Mr. Big Love (Mr. Big 2)

“That’s good,” she replied. “I remember my own morning sickness. It was really hard, and I didn’t work outside the home until Alexa was two.”

We arrived at the hotel and got them checked in for the overnight stay. While they signed papers, I thought about how the weekend would go.

Tomorrow, we’d all drive out to the beach house and start getting ready for the wedding. Dana and the baby were coming separately. We would bring Candace and her wheelchair with us in the limo and get her settled in. She would be emotional support for Alexa and would direct the whole business from her wheelchair.

We’d have a big catered dinner at the house for everyone who was attending the wedding. They’d be put up in our place or in the local Hilton for the night. The next day, we’d have a big brunch, and we had a hair stylist coming out to the house to do Alexa’s hair and makeup and help her get dressed. Then, the ceremony would be at five in the afternoon.

The morning would be for her to rest and get over her morning sickness.

After the wedding, we had the catered dinner for family and friends.

The party would end early, due to Alexa’s fatigue, and we would spend the rest of the weekend relaxing with family and Candace.

Then, it would be right back to the real world. We’d wait until Alexa was feeling much better before going on a honeymoon to Bora Bora. Candace had made all the arrangements for the wedding, arranged the caterers, the flowers and the hotels for out of town guests.

“We’re all set,” Mr. Dixon said and held out his hotel room key. “Let’s get this stuff stowed. I can’t wait to see my little girl.”

“She should be back pretty soon,” I replied, checking my watch. “We’ll go down for supper as soon as she’s ready.”

We went up to their hotel room and dropped off their bags. Mrs. Dixon wanted to freshen up before she came to our suite, so I gave them one of the extra room keys to our place and left them, returning to the suite alone.

When I arrived, Alexa was already there, waiting, her laptop opened on the coffee table.

“There you are,” I said and went over, bending down to kiss her. “Your parents will be up in a few minutes after your mother freshens up, whatever that means.”

“It means she wants to have a pee and fix her hair or something,” Alexa said with a laugh. “She probably figured you didn’t need or want to hear she needed to take a leak.”

“I guess,” I said and sat beside her, stretch out after the drive to and from JFK. She closed her laptop and snuggled up against me. “How are you? Did you have a good seminar?”

“I did,” she said and smiled. “I feel like such an imposter, teaching a seminar when my

students are only a few years younger than I am.”

“You’ve got your MA and are a doctoral student. That means you have that much more knowledge than they have. You’ll get used to it.”

“I will,” she said and sighed. “How are my parents? Did you regale them with tales of being an outlaw?”

“I did, but your father had a few tales to match my own of being in ‘the brig’ for making a beer slide between the sofas and the other guys on the flight sliding down it during a party at the Officer’s Mess when he was on a trip and stayed at a Canadian air force base.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that story before,” she said and snickered. “They do know how to party. I guess if you’re going to fly planes faster than the speed of sound, you need to decompress now and then. A beer slide sounds perfect.”

Alexa’s parents finally arrived, and we went down together to the restaurant in the hotel, not wanting to make the effort to take the limo and go somewhere else. We had an enjoyable meal, and Mr. Dixon told us tale after tale of his exploits in the Air Force, traveling around the world with Mrs. Dixon and their two kids in tow. Germany, Canada, and all over the USA, he had been everywhere and had such a full life and career with the military.

Then, it was my turn to talk about John's and my plans for Astra Investments.

“Mining the asteroid belt, huh?” Mr. Dixon asked, nodding. “Sounds exciting. How many years before you have a rocket capable of going there and returning?”

“A good twenty years, but it’s my long-term goal, if I’m not going to Mars.”

“What about the Moon? You could start a colony there.”

I found in Mr. Dixon an eager listener and he seemed as excited as I was at the prospect of being involved in the space industry.

After our dinner was over, we said goodnight and returned to our own hotel rooms for the night.

Alexa ran a bath and lured me into it with a naughty expression in her eyes that said everything they needed to say.

She felt good enough, in other words.