Page 37 of Kailirex

“Oh, then you are damned sure not missing out. If anyone deserves a day at the beach somewhere like Hawaii, it’s you,” Mom declared. “You work and study too hard.”

“I want to go up first and see Dad’s alright after they do the thing,” my mate insisted.

“The wedding is tomorrow afternoon, so we can shuttle down in the morning.”

“Can’t they get you a hotel for tonight?”

“They probably can,” I acknowledged.

“Good. tell them to do that then and as soon as they give him the all clear, your butts can go straight to Honolulu so our girl can relax with a mai tai in her hand before she has to meet a bunch of people at a wedding.”

“But I don’t have anything to wear to a wedding!” Stella protested.

“It’s smart casual beachwear,” I told her. “The replicator can fix us both up.”

Stella threw her hands up in the air and Mom smiled triumphantly, knowing she’d won. I chuckled, enchanted with the older woman who Stella obviously took after in personality as well as looks. I sent a reply to the message, letting them know Stella was coming with me and asking Xeranos to please secure us a room for the night. A reply came almost immediately. A room had already been held in case I wanted to arrive early. I sent my thanks and then saw I had excited messages of congratulations from both Oshar and Korah. I hadn’t yet met Chris, nor his best friend and her mate who were the other couple getting married during the double ceremony. I felt excited about getting to introduce them to Stella, and later Piloris and Eric, envisioning our mates also becoming fast friends and us sharing leisure time together, possibly even inviting them to one of Mom’s Sunday dinners if Mom, Dad, and Pop decided to stay.

“Our room is secured.”

“Great. Where are you staying?” Mom asked.

“The Hilton, in Waikiki.”

“Oh, fancy! Be sure to check out their wedding packages,” she told Stella. “A package deal would be easier to deal with, especially since I’ve got both of you to plan for and the doctor said to keep your father’s stress down, even after the nanites fix him. We don’t wanna mess up his heart again, even if they can zappity doodah it back together again.”

“Yes, Mom,” Stella said, looking resigned.

Mom was right. Stella needed some fun without anything to worry about to alleviate her own stress. I was determined to make sure she got it, too.

“Actually, Mom,” I said, “Once we’re on the shuttle, I’ll introduce you to Xeranos, our fully sentient Fleet AI. He has all the wedding package information for hundreds of resorts around the world and can help narrow them down by available dates. He just needs to be told which one we’d like, when, and how many guests, and everything will be made ready.”

She looked delighted to hear that. “A wedding planner who has ready to order menu options! Now that I can get behind, as long as they can do a decent cake in time and a buffet.” She paused. “Oh. I should tell you what I came down for. No, wait, I already did tell you they will admit your father as soon as we’re up there and do the mini robot thing.“ Her smile returned, once more reminding me of Stella, as she had the same upturn to her lips when she smiled. “About time things went completely our way. To think, all we had to do is have these two get hitched to Mylos.” she cackled. “Wait until Mary Jenkins hears about this. I can just imagine her face when she hears we will be hosting not one, but two, destination weddings, and get the choice of living wherever we want. She always looks down her nose at us after her son bought her that Escalade. Right, well, I better go update your father and see if they’re ready to let him go yet.”

She turned and left.

“Well, that happened,” Eric said, and we all chuckled.

“Your mother is a force of nature,” Piloris observed. “In the very best of ways.”

“The worst too, if you get on the wrong side of her,” Stella warned.

I vowed to never do that, any more than I would my own mother. Nothing was worth that.