Dream Tunnel (10 page)

42

T
he queen sat in her pew watching the clock. She had reconsidered and taken Geneva’s advice to wait a bit longer for Conroe. But it was now 6:45. She walked back up to the altar and looked out across the congregation. “It is with deep regret that I must proclaim…” Her lower lip began to quiver.

Wally came in through the side door and ran up the stairs to his wife. “Connie, please give her a few more minutes.”

“You know the law, Wally. The wedding ceremony must be completed by 7:12 p.m. or she forfeits her right to the throne. It is now twelve minutes to seven. The ceremony cannot possibly be performed in a mere twenty minutes—and she’s not even here yet.”

The pipe organ began to play.

The queen looked over at the organist, who nodded to the back of the church.

The bride was beginning her march toward the altar.

The queen looked at her husband. “It’s too late.”

“At least let her try.” He offered his hand and led the queen back to their pew.

The priest and the groom entered from the side door and walked up onto the altar.

The bride walked faster and faster, until she was practically running down the aisle. By the time the entire congregation was standing, she was already halfway up the stairs to the altar.

She turned around and took off her mask, and the congregation uttered a collective sigh of relief upon seeing that the bride was indeed Conroe this time. But when the groom took off his mask, the queen gasped.

She leaned over to Wally. “Who is that?”

“I believe that would be Crane—the boy from the past.”

“I told her she could not marry him.” She started to stand up.

Wally grabbed her arm.

She glared at him and sat back down. “Let go of me. I forbade her to marry him. I must stop this immediately.”

“And keep her from becoming queen? Let her marry the boy she loves, Connie.”

The queen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to regain her composure.

When the priest realized that the queen was not going to halt the proceedings, he went forward, skipping large sections of the traditional ceremony, including two prayers and two choral numbers that were to be performed by the Royal Children’s Choir. But he made sure to include all of the required elements.

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” said the priest, at precisely 7:11.

Wally leaned over to the queen. “They made it.”

The queen smiled, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Yes, they did.”

The priest turned to Crane. “Now, my son, you may kiss your bride.”

Crane stepped up to her, and she turned to him.

“I love you,” he said, and then he whispered, “Your Majesty.”

“And I you,” she replied, and then whispered, “my servant.” She grinned. “Just kidding—that starts tomorrow night.” She winked at him.

He whispered, “How about I call you ‘baby,’ and we get to the honeymoon?” He took her in his arms.

“Sounds good to me.” She grabbed the back of his head with both hands and planted a big, wet kiss on him.

The congregation rose to its feet, cheering.

“Where are we going for our honeymoon?” he asked.

“Why do we need to go
anywhere?
”

“Well, I mean—”

“Isn’t a
castle
good enough for you?” She grinned.

43

A
fter a lovely two-hour wedding reception and dinner where Crane met hundreds of people, most whose names he couldn’t remember, he and his new bride made their way to the second floor.

At the top of the stairs, Conroe challenged, “I’ll bet I can beat you to the bedroom.”

“Oh, honey, we’re married now. Wouldn’t that be a childish thing to do? And what if the queen caught us?”

They looked at each other and cracked up laughing, and then they sprinted all the way down the hall to Conroe’s bedroom.

“Okay,” he conceded, “you won.” He opened the door.

“Wait,” she said.

“What? Oh. Do y’all still do the carry-the-bride-over-the-threshold thing?”

“Absolutely.” She smiled and put one arm around his neck.

He picked her up. “I love you, Mrs. Carmichael.”

“That’s right—for this one night, I am Mrs. Crane Carmichael.”

“What do I call you after that?”

“In public, you’ll need to refer to me as Queen or Your Majesty. But in private, you can just call me Conroe. Or you can call me baby, or you can call me
sexy
.”

“That’ll work.” He grinned. “Okay, here we go.” He carried her through the door and closed it with his foot. “Now, let’s see. Where shall I lay you down?”

“I wonder?” she asked, playfully.

“How about right here?” He set her down on the bed. “Yes. Perfect.” He leaned over to kiss her.

There was a knock at the door.

Crane rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He went to the door.

“I’m so sorry to bother you,” Wally said, “but the queen would like to have a word with you two.”

Conroe appeared at the door alongside her husband. “Daddy, can’t she wait until morning for this? We could talk over breakfast.”

“I suggested that very thing,” Wally replied, “but she was insistent.”

“Fine. We’ll be right down.”

“Thank you.” Wally walked away.

Crane closed the door.

44

C
onroe and Crane walked into the foyer of the royal living quarters.

“Wow,” Crane admired. “This is amazing.”

“After tomorrow night,” Conroe said, “we will move into my grandfather’s old suite. It’s even bigger than this one, and it’s been completely remodeled.”

Crane was speechless.

Wally walked out to greet them. “Please, come on in.” He led them into the parlor, where the queen was sitting.

“Mother.” Conroe curtsied.

“Your Majesty.” Crane bowed.

“Please, have a seat,” the queen said.

Conroe and Crane sat on the loveseat, and Wally sat in a stuffed chair next to the queen.

“First of all,” the queen began, “I would like to apologize to you, Crane, for not giving Conroe a chance to introduce you to me. I was dead set against you two marrying, but I can see that you are a fine young man, although I’ll admit that I’m still uneasy about the manner in which you arrived here.”

“Believe me, ma’am, I’m uneasy about it too,” Crane said, “but when your daughter wants something, she’s going to get it.”

Conroe feigned displeasure and poked him in the arm with her elbow.

Crane continued, “But who could blame her—she’s madly in love with me.”

“And you’re madly in love with her,” Wally added.

Crane looked at Conroe and smiled. “Absolutely, sir—madly.”

“Well, I’m just glad it all worked out,” the queen said. “But, Conroe, you really had me worried. What happened tonight? Why were you late to the church?”

“It was all Frederick’s doing,” Conroe answered.

“
Frederick?
Your cousin, Frederick?” Wally asked.

“Yes. He’s done everything he can to keep me from becoming queen.”

“I was afraid this would happen,” the queen said, “but I had hoped that my sister would get over this feeling of rivalry. She has her own castle of sorts, and she and Frederick are being provided for. They live like royalty, but without any of the responsibilities. Apparently, she still feels cheated, and her son has adopted the same sentiment.”

“Yes, he has,” Conroe agreed. “He will do anything to become king.”

“What did he do that caused you to be late to the church?” the queen asked.

“It all started with the conversation you and I had this afternoon, when you
insisted
that I marry Will instead of Crane,” Conroe began.

The queen interjected, “Sorry, Crane.”

Conroe went on. “Crane overheard us talking, which greatly upset him. So, he took one of the horses and went for a ride to clear his head. But Frederick must have been lurking near the castle because he followed Crane and shot him with a dart of Redberry juice. I went out looking for Crane and found him lying on the ground in a deep sleep. Then Frederick rode up and took both of our horses, knowing that we could not possibly travel some three miles back to the church in time—particularly with Crane being so groggy.”

“So, how
did
you make it?” the queen asked.

“Will,” Conroe answered. “Geneva sent him out to look for us, and when he found us, he gave us his horse. He had to walk back, so he missed the wedding.”

“Will is a hero,” the queen said. “I want to formally thank him for what he did.”

“He
is
a hero,” Crane agreed. “I can see now why you chose him for your daughter, ma’am. I’ve got a lot of respect for that guy.”

“But I don’t understand,” Wally said. “If Will was out searching for you two, then who was the groom at the altar with Geneva?”

“It was Will, Wally,” the queen replied. “He must have gone looking for Conroe and Crane
after
that.”

“No, that was not Will,” Conroe explained. “It was Henry, one of the chefs. Geneva enlisted his help and instructed him not to remove his mask.”

“That’s right,” Wally said. “Now I remember. I had just
assumed
it was Will wearing the mask.”

The queen smiled and shook her head.

“And tonight was not Frederick’s first attempt to sabotage me,” Conroe added. “He did everything he could think of, including going into the past disguised as a girl.”

“How did he go to the past?” Wally asked. “I thought you could only do that with the time travel computer.”

“There were
two
of them,” the queen said.

“Two time travel computers?” Wally asked. “You never told me that.”

“This is the reason I didn’t want Conroe or anybody else to know about time travel,” the queen said to Wally. “You should never have allowed Conroe access to those crates in the cellar.”

“But it worked out for us,” Conroe interjected.

“Yes,” the queen replied, “but in the wrong hands…”

“How did Frederick get into the cellar?” Wally asked.

“He didn’t. He paid one of our own servants to spy for him,” Conroe said.

“Which one?” Wally asked.

“I don’t know,” Conroe answered, “but whoever it was, he saw me find the time travel computer in one of the crates. Then he dug around and found the second one after I went back upstairs.”

The queen shook her head. “We need to destroy those time travel devices so that they can never be used again.”

“So, how did Frederick look as a girl?” Wally asked, grinning.

“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him,” Conroe said. “He made a very tall girl.”

“He was kind of cute,” Crane joked, glancing at Conroe, who looked like she was about to barf up her wedding cake.

“You thought he was
cute?
” Conroe asked.

“Well, in a manly sort of way,” Crane replied. “I didn’t mean I wanted to
kiss
him.”

“Anyway, he fooled everybody,” Conroe said.

“He tried to beat up Conroe several times,” Crane noted.

“Oh, dear,” the queen said.

“But he never actually hit me,” Conroe added. “I used Gomwei, Daddy. Thanks for teaching it to me.”

“You’re welcome.” Wally smiled.

“Hey, I’d like to learn that too,” Crane said.

“I will be happy to teach you, Crane,” Wally offered. “Or, Conroe could do it—if she has time. But she will soon be very busy with her royal duties.”

“I will have Frederick picked up by the Royal Police,” the queen said.

“Please wait, Mother. Allow me the pleasure of giving the order—after I become queen.”

“Very well.” The queen pointed to the doorway. “Now, go to your bedroom. You two have got business to attend to.”

“
Mother
,” Conroe said.

The queen smiled.

45

C
rane stepped out of the bathtub and began to dry himself. He couldn’t believe it was all really happening to him. A week ago, he was lying in his bed wondering if he would ever meet a girl, fall in love, and be happy.

Then he met this amazing, beautiful, strong-willed woman who seemed to already know him and want him. Had he ever really had a choice in the matter? It was as though his fate was sealed the moment he first saw her. He smiled. Now he was married to that woman, and tomorrow night she would be crowned Queen of Ampla. How could an unlucky guy suddenly get so lucky?

He slipped into his robe and walked out of the bathroom. “I’m ready, baby.”

Conroe was not in the bed.

“Baby? Are you hiding? Is this some kind of a game? Conroe?”