Andrea Laurence - The Baby Proposal

It sure made dating hard, though. Where would she find a man to measure up to Kal? It was impossible, and she’d certainly tried. Over the last few years, she’d gone through a steady stream of losers. None even came close to Kal. Not only was he handsome and ridiculously rich, but he was funny, kind, thoughtful... She couldn’t have chosen a better best friend. And come tomorrow, a better husband, even if just for show. All she’d expected him to do was sign on the dotted line, hold her hand in court and act like a loving husband in public. Instead he was paying a small fortune, fully committing to making this work. All to make Lana happy.

Lana didn’t know why Kal was single, but it was easy to see why she couldn’t commit to someone else.

Three

Kal straightened the bow tie of his white tuxedo and looked himself over in the mirror. He certainly looked like a groom. He was as nervous as he imagined a groom would be. But that spark of excitement was missing. It just all felt awkward. Backward. Definitely not how he’d intended to spend his Tuesday.

Marriage hadn’t always been an alien concept to Kal. When he was younger it was something he knew he would do someday, but reality intruded. When he was twenty, a car accident claimed the lives of his parents and left his brother blind. Kal realized then that no one was invincible, including him. He’d grown up so sheltered and privileged that he almost thought nothing bad could ever happen to him. Then, in an instant, he’d lost the most important people in his life. No warnings, no goodbyes, just gone forever.

Suddenly he had more responsibilities piled on him than most kids his age. His grandparents helped with the hotel while Kal finished college and Mano adjusted to his disability, but Kal eventually stepped up to lead the family when he graduated. That was enough family and responsibility for him. Marriage was not in the cards for Kal. He wasn’t sure he could go through something like that again—getting attached to someone else just to lose her...or to leave a family behind to pick up the pieces after his death. It seemed like too much risk for the potential reward.

So why, then, was he pinning an orchid to his lapel and heading out the door to the Mau Loa’s wedding pavilion? Well, because he just couldn’t say no to Lana.

When she’d looked up at him, her dark brown eyes pleading with him to say yes...there was no question that he would do whatever she asked of him. He just wanted to make sure she was serious and set boundaries for this “marriage.”

It wasn’t that Lana wasn’t beautiful. She was exactly his type. Therein lay the problem. The day they met, Kal knew she could very easily be the one to make him throw caution to the wind and fall in love. Since they had such different priorities for their futures, he knew better than to let that happen. Instead he’d placed her in the friend bucket. It was the smartest thing to do considering how important their friendship was to him and that she was technically his employee.

Knowing that Lana just wanted a wedding for show had been both a relief and a challenge for him. A part of him had always wondered if they would be as great together as a couple as they were as friends. He suspected so. Being this close, having to touch her and kiss her to keep up their public facade, and yet to still have to maintain that friendly distance when they were alone would be difficult. It was like letting himself have a single bite of his favorite dessert—just enough to whet his appetite, but not enough to satisfy him. It was easier to just avoid the dish entirely, especially when the dish was as sensual and tasty as Lana.

Giving himself one last glance in the mirror, Kal stepped out of his house and drove his Jaguar to the hotel. His home was on the far corner of the property, with a sprawling golf course separating it from the rest of the resort. Most days he would walk or take the golf cart, but it seemed wrong to have his new bride hop on a golf cart after their ceremony.

The wedding pavilion was right on the beach. The bright white gazebo had room for a wedding party of ten and seating for up to a hundred guests on the lawn in front of it. It was raised up, overlooking the ocean and surrounded by lush plants to give some privacy from the tourists sunbathing nearby.

Kal had built it because he thought it was good business. They didn’t have room for one at the Waikiki location, so he’d been certain to reserve a place for it to be built here. Hawaii was a huge destination wedding locale and they needed to get in on the action. Not once had he ever thought he would use it for himself.

The traditional Hawaiian officiant, the kahuna pule, was already there, waiting under the pavilion to start the wedding. The short, round, older man with snow-white hair wore the traditional crown of haku lei. A small table in front of him was already set up with everything that was needed for the ceremony—the conch shell, the white orchid and green maile leis, and a wooden Koa bowl filled with ocean water and ti leaves to bless the rings.

Kal felt his breast pocket in a moment of panic and realized that he did remember the rings. Earlier that morning, they’d gotten their marriage license and taken care of all the legal details at Dexter’s office. They’d then stopped at a jewelry store to select two simple but attractive wedding bands. Lana had insisted that he’d already spent too much already and flat-out refused a diamond. It felt odd not to buy one, although buying a wedding ring at all was odd enough.

All that was left was for the kahuna pule to perform the ceremony and sign the paperwork, and he and Lana were married. The thought sent a momentary surge of panic though him. He’d tried to suppress it the last few days, focusing on details and plans, but things were suddenly getting very real. Every step he took toward the pavilion made it even more so.

His family was going to kill him when they found out about this, especially Mano. His tūtū Ani would likely chew his ear off over the phone. He wished he could just keep it a secret, but since they had to play this relationship as real, he had to tell them. Dexter had warned that Child Services would not only come by the house but could conduct interviews with family and friends. That meant everyone needed to believe that they were husband and wife in every sense of the word. That seemed cruel to do to his family, as they waited anxiously for him to find a wife. Considering he would be divorcing in a short time and this was all a sham, he hated to get their hopes up for nothing. Hopefully he could get away with just telling Mano for now and wait to tell the rest of the family, if necessary, after the New Year.

“Aloha, Mr. Bishop,” the Hawaiian holy man greeted him as he stepped up into the pavilion.

“Aloha and mahalo. I want to thank you for coming on such short notice.”

The older man shook his head. “I always have time in my day to bring together a couple in love. Your hotel is one of my favorite places to perform ceremonies.”

Kal felt a pang of guilt, but he knew he’d better get over it. This man was just the first of many they were lying to to get guardianship of Akela. “I appreciate that. I tried to build something our guests would be willing to travel to Maui to have.”

“Do you have the rings?”

Kal reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the two wedding bands. “I do. Here they are.”

“Very good. I will be ready to start whenever your bride arrives.”

Kal looked down at his watch. They’d agreed on four in the afternoon. It was a minute till. He took a deep breath and tried not to be concerned about Lana’s punctuality. Kal wasn’t in a rush to marry anyway, but he did want this part to be over with quickly.