Chapter 33
“Hi honey, I’m home!” Alexis called out jokingly as she entered the gatehouse. Ned came down the stairs and gathered her in his arms, giving her a long, passionate kiss.
“Mmm, it that’s how you greet me when I’m just your fiancee, I can’t wait to see how you greet me once I’m your wife!” she said, giggling.
Ned grinned and spun her around. “How was your day?”
“Good, pretty good. I stopped by to see Liz at Kelly’s but didn’t really get a chance to talk to her. I was hoping to go over some more wedding stuff with her.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll get another chance soon. Until then, you’re all mine.” He pulled her over to the sofa and sat down, dragging her onto his lap. “What do you want to do tonight?”
Alexis grinned seductively at him, raising her eyebrows. Ned gasped, feigning shock. “Before the wedding night? Why, I thought I was marrying a virtuous woman!”
She smacked him lightly and laughed. “At my age, my virtue is not even an issue anymore. Anyway, at least this is my first marriage, what about you? Number five, six, seven?”
Ned frowned, then started to tickle her. “It’s only the fifth one you ninny. And really, most of them don’t count. After all I was blackmailed into one, forced another into it, and actually had two wives at once....you know, I really don’t do this marriage thing well. Are you sure you don’t want to back out?”
Alexis sat up, gasping for air, and shook her head. “Never. You’re not getting away from me that easily.”
Before Ned could respond, the phone rang. He groaned and stood up, walking over to the desk to answer it. “Ashton. Yes? No...but...how could you do that? So when is it free? That’s too soon. Oh, so that’s it? Okay, sure, I guess we don’t have a choice. Thanks. Bye.”
Alexis looked at him, worried. “What was that all about?”
“It was the hall we’re supposed to be getting married in. It turns out they double-booked it, and since the other couple booked it first, we had to move our wedding to another day.”
“When?”
“Saturday.”
Alexis stood up. “Saturday? As in this Saturday? As in five days from now, Saturday? No, Ned, that’s not possible. Call them back right now and pick another day.”
Ned shook his head and walked over to her, trying to calm her down. “That’s the problem. They’re booked solid for the rest of the year. Saturday’s all that’s left, unless you want to move the wedding somewhere else.”
She sighed and sagged onto the couch. “No, this is where I wanted my wedding.” She thought for a moment, then looked up, a new resolve in her eyes. “Okay, we can do this. Have the invitations gone out yet?”
Ned smiled and shook his head. “Not yet, considering that we haven’t finished the guest list. We can change the date and deliver them by hand. All of the guests are pretty much right here in town anyway. What about Chloe? Do you think she can finish the clothes in time?”
“Yeah, I think so. She has a lot of people on her staff, so if she has to, they can work on them too. What about the priest? Will he be able to change the date?”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Ned stopped and took her face in his hands. “This is going to be okay, I promise. I can even move the honeymoon. That’s the great thing about having your own plane. The tickets are always transferable.”
Alexis chuckled softly, feeling herself calm down as she gazed into his eyes. “You’re right, we can do this. We’re gatekeepers, how hard can a simple wedding ceremony be, right?”
Ned nodded and leaned in to kiss her when she suddenly gasped.
“What am I saying? I have to call the florist, the caterer, the reception hall, the band...the invitations have to be changed, the dresses aren’t done, we still need to buy the rings, oh my god, it’s Saturday, we can’t do this by Saturday...”
Ned shook her gently, trying to get her to snap our of her sudden hysteria, but it wasn’t working.
“What if Liz can’t get the day off? What if your family can’t make it...well, actually, that could be...no, what am I talking about?” She began to pull at her hair, her eyes wild and frantic. “Las Vegas! That’s it! We’ll just take your jet to Las Vegas, forget everyone else!”
Ned laughed and pulled her down into his lap again. “Calm down, Alexis, everything will be fine. It’s just a wedding, we can get it together in time, trust me.”
She nodded, exhaling deeply. “Okay, I’m better now. Sorry about that. Um, I think I’m going to go tell Liz, if you don’t mind.”
He shook his head, letting go of her so she could stand up. “Not a problem. Just don’t go ballistic on her, too. I don’t know if she’s ready to see that side of her mother yet.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said calmly, walking toward the door. “I’ll be back later.”
He grinned as he watched her open the door. “Should I wait up?”
“You better,” she answered slyly, slipping out of the house. He laughed and shook his head, wondering what he was about to get himself into.
~*~
“Liz!” Alexis called out as she rushed into Kelly’s. “Do you have a break coming up?”
“Sure, I can take it now, what’s wrong?” Liz asked, taking off her apron. She looked over at the other waitress to make sure it was okay for her to go, then walked outside with Alexis.
“Nothing’s wrong, I mean, not really, I mean....the wedding got moved up. It’s on Saturday!”
Liz gasped. “You mean, this Saturday? What happened?”
“Something about the hall double-booking. We had to move, and it was the only day left free. I don’t know how we’re going to pull this off. We haven’t even finished making out the guest list yet!”
“Okay, calm down, I’m sure it’s not that bad. Here, sit.” Liz motioned at an empty table, and they both sat down. “Having it this weekend should make the guest list easier, since it’ll have to be mostly people from Port Charles, right? And you said Chloe was almost done with the dresses already. Everything will be fine, I’ll help you any way I can, you know that.”
Alexis nodded, feeling a little better. Liz watched her, sensing there was something else. “That’s not the only thing bothering you, is it?” She looked up, surprised that Liz caught on so quickly. “No, it’s not.” “Well, what else could be wrong? You can tell me.”
Alexis sighed. I thought I still had a month before I had to tell Ned I’m a witch, and now I have to figure out how to tell him by this weekend. I don’t know how to do it.
“Hey guys, is everything okay?”
They both looked up and smiled when they saw Pru, Piper and Phoebe.
“Yeah, more or less,” Liz answered. “Hey, maybe you can help us with something.”
“Sure, we can give it a shot,” Pru said, walking over to the table. “What’s up?”
“Well, my mother here is supposed to tell her fiancee about her...secret identity...on their wedding night, which wasn’t supposed to be until next month, but now it suddenly got moved up...”
“...to Saturday,” Alexis finished, looking totally defeated.
“And she doesn’t know how to tell him. Have any of you had any experience with that?”
Piper and Phoebe immediately looked at Pru, who sighed, nodding. “Yeah, I have, but I don’t know if you want to hear about it.”
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