Connor and his brothers approach the mayor of the city to go and ask if Zinnia is available to marry Marcus.
"Mayor do you see the tiny girl serving us food. Is she involved with anybody?" The three of them points in the direction of Zinnia. The Mayor follows their directions and he noticed who they are refusing to.
"That is Zinnia she is a sweet girl just don't rub her up the wrong way. She might be small but her mouth and attitude are not. As far as I know, she is not in any kind of relationship." This news pleases the brothers.
"In that case, she will marry Marcus tomorrow morning." The three brothers leave the mayor in shock. He has no choice but to allow it. The mayor walks up to Zinnia to let her know about her fate. He loves Zinnia like his own daughter. She grew up with them since her mom and dad passed on. The mayor takes a good look at Connor, Henry and Owen. He notices how they treat their wives and like the way they treat their wives with respect and love. This gives him hope that maybe Zinnia will marry a good man.
"Zinnia please walk with me we need to talk." The mayor takes Zinnia at her elbow and leads her to a different room where the two of them can talk.
"Zinnia, I love you as my child you know I will not do anything to harm you. But my child I fear this is out of my hands. The Marians have asked for your hand in marriage for Marcus. The leader and the oldest brother leading this group." Zinnia grabs a chair and collapse on it. What is there to do about this. If she refuses they will destroy this city. They will enslave everyone and everything they have worked for will be lost. She cannot do this to the people of the city. She loves this place and the people in it.
"I will marry him but you must know I am only doing this to save you and the city." Zinnia gets up and hugs the mayor. To her, he is her father and nothing will change that. He stepped up when no one was willing to take on another responsibility. He comforted her in her grief when her parents died. He always encourage her to do her best and showed her love. She owns him her life and if she must marry a Martiain to save him she will do it.
"I love you Zinnia, you will always have a home with me. You are my daughter never forget that." The mayor wipes tears out of his eyes as he looks at Zinnia. He does not want her to go but he has no choice.
"Please phone me as often as you can. I must know that you are safe and taken care of."
"I promise I will phone you every chance I get. Thank you for everything you did for me. I love you." Zinnia stands on the tip of her toes and kisses him on his cheek.
The next morning Zinnia gets up and starts to get ready for her wedding to Marcus. She takes out a short pink cocktail dress. She matches the dress with white high heels. The heels add to her height. Not by much but in her case every centimetre counts. She decided to straighten her curly hair today is not the day for wild untamed hair. Looking through her makeup she finds the reddest of red lipstick and puts it on. She takes a good look in the mirror. She knows she is not tall and beautiful like most girls. She is short and curvy with a heart-shaped face. Her hair is all over the place. It takes good shampoo and treatment to tame them.
She starts to pack her clothing into her suitcases adding her favourite pillows on top of the suitcases. She sets them by the door. Ready to collect them when she needs them.
"Did you guys tell him he is getting married today?" Riley looked at the men getting ready to wake up Marcus.
"No" They all laugh
"We do not want to spoil the surprise." Henry walks up to Riley and kisses her.
"Come let us go and wake him up," Connor said leading the group to Marcus' room.
They all walked up to his room without knocking on his door they burst in. The girls jump on the bed giving Marcus a rude wake-up call. His brothers set out his wedding suit they picked up at the boutique.
"Come wake up brother. Today is the day you are getting married." Owen announced.
"How did you find me a wife so soon. I was not expecting to get married today. Who is the lucky woman to become my wife?" Marcus asked sarcastically to his family.
"You must wait and see. We think she is perfect for you." They all laugh at this and leave the room so that Marcus can get ready for his wedding.
The woman leaves the men to attend to Marcus and finds their way to Zinnia. They wait for her at the entrance of the wedding hall. Each of them holds flowers for her.
"You look beautiful. We are excited to welcome you to our family. We may not be your normal quiet family but we promised to accept you as our sister. You are not only marrying Marcus but all of us. I know this sounds strange but we only have each other. We take care of our family." Riley hands her flowers to Zinnia welcoming her to their little self-made family. The other two women follow Riley's lead and hand over their flowers to Zinnia giving her hugs to show they accept her as one of them. Maybe marrying into this family will not be such a bad thing.
They lead Zinnia into a small side room where she will wait for Marcus. She did not need to wait long for Marcus to arrive. She hears him speaking to his brothers and her nerves are growing to form a ball of stress in the pit of her tummy. The woman leaves her alone and go and take their seats in front of the hall. The mayor is sitting next to them. Waiting for Zinnia to enter the room.
Marcus stands in front looking down the short walkway when he noticed his bride walking up to him. He turns around looking at his brothers shaking his head no. No, he does not want to marry someone that is nothing like his type. He looks Zinnia up and down. She is a pretty little woman but she is far too small for him. His brothers shake their heads, yes each of them giving him a thumbs up. There is no way out of this marriage he must go through with it. The brother code has spoken.
Zinnia walks up to meet Marcus the first thing she notices about him is how tall he is. The second thing she realizes is that Marcus is handsome. He is tall with neatly cut short brown hair. His suit is outlining the mussels on his arms. This man is strong there is no doubt about it.
She reaches Marcus and takes his outstretched hand. She places her hand in his and he closes his hand around her. His hand is so large it completely covers her hand. Marcus looks down at their hands. She is so tiny how will she fit his hard body? The moment her hand touches his he feels a sense of protection towards her. He will protect her against anyone that wants to hurt her. She will be his wife.