Morphine

Chapter Six

Marceline Anne and Malcolm walked into the living room.

Marcus eyed her warily. "Are you ready to listen?"

"I'm not getting married." She stated straight off.

Malcolm was dead confused. Didn't he just propose? And didn't she just accept?

"Sweetpea?" Marcus was tired. He'd had a full day working and now had this situation dumped in his lap. "Please don't fight me on this."

"You're not selling me." Marceline Anne sat primly.

"I'm not trying to sell you. I want you to have a good life."

"By giving me to someone you don't even know?"

He shook his head. She was very persuasive but he knew that although she couldn't be bought, she could be rented. "I'll buy you anything you want."

That caught her attention. "Anything?"

"Anything." He promised.

"I want a bookshop."

"A bookshop? But you already run the flower shops." He was so confused.

"Flower shops?" Jeanette was confused as well. "You have a job?"

"Her mother was a botanist and owned her own floral shops. She owned six and she left them to the kids in her will. They each got two and they own and run them." He explained.

Jeanette was impressed. "Wow!"

"I don't want to run a bookshop. I want to own one." Marceline Anne clarified. "All the books inside are mine."

Marcus thought it over. "Done."

"And I want this wedding to be low key. Immediate family only and one friend each."

Jeanette gaped. "But we have so much family!"

Marceline Anne blinked at her.

"You don't care!" Michael the Third grinned.

Marceline Anne shrugged.

Marcus huffed. "Your grandparents will be upset to miss your wedding."

"Which brings me to points three and four. We can have a baby shower and invite everyone to that."

"Baby shower?!" Jeanette grew unbearably happy. "May I plan it?! Please?!"

Marceline Anne made a few faces as she thought. "I'm sure Mercy and Karen would like to have input but if you three can get along, sure."

Jeanette was very pleased.

Marcus was suspicious. "You said points three and four. You said only one thing."

Marceline Anne lifted her eyebrows and smirked. "I want to see our grandparents before the wedding. All of them."

Marcus gaped. "Your mother's parents?"

"Yes. And his." She hooked a thumb at Malcolm.

Michael grinned. He couldn't wait for her to meet a certain grandparent. He liked this girl already and was looking forward to having her in his family. "I approve."

"But that's a lot of flying for us." Marcus protested.

"Where do your parents live?"

"My parents live in Germany and her mother's parents live in Italy."

Michael was surprised. "Retirement?"

Marcus snorted. "My father has never heard the word."

Michael felt a kinship with him. "Neither has my father. You work until you keel over at your desk."