My Enemy's Son (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 2) (27 page)

“Get him out of his meeting,” Thad
demanded.  The receptionist looked up at Ron for a moment.  She put her hand to
her temples as if she were dizzy.

“I'll go get Mr. Golden right now,” she
cried suddenly and practically ran into the back office.

A few minutes later a very irate Mr.
Golden came into the reception area.  “Can I help you?”  He sounded pissed.

“Yes,” I replied, pushing Ron forward. 
“Mr. Golden, this is Dr. Sehron de Kudisha, your son in law.”

Chapter 18

Katie

I was lying on my twin bed staring at the
chess pieces.  The vid was on in the background but I had no idea what was
playing.  I picked up the Queen and turned her around and around in my hand. 
She was made of white marble with gold veining.  The eagle crest was stamped on
the bottom in gold leaf.  I had these pieces since I was ten years old and never
thought to wonder what the gold leaf stamp meant.  I always assumed he sent me
the white queen and the black king because they represented a bride and groom. 
When I was ten, I thought it meant he wanted to marry me.

My door opened.  “Come on,” my dad said. 
He had on a windbreaker and his topsiders.  “It's been a long time since my
favorite first mate came aboard.”

“I don't feel like it, Dad,” I said. 

He reached over and shut the vid off.

“I don't care if you don't feel like it,
Commander,” he ordered.  “The captain of this ship needs you.”

“Alright,” I sighed.  “As long as I don't
have to put my uniform back on.”  I dragged myself out of bed and followed him
outside and down to the dock.

“What's the matter, Katie Anne?”  We
pushed the boat away from the dock and hoisted the main sail, hoping for a
whisper of wind.  We didn’t need to move very fast.  Dad just loved to be out
on the water even if all we were doing was drifting.

“Why do you think something's wrong?” I
asked.  The sun was low on the horizon and the lake had turned golden hued.

“Well,” Dad chuckled.  “You've been moping
around the house ever since you got here.  You spend most of the day sleeping
and when you're awake you stare at the vid.  You don't even want to go out to
your favorite Chinese restaurant.  Something's going on.  You miss your ship?”

“No,” I scoffed.  “I needed a break from
it.”

“You miss Jerry?”

“No,” I scoffed again.  “I needed a break
from him too.”

“You want to tell me what it is then?”

I stared at the water for a moment. 
“These last few months have been pretty traumatic,” I told him.  “I need to
sort through it in my head.”

The wind caught us for a moment and we
heeled over to the starboard.

“You want to raise the jib?”

“Sure,” I replied more enthusiastic than I
felt.  I scrambled onto the foredeck.  I hauled up the halyard until the jib
was raised and then I secured it to the cleat.  I jumped back into the
cockpit.  The boat heeled even further starboard and so dad and I sat port,
propping our feet on the starboard bench while he held tight to the tiller. 

“Six knots, woo hoo!” Dad laughed.

“Speedy,” I said.

“Not quite as fast as you normally
travel.”

“More fun to have the wind in your face,”
I replied and managed a smile.

As quick as it came, the wind died down
and now we were half way across the lake with the last of the sun's rays
disappearing behind the Olympic Mountains.  The lake had gone from gold to
shades of purple and blue.

“Dad?” I said as we sat bobbing up and
down, waiting for another gust.  “You know why I was late coming home?”

“Oh I know something about some alien who
brainwashed you according to your mother.  You don't look so brainwashed to me
though.”

“He didn't brainwash me,” I replied.  “He
just didn't tell me about a few things.”

“Mhm?”  Dad tightened the sheets as far as
they would go.  The boat picked up a little bit, slicing silently through the
water.

“So there was this guy...”

“The alien guy?”

“Yeah, a very alien guy.”

“Your mother wouldn't like you dating an
alien guy.  That's what she was afraid of when you decided to go to space.”

“How would she feel if I married the alien
guy?”  We both laughed uproariously, as if this were the funniest thing we had
heard all day.  “But then I left.”  I wiped my eyes on my shirt.

“Loosen up that sheet,” Dad ordered as a
speed boat raced past us and set us rocking for a moment.  “Your mom was hoping
you'd marry Dr. Jerry.”  Dad turned his face to the sunset.  The colors
reflected off his glasses.  “And move back here.”  He smiled thoughtfully. 
“No?”

“Jerry was hoping the same thing.  I chose
Senya though.”

“Senya?  That would be the alien fellow? 
The one you married and then left?"

“Yeah,” I nodded.  "I didn't know
what I was getting in to.  I couldn't handle it all.”

“Handle what?” Dad says.  “His alien
family?”

“Yes, definitely his family.  And
his...his job.”

“Job?  I thought he was a doctor?”

“Well, yeah he is,” I said and then
paused.  “Wait, I never told you that.  How did you know he was a doctor?”

“Oh!”  Dad looked at the tiller as if it
was the most interesting piece of wood in creation.  “How do I know that? 
Maybe I'm mixing him up with Jerry.”

“Dad?”

“Hmm...well...no, that's not true
actually.  The fellow that came by my office this afternoon definitely was not
a Jerry.  I don't think he was a Senya either.  What was his name?  It was
something real alien like.”

“Excuse me?”

“Better take down these sails, Katie
Anne.  It looks like we're going nowhere.  I think we’ll have to motor in.”

“Dad!”

He shrugged and started to drop the main.

“Go on Katie Anne, go drop the jib.”

“Dad!  Who came by your office?”

“Some doctor fellow.  Tall, black hair,
dark glasses.  Not sure I can pronounce his name.”

“What did he want?”

Dad pointed at the jib, so reluctantly I
got up to deal with it.  I loosened the sheet with shaking hands and the sail
came flying down.

“Now don't let that get into the water,
Katie!  How many times have I told you that?”

“Sorry.  Please Dad, tell me what he
said.”

“Well, now, he seemed a bit contrite. 
Apologized, you know, because he didn't ask my permission to marry you and
all.  Sorry you came home so upset.”

I nearly fell off the deck with the sail. 
“So what did you say?”

“I asked him what he did for a living.  He
told me he's a surgeon among other things.  What's so funny?”

“It's all the other things.  So, then what
did you say?”

“I told him it was nice to meet him too. 
Nice looking fellow although kind of alien-ish.  Nice suit too.  He told me you
picked it out.”

“I probably did.  Then what happened?”  I
quickly stuffed the sail into its bag and dropped it down the hatch to the
v-berth.

“Well.”  Dad gazed across the lake.  “Look
at those herons there.  I just love to watch the herons out here on the lake.”

“Dad!”

“If you must know Katie, I told him to
hurry up and come get you out of our house because you're driving your mother
and me crazy.”

“Dad!”  He thought this was funny.

“Your alien doctor agreed you have that
effect on people.”

“Dad!”

“We both had a little chuckle about that. 
Seems like a decent enough fellow even if he is a little alien-ish.”

I was ready to pull my hair out.  I sat
down on the foredeck and hung my feet over the bow just as I did when I was
kid.  “So what's going to happen?” I called back to dad.  “Is Senya coming
over?”  I looked to the house and wondered how my mother would react if Senya
showed up right about now.

“Well,” Dad replied, yanking the cord on
the outboard.  Nothing happened. “I told him that it's nice you already got
married but I would feel a whole bunch better if my friend Judge Joseph said a
few words to you too in front of the rest of us.”

“And what did he say to that?”

“He was fine with that.   In fact that gal
that was with him was thrilled.”

“What gal?”

“Shelly from Tucson and her son, Tad or
Thad or Ted or someone was with her too.  He said he came so he could stand up
and be your fellow's best man.  Damn this motor!”  Dad pulled the cord and the
motor coughed and sputtered for a moment.

I start to laugh giddily, crazily.  He
loved me.  He came all the way here because he loved me.

“So, is tomorrow too soon?” Dad asked. 
“Your fellow said something about reservations in Bora Bora.  Guess you had
better get yourself a nice bathing suit.”

“Tomorrow's fine,” I trilled.  “Did he say
where he was staying?  Is he going to call me tonight?”

“I don't think so.”  Dad played with the
choke.  “That fellow Ted said the two of them were going to take the
opportunity to have a little bachelor party type thing.”

“What?”

“Ah, hush now.  They're going to go watch
the Seahawks lose to the Cardinals.  Anyway, probably it would be best if you
go sit with your mom and figure out what you're going to wear and work on the
little party she wants to throw.  She's going to invite her sister and your
brother and his family, maybe her hairdresser and the butcher and a few of her
other friends.  Of course, I didn't bother to tell her you’re marrying an
alien.  I just told her, he was a doctor.  She'll be a little surprised, I
think.  Tee hee.  On the other hand, if I tell her what I discovered after I
Lexis Nexis'd your guy, she may just about fall over dead.”

“Um, what did you find out?”

“Oh, nothing really important I guess. 
Just that he owns this little company that's worth a heck of a lot of money. 
Seems you've got enough shares in your own name to make you worth a heck of a
lot too.  Guess I don't need to worry about writing you a quick pre-nup.  I
figure any guy who's willing to give you his fortune without conditions either
doesn't care a whit for money or loves you an awful lot.”

“Maybe both,” I said.

“Maybe both,” Dad agreed.

The next morning we met outside the
judge’s office.  Senya was there with Shelly and Thad.  I pulled him into an
empty office away from everyone before greeting the Mattsons.  I didn’t even
bother introducing him to my mom, who gasped loudly and stood with her hand
over her mouth and enormous eyes.  My dad chuckled.  I slammed the door behind
us and then leapt on Senya.

“Katie,” he said sternly, pushing me off.

“You came!” I cried.

“This is the only time,” he said, keeping
me at arms-length.  “If you run away again, I will not come after you.”

“I won't,” I swore.  “I've missed you so
much.”

“Katie,” he said again as if I were a
child.  “This is not a game.  You need to be certain because once done, it
cannot be undone.  Divorcing a King is a lot more difficult than standing in
front of judge and complaining that he is a dickhead.”

“Just promise me I won't end up like Anne
Boelyn,” I said.  “Or your cousin with the chandelier in her skull.”

“You will not but neither will it be
easy.  There is much you still do not know.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this
now?”

“No.”  He shook his head.  “But you need
to see and realize what is in front of you.  I do not want to scare you away
again.”

“I can handle it.  Whatever else you are
going to throw at me, I can handle.”

“You can.”  He nodded and touched my
face.  “I know you can.”

“Good, because I decided when I was nine
that I was going to marry you and I mean to go through with it.”

His smiled and his eyes sparkled.  “Shall
we make it official for the third time then?”

“In a minute.”  I wrapped my arms around
his neck and pulled him down to me.

“Come on you two.”  Shelly pushed open the
door.  “Save that for afterward.”

During a quick ceremony in the judge’s
office, Senya gave me a ring that not only looked like it belonged to the
Mishnese Crown Jewels, it actually came from them.  In fact, it was the ring
worn by Mishka Kalila's Queen and had not been worn by anyone else for nearly a
thousand years.  Shelly was astounded by it and kept asking me to take it off
and let her touch it. 

My father gave me my grandfather's ring
after we had come in off the sailboat and despite my mother's objections that
our marriage would last only five minutes and this alien man would now have a
family heirloom, I gave it to Senya. 

We had a quick luncheon reception at a
Chinese restaurant which Senya did not like and refused to eat but instead sat
there smoking a cigarette which unfortunately did not help to endear him to my
mother.  Shelly sat next to her and pacified her by describing in great detail
our house in Takira-hahr, the SdK Campuses and SdK's fleet of spaceplanes.

“Well at least we won't have to loan them
any money,” I heard my mother say.