Chapter 18: Answers

The article in the local paper read, "Teacher and Roommate Killed in Freak Car Accident." I smiled as I read my own obituary. It was more detailed than Lara's but then again, Lara Stone only really lived on Earth for a year, where I had been here my whole life. The paper reported that we were on our way to visit friends in the local mountains, when we swerved to miss some animal life, and drove off the cliff, killing us both instantly. The funeral was so sad. I felt bad deceiving my students like I had, but it was the only way I could keep anyone from trying to find me, and possibly uncovering the secret of what really happened. Besides, those students whose lives I did touch will never forget me.

The only people who know I faked my death were the ones who helped set it up for me. They didn't know why I wanted this, or where I was going, only that I would never contact them ever again once the job was done. I thought their idea of providing me with a death where no one would be blamed was wonderful. Lara and I spent our last few days on Earth buying my wedding dress. This is not easy when most shops only carry samples and want to "custom design" a dress for you. However, Oliver knew how important this was to me so we extended our stay a bit longer than we probably should have so I could have the perfect wedding dress. I did make good use of our extended stay by taking Oliver to see a James Bond movie. Actually, I took him to see three. A local theater was showing some older movies for a buck in an effort to bring in some adults. Every day, we all saw a different film. One week as a James Bond reflective so we saw "Goldfinger," "A View to A Kill," and "Die Another Day." Oliver decided that he liked Pierce Brosnan best as James Bond because he thought Sean Connery was too violent toward women and Rodger Moore wasn't very handsome. Lara like Connery's accent and forcefulness, where I agreed with Oliver.

When my dress was ready, Lara and I picked it up without Oliver, not an easy task as he rarely let me out of his sight. It was hidden in Lara's quarters along with the dress she has agreed to wear as my maid of honor. I'd told Oliver that one of my customs included him not seeing me in the dress until the day we were to be wed. He wasn't happy that Lara has seen me in it, but agreed as I will have to take on many more of his world's customs, so he agreed to work with a few of mine.

As we returned to his world, I sat in our rest quarters thinking of how different things were with this trip. I knew I was never coming back to Earth. I made sure I took my iPod, the items that were still in my floor safe, the picture of Oliver and me, which sat on the shelf in our room, and some Earth clothes so I have something to wear, and possibly have for a reference for clothes when we get to his world. I thought about how in such a short time, I went from depressed, hardworking teacher to happy fiancé and future queen. I was reading when I heard the alert that someone was at the door. Oliver taught me the click pattern for opening the door, but it still took me a couple of tries. The door opened and Lara entered.

She bowed deeply and said, "Greetings your majesty."

I laughed at her as she entered the room and sat in the chair next to me. "Hello Lara."

"Is something wrong?"

"I was just thinking about how different this trip is."

"How so?"

"Well," I said. "I know this time I'm never going back to Earth. I'm not worried about a couple of psychotic trackers trying to kill me. But I do have a question that maybe you can answer for me."

"If I can, you know I will."

"Remember the day I first met you, in the bathing room?"

"Yes."

"I gave you a card that Oliver told me to give to the person who would escort me to him. What did it say?" I asked.

She smiled and pulled the card out of a pocket. "You mean this one? It told me that you were the one. My taking the card meant I agreed to be your guardian, and thus, if you accepted my services, you were accepting his gift, and agreeing to be his..."

"Wife."

"Is that what you call it. Huh, odd word. So you are his wife and he is yours."

I laughed at the mistake I just caused. "Wife is a term for a woman married to a man. Husband is a man married to a woman. I will be Oliver's wife, and he will be my husband."

Lara looked at me with a strange look. "Well, you were also agreeing to be his princess."

I smile at this thought. I remembered Princess Diana was the only real princess I'd ever really known. She was a beautiful woman, inside and out. I remember how she was loved, even after her divorce, and even after her sudden death. Then I remembered that Lara was here, and she only comes for a reason, as is her nature, so I asked, "What brings you here?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "Oliver has asked you join him."

I smiled and said, "Lead the way."

I followed Lara down the hallway to the elevator. I probably could find it on my own, but one wrong turn and I could be lost for hours. Plus, I enjoyed her company and since she's my sworn guardian we'd both in trouble with Oliver if I wander around without her. We arrived on the ship's bridge, everyone rose, and said, "Greetings Alexis Perry."

"Greetings," I said in return. I learned that if I don't, they stand there until I do and Oliver gets annoyed.

Oliver walked up and took my hand. "Thank you Lara, I'll take it from here."

He led me into the same room he took me into the last time, only now we have a lavish meal waiting for us. "Oh Oliver, it's lovely."

We sat at the table, and the servants dished up our food and poured drinks. The food was delicious and satisfying. Oliver seemed to be enjoying himself more than I'd ever seen him before. He reached out and held my left hand, touching my ring with his thumb, and said, "I am looking forward to our wedding."

"As am I," I said.

"And you're sure I can't see the dress any sooner?"

"It's bad luck, and we've had enough bad luck for a lifetime. I'm not taking any chances."

"Are there any other customs I should know about?" he asked.

"Nothing that I can't live without," I said. "We bought the rings before we left, and you're willing to wear the ring we bought. I have my dress and accessories. Now I'm looking forward to learning your customs."

He smiled. "Oh you will my princess."

I blush and was reminded of something I've needed to talk to him about. "Oliver, is it possible to talk in private?" I asked.

Oliver looked at me confused, then seemed to realize what I wanted to talk about so he politely dismissed the servants, telling them we wish to plan our wedding night. I heard giggling as they left. Once we were alone he said, "We are alone, and I assure you that this time, we won't have any video interruptions."

I smiled and said, "Good, because you promised to tell me about what happened to your father."

Oliver's smile faded quickly, and his expression became quite serious. "I was hoping to avoid this conservation. But as you are going to be my wife, my princess, and one day, our queen, you need to know the facts."

I leaned back in my chair with my drink and took a sip. It tasted sweet and very pleasant. "I'm all ears."

"First, you need to understand how my society works. We are what you would call a matrilineal society."

"So, your mom has all the power?" I asked.

"Yes, and no," Oliver said. "She can be queen without my father, but he could not be king without her. The same is with me. I must be with my life-mate before I can become king. Which is why I came looking for ... well ... you. My father, however, never liked how he was only in power because of my mother. Like you will soon be, he was royalty by marriage, not by birth. He wanted to force me to marry a woman I did not love, so he could control everything. As I stated before, we mate for life. We engage in sexual relations with others while we are seeking out that ONE, but once we make that choice, we make it for life.

"When you revealed to my mother that my father was responsible for my injuries, she was furious. I am her only child. She suffered complications with my birth that prevented her from having any more children. I think this was why she encouraged me the way she did and always supported my dreams. I had met most of the eligible females of my world, and several others, but I couldn't find the one I couldn't live without. Our people had discussed leaning about your planet, which my father was against as he saw your people as monsters. My mother saw the opportunity for learning and encouraged me to go. When I first saw you, I was so taken by your beauty, both inside and out, and I knew I had to meet you. You know what occurred next."

I nodded and he continued. "What I didn't tell you was I returned home for two reasons. The first was to hopefully get the trackers off my tail and keep you safe, and the second was to tell my mother I had found my life-mate. I showed her the picture of us, told my mother about you, and how I wanted to make you my life-mate. That's why when you asked about if anyone had seen the picture of us, I said 'no one on this ship.' My mother wasn't on the ship. My father, on the other hand, had other plans. I had left Lara's father and brother behind to watch you and report to me. If during my absence, you had found another mate, I would seek another mate. Happily, you didn't."

"I couldn't get you off my mind," I said. "Even though I did have a date here and there, they weren't what I was looking for. They weren't you."

"Yes," said Oliver. "I had the same problem with you. In over three Earth years, I hadn't forgotten about you either. But I must confess, I did engage in sexual relations with others during that time. Yet, I no longer enjoyed it like I had before, and I kept seeing your face on theirs. Their bodies would not react like yours did, I even called a couple 'Alexis' by mistake. Finally, I just stopped trying to be with them, and I had to admit to myself, you were the one."

Knowing he had been with others after me wasn't exactly news I wanted to hear, but I was glad he was honest with me. "How long after ... um ... us did you stop?"

"Um, maybe six Earth months at most after I left. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't bring me the joy you did in that one night. So when word came that Lara's father was dead. I knew something was terribly wrong and I had to return to Earth. My mother made sure I had Lara with me this time, and it was while we were in route that I learned about the trackers. I mean, I knew they were still looking for you, but still didn't know just how much danger you were in until I arrived and we learned about Lara's brother. Ironically, it was Valente who sent you the e-mails and the text message you got. Remember when I gave your phone to Gamaley?"

It took me a moment to remember this, it was our first meal on the ship. "Red creature I screamed at when I first met him?"

"Yes," he said.

"Yeah ... him I remember."

"Well, he said the message traced back to Valente. When I confronted her, she said she had learned how to work those items during our first visit. Now, I knew about the e-mails, but not the text. She swore she did it to protect you, knowing your local police could cause more life loss, and thus she thought she was doing the right thing. I believed her then, but I now know she was just pretending to be a loyal subject."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" I asked.

"To be fully honest," he said as he blushed, "I was so distracted with Fleck's threat to hurt you that I forgot. You two seemed to be getting along so well, and you had so few friends on the ship that it didn't occur to me she was being nice to you just so she could be close and use that against us."

"Did everyone on the ship know about my encounter with Fleck and Wyman?"

Oliver's face took on a confused expression, as he said, "No. The only ones who knew were the medical staff, Lara, and me of course. My crew knew you were on board and that they might see you at some point, but I strived to keep you condition a secret as much as possible. I knew there were a few rumors about you being ill, but not near death. In fact, when you said 'women gossip' about how you knew what you knew, I thought it was Lara who told you. In fact, I didn't reveal who the main two trackers were until after the video message that we got when we were here the last time. Why are you asking me this?"

I sighed and said, "When I met Valente in the bathing area the first time, we were alone for a while before Lara and Sharma had joined us. She seemed to know about everything, the restaurant, the two psychotic trackers, the two killed guardians, my attack; she said the crew had been tracking my progress. But by 'crew' I think she meant her and them."

Oliver hung his head, and then said, "I am shamed for trusting her. I never thought she was a traitor. Now I know why my father insisted on her being on my crew when I first left. I thought it was because she was one of the best in her field, but now I see that it was to be a spy for my father and his trackers."

"That explains the look your mother gave your father when Lara and I told them. Has she admitted her involvement?" I asked.

"No," he said, "and that's what bothers me the most."

"Why?" I asked.

He sighed and said looking at me, "Fleck and Wyman enjoyed teasing me about their 'secret knowledge' and how they knew so much. That video he sent was so horrific that I nearly went mad."

Now I was confused. "What are you not telling me?"

He sighed, and said, "It was more than just your speaking portion."

I was surprised. Now I wanted to know what was on that video. I couldn't believe I was about to ask this, so close to our pending wedding, but I had to know. "Oliver, I want to see the video."

"NO!" he snapped. "No, no, no. You are still crying in your sleep now. I am not going to be responsible for putting those images into your beautiful mind."

"Oliver," I said touching his arm, "I know it will be hard to watch, but I need to. I can't explain why, not now anyway, but, I think if I watch it, I'll finally understand why Valente did what she did. And if not, then I'd like a chance to confront her."

"But she's imprisoned on my planet."

"Aren't we going there?"

Oliver started to answer, then stopped and smiled, "This is why I love you so Alexis, you're beautiful, brave, and oh so smart."

"So, may I watch the video, please?"

The pain that flashed across his face was intense. "I cannot be with you if you do. I cannot watch it again. I watched it enough when you had been taken."

"Lara told your parents you ordered them to leave Fleck to you. Your mother was so mad, not that I blame her. I was upset with you on that as well. But I understood why you did it."

"Yeah," smiled Oliver. "My mother yelled at me for some time about that. But she also told me that I must be truly in love to want to kill him with my bare hands. She also said she could see from your face how much you loved me. The pain in your face when you accepted your fate spoke volumes. She wanted so badly to let you see me before you left, but she didn't because she feared my father would imprison you, or kill you, and she knew sending you home was the only way to keep you alive."

"That's why she wouldn't let me say goodbye to you."

"Yes."

"She's such an incredible woman."

"Which is why I wasn't going to settle for anything less," he said and kissed me softly.

I felt that familiar burning within my body, and had to shake it off quickly. Except for the night he put the ring on my finger, we hadn't made love since before Valente betrayed me. It turned out that once a couple has agreed to be 'life-mates' they were not to engage in any sexual relations until after the ceremony. However, we broke the rules that night, and have fought to behave since. That night was so magical, and so passionate. I remembered how we were standing in my living room, when he scooped me up into his arms, and carried me into my bedroom, closing the door with his foot. I heard Lara giggle as the door closed but I just didn't care. I was in his arms and he'd just asked me to be his wife, his life-mate.

He laid me on my bed and kissed me. His hands begin to caress my face, and my arms. "Oh Alexis," he whispered. "I shouldn't be doing this, but I want to show you how much I love you."

"What do you mean you shouldn't be doing this?" I asked.

He sighed and said, "Once a life-mate is chosen, we are not to engage in sexual relations until after we've committed to each other in a formal ceremony as proof of our love for each other."

I smiled and said, "I won't tell if you won't. We can share this one night together. I'm sure Lara can keep this a secret."

"Oh Alexis," he said kissing me. "You are an incredible woman."

I pulled up on his shirt and quickly unbuttoned it. I threw it to the floor and ran my hands up and down his back. I felt the scar from Wyman's attack. I felt him pull my t-shirt up and over my head. It flew across the room and disappeared. His hands caressed my skin and he began to kiss down my neck. I moaned softly.

Oliver asked, "Are you worried that Lara might hear us?"

"I don't care," I said, "and I'm sure she can keep a secret."

He smiled wickedly. "I may put that to the test."

He began tickling my sides and I began to laugh. "Stop it!" I squealed.

He looked into my eyes and asked, "Stop what?"

"The tickling," I said. "It's neither romantic nor sexy."

"Oh," he said. "Is this?" He softly kissed my shoulder.