After all the I do's are done we are married. I am married! To a woman that is not my choice, she is too small and weak for a man like me. My brothers know exactly what they did when they chose her as my wife. They know I like my woman tall and slender with long hair running down her back. Zinnia is anything but that. Noting what I can do about it now. We are married now and marriage is for life. No Martian will break a sacred oath like marriage.
I take Zinnias' hand and lead her out of the marriage hall. Standing outside everybody takes photos of this special day. To me, it does not feel special at all. The mayor walks up to us and congratulates us on our marriage. We were all standing and talking when one of the warriors come up to us.
"Sir we need to leave. There are talks of rebellion in the next city we need to stop it before somebody gets hurt." This is not good at all. We do not like to hurt humans but if they start to rebel against us it will leave us no choice but to punish them. By now all humans must know they will never win against us.
"Let's go. We will leave immediately." I say taking Zinnia by the hand and leading her to where my pickup truck stands. I feel her tugging at my hand to get my attention. I look down at her.
"I need to go and get my clothing it is already packed."
"There is no time for that. I will get you new clothing. Come, it in the car." I open the car door for her and help her into the car. She is looking out the window waving goodbye to the mayor. I see her trying to hold back her tears but fail to do so. Tears start to run down her cheek. I take out my handkerchief and gave it to her. I do not have the time to deal with her crying.
I get in the driver's seat and start to drive. The next city is a five-hour drive if we do not stop next to the road. If somebody needs to pee they must hold it until we reach the city. We will be moving towards the colder parts of the earth. It will not be too cold for us but it will be too cold for the humans. Halfway through the drive, it starts to rain. The temperature has dropped significantly. I turn to look at Zinnia she is hugging herself. On her arms is goosebumps and her nose is starting to run from the cold. Lifting my hand from the steering wheel I softly run my hand up her arm. She is ice-cold.
"You are freezing. Why didn't you tell me you are cold." I am irritated by her presents. She is just one more problem I have to worry about.
"I did not want to disturb you. I will be okay." Her voice is soft and calming. I put on my indicator and pull off the road. Everyone stops. I get out and open the back door removing my jacket from my bag and hands it to her. She takes the jacket from me and puts it on. The jacket is too big for her. She puts it on and it covers every part of her. She looks up at me and smiled.
"Thank you." That is all she said for my heartstrings to be stirring. What was that? Am I having feelings towards her? I get back in the car and drive off. The rest of the drive went by fast. I can see the city lights in the distance. It will be another hour before we reach the outskirts of the city.
These people do believe they can take us on. There are brigades over the road. We stop to look at their poor attempt. Everyone gets out to investigate the blocked road. Zinnia wanted to get out as well but I stop her from getting out. She will only be in the way. I noticed my brothers do the same with their wives. They all wait in the car.
"We will set up camp here for the night. Let us get the woman safe before we head towards the city." Everyone gets busy setting up camp. The ones on motorbikes take out their tents and put them up. It is only a tiny tent but they seem to be liking it. The ones with cars have rooftop tents. I pull mine and instantly the tent pops up. It is pouring with rain. It is late in the evening and by now the women are tired and hungry. I can hear Quinn and Connor arguing. Looking over at Henry I noticed that Riley is sitting in the car with her arms crossed. She is normally not easily upset but guesses she must be cold. Owen and Leah are busy having a heated discussion. She is leaning out of the window to talk to him. It is only Zinnia that sits quietly not saying much. I can hear her stomach growling from hunger.
We have set up camp next to a gas station. No one is here it looks like it has been abandoned recently. I have sent one of my men over to go and see what there is. He came back and said there is a place we can bath and food in the little shop. This is good news to us. I help Zinnia out of the car holding an umbrella over her we run towards the gas station. Her legs are too short to keep up with me. The rain is really coming down now and this umbrella does not provide many shelters from the rain. Zinnias' shoes are soaking wet from the rain. She is too slow for me. I stop and turn in front of her. Bending down I pick her up behind her legs with one arm. Holding her in place I start to run with her. She wanted to protest but I give her no change. She puts her arms around my neck holding on to me. I move her legs to go around my hips. Her legs do not make it all around my body. She is really short. I can feel her trying to interlock her legs behind my back but she is failing to do so. We reach the gas station and I let her down. She is too shy to look me in my eyes.
"Thank goodness here is showers. I am cold to the bone and this hard head thinks it is funny." Quin is very upset with Connor for laughing at her.
"The dump banana does not have an umbrella and made me run in the rain. Look at how the water is dripping from me. I will get you back for this." This makes Connor laugh even harder at her. If I was him I would be scared. Quin is not one you play games with. She will get you back real good. Quin grabs her toiletries from Connor and made her way to the shower. I hand Zinnia a towel and my toiletry bag. In a small bag, I have packed socks and a long sleeve t-shirt for her. She takes it from me and follows the girls to the shower.
"Brothers tonight is not the night to mess around with our wives. They had a long day behind them. There was no time to stop next to the road and give them bathroom breaks. They are hungry, cold and very upset. Let's just cook them food make them tea and tug them into bed." Henry is always trying to make Riley happy. He always puts her first in his life. Owen agrees with Henry. He is just scared Leah will try and kill him. I have no idea why he is so scared of her it is impossible to kill him. For a little woman like Zinnia, she sure does take a lot of taking care of. I did not sign up for this. I never wanted a wife.
Some of the warriors come over to help cook hamburgers and french fries for everyone. By the time the girls come back their food was done. Owen made them tea and take it over to them. Leah is giving him the evil eye. This made all of us chuckle.
Everyone enjoyed their hamburgers and fries. It was time for us all to head back to camp. Since Zinnia did not have shoes on her feet I motioned for her to come over to me. She stands in front of me. I bent down and let her get on my back. She holds me around my neck putting her head on my shoulder. I can feel the warmth of her breath in my neck. It is sending shivers down my spine. In no time we reached our tent.
"You can climb up the ladder," I said to her holding it for her.
"No, you can go first I will come after you."
"Just climb up. I don't want to stand in the rain getting wet."
"No. I only have this t-shirt on over my undies. If I climb up first you will see my undies."
"Honey, I have seen much more than just woman's undies. Climb up I won't look up." She was slow to respond so I picked her up and place her on the second step. Looking down at me to make sure I will not look up she starts to climb up the stairs.
"You can sleep on this side and I will take the other side. We will have to share the bed." She climbs in the bed and I cover her with all the blankets. It did not take long for her to fall asleep.