Chapter 12
“Elizabeth! They’re here!” Audrey shouted up the stairs as she heard a car pull into the driveway. Liz rushed down the stairs, grabbing her purse off of a nearby table.
“Do I look okay?” she asked breathlessly as she reached to open the front door.
“You look beautiful, dear.”
Elizabeth smiled happily and pulled open the door, gasping when she saw the car outside. She turned to Audrey in amazement. “A limo!”
Audrey chuckled and nodded. “Ned is a Quartermaine, remember? It’s the only way they travel!”
“I’ve never been in a limo before!” Liz said, hurrying out of the house. The driver got out and opened the car door for her when he saw her approaching. She giggled as she climbed in.
“Let me guess, this is your first time in a limo?” Alexis asked, grinning at her daughter’s obvious delight.
Liz nodded, looking around at the interior of the car. “Wow, you ride around in these a lot?”
Alexis shrugged. “Sometimes. More often now that I’m with Ned. He’s waiting at the restaurant, by the way.”
“Okay. Wow, this is....wow,” Liz said, still looking around in awe. Alexis laughed.
A few minutes later, the car pulled up in front of the restaurant, and the driver came around and opened the door. Alexis and Liz climbed out and walked up to the building. Liz couldn’t stop smiling, the excitement from being in a limo still with her. The maitre’d saw them coming and recognized Alexis. He immediately led them to Ned’s table and pulled out their chairs, then handed them each a menu. Liz was speechless at the way they were being treated, almost like royalty.
“Where’s Ned?” Liz asked quietly, looking around the room.
“He must have gone to use the phone or something.” Just as she said that, Ned walked up to the table and smiled.
“This must be Elizabeth,” he said, holing out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. You’re all Alexis has talked about since yesterday!”
Liz giggled and shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Ashton.”
“Oh, please, call me Ned. We’re all family here, well, we will be.” He grinned at Alexis and winked. Liz looked at him in confusion, trying to figure out what he meant.
Alexis turned to her and smiled. “That’s the news I had to tell you. Ned and I are getting married!” She held out her hand so Liz could see the engagement ring, her face breaking out in a huge grin.
Liz gasped at the size of the diamond on her finger. “Married? Oh my gosh! Since when?”
“He asked last night. I was hoping you’d agree to be my maid of honor.”
Liz felt a tear come to her eye and nodded, speechless. Alexis laughed and reached across the table to hug her, happy to finally have a real family.
They ordered their meals and talked for a while about Liz. After she felt like she had pretty much told her entire life story, she started to ask them questions about themselves and Port Charles. Ned told her all about the Quartermaines, laughing when she seemed shocked that one family could be so crazy.
Suddenly, she thought of something as turned to Alexis. Does he know about....
Not yet, but once we’re married, I can tell him. It’s against some ancient rule somewhere to tell a “mortal” until you’re married to them.
Oh, I guess that makes sense. So what do you do, tell him on the honeymoon? She giggled, thinking about what a surprising wedding gift that would be.
Alexis laughed, shaking her head. I haven’t figured that out yet.
“Um, ladies? Am I missing something here?” Ned asked nervously, not sure why the two had suddenly started laughing like that. Unfortunately, instead of getting an answer, his question just made them laugh harder.
“I’m sorry, Ned, it’s nothing. Just a, uh, private joke. I’ll explain later,” Alexis said in between giggles.
“Hey, does this mean I’m going to be related to Emily?” Liz asked suddenly, trying to change the subject.
“You know her?” Ned asked, trying to figure out if there would be a relation or not.
Liz nodded. “Yeah, I met her yesterday when I was at lunch with Alexis. I ran into her again when I was taking a walk past your house. She seems nice. She’s your cousin, right?”
“Right, Monica and Alan adopted her a few years ago when her mother died.”
“She told me about that. I guess then we would just be distant cousins or something once you’re married.”
“Probably. You’ll have to come by the house sometime and meet the rest of the family. Don’t worry, they don’t bite, well not hard anyway!“ He grinned, flashing his dimples again. “They argue a lot, but deep down, they really do love each other. They just have an odd way of showing it.”
Alexis leaned over to her. “I’ll go with you, in case they get unruly. I’m pretty good at controlling the old man.”
“Old man?” Liz asked, not sure who she was referring to.
Ned laughed. “My grandfather, Edward. He’s the head of the household, so to speak.”
“So to speak?” Liz asked, confused.
“It’s Monica’s house,” Alexis explained.
“Alan gave it to her,” Ned said, laughing.
Liz just looked at them, obviously not getting the joke. Alexis stopped laughing and cleared her throat to explain. “It’s sort of a running joke there. Edward will say something about it being his house, Monica says that it’s hers, then Alan says he gave it to her. Trust me, it’s quite comedic.”
Liz smiled and shook her head, wondering what sort of family she’d gotten herself into. Her mother’s side tried to freeze the world and lives out on some creepy island, and her soon-to-be stepfather’s argues all the time and basically stab each other in the back on a regular basis!
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