Alien Proliferation

undoubtedly caught all of. Failed.
    “What a beautiful ceremony,” Amy said rather wistfully.
    “Um, yeah.” We cut to follow Chuckie, aka our wedding Majordomo, get to his seat. There was some ceremony with this no one had told me about, and I tried to focus on it to distract myself from what was coming.
    But that only worked for about half a minute, and then it was time for my entrance and I cringed. Mom and Dad sailed in and did their thing, and there was me, closing the door. I looked like an idiot. Watched myself trip and recover while I heard the chuckles starting. Wow, this was fun. They were laughing on screen and in the room. We had the next comedy blockbuster on our hands.
    Oh, great, we were now at the point where I’d given up and started running. I risked a look at Amy. Her mouth was opened. In horror. Well, she wasn’t laughing.
    I tried not to cringe again as I rounded the corner and did my “deer trapped in headlights” thing when I spotted Jeff. I started to wonder if I’d really pissed Reader off in some way. I also wondered how long it was going to be before I gave up and just let the tears of embarrassment fall.
    But then the video cut to Jeff, and I got to look at him more clearly than I’d been able to during the actual ceremony. He was looking for me, I could see it now, and he looked nervous and frightened.
    The camera caught the moment he saw me, and his expression shifted—he looked shocked. I still wasn’t sure if I should crawl under the chair or not when I saw him shake his head and then, the next moment, he was next to me. His whole demeanor changed. He looked proud, confident, protective, happy. Then he flashed his killer grin, and the running of the bride and groom began.
    Jeff nuzzled my ear while the audience roared. “It’s even better on video. I could only see your head bobbing up and down. My God, I can’t wait for you to get into that dress again and run around the room.”
    “I really didn’t embarrass you?”
    “Baby, this is the only wedding video that’s going to be worth watching years from now. God, I want stills of that shot.” I was over Jeff’s shoulder and the camera had zoomed in on my butt. “Oh, God, and that one, too.” Zoomed in on my upside-down chest. “I could kill James . . . why didn’t I have a copy of this for the last eight and a half months?” He was serious. I felt great all of a sudden.
    Watched the ceremony, still teared up but for good reasons. Then we got to the reception. Christopher’s toast still got the crowd sobbing, Amy too, I noted. All the various fun activities. Got to see Jeff’s expression as all the guys kissed me during Reader’s “Kiss the Bride” number. He tried to hide it, but I could tell he was jealous. Felt flattered.
    The camera caught me and Jeff saying good-bye to Reader and then sneaking out. Caught my grandparents leaving to go gamble. Then it panned to more guests, all over the room. Our personal paparazzo even managed to get a shot of himself, surrounded by a bunch of Dazzlers, grinning like he’d won the lottery.
    The shots went around the room again. In the back one man and woman were sitting at a table. The woman was a thin bleached blonde, and the man was about Jeff’s size, with dark hair. They were both attractive, for humans. He looked midtwenties; she looked late twenties to early thirties.
    I heard Amy gasp. “What was she doing there?”

 
    CHAPTER 73
     
    “W HO?” I STARED AT THE COUPLE. As I looked more closely, there was something familiar about the man. Very familiar.
    “That’s my stepmother. What was she doing at your wedding?”
    “Who’s with her?” Christopher asked. “That’s not your father.”
    “It’s our buddy, Ronnie. He altered himself a little to, I guess, be incognito, but I saw him up close and really personal, and that’s pretty much him.”
    Jeff leaned over. “I want a copy of this. Immediately.” He wasn’t asking for enjoyment any more; his Commander voice was on full.
    Christopher nodded and pulled his phone out. I looked around for Tim. Interestingly, he was looking for me, too, it was clear. He was with Alicia, and they started heading toward us.
    “Jeff, our families will kill us if we go into mission-mode right now.”
    “I know. We’ll get through this, sleep, and then figure out what else is going on.”
    I felt a hand on my shoulder. “We have a problem, don’t we, Missus Martini?”
    “Yes, Mister White, I think we