Nesert

3.26

Nes pulled into the driveway of her house in Coeur d'Alene and Kevin let out a low whistle.

"Why am I even surprised at the size of this place?"

"I have no idea," Nes laughed. "You should start getting used to it."

"I don't think that's possible."

"You'd be surprised," she said dryly.

He followed her into the house and she showed him the living room with its wall of windows and two story stone fireplace.

"It'll be perfect, don't you think?"

Kevin nodded as he looked around, taking in the large wooden beams and rustic chandelier. "It'll be great. My family's not going to believe this place, though."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it was mine."

"Nah, don't be sorry. They're going to have to get used to it, too, I suppose." He gave her a concerned look. "Ready to go?"

Nes nodded and handed him a locator beacon before beaming herself up to her al'kesh and then bringing him along. They'd arranged with Nathan to beam directly into her parents' garage, avoiding any prying eyes that would see her come to the house. It would just be added to the long list of things they couldn't quite explain.

She was grateful her parents had moved and she wouldn't be forced to walk through her childhood home, feeling the loss of everything all over again, but it was still odd to come down the hall and see all the family pictures that had hung in the old house. She'd forgotten about most of them.

Nathan nearly fell over as he hugged her, his excitement and relief making him forget his balance, but she caught him and they laughed together, her parents rushing toward her and pulling her into their arms.

"Tessa, when Kevin told us who Emyr was, we were so scared," her mother said with fear in her voice. "Did he hurt you, honey?"

"No, Mom. I'm okay."

With Nes exhausted just from these simple interactions, Kevin informed them that they were getting married that weekend and would love to have them come. The pair left the logistics all very vague, explaining that they would take care of it and Nes' family only needed to be here at their house to be picked up. Nes also asked that they make a bit of effort to not look quite like themselves. Nes by herself was already suspicious, but if her family looked just like Tessa's family, there was no way they were going to buy her just being a lookalike.

Her mom, of course, wondered if they could finally tell Nes's sisters and invite them to the wedding as well, but Kevin and Nathan both agreed with Nes that that wasn't a good idea. As much as she missed her sisters, Nes just didn't have the same confidence in them as she had in Nathan. They'd never keep her a secret.

Nes and Kevin arrived back at her house on the lake, both worn out from the talking and explaining and avoiding and lying, and flopped onto the couch in front of the fireplace, the house being mostly set up by now.

"I'm already exhausted with this wedding, Kevin. We should have just run off."

"I'm not going to disagree, but I think you'll be glad we included everyone once it's over and done with."

"You make it sound like a root canal."

He just closed his eyes and smiled. "It'll be fine. I just want to be married. I don't care about the wedding."

"And what makes you want to be married so much?" she said a bit too suggestively.

He reached an arm behind her and pulled her close. "I told you at Yu's palace that I like waking up next to you."