than their usual bands—and swore everything would be ready the next morning.
Afterwards, with the engagement ring in a box in Torus’ pocket, they had gone to meet Kat, who had called to say she was ready for them. She had taken Molly’s measurements and asked what kind of ceremony they wanted.
Here again, Torus had been involved in the process. It was so unlike her first wedding, which Molly had been forced to plan herself because Zach was in the middle of testing the beta version of a new game and couldn’t be bothered to help.