Chapter 17

Half an hour later, they were at the house of Judge Aikens, a friend of Steven's who had agreed to perform the ceremony. Steven and Mrs. Aikens were to serve as legal witnesses. The judge's wife had a hard time not looking openly disapproving, and Mark got the feeling that she thought this was a case of two people having to get married. Kristen hadn't seemed to notice, yet, but ... He sighed quietly and, when the opportunity arose, quietly asked Kayla to take the woman aside and explain that it wasn't the case.

Kayla shook her head and whispered back to him, "She won't believe it. Or, if she did, She'd just think that Steven was selling his daughter to some sort of pervert or something."

Mark frowned. "Damn. I just wish ... could you ask her to at least pretend to be happy? I don't want Kristen's wedding day ruined."

"Hmm, yeah. I think I might can figure something out."

A little while later, Mark saw her whispering quietly to the woman in the corner. Mrs. Aikens looked at Kristen with a softened expression, then turned an approving gaze on Mark. He relaxed in relief, only to receive a tiny bit of apprehension when Kayla grinned mischievously from across the room and winked at him.

Uh-oh, he thought, and raised an eyebrow, his eyes plainly beckoning to the girl. She pretended to consider whether or not to ignore him, then grinned again and strolled over to him. "Hmmm?" she asked innocently.

"Okay, so what did you say?" he asked.

She smiled sweetly up at him, and was silent just long enough to make him squirm, then laughed and shook her head. "You're so easy," she said with a giggle. "Don't worry, I just used the truth, sort of. That Kris had been wild, but wanted to settle down now, but the guys at school wouldn't let her, and that you were marrying her to protect her."

His lips twitched with a barely suppressed smile. "Heh. That works."

The ceremony went smoothly, though Kristen's voice shook as she repeated the vows that Mark had carefully customized for her. In actuality, they were fairly traditional, but he had felt that under the circumstances it would be best to leave out the bit about 'forsaking all others, ' given that such a vow could conceivably kill Kristen. At the end, he gathered her into his arms and very gently but passionately kissed her. She melted happily against him for a moment before drawing back with a smile. "Well ... we did it. What do we do now?"

Steven had rented them a honeymoon suite at the nicest hotel and rented himself a room at a different (but still quite nice) hotel nearby. They dropped him off at his hotel and he handed Mark the car keys. The plan was a nice dinner, a romantic movie, and a couple hours at Game Works, a particularly large, flashy, well-stocked arcade that Mark knew about. Perhaps not the most romantic of honeymoons, but the very normality of it was incredibly appealing to Kristen; it was what any girl her age might do on a date. Well, except for the part where she brought along a girlfriend.

Mark watched the girls, looking for clues as to whether Kristen was considering this outing something between a couple and a friend, or a threesome. He didn't really get any concrete answer. The girls were giggling a lot, and walked around with their arms around each other quite a bit, but Kristen seemed more reserved with Mark, as if she weren't quite sure what he would want. Her guilty glances at him let him to pull her aside and quietly say, "Honey, it's okay. Don't worry about being more demonstrative with her than me."

She frowned unhappily and looked at the floor, unsure how to react to that, and he smiled and said, "Love, it's okay. I don't mind. I know you love me."

She looked up at him, her eyes begging him to understand. "Mark ... it' not that I don't want to touch you ... I just don't know what you're comfortable with, or how much we can get away with without people looking at you like you're a pedophile."

"I know, love," he said, nodding. "I'm not sure how much we can get away with, either." He grinned at her, eyes sparkling. "Besides, if anyone objects to the two of you, they'll complain to me, and I can tell them my that what my wife does is none of their business." She giggled and squeezed his hand, happy and reassured.

After dinner, though, in the back row of the dark theater, Kristen put Mark in the middle and they both snuggled up to him, as if to make up for neglecting him elsewhere. Mark smiled and slid an arm around each girl, enjoying the unusual treat of being in the middle without any complaint at all. He especially had no complaint about the lingering kisses the girls took turns giving him.

During a long, dull stretch of the movie, Kristen slid out of her seat and into the floor. "What are you doing?" he whispered. She didn't answer, just slipped between his knees, and he realized her intent with shock and a bit of alarm. "Love!"

"Shhhhh... " She put a finger up to cover his lips and her expression, in the dim light, was pleading. Looking down at her, he remembered that they hadn't had sex the night before. She wasn't glowing when she woke up that morning, and it was well past lunchtime, close to 3 in the afternoon. He stared at her, frozen with indecision ... she needed him, but if they got caught ... but it was dark, and they were in the very back...