Page 17 of Married to the Alien Mountain Man

“Like I said,” Warden Tenn grunted, “it was his idea. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”

The warden had tried to talk Oaken out of it? This was news to me. I guess that’s what they’d spent all that time whispering about.

Why had he tried to talk Oaken out of it?

I’d been so wrapped up in how this situation was affecting me, that I hadn’t had time to consider Oaken’s point of view much. Why would this be so unfair to him?

Would it be any more unfair to him than it was to me?

“Look, why don’t you come inside?” Tasha said to me. She pointed to the smaller of the two houses, the one across the stream. “Magnolia just made lunch. And you can at least stay that long without having to become somebody’s wife first. Right, Tenn?” she said, raising her brows meaningfully at her husband.

“Fine,” he said.

For a moment, I thought he’d leave it at that.

But as we headed for the building across the stream, I heard him add under his breath, “But only for lunch. If she wants to remain here until tomorrow morning, then by the empire, she’d better be married by nightfall.”

8

OAKEN

With Nali wanting to walk half the time, and be carried the other half, it took me much longer to reach home than I’d hoped. With every step I took, I fretted that she wouldn’t be there waiting for me. As if she’d never been real at all.

I did not see her outside when I returned, which only seemed to confirm that she had left. Perhaps she’d gone with the warden to his station, deciding she’d rather leave this world, and her ship, than marry me.

But the warden’s slicer was still here. And that gave me cause to hope.

I got Nali safely settled in her enclosure, then hurried to my own home. I found the building empty. On my way out, however, voices snatched at my ears.

Several people were now exiting Magnolia and Garrek’s new cabin. Magnolia, Tasha, Warden Tenn, and Jaya moved together as a group.

But I only watched Jaya. I remained very still, the grass swaying around my boots as she walked with the others. Perhaps she sensed my attention on her, because her head jerked up. Her eyes snagged on mine. And she froze. Just like I had.

By the empire, but she was pretty. I had never been an artist, but in that moment, I wished that I could have somehow rendered her this way. Standing in the swaying grass, illuminated by summer sunshine. So that I could have her, if only in the sketched-out colour of a memory, for longer than two weeks.

A stupid notion, really.

It was very likely that I was a fool.

It was also very likely that there was not a thing I could do about it.

“Oaken! Good,” Warden Tenn said, noticing me ahead. “Come here. Jaya has something to tell you.”

The warden’s command, coupled with Jaya’s name, pushed my body into motion. Despite the persistent limp, my long legs made short work of the distance between us.

“I’ll just cut right to it,” Jaya said when I reached them. She appeared to steady herself with a sharp intake of breath, then rapidly plunged forward. “Oaken, I’ve decided to take you up on your offer. My ship means everything to me. So if the only way to save her is to be your wife – in a technical sense – for the next two weeks, then so be it.”

She swallowed, then lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry for the hammer. And I’m sorry if I seemed ungrateful earlier. I know that marrying you is the only way I’ll be allowed to stay here. And I also know that you didn’t have to make the offer that you did. Frankly, I’d be completely fucked without you right now. So, thank you.”

“What… What changed?” I asked. Had I always had such a hoarse voice? It sounded frayed and strange to my own ears.

“I spent some time talking to Magnolia,” Jaya said, tipping her head at Garrek’s wife.

“I was singing your praises, of course,” Magnolia said, giving me her gap-toothed smile. “I told her how you saved my life. Told her how, if I’d met you before Garrek, well…”

“Don’t let Garrek hear you say that,” Warden Tenn said, casting a furtive look around to make sure my cousin hadn’t heard.

“Garrek and Killian are in one of the far fields working on some new fencing,” Magnolia said, waving away the warden’s concern. “And he knows I love him. But he also knows that Oaken is a total gem. He’d be the first to say so. He literally said that Oaken was probably the only man on this planet who deserved me. So, Jaya, you’ll be well taken care of while you’re here. And I’ll be glad to have another girl stick around for a bit once Tasha is gone!”

---