CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Paige stretched out on a bed in a hotel room. She and Harrison had been staying in a hotel since the police took over the bed and breakfast. She was waiting for him to get back. Where he went, she didn’t know, but she had a feeling of great anticipation. He had something planned.

She waited and thought about all the things that had been resolved.

Osric had met all three of the conditions to set him free. Paige got a message from him saying that his contract with Angelina was dissolved and replaced with a far better job. In short, no more electric shocks and twenty times more money. Apparently, Princess Angelina hired ten private detectives to help her solve her sister’s case and the only one who came through was Osric. The rest of them were now up for sale at Sleeping Beauty Inc.

But, good news for M.T.N. sufferers. Now the scientists only needed to figure out how much Ql to inject into a person’s bloodstream and BOOM—the disease would be stopped in its tracks. However, they could only balance the disease, not cure it, so there were consequences. In other words, there was no helping the pee-colored saliva.

Thinking about that brought Paige’s brain to the subject of Zaphier. His story was on T.V. and the time spent hanging out in a hotel room allowed for plenty of unbridled celebrity gossip. Once Elizabella found out that Zaphier was not responsible for her M.T.N. infection, she took him back, forgave him everything, wrote him back into her will, and helped him cover his past indiscretions so that he only had to pay fines for his crimes. The incident about pushing Paige off a cliff was not included in the news feeds. Paige’s righteous indignation burned like hellfire, but she couldn’t do anything about it, so she turned off the T.V.

Two minutes later, Harrison’s swift knock came at the door, and shortly after, his body came into the room.

Paige kissed him instead of saying hello and made room for him on the bed since there was nowhere else in the room to sit down.

He touched her bare wrist. “We’re going to have to do something about that.”

“Why?” Paige balked. “I’m not going to run away and I’m more comfortable with it off.”

“I know, but according to enslavement regulations, you have to wear a wristband to verify your identity, owner, and location. I don’t make up the rules. Let’s go get it fixed.”

Paige got off the bed and slipped on her shoes.

“Are you going out like that?” Harrison asked, looking her over.

“Is there something wrong with the way I look? This is how I always look. I thought you liked me just fine the way I am,” she said, eying him suspiciously.

“I do. It’s just that where we’re going, you might want to dress up just a little bit.”

Paige glared at him evilly.

Harrison laughed. “It’s not for me. I’m thinking only of you.”

Actually, Paige had been on the verge of complying before he laughed. Now she wasn’t going to change no matter what he said. “I thought you thought I was pretty with paint smeared across my cheek and nothing could damage my looks?”

“You’re especially pretty with paint smeared across your cheek,” he said, right before he laid a peck on her cheek. “And you look pretty with paint on your nose.” He planted a kiss on her nose. “And on your forehead.” He kissed her there too. “And on your neck.”

She pushed him off. “That tickles!”

He fought her and pulled her into a hug. “Okay, you can come how you are, but really, you might be mad at me later for not insisting.”

“No. I don’t want to go back to Sleeping Beauty Inc. lacquered up like a whore. I want to go looking like a workhorse,” she insisted, brandishing her blue jeans and grey T-shirt.

Harrison did a double-take. “You know, that’s almost exactly what Armand’s prison uniform looks like.”

“What?” Paige started. He could say anything—except that.

“I’m not joking. He was wearing a wife-beater and his jeans weren’t capris, but really—that’s what he was wearing.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I gotta change.”

Harrison caught her hand. “Actually, maybe it’s better that you don’t. I’ll take you shopping afterward and let you buy anything you want.”

“Anything? Are you crazy? Where would we get the money? Are you planning to take me for a shopping spree on credit?”

“No. I recently received a refund.”

Paige didn’t think to ask what he was refunded for. She only asked, “How much?”

“Plenty. Enough to take you shopping. Enough to finish the tower. Enough to redo my room. Even enough to add another wing onto the house if you want. So, how about it?” he asked, leading her out of the room.

Paige went with him. Was he always this nice?

They held hands as they left the hotel and got into a taxi. Once inside, Harrison said, “The courthouse please.”

The driver changed lanes and got into the flow of traffic.

“The courthouse? I thought we were going to Sleeping Beauty Inc.?”

“Nah. They terminated their contract with me, but that doesn’t mean you’re a free woman. Well, actually, I guess it does. It means you were a free woman—for me.”

“So, that’s where you got the money. They refunded the money you paid for me?”

Harrison nodded. “Gallant of them, wasn’t it? A little inconsiderate though, since we can’t go back to them about your wristband.”

“Whatever. What’s so special about the courthouse that I had to dress up? I’m sure that place is even less dressy than Sleeping Beauty Inc.”

Harrison shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t be so sure.”

The taxi let them off out front and Paige and Harrison walked in the mirror faced front doors. They came onto the polished marble floor, Paige took one look around and clutched Harrison’s arm. The place was vibrating with the sounds of high heels on stone. It wasn’t just female lawyers crossing the lobby, but brides; their trains billowing like a wind was blowing. There were men too—scads of them—and they were all in pristine suits.

Harrison was wearing dark blue jeans and a sweater. He looked better than her. She felt like a gooseberry in a berry patch full of blackberries.

But Harrison didn’t seem startled and instead crossed over to the reception desk. He said his name and mentioned the appointment he’d made.

“Yes,” the woman said through the tiny holes in the glass. Then, glancing at the monitor built into the desk in front of her, she said, “You’re a couple of minutes late, Mr. Fox. They’re waiting for you in meeting room C. I’ll let them know you’re coming now.”

“Thanks,” Harrison said,

Together, they crossed the lobby and ducked down a quieter hallway and down seven steps before stopping in front of meeting room C. Just before they went in, Harrison stopped and kissed her hand. “I love you.”

Then before she could answer, he threw open the door and hauled her in so fast she almost lost her balance.

Inside, there were three men in suits sitting on one side of a boardroom table. In front of every single chair, there was a monitor built into the table. Harrison pulled out a chair for her and let her sit down.

“Good to see you again, Mr. Fox,” the man in the middle said, rising to shake Harrison’s hand. Then he turned to Paige and shook hers too. “I’m Arron Billington. This is Graham Walters, and this is Michael Frost. We’re very pleased with your decision, Mr. Fox. An occasion like this doesn’t happen every day.”

“Purchased women don’t get their bracelets replaced every day?” Paige asked—completely confused.

Arron shot a puzzled look at Harrison.

Harrison sat down with a smile.

“I’m afraid there has been some mistake. We’re not here to replace your armband. Mr. Fox has signed the approval forms to have you released. You’re now a free woman.”

Paige stared at Harrison. He set her free? Paige’s brain didn’t even know how to compute that. “What does this mean?” she asked, looking directly into Harrison’s eyes and forgetting there were other people in the room.

“It means that I want you to marry me, but I don’t want you to be a prisoner. You can decide. If what you really want is to leave and try out life on your own again, I’ll give you the money to start again. But… If you are willing, I want you to marry me and stay with me. Will you?”

Paige had already been through this and she knew what she wanted. “I’ll marry you.”

“Wonderful!” Arron said on the other side of the table. “We have those forms ready too. But if you’ll just sign these forms first, we can bring up the marriage certificate right away.”

Paige took the pen within her sweaty fingertips and wrote her name in a diagonal line across the screen.

“Mr. Fox has already signed those, so we can move right onto the marriage certificate. Do you have vows prepared?”

Paige stared. “Uh, I didn’t know I was getting married today, so I don’t have any.”

“I do,” Harrison said without reservation. “I swear that I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy. I’ll listen to you and protect you and care for you. You will be the only one for me and I will love you forever.”

Paige had to squeak to stop her lip from shriveling up. “I don’t have anything ready.”

Harrison kissed her on the temple. He whispered. “It’s okay. The standard one will do. I have to repeat the standard one anyway.”

Paige nodded. “Okay.”

Paige’s vow was told to her out loud by Arron and she repeated it as follows. “I, Paige, take you, Harrison, to be my lawfully wedded husband, my constant friend, my faithful partner, and my love from this day forward.”

Harrison said his. “I, Harrison, take you, Paige, to be my lawfully wedded wife, my constant friend, my faithful partner, and my love from this day forward.”

Paige crushed her hands into Harrison’s in her lap, but the end of the talking came with, “You may now kiss the bride.”

Harrison drew Paige into his arms and kissed her.