by Cynthia Dane
The Monroes’ vows were simple but effective. Alice found herself choking up more than once as she declared her fidelity and love to the man next to her, and as Damon tried to remain the strong, sober type, Alice knew him well enough by now to see the emotion twinkling in those amber eyes.
They weren’t the only pair of ambers in the garden that day.
Julia sat with the Culvers. She spent more time crying than anyone else. Linda occasionally reached over and offered her more handkerchiefs.
Then there was good ol’ Russell Monroe, propped up in his wheelchair with the sourest face in the world. That could’ve been the stroke that killed half the nerves beneath his skin, but Alice would hazard a bet that he was the unhappiest man to ever attend his son’s wedding. Good. Alice always spared her mute father-in-law a smile whenever she glanced in that direction. Feast upon my youthful beauty and the fact that I brought about your downfall, asshole. The smile she flashed Natsuko sitting beside her newly-minted fiancé was genuine, however.
Since his unfortunate maladies, Russell Monroe had been forced to retire from the business world. He still had most of his mental faculties even if he could only communicate through writing or typing with his right hand. The man was pissed the fuck off and defeated. Damon had spent three days with his father at his new home out in the countryside, going over the new structure of their family’s company and what Russell could still do for the good of the empire. The first thing suggested was marrying Natsuko Matsuda, with the understanding that this was purely for business and the elderly Monroe was probably not going to get much out of it. Besides lots of money to make sure he was comfortable in his final years, of course.
With any luck – and if he stopped being such an insufferable asshole with a serious megalomania issue – he’d even be allowed to see his grandchildren from time to time. Alice wasn’t sure about that. We’ll see if he stops trying to get rid of me. The man had caused the deaths and misfortunes of how many people, again? Good thing all of his new staff at his country estate were paid for by the ruling Monroes. Anything shady going on was to be immediately reported to Alice, Damon, and their security teams.
But Alice didn’t want to think about any of that. She wanted to think about her beautiful wedding day with one of the greatest men on Earth.
Alice loved how her emerald ring matched her husband’s cummerbund and cufflinks. What she loved even more was taking off the hand-me-down wedding ring of cursed affections and replacing it with a brand new one that she picked out after a last-minute flight to Chicago to go back to the jewelry store where she got the emerald ring and her collar, currently bedecking her throat beneath the silk of her dress.
She also spoiled Candice silly on that trip, but that was beside the point. Alice needed to get her best friend a bridesmaid’s dress, didn’t she? Candice was positively divine in her green dress. She had it in her head she was going to do some serious networking at the reception. Good luck, girl. Most of the men here were taken, although if she fancied herself a one-night fling in the Czech Republic, she may be able to squeeze herself into an Andrews sandwich. Both Lana and her husband kept fawning over Candice before the wedding began. They fawn over Damon and me too. Not happening.
The officiant pronounced them husband and wife for the second time. Damon clutched Alice in his grasp and covered her in the kind of passionate kisses people were starting to associate with them. Applause and whistles broke out behind them. The one professional photographer they hired hopped into the aisle and took a flurry of photos. Alice ignored the flashing and concentrated on how good her husband’s kiss felt. She did not miss out on how he pulled her stomach close to his.
Their child was still a tiny bump, but at the end of Alice’s first trimester, she already had treasured photos of a head and little fists. I thought I was obsessed with looking at the photos. Then she caught Damon staring at them for a few minutes every night as he decompressed with his whisky. The most unlikely devoted husband and father in the world was about to prove that very same world wrong.
Damon took the lead when they ran down the aisle and to the BMW waiting at the top of the driveway. He forbade anyone from decorating his new vehicular baby in the usual Just Married fare, but he and Alice made quite the pair when they slid into the seats to start the drive to the reception ten miles away.
“I love you,” Alice said as her husband started the car. “This is one of the happiest days of my life so far.”
“That’s a lot of qualifiers,” Damon said, hooking his seatbelt into its lock. “One of the happiest. So far. What are you thinking, Mrs. Monroe?”
“That this is only the beginning of what you and I are going to do with our lives.”
Because the kisses at the altar weren’t enough, Damon pushed his wife’s bun against the headrest and made sure she felt the affection coursing through him.
They drove along the Czech highway, Alice gazing between the breathtaking views and the handsome man that was her husband. Was this what it meant to truly be happy? To know that she no longer had anything to worry about? She had unlimited money. She had a healthy child on the way. She had the power to travel around the world at her leisure and enjoy herself. Oh, and she had a loving, hot husband who not only took care of her emotionally, but tended to every one of her sexual needs. This gorgeous wedding dress and cool BMW helped too. Alice Culver could have never dreamed of a world like this being hers.
Alice Monroe, on the other hand, had many standards to adhere to. She let one arm hang out of the window, catching the cool October wind and savoring the autumn scent. Her other hand rubbed her bump that lurked beneath her wedding gown. When was it too soon to tell her husband she was about 90% sure they were having a daughter? Of course it was still too early to officially know, but Alice had quickly learned that gut feelings ruled the Monroe clan. If Alice was convinced it was a girl, then by God the primary Monroe heir was going to be a smart, go-getter girl. With any luck she would have her father’s eyes and her mother’s hair. Doubtful on the hair. These Monroe genes are ridiculously strong.
“What do you think about the name Clarise?” Alice pulled her arm back into the car. Hm. Was her husband speeding in central Europe? Scoundrel. “I’m rather fond of it myself.”
Damon flashed her that winning smirk. “Something you want to share, precious?”
Her hand rubbed his leg. A dangerous move when they were rounding a curve. “Only that I’m insatiable thanks to these pregnancy hormones and because you’re so damn hot in that tux.”
Damon pulled over at the next turnout. He had barely shut off the BMW’s engine when he was on top of his bride, feeling her up in ways Alice still had yet to fully appreciate.
It’s okay to have sex in the car on the way to the wedding reception, right? Alice was quick to grab her husband’s growing erection, thoughts of either riding him or blowing him right there in the car festering in her mind. Their marriage had been consummated already about a hundred times over, but this would be a hilarious way to get it officially underway!
Something tapped on the driver side window.
Damon sat up, Alice falling headfirst into his lap. A great place for her to be! “Problem, officers?”
Two young (and handsome, of course) Czech police officers stood outside the window. Once they gathered this strange bridal couple spoke English, the Monroes were treated to a dangerously sexy accent. “Everything okay here?”
Both officers knew damn well what was going on. How could they not, when Alice was about two seconds away from swallowing her husband’s cock? Yes, arrest this rich and pregnant bride for public indecency! Do it!
“Everything is absolutely fine, officers.” Damon helped his wife up. “On our way to the reception, that’s all.”
“Save it for the hotel, huh?” The officer in front managed to stay professional, but the one in the back was snickering into his sleeve. “This is Czech Republic. Not France.” The second officer erupted into laughter. The one speaking
finally cracked a smile. “We request you keep everything in pants when enjoying our roadways.”
Damon and Alice promised to behave themselves until they were behind closed doors. Car doors did not count.
“So much for that.” Damon started the car again as soon as the officers had left. “I’d much rather our exhibitionist debut be at our club, anyway.”
Alice laughed the whole way to the reception. She hoped this marriage – and this otherwise sophisticated and somber family – would always be full of laughter. What it meant to be a Monroe was undergoing a much needed overhaul, and Alice intended to see it through until her dying day many decades from now. A matriarch had to stick around, after all.
Eat your heart out, Alice Culver. Alice stuck her arm back out the window and felt the old her fly away on the wind.
THE END
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