“There’s been a lot going on, but I appreciate it.”
“I’m happy to have my client back again, Vicki. Now, about this marriage thing.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve taken steps to protect yourself?”
“My sex life isn’t any of your business, Stan.”
He laughed. “I mean financially, with a pre-nuptial agreement.”
“There’s no need for that, Stan.”
He paused for a moment. “Vicki, I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve talked to a lot of people getting married who didn’t think they needed one. Trust me, you do. If you’re deliriously happy and grow old together, the cost is nothing. Nobody expects their marriage to only last a few Khardashians, but it happens.”
“Khardashian?”
“Before your time. Kim Khardashian was a reality television star who had a big wedding leading to a marriage lasting 72 days. These things happen, especially with young, rich women. You’re young and rich, Vicki. You’ve know Nicholas for about a month?”
“I love him,” I said defensively.
“How many days have you spent with him, given your work schedule? Seven?”
“Or so.”
“Please, Vicki. Get a prenup done before you get married. Any family law lawyer can do it for you.”
“I’ll think about it.” I wasn’t going to do it, though. Stan didn’t understand the mating pull and was looking at me through a human lens.
“Good. What did you find out about the yacht?”
“The owner is not interested in shortening the lease period. When I told him we were considering not picking up the buy option, he got nervous. He dropped the option price to one-point-five million cash before January 31, four hundred thousand less than we previously agreed. I think he’s having cash flow problems. I told him I’d present it to you and get back to him.”
I was a little surprised at the development. I loved living on the yacht, and we hadn’t decided where we wanted to live yet. Maybe bringing the boat down and living off it for a while made sense? It would take about three weeks and cost fifty thousand dollars to get the yacht to Adelaide.
Nicholas had been listening in. “It’s an option we can consider, and we have a month to decide,” he said. “It would beat living above my parent’s garage.”
“I think we could afford an apartment.”
“You’re eighteen, and I don’t have a job. Who would rent to us?”
I nudged him and went back to the call. This year had a lot of income and expenses for Sharkbait Productions, and he made some suggestions for how we could move things around to limit our tax bill. Stan wanted to minimize my tax liability this year, expecting that the company would move to Australia next year. To make that work, we’d have to wait until after the New Year to give Discovery Channel the next set of edited television shows. That would give me time to screen and approve the second half of the season.
I spent the rest of the flight talking to my publicist and Mercedes about how we could leverage the coverage for more. Mercedes wanted to do another tour, but I flat refused. “I need to settle into marriage and a new country before I do any more traveling,” I said.
“If I can arrange something in Australia?”
“Perhaps,” I said. The pilot put on the seatbelt sign. “We’re landing soon, so I have to go. I’ll talk to you after the honeymoon.”
“Enjoy every moment, and I hope you enjoy your wedding present,” she said with a bit of tease.
“What did you do?”
“You’ll see. The Bodyglove family appreciates everything you and the girls did for us, and we wish you a Happy New Year.”
“You too, Mercedes. It’s been a wild ride.” She hung up, and I shook my head. Mercedes was yet another person who wasn’t letting me in on her secrets.
We took a shuttle from the regional airport to Los Angeles International, boarding an hour later. It was a fifteen-hour flight, landing the next morning, followed by a two-hour flight to Adelaide, and a forty-minute puddle jump across the bay to Port Lincoln. It felt like a step down with each leg; we started on a plush private jet and ended on a noisy twin-engine regional transport. In total, we were in airplanes or airports for a day and a half, plus we crossed the International Date Line. I was sore and tired when we arrived at the hotel in town.
I kissed Nicholas good night; he was going home while the girls were with me at the hotel until the wedding tomorrow afternoon.
I was glad it was a small wedding; Amy would be at my side, and his cousin Patrick would be at Nicholas’s side. Amy, Dorothy, Olivia, Adrienne, and Susan joined us at the spa in the morning. We were pampered and prepped, and then it was time to get dressed. “Here’s your outfits,” Mom said as she handed over the bags.
I looked inside. “Really?”
She just smiled and left Amy and me in the room. “I’m wearing a white bikini and a lacy white dress for my wedding?”
Amy looked in her bag. “You can’t have my ocean-blue bikini.”
What kind of wedding was this going to be?
**********
I had to admit that the dress looked amazing. It was opaque enough to blur the details underneath but still allowed the white bikini to draw the eye to my figure. The cut of the dress helped, gathering in at my toned stomach and flaring over my hips. The skirt went from solid to strips partway down my thighs, cut higher on my left hip than my right. The hanging strips were in random lengths, going just below the knee. It was unorthodox but perfect for a beach wedding. White sandals and a veil with a shark-pattern band completed the outfit.
Amy’s outfit was similar, but in light blue with the darker blue underneath. “You look fantastic; Kai isn’t going to be able to keep his hands off you,” I told her as she came out of the bathroom.
“Kai can’t keep his hands off me if I’m wearing his old T-shirts,” she said with a grin. “Thanks for not getting some ugly bridesmaid dress.”
“You didn’t know?” She shook her head. “Huh. I thought you were in on the secret.”
“Susan’s wedding was fun and easy to organize, so I figured that was what Dorothy and Olivia were planning for you. I just figured it would be at a resort, but maybe there’s a beach close to home?”
I checked my hair and makeup, then took her hand. “Only one way to find out.”
Mom was waiting for me in the hallway. “Let’s go; we’re burning daylight,” she said. I rolled my eyes since it wasn’t even eleven in the morning yet. We joined the other ladies in the limo, and I was unsuccessful in getting any more details on the drive. “It’s all under control, Vicki. Just relax and enjoy your day.”
We drove past a beach and into the parking lot of a marina. “We’re going on the water?”
“Just follow Dorothy,” Mom said. A few guys came out and grabbed big bags out of the trunk, following us as we boarded a large harbor cruise boat. It had a big, enclosed area with tables chairs, plus a roof deck running most of its eighty-foot length.
“Welcome aboard, ladies. We’re ready to get underway,” the Captain said.
I looked around for Nicholas. He wasn’t here. Neither was his best man Patrick, Dad, Leo, Ivan, Ian, Hammer, Kai, or Lewis Wolfe. I saw my brothers and Luke up top, along with Masters Cyprian, Alessandro, and Emily. The rest of the wedding guests, including many of my new Pack members, were divided between the rails and the observation deck. “Where are the guys? Still out on Buck’s Night?” If Nicholas showed up drunk after a bachelor party, it wouldn’t be pretty.
“Don’t worry about them. They will meet us later,” Adrienne said.
I saw a woman with a camera as I walked towards the stairs going up and smiled when I recognized Fiona. “Where’s Linda? Did she pawn off the camera duty on you?”
“She’s already at the wedding venue, setting up. You can’t get married without her getting it filmed from ten different angles, can you?” I rolled my eyes, but she was right. “You’re lucky, you’re getting a professional wedding video made, and you’re going to make money on it.”
I was sure it would be a whole episode. “Why a boat?”
“Paparazzi, for one,” Mom said as she took my hand to lead me upstairs. “Relax, baby. You love the ocean, so your wedding was going to involve the ocean.”
“You’re right, Mom. Thank you.” We’d gotten underway and were heading out into the Neptune Gulf, and it was beautiful. I loved Port Lincoln and the Southern Ocean!
The boat was faster than I expected, doing maybe fifteen knots as we headed east. The weather was perfect for a beach wedding; it was in the high eighties, or ‘thirty’ as the Aussies used Celsius, with light winds and scattered puffy clouds. I talked with the guests, unable to get any more details out of anyone. The Moms were playing this close to the vest.
I was a little surprised when we got past the point and turned south, heading towards a series of small islands at the Gulf entrance. It started to make more sense; a private beach on a remote island would be perfect for security and filming.
Waitresses brought us drinks and snacks as we continued south. I took many photographs of the islands with my phone and talked to some of the locals about living in this area. We kept going for another half hour, and then the islands were behind us. I found Mom and pulled her aside. “Are we going to Kangaroo Island?” I’d read about the big island off the east entrance to Neptune Gulf.
“No, but you’re getting warmer. It won’t be long now.”
Five minutes later, I figured it out. I borrowed some binoculars and saw us headed for a smaller island, but another vessel was offshore. “Adventure Bay Charters” was on the side of the boat, but the giveaway was the shark on the side. “Holy shit,” I said to myself. I pulled Amy over and gave her the binoculars. “I think I know where our men are,” I told her.
“Oh, hell, yes,” she said as she saw the shark cage behind the boat.
“Did you two figure it out yet,” Olivia teased as she walked up to us with two bags of gear.
“I’m getting married with the sharks?”
“Yep. Here’s your wedding dive dress.”
I opened it up, seeing a bright-white Bodyglove wetsuit with painted lace decorations and matching swim shoes and white fins. “Wow,” I said. Mom took my dress from me as I pulled my wetsuit out and pulled it on over my swimsuit. It hugged my curves perfectly. I put the shoes on, leaving the mask, snorkel, and fins in the bag for now. Amy’s wetsuit was also a custom Bodyglove design in light blue, with black highlights making it look like a formal dress. “These are off the hook!”
“Wait until you see the guys,” Mom teased. We’d pulled up alongside the smaller diving boat, and the crew helped the wedding party onto its deck.
“Where’s Nicholas,” I asked as I finished hugging Leo and the other men I’d not seen today.