“I’m not surprised—you’re good and Nick is really smart about people. So is Mara. Sure, of course I’d like you to say yes. I know you offered to pick up work on my planet but I honestly can’t imagine you spending a whole lot of time on my estate with nothing real to do but watch me paint. Like we said, we’ll make it all work. If you go on a case or a job for them, maybe I can stay with Mara. I’m not worried.”
“Have you seen Lady V’terre since the ceremony ended?” Trevor asked as he scanned the crowd.
“No, but I’m not surprised. Attending a human wedding must be a very odd thing for a Mellurean to have to do, being so ancient and world weary. And powerful.” She shivered. “Paolo was pleased to have her here though and the bride’s family was in shock at the honor. Lady Damais meant a lot to both of us, well to all six of us and having V’terre as a guest was a link to her.” Gianna watched the crowd of dancers. ”I meant to ask you, who is the woman Captain Fleming’s been dancing with? He hasn’t left her side all evening.”
Trevor checked out the captain’s partner discreetly and shrugged. “No idea. She’s certainly stunning.”
Bemused by the couple, Gianna nodded. Nearly as tall as the captain, the lady had platinum hair which shone in the lights on the dance floor and accented her pale blue-gray dress. The mystery woman was giving Fleming all her attention and right now was laughing at something he said. He kissed her cheek before twirling her out and back in a showy maneuver and then the two were in lockstep again, bodies pressed together, and disappeared in the crowd. More and more people were dancing as the dinner had ended a while ago.
Suddenly Mara and Twilka were there, tugging on her hands, while Nick and Khevan stood back, hiding their amusement at their wives’ enthusiasm. “The newlyweds are getting ready to leave and she’s going to throw the bouquet,” Twilka said. “Come on, you have to hurry.”
Gianna looked at Trevor. “But I’m—”
“Yeah, that’s plain to see.” Twilka cut her protest off impatiently. “And I’ll be happy to make your wedding dress, don’t worry but it’s good luck to catch the bouquet and when don’t we need good luck?”
“We’re the original people who needed good luck,” Mara said.
Her lifelong friends weren’t to be denied so Gianna linked arms with them and let herself be drawn away to the staircase where the bride would stop to toss the flowers to an eager crowd of women. This planet was one of the oldest colonial worlds and had kept a lot of the original Terran customs, which had been rather amusing to her as the week went on. Brumel Three had a much more utilitarian approach to weddings, which she thought was a lot less exhausting.
Paolo and his new wife were waiting on the stairs, pausing on their way to depart for the honeymoon. The bride held the sizable bouquet in her hand and studied the crowd, which Gianna knew included her own sisters and classmates from her Academy days. When the flowers flew through the air, she made no effort to catch them, figuring she’d had all the luck one woman needed for a lifetime, culminating in her rescue by and engagement to, Trevor. As the crowd congratulated the lucky local girl who now held the blooms, an empty handed Gianna threaded her way back to Trevor.
“For you.” He held out a beautiful red-and-purple flower, plucked from the centerpiece at their table, she saw with a fond smile. The artist in her was immediately drawn to the shape and colors.
Taking it, she drew a deep breath of the amazing perfume and then kissed him. “It’s beautiful and you’re sweet, Lt. Hanson.”
“And you are going to marry me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Absolutely. In fact, I was thinking maybe we could get Captain Fleming to do the ceremony tomorrow, on the ship.” She glanced at the party scene in the huge hall, with the festivities in full swing once more, music blaring, guests becoming less inhibited as the feelgoods flowed and the nuptial couple having departed. “This has been fun but I don’t feel the need of all this pomp and ritual and fancy clothing, do you?”
“Not now and not for our own wedding either.” Trevor’s broad grin was all the reassurance she needed about the rightness of her decision to make a graceful exit. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear you say it. We’re in total agreement. And Verlaine got to walk down the aisle with you in this ceremony so he’s not being deprived of a moment in the limelight either.”
“Oh yes, with Paolo’s Academy roommate as the groomsman on my other side.” She grinned, satisfaction rising as she remembered her beloved’s reaction to her escort. “Admit it, you were jealous.”
To his credit, Trevor didn’t make even a token denial. “Wildly.”
“He said he would have asked me out but he could tell I was spoken for,” she said, looping her arm in his.
“Smart, these Academy types.”
“Do you want to stay?” she asked, double-checking.
Trevor set her mind at ease immediately. “I’ll do whatever you’d like. After all, you haven’t seen these people in twenty odd years. I’m entirely at your disposal.”
“Mara said they were going up to her suite, and we were invited.”
“Let’s go then. No one’s going to miss us here.”
“She told me how to find it via a backstairs route,” Gianna said. “No need to push through the crowd. And Twilka offered to give us a ride back to the ship when she and Khevan leave. She’s got a big fashion event in the next Sector, lots of media coverage, so she’s got to go first thing in the morning.”
Busy making a path for them through the surging crowd of dancers and partiers, Trevor said over his shoulder, “Sounds like we have it all planned, then.”
As she left the ballroom arm in arm with Trevor, on her way to spend a few more hours with her oldest friends and fellow disaster survivors, Gianna reflected gratefully on how successful her return voyage had been, in all respects.
But the most important was finding the love of her life, the partner she’d never expected to meet but now couldn’t imagine living without.
“Life takes strange twists sometimes doesn’t it?” Trevor said.
“I was just thinking that myself. But we’re both getting the happy ending we didn’t anticipate when all this started. I’m so glad you talked me into taking the risk and traveling on board the Nebula Zephyr. I’d have hated to miss this reunion and the wedding but most of all I’d never have forgiven myself for being too scared of my feelings to pursue you.”
“We chased each other until we were both caught,” he said, hugging her. “To our mutual satisfaction.”
Verlaine barked, startling them both.
“He agrees with me,” Trevor said with a triumphant grin.
“I always said he was smart.” Gianna rose on her tiptoes to kiss Trevor’s cheek. “And he knows what’s best for me—you.”
Trevor put his arms around her and the simple kiss became hot, passion rising between them as it so often did, until two people brushed by them with a muttered apology and an admonition to “get a room”.
More amused than insulted, she held onto Trevor’s arm since he seemed inclined to pursue the rude party guest who stepped on Gianna’s foot as he shoved by. “Forget him, although I think he might be right about the room. Maybe we should go to our own suite for a brief stop before we rejoin my friends.” Brushing her free hand over her now-wrinkled skirt, she added, “We could change clothes and be more comfortable.”