MIDNIGHT BRIDE

Prologue: Strange Bedfellows

Prologue: Strange Bedfellows

Unknown Location, Unknown State...

   Slowly, but surely the golden rays from the oppressive sun had burst through the thick beige-colored drapes that lined the large window and allowed in the glint from the world outside to shine into the face of a formerly slumbering yet decidedly beautiful pale-faced woman with messy blonde locks and a swollen-looking pale face splattered with ruined makeup and a bit of saliva from drooling while asleep. Blue eyes opened to find a strange room that had not been an ordinary bedroom and plush sheets that didn't belong to her as she slowly began to come to her senses. The residual aches and pains of a heavy body and the slow filtering of alcohol consumption had remained along with the distinct sensation of having been engaged in sex and a haze of some sort as she sat up in bed. The realization that she'd been naked when the sheet she used to cover her body had fallen off and she caught it at her exposed breasts.

"W-What the hell?" she asked suddenly filled with a notion of panic as she looked around.

As she moved she took note of the rather modest diamond ring that had been on her finger in addition to the silver wedding band. The confused blonde had been shocked by the sight of the rings as she had known all too well that she wasn't married, or at least she had been divorced and the last time she saw her wedding band it was gold like that of her ex-husband's before he too took it off in favor of bedding a younger woman pregnant with his newest child. She'd given the man three beautiful children, his firstborn son, Miles, and his secondborn son Derrick, and a daughter soon to be his firstborn daughter Kaylee.

Miles was only eight years old when the divorce happened, his being sixteen now had been a real chore but he was showing some progress in getting passed it. Derrick was now eight and quite a charming little man coming into his own with an interest in computers and video games. Kaylee was six and quite happy to have her own room and frequently wanted a puppy but they couldn't afford to take care of one and the mortgage of the house was due which left the blonde scrambling for ways to get by following the loss of her ex-husband's income and the alimony checks only going so far.

The blonde had recalled every one of her extended stressors and as a result, she ended up going on a wild weekend trip out of state with her girlfriends to blow off steam and live it up while the children were away at various camps and in-laws residences for the summer.

Still unsure about how she got to the room she'd been in, even with her recalling being on vacation, she knew this wasn't at all the room she checked into the night before. It was much too large and lavish for her tastes and expense account.

In fact, she had recalled that it was something of a Honeymoon Suite. The blonde had looked back down at her fingers once more noting the rings and slowly turned toward the other side of the bed when she felt the none-too-subtle brushing of another's warm leg against her own. Slowly she peeled back the sheet and found herself face to face with a ruggedly handsome man with a neatly trimmed goatee and messy dark hair. His skin had been darkly tan and he was quite fit but lean and very naked beneath the golden sheet that had been shared between them.

She got a look at his hand and noted that he too had worn the same silver wedding band that had been on her hand and gasped in horror. This strange man lying in bed beside her had somehow been her new husband. She had not recalled seeing this man, despite his overall handsome appearance a day in her life before awakening beside him naked and with a wedding ring on her finger.

The blonde had been so horrified at the prospect of having been married to and having slept with a complete stranger that she nearly leaped out of the bed pulling the shared golden-colored sheet with her to wrap around her body as she swiftly made a move toward the bathroom. Her rushed movements had startled the formerly slumbering naked man awake and his dark eyes burst open to find that he'd been in the strange room as well and completely naked with a silver wedding band on his finger.