by Maddy Barone
She laughed. “Tonight? That’s too soon.”
His eagerness didn’t dim. “Tomorrow?”
“No!” shouted several women in the room.
Kit blinked and clutched her hand more tightly to his chest. She looked over her shoulder and saw Aunt Sara and Aunt Marissa pushing their way to them. Aunt Sara shook her finger in Kit’s face. “We need time to plan the wedding.”
“We need to make Olivia a dress,” added Marissa.
Connie stepped forward. “Renée will need time to prepare the wedding feast. Rushing something like that will really piss her off. Believe me, you don’t want to get on her bad side.”
Kit’s fingers tightened on hers. His eyes looked desperate. “Then when? How long will this take?”
Multiple voices rose in a confused babble about dresses and flowers, locations and decorations, cakes and steaks, and things that Olivia didn’t catch. She stared into Kit’s eyes, not caring about any of that. His chest was warm beneath her fingers and a new feeling of possession came to her. He was hers. They didn’t even need an official ceremony to make it true. It wasn’t that long ago that a marriage was sealed by a wedding night, not a priest saying special words over the couple. Even now, many of her Lakota relatives didn’t bother with the Christian ceremony.
“Kit,” she whispered, “I don’t need a special dress. We can go to St. Paul’s by ourselves. I’ll marry you tomorrow.”
His face took on a happy glow that faded instantly when her mother’s voice came from the door behind him. “Absolutely not.” Her voice cut through the jabbering like a knife. Silence fell. “Olivia, you are the first daughter of the Wolf Clan to marry in decades. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate ceremony, but you are not sneaking off. Your young man has gone to the trouble to get your father’s permission to marry you, so we’re going to do this right.”
“Besides,” said Sara with a sly wink, “where would you spend your wedding night if you sneak off without warning?”
Kit’s green gold eyes met Olivia’s. A tiny tremor of heat started deep inside her. “That’s a good point. I guess I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“I have,” Kit said with a purr in his voice. “I’m sure the Madisons wouldn’t mind if you shared my room at their house.”
“No!” shouted nearly everyone in the room.
Her dad slipped around Kit and put his hand on her shoulder. “Christmas is a week off. If we set your wedding ceremony for December 23, that gives the ladies a few days to get everything set. That ought to be enough time to get a dress ready, arrange for the priest to come here, and to make a good dinner.” He looked around the room with his usual stoic expression. “Sound good?”
There was a chorus of mostly cheerful agreement. Her dad squeezed her shoulder. “Since you’re engaged, I guess you can have a little time alone. That little dining room is empty.”
Kit’s teeth shone white in a huge smile. He turned to pull her with him out the door. Her father said in a fiercely pleasant voice, “And when I say a little time, I mean ten minutes. Not a second more.”
Kit’s smile fell. Olivia squeezed his hand. She didn’t bother to whisper since nearly everyone in the room would be able to hear her anyway. “In five days we can spend all the time alone we want.”
That seemed to cheer Kit up. “Yes,” he agreed exuberantly. “And we can do it naked.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I look ridiculous.”
It was a horrified murmur so low that none of the other women in her bedroom could have heard it. Olivia stared at herself in the mirror. The dress Aunt Marissa had sewn, and of which she was so proud, was an absurd billow of white satin. It flared up and out around her bare shoulders in a gigantic ruffle, narrowed so tightly around her waist that she could barely breathe, and belled out to the floor in a series of ruffles that made her look like a stick figure stuck into an upside down bowl. A mostly naked stick figure.
That reminded her of Kit’s remark the night they were engaged. His ‘they could do it naked’ comment had roused a chorus of giggles nearly completely drowned out by lupine growls. Olivia had definitely blushed, but it had roused more than giggles in her. The kisses that followed in the small dining room had been nice, but Kit’s gentle exploration of her body had left her wanting more. In only a few hours she would be naked with him. She would finally lose her virginity with the man she loved.
Aunt Marissa gave a mighty tug on the strings that laced the back of the dress closed. Olivia squeaked. “Well, I guess you were right, Tami. It is a little snug in the waist, but we’ll get it closed.”
“It’s fine. Leave a little gap. The veil will cover it.” Her mom patted Olivia’s shoulder from behind. “We don’t want her to pass out during the ceremony from lack of oxygen.”
The dry note in her mom’s voice told Olivia she wasn’t actually joking. Olivia tried to draw in a deep breath and failed. “Yeah, let me breathe.”
Victoria came to her with a froth of white netting in her hands. “Here’s the veil. Let me put it on you.”
In the mirror, Olivia saw her mom standing on her right, Aunt Marissa barely visible behind her, and Victoria, six inches taller than any of them, on her left. The veil was several layers of fine net. Victoria set it just so over her blond hair, so that it hung in filmy waves over her face in front, and to her waist in back. Her cousin pinned a circlet of red silk roses through the veil to her hair to hold it steady on her head. The pins hurt.
Aunt Marissa turned her and stood back to take in the full effect. Tears gleamed in her eyes. “You look so beautiful,” she crooned. “That dress is so beautiful on you. It’s exactly the kind I always wanted to have for my wedding.”
Olivia made herself smile. “Thank you, Aunt Marissa. You’re so generous.”
Olivia’s mom put an arm around the other woman. “Thank you, Marissa. Would you and Victoria wait outside? I need to have a few words alone with my daughter.”
Once the room was empty, Olivia carefully flipped the veil up so she could see clearly and sat on the edge of her bed. The dress puffed around her like a demented marshmallow. Her mom perched on Victoria’s bed opposite her.
“Livvy, I know this isn’t the dress you would’ve chosen, but it’s good of you to let Marissa have her way.”
Olivia tried to tame the waves of satin at her shoulders. “It’s very pretty,” she said with forced enthusiasm. “Maybe Kendra would like to wear it when she gets married.”
Her mom’s lips twitched. “It looks a lot like the dress I wore for my first wedding.”
Olivia perked her ears. Her mom seldom spoke of her life in the Times Before. “That was before your airplane crashed in 2064, right?”
“That’s right.” She waved a dismissive hand. “But that’s not what I want to talk to you about. Today you’re getting married. Tonight you’ll be a wife.” Red stained her cheeks. “I mean, uh, it’s your wedding night. We should talk about that.”
Olivia felt matching heat surge into her cheeks. “Mom,” she protested. “I don’t need to talk. Really. I know what happens. You gave me The Talk when I turned sixteen, remember?”
“Sure, I remember.” Her mom’s lips twisted into a half-smile. “You know which tab goes into which slot. There’s more to lovemaking than that.” She studied her clasped hands. “I think you know that there’s a difference between sex and making love.” She looked up into Olivia’s eyes. “I won’t waste my time telling you about all the mechanics. There’s really only one point I want to make, and that is communication.”
“Communication?” Olivia blinked. “You think I should talk during sex?”
“Before, during, and after. Unless your young man can read your mind, how can he know what you like? Maybe, if he’s observant, he’ll be able to tell when you’re uncomfortable, but maybe not. It’s important for you to let him know when he does something you like, and when he does something you don’t like. Lovemaking should be wonderful. The first few times might
be a little uncomfortable. Physically uncomfortable, I mean. Once your body gets used to… uh, it, you should feel pleasure.”
Olivia smoothed the ruffle over her knees. This was so embarrassing. “Thanks, Mom. Got it.”
She saw her mother give her a long, steady look. “Okay. Is there anything you want to ask me?”
“No.” Olivia inwardly cringed at the squeak in her voice. “Thanks. Really.”
Her mom sighed. “Okay. Just remember that if you don’t enjoy it, you shouldn’t do it. Let’s go face the music.”
Olivia hurried to leave the bedroom she’d shared with Victoria. Aunt Marissa and Victoria waited for them in the living room. Aunt Marissa smiled and stepped forward to re-arrange the veil back over Olivia’s face.
“I peeked downstairs, and it looks beautiful,” she said to Olivia’s mom. “There’s a Christmas tree there. Reminds me of our weddings. Remember?”
Olivia saw her mom’s face relax in a smile. “That was a good day.” She turned to Olivia. “We’ll go down now to be sure Kit isn’t hanging around.”
“That’s right,” Marissa said with a grin. “Your bridegroom isn’t supposed to see you before the ceremony. You and Victoria come down in a few minutes.”
After the older women had left, Olivia turned to her cousin. “Thanks, Vic, for being my bridesmaid.”
“No problem. Thanks for not making me wear a dress like that one you’ve got on.”
Victoria ran a hand down her blue velvet hip. Her dress was elegant, closely fitted, with a V-neck, long sleeves, and narrow skirt slit to mid-thigh. She had ordered it early in the fall for the Mayor’s Gala that would take place in a month.
“You look really good in that dress,” Olivia told her honestly. “There was no reason for you to buy a new one.”
Victoria scooped up a small bouquet of blue satin roses tied with blue and white ribbons and handed a second, larger bouquet of red roses to Olivia. “We should just be glad we’re not Kendra. Can you imagine what Aunt Marissa will do for her own daughter’s wedding?”
“If I were Kendra, I would elope!”
They laughed together. Victoria smoothed her dark blond hair back. “Well, should we go? Uncle Taye must be done talking to Kit by now.”
“Uncle Taye? Why would he talk to Kit?”
“Oh, you know, just to give his usual What-To-Do-To-Please-Your-Mate-In-Bed speech.”
Olivia jerked to stop, wondering if her blush was visible behind the veil. “Oh,” she squeaked. “That one.”
Victoria laughed so hard she had to bend over. “I’m going to make him give that speech to Marty.”
Olivia stopped again. “Did Marty ask you to marry him?”
“Not yet.” She smiled with iron confidence. “But he will.” She twisted the knob and opened the door. “Shall we?”
*
Kit stood at the far end of the restaurant at the Plane Women’s House. The big room was empty of tables, but chairs had been lined up in rows, and they were filling fast. Almost all the guests were for Olivia. He had been told that, traditionally, the guests of the bride sat on one side of the room, and the guests of the groom sat on the other, but his guests were only the few members of the Madison pride. Eddie Madison and his mate, Lisa, were there with their children Ray, Emily, and David. Eddie’s sister, Bree Devon, her husband, and their eight children took up two rows of chairs. His brother Marty was also there. They were all friends of Olivia’s too. A tiny part of him wished for someone from his Pride to be here today for him, like Justin and Teresa, or Devlin. Well, at least his side wasn’t empty. Olivia’s family more than filled the chairs. In fact, there weren’t enough seats for everyone to be able to sit. The young men stood in the back of the room. They stared at him, some with simple curiosity, others with hostility, and still others with acceptance.
Wasn’t it time to start yet? He wanted to hear the words that would make him married to Olivia. His palms were wet. He almost wiped them on his suit pants, but remembered that wasn’t appropriate when he was in his best clothes.
“Relax,” muttered Marty Madison beside him.
Marty was his best man. Like the whole concept of a wedding, the idea of a man to stand beside him during the ceremony was odd. Was he supposed to keep Kit from running away? He would never run away. His mate’s kin had decreed the ceremony was a necessity, so Kit raised no objection. Marty was a good choice to be his best man. His own Pride had cast him off, so Kit was glad to have another cat stand with him. And Marty’s brother, Eddie, the First Male of the Kearney Pride, was the mayor. He had the power to make people married. Kit wasn’t sure if it was magic, but he suspected it was. A year wasn’t long enough to understand all human ways. Kit glanced at Eddie Madison standing three feet in front of he and Marty with a black book in his hands. He eyed the book with respectful curiosity. Maybe the book was the source of the magic.
“Ah,” said Eddie Madison, looking from the back of the room to Kit. “We are about to begin.”
Kit watched his mate’s mother walk along the open space down the center of the chairs and seat herself in the front row. She gave him a small smile and a nod. All the people in the chairs turned to look at the other end of the room. His breath left him in a relieved sigh. There was the tall woman who would stand with his mate as her maid of honor today, and a few feet behind her was Olivia, in a wide, white dress and a piece of flimsy fabric over her face. Her father stood beside her, tall and stern.
Marty made a guttural cat sound of awe. “Isn’t she the most gorgeous woman you’ve ever laid eyes on?”
Yes, Olivia was more beautiful than any other woman. But a quick glance at Marty showed his stare fixed on Victoria, not Olivia. The tall woman was pretty, but she didn’t compare to his mate. Kit drew himself up straight as Victoria walked along the aisle between the seats with a slow, steady step. When she reached the front, she turned and placed herself on his opposite side, leaving a space for Olivia to stand beside him. Everyone stood up then, looking back to Olivia.
Kit’s heart swelled with pride as she, holding her father’s arm, walked slowly toward him. Even through the veil he could see her smile. He heard a few sniffs from the women when her father lifted the filmy stuff away from her face and bent to kiss her cheek. He fumbled a little lowering the veil back over Olivia’s face, and a tiny smile cracked his solemnity. Kit felt a little bit of awe when he noticed the man’s eyes were a bit brighter than usual with unshed tears.
“I love you, baby girl,” the older man murmured into his daughter’s ear, smoothing the veil down to hide her face again.
“I love you too, dad,” Olivia said.
Kit’s fingers trembled when the man took Olivia’s hand and gave it to him. He clutched her fingers tightly, aware of her scent and the warmth of her body standing beside his.
“Take care of her, son,” Tracker said, and the sheen of tears was gone, leaving coldness behind.
“Yes, sir,” Kit said.
Tracker stepped back and went to sit beside his mate. Kit smiled down at Olivia. She smiled back and squeezed his fingers as they turned to face Mayor Madison.
Eddie Madison opened his book and began to speak.
“Good afternoon. We are here to join this man, Christopher McQueen, and this woman, Olivia Anne Stensrud, in marriage. Do you, Dan and Tami Stensrud, give your daughter to this man?”
Silence. A cord tightened around his heart, stopping its beat, until Olivia’s father and mother stood up. “We do,” the man said, not quite sourly, and they sat down again.
Almost light headed, Kit stared at the outline of Olivia’s face behind the veil. She was smiling at him.
“Marriage is more than just two people living together.” Eddie Madison had been looking out at the people, but now he focused on Kit. “It is two lives lived as one. It’s balanced, with neither one nor the other being more important. The husband considers the needs of his wife, and the wife considers the needs of the husband. You will stand as partners, workin
g together not out of mere duty, but out of love and joy. Neither of you are perfect, so you will need a spirit of forgiveness and patience during the years ahead. Are you prepared for that?”
Kit swallowed and nodded. A breathless assent came from behind the veil.
“Olivia, will you have Christopher as your husband? Will you love him in good times and bad, forsaking all others and being faithful to him alone?”
“I will.”
“Christopher, will you have Olivia as your wife? Will you love her in good times and bad, forsaking all others and being faithful to her alone?”
“I will!”
Eddie nodded gravely. “Do you have a ring?”
“Yes!” Kit turned eagerly to Marty, who gave him the ring. He waited until Olivia had handed her flowers to Victoria. “Olivia, this ring belonged to Teresa’s grandmother. Teresa is the mate, er, wife of my brother, Justin. She helped me learn to be civilized. She knew I would look for you until I found you, and I would do everything I could to win you for my wife. She said civilized people exchange rings to show they belonged to each other, so she gave me this ring to give to you. She said her grandparents loved each other, so this ring is a ring of love. Will you wear it for me?”
The salt of tears scented the air. Not only Olivia’s tears, but also tears from the people in the chairs. Olivia gave an inelegant sniff. “Yes, I will wear it.”
He slid the ring over her finger and pressed her hand to his heart. Olivia let her hand stay there a moment before tugging free. Victoria passed her a ring.
“Kit, this ring isn’t a family heirloom or anything fancy, but I bought it with the wages I earned at the restaurant. That makes it mine, and I want to give it to you. Will you wear it for me?”
Kit could feel an exultant yowl rise in his throat. He forced it back. “Yes!”
The yowl pushed, wanting out, when the ring was securely on his finger. Eddie cleared his throat, bringing attention back to him.
“By the authority of my position as Mayor of Kearney, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”