Inspector Rames

Chapter 56

"I forgot the wedding cake," I said as Cyra Winter helped me into my dress. "I forgot that I'd need one. And I'm not going to be able to get one before next Saturday!"

Cyra finished doing up the fastenings along my back and came to stand in front of me again. She tucked her pink hair behind one ear. "You forgot that people have cakes at weddings?"

"Yes!" Realising that I was almost shrieking with panic, I lowered my voice again. "Do you think I can get away with not having one?"

"No. Come and stand out here so that I can have a proper look at you."

She opened the velvet curtain of the changing cubicle, and I followed her across the shop floor. Hologram dress samples were hanging around the room, allowing customers to examine the stock without fingering the real items. Cyra's robot was hidden away somewhere, adjusting another bride's dress before they came to pick it up in the morning.

I stood in the middle of the room, and Cyra crouched down in front of me to rearrange the skirt. "At least Alex remembered, sweetheart. I'm sure someone will be able to bake you a little one at short notice. Raise your arms." She checked that the bodice still fitted correctly. "How is Alex, anyway? Still excited for the wedding?"

"I think so."

She looked up. "Think so?"

"He doesn't always seem very interested in the details. Like my flowers. Or what napkins we're going to have at the reception."

"Last time you came in, you didn't care about what napkins you were going to have."

My face warmed. "Well...that's true."

The thing was, there were much bigger problems than napkins. Like the fact that Alex didn't seem particularly interested in the music or the menu. It had taken us forever to get around to buying our wedding rings, and trying to put a guest list together had been a nightmare. I hadn't even dared approach him about the timeline of the wedding day.

Was this normal for a groom?

"You're still frowning," Cyra said gently.

I gathered my fears up into one. "This is a forced marriage. We agreed to do the Trials after we'd spent just over a month in each other's company. Now we have to join for life -- but what if Alex doesn't want to? What if he's actually changed his mind?"

"He would be foolish not to want to marry you, sweetheart. Look at yourself again." Cyra took me by the shoulders and steered me back into the dressing room, where a full-length mirror was propped up against the wall.

My dress was traditionally white, hanging straight down to my feet with no train and no structure in the skirt. Long, lacy sleeves hugged my arms, and lace was overlaid on the bodice. That was it. Yet, somehow, with the material subtly outlining my modest curves and my dark hair curling damply around my shoulders, it looked divine.

"Last time," Cyra said, "you told me that he'd been asking you to reveal something about the dress. If that doesn't suggest he's looking forward to seeing you in it -- and marrying you -- what does?"

I turned, watching the skirt swish about my feet and reveal a glimpse of my white pump heels. "Yes. You're --"

"Before you know it, you'll have walked down that aisle and it'll all be over, and then you'll be starting a family! Once the little ones come along, they change everything."

I stilled. There was my problem. Children.

After the marriage, having children was the expected thing. Another activity to tick off life's to-do list. But I'd never felt a yearning to have them, and surely you needed something like that to hold onto once they'd arrived. When they kept you awake at night, took you away from your work, and gave you a million grey hairs -- well, how were you supposed to cope with that if you'd never wanted them in the first place?