068: I can't believe this

He pulled her to her feet and they got off the plane and rented a car. It was 2 am. Kell drove to a hotel and checked them into two rooms. He gave her the duffle bag and told her to change and he'd be waiting for her in the hall.

Maille stepped inside the beautiful suite and leaned against the door. The room was pink and gold, lavender shades and cream carpet. She tossed the blue bag on the bed and opened it.

Inside was a dress. It was white, but made of cotton eyelet lace. It had short sleeves and was tea length. It buttoned up the front. She sat on the bed next to the dress and the duffle and stared at her reflection in the mirror across from her. Her hair was messy, long and wispy, and swim blown dry. She wore no makeup.

It was only for a time, she mused, heart racing.

Just a minute and it would be his secret. Insurance, to make him feel better. But a tie between them nonetheless.

For a whole year. 

"He's crazy," she whispered in the mirror. "I haven't seen him in five days and he comes home and pulls this?" she stared at the beautiful ring on her finger. He'd thought it out, and he'd spent time studying, she had no doubt he'd studied and was ready to be baptized. He'd probably memorized the whole Book of Mormon.

She stood up and held the dress up to herself in the mirror. It was a nice dress. One she could wear again. Nothing fancy about it. Just a dress.

She slipped out of her clothing and put the dress on. She had no shoes, and there were none in the bag either, but there was a brand new brush in the hotel bathroom. The ring sparkled and caught the light as she pulled the brush thoughtfully through her hair.

Married.

She would be off the market before she ever got on it.

And she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. They'd simply wait a year ... courting...

But was she ready to make that choice? And was Kell the one?

Maille went back to the bed. She knelt and prayed. There was calm, no ear-splitting scream, no lightning flash, no howling wind. But a sincere calm.

She pictured Kell, in the park, jumping around the rocket slide on all fours. She saw him in the pool, or in the shower, or holding her while Myndee.... Her eyes swam with tears.

Of course, he was the one. She loved him.

And when she kissed him, as she knew she would, they'd not have to be on guard. It would be the natural thing. And they'd still wait a year for the rest. It didn't have to be right now.

She crossed to the door and put her hand on it, hesitantly. She stood there staring into space. And then she heard it, a voice coming from the keyhole.

"Maille? Maille, marry me." he was singing it into the keyhole.

Maille knelt and peered through the old fashioned keyhole. At first, it was dark, but then as he moved back away from it she could make out his eye. "Maille Ann, don't leave me out here. Marry me, Maille."

Maille burst out laughing. His eye peered at her through the keyhole. So she opened the door from her vantage point on the floor. He was kneeling there outside her door. Startled, he grinned into her face.

"Marry me, Maille." he said as the door opened to reveal her kneeling there in the white dress.

His eyes roved over her slim figure dressed in the dress he'd chosen. She nodded.

Kell pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly and then lifted her up and took her to the hotel chapel and there they were married.

                                                                                     *****

 They left the hotel and went for a walk. As they continued to walk down the street, reveling in just being together outside, which never quite felt like outside with all the lights of the casinos, Maille rubbed his palm with her thumb. Kell casually walked into Circus Circus and walked among the gamblers. Most were completely intent on their games. He skirted the floors covered with slot machines and pulled her to the line for the buffet.

A few minutes later Maille found herself with a plate loaded to the hilt with an assortment of foods that she was sure Kell had picked, which she also hoped he would be the one to eat. 

 "I like my dress." she broke the silence.

"I like my wife," he quipped back. ''The girl in the dress."

Maille blushed. "But I'm not totally your wife yet, am I? We're sort of just pretending, until..."

He laid an arm along the top of the booth back and pulled her closer. "You will never be anything but my wife now. We're hitched at the hip." he snuggled her hip close to his and then tickled her with his beaded goatee.

"What made you really decide on this course?" she asked putting down her fork. Kell pulled her plate closer to him and resumed eating.

"Well, it's a reverse psychology thing on myself. lf l kept thinking I couldn't have you for the entire year, then it'd be all I could think about. It'd drive me crazy and being around you, so sweet and trusting, depending on me to be the gentlemen always. Well, that might even drive me to distraction. But now... well... you're a wife."

Maille narrowed her eyes. "I would think the stipulations you placed on it would make it even harder?"

"Nah ." Kell shook his dreads. "It's a mind game. Technically I can have you whenever we want. So, it's not driving me crazy." 

"I'm not sure I agree."

Kell shrugged and butted her forehead with his. He stared into her one cyclops eye and grinned. "Yeah, but look where my logic got me."

"Hitched at the hip?" 

"Yeah."

"The thing is...." she twirled her water glass. "It's not real till it's consummated, and it can be annulled if it's not consummated."

Kell put down his fork. He stared at her lips. "So what you're saying is that you 'd like to consummate it right away to make it more real?"

Maille laughed outright. "Did I say that? I was just bringing up a fact. I hope your mind game works, is all."

"Anyway, it can be annulled consummated or not for up to three months, so I better be good or you might dump me, huh?"

"Wasn't planning to dump you. Just pointing out an intriguing side effect of your plan." 

He eyed her carefully. ''ls there someone else you 'd rather be playing this game with?"

''No. I'm just wondering if it is a game." she smiled gently. "Or if it's going to stay a game for very long."

"A year, love. I promise." he grabbed her hand. ''Come on, come on." he dragged her out into the warm night air and back toward the hotel.

"You know, we have no pre-nuptial agreement." she stated as they stood in the elevator on the way up to their rooms.

"Do we need one?"

"I would think you of all people would be more concerned about one. I could take you for everything." her voice had that teasing quality about it that he loved, but her words held a certain seriousness as well.

He reached in his vest pocket, and produced the signed marriage contract. "I have this." he made as if to tear it apart.

Maille shrieked and grabbed for it. "Don 't you do that. It's my only proof that this isn't a dream."

"Did you think it was?" his voice was low, and he turned and pinned her to the elevator wall with one hand on her neck and one on the wall. His body, though not large, was so supple and strong, she could feel the sinews as he pushed her into the handrail. Kell held her gaze just a second and then bent his head and captured her lips in a far more intimate kiss than she'd ever remembered. His mouth slanted across hers, his tongue invading, and she felt completely knocked out of breath when he finally released her. The elevator had stopped and the door was open. Kell hit the button to keep it open a moment longer. He looked long into her eyes.

"You're right, Maille Mann, many awful things happen between people who truly feel they are in love. I thought of those things. For both of us, because I know them even better than you do. But in all the scenarios I 've played for myself: even if we were to forget it all and make love and have a kid. I'm strong enough not to let it end in tragedy."

Maille pulled the beads on his beaded goatee and smiled a winsome, little smile. "Kell... what an innocent you are."

It wasn't something he'd thought to hear her say and he stopped pressing against her.

"If you think you're strong enough to not let it end in tragedy, but there's a possibility of you not being strong enough not to make love and possibly get a kid, then you are really fooling yourself." her smile remained sweet, but her words cut him like a knife.

"Do you want a prenup?" he whispered that gentle breath in her face. His eyes searched hers. "Wouldn't you feel better? We don 't yet have the covenant to protect us."

"And is the covenant stronger than our love?"

Maille shook her head and kissed his nose. He let her go and she walked past him into the hallway. "You wanna..."she leaned against the wall by her door and pulled the skirt of her dress up to reveal a bit of her calf. "Ya know... come on over to my place, big guy?"

Kell backed into the wall faking a heart attack. "What have I unleashed?" 

"A wild woman." she said huskily, doing her best Betty Davis impression.

"And we're gonna what? Talk about the covenant? This is something I missed in my studies?"

 "Well, yeah , honey hunk, what'd ya think?" she opened her door and let him saunter past her.

Her clothes were on the floor and she hurried to move them from his sight. Kell eyed the bed and then his watch. Both were a definite problem.

How strong was he?

He sort of pictured more of the same as before. Her driving his car home, or them sleeping on the trampoline, late night phone calls. He hadn't counted on the feeling of intimacy that invaded his mind at the thought of her as his legal wife.

"Baptism at 1 1 am." He reminded them both. "Plane ride back at 8 am. Gives us plenty of time."

"Plenty of time for what?" she yawned, leaning her head over the side of the couch upside down and trailing her long hair on the cream colored carpet.

"For me to study about this covenant." he gave her a piercingly intent glance. Her bared bosom, tightened by the angle of the dress was extremely enticing, his knuckles on the edge of the book almost gave him away. Kell looked down. "We have two hours. Sleep if you want. I can't go into this baptism thing unaware."

Maille stretched her neck to see him better, to see if he was serious, and suddenly her lack of a grip on the upholstery was her detriment and she slid, upside down in a heap onto the floor. Her back cracked against the wooden leg and she struggled to right herself and was twisted around in hair and dress that she wasn't used to. Being Maille she didn't call out, or cry out, or any such noise, but Kell, being Kell was at her side, and had offered her his hand, as he smoothed back her tangled hair.

Maille grinned self-consciously and took his hand, but the tight bodice and her upturned and arched neck gave away both of their thoughts. Kell knelt.

"Maille, I want the covenant. I can wait to have it. It's obviously stronger than us by ourselves, but you have to know. I want you." he drew in that train whistle breath and looked at her intently. "You are the only woman for me."

It was suddenly as if the walls had slipped away, and Maille found herself staring into dark and fathomless eyes, sweetly penetrating, and full of hope. It was also as if the simple ceremony that bound them were being amplified not by the strength of the covenant, but by a righteous desire to make it right. As she looked into those trusting eyes and found a giving there she'd never experienced before, Maille knew this was even more important than the contract they'd signed earlier. They were now signing a bond between them that actually meant more than the signed papers. A treaty of promise, a hope for their future, a wordless understanding.

She didn't have to lean forward to find herself in his arms, and he didn't have to kiss her to find that sweet peace that having her there brought. Whatever bond had originally forged in the fires of shared experience and trust, just four short weeks ago, they both knew right then that it was real and alive, and meant to be.

And would be tested.

He stroked her hair and Maille, worn out, with recent grief, and hope and unimaginable awe, felt tears slide out the corners of her eyes. Never in her wildest dreams had she pictured her life this way.

Never in her thoughts or hopes had she planned to marry a man as mercurial or as incredibly brilliant as Kell. She hadn't dared to hope, hadn't thought to offer.

Her hair was like the purest silk in his hands. Her skin was like cream, pure and unblemished, and innocent. The knowledge that she was his, if he could withstand the test, brought him the most wonderful sense of joy he'd ever felt before. Like forever was in his grasp, like the future was out there waiting, progressing, becoming. Like a million stars shown all around them, shown just for them, and waited breathlessly for them to pluck each one for its jeweled anticipation.

He couldn't let her go. He knew that at this moment, there was only one thing he wanted or needed. He turned her slightly and cradled her safely in his arms. Maille was just relaxed enough to respond to his familiar movements as he gently laid her back against his chest and stroked her forehead. Light feathery kisses traced her brow. And then, when her eyes closed, and she was completely relaxed, Kell heard the sound he'd been waiting for. The sweetest sound on the whole earth.

*****