“I am here. Is it you? Are you the Beautiful One?”
“I Am.” The Immortal Song wafted through the wheat stalks with a whisper. The voice of the One pulsed pure and beckoning.
“Turn and gaze upon my reward to you.”
I slowly turned and my heart swelled in my chest. A sparkling stream cascaded down the hillside, and in the streambed stood my beautiful Kate. Resplendent in a white gossamer gown, the hem soaking in the stream, Kate enchanted my soul. Her hair gently billowed in the slight breeze and curled around her breasts. Golden bands crisscrossed around her body, pressing the sheer dress around her tiny waist, accentuating her feminine curves.
I slowly slipped to my knees at her chaste beauty and desirable form. “She’s for me?” I breathed. All I ever hoped for, all I ever wanted, Kate, my Kate to be completely mine as I committed myself to her.
“I have ordained it. Woo her as your wife if that is your desire. It is my will for you, my son.”
“It is my desire. She is my desire.”
“So be it, but know this. Even as you give yourself wholly to her, she will not be able to reciprocate.”
“She doesn’t love me?” My heart crashed to the stones below me.
“She adores you, but her heart is wanton. She does not see her own worth and will betray you and lie with another. You will give your life to save her, but she will not remain faithful. You will pour your rich love out for her, but she will not soak it up. Like water over a stone, it will pour over her, cleanse her but not be taken into her. She will remain thirsty for love that cannot satisfy and drink from other cups in desperation. Your love is her path to success, but she must seek beyond her own frailties and choose to take in your love. If she is your choice, you will suffer greatly. Do you so choose?”
Tears streamed down my face as I gazed upon the light of my soul. She bent to the silver stream and lifted water into her hands and drank thirstily. The water poured down her chin and bare arms, and soaked her dress, revealing the gloriousness of this gift. She raised her face to mine and desire called to me. She held open her arms and my decision solidified. I’d die a thousand deaths to call her my bride.
“I do so choose,” I choked out, my voice torn and my heart broken.
Immediately, we stood together in the field of grain. Kate’s white dress fluttered in the breeze, and she turned her smoldering eyes to mine. “Be my bride, Kate of a Thousand Years,” I whispered.
“Yes,” she sighed into my mouth and we kissed as the sun set over the horizon. The One sang over us, and we confessed our love and devotion. As the sun set on our past as individuals, we spoke vows of eternal commitment. Through tears of joy, we rejected all others and bonded ourselves to a holy and perfect union, sealing our promises with a passionate kiss.
I pressed the grasses down into a soft wedding bed and gently unwrapped the precious gift of Kate. Her form mesmerized me, everything I had dreamed of. I gazed upon her beauty, staggered by the way she moved me. She unbuttoned my shirt and ran her hands over my body, leaving trails of fire all over my skin. When I kissed her, I could taste her tears of joy. It stirred a deep and fierce need to protect her, to cover her with my devotion. We had longed for this day for a thousand years. I had waited, saved myself for her. The only woman I had ever wanted, she came into my arms, pure and without ghosts of past lovers between us. We had saved this magical moment as a precious gift to one another.
“Corey, Corey,” she sobbed and pressed her heart to mine. I understood, the beautiful agony of our long anticipation culminated in this moment. Emotion crested on enormous waves and crashed into fathomless billows of love and longing. Our hearts met in an impact so astonishing, resulting in a fusing of spirit and soul. I could no longer distinguish my desire from hers. We were of one heart, one mind, one spirit.
Our slow exploration became an urgent need, and Kate became my fascination. Fixated on pleasing every inch of her, I obsessed. Her slightest reaction became my inspiration, every small gasp, every cry of delight, stimulated me to new ventures. She seemed just as determined to satisfy my every longing. She wrapped herself around me and shivered in rapturous ecstasy as we became husband and wife, heart and soul, flesh and blood.
Long after the intensity had settled, we remained wrapped around one another. I had never known joy before this moment. Kate was my wife. I was her husband. She kissed the top of my head, and I pressed my lips between her breasts. We shifted to our backs in the wheat and watched the night sky as it filled with thousands of fireflies. Blues and greens, oranges and golds, every color of firefly ever created fluttered in the air above us. We luxuriated in the afterglow of our union, savoring the taste and feel of one flesh.
I plucked a grain of wheat and traced the line from her navel to her chin. She never took her attention off of me and her hands never left my skin. I ran the wheat stem through my fingers to soften it, and then began to weave it into a ring. I placed the golden ring on her left ring finger. “I have loved you for a thousand years, Mrs. Chastain.”
“I will love you for thousands more, my husband,” she breathed. The air thickened with passion and love and we started all over again where fireflies bask in afterglow.
I don’t know how long we made love in the meadow of fireflies. Not long enough, I could never get enough of my wife. Eventually the sun broke over the hills and I dressed my wife back into her flowing bridal gown, slowly kissing every part of her before covering it. She served me in the same way. We sat on the boulder and watched the perfect sunrise while she crafted a golden ring for me and placed it on my finger.
We spent the day wrapped in the bliss of our new favorite activity. We began to laugh at our insatiable appetite for one another. As the sun set and the fireflies returned, we collapsed against the boulder, exhausted, and fell asleep.
When we woke we were propped against the cave wall in the Scriptorium chamber. Dirk slept on the opposite side of the circular chamber. We didn’t wake him. We wrapped ourselves around each other and went back to sleep.
Kate stirred in my arms, and I opened my eyes. Dirk fashioned a meal on the cave floor across from us.
“Welcome back,” he smiled and offered me a bagel with cream cheese.
I woke famished, but I was not separate and other anymore. I had a wife to care for and we were the same. “Kate, darling, wake up, my love,” I kissed her sweet lips. She woke with an appetite and not for bagels.
I chuckled and she floated back to gaze at me lovingly. She snapped her head around and blushed when she saw Dirk.
“I forgot. I thought we were still on our boulder.”
My insides fluttered with a thousand fireflies, and I helped her to sit up straight and gave her the bagel.
“Mmmm, I’m so hungry.” She bit into the bagel and then turned it around and made me take a bite. We shared the breakfast, alternating bites and simmering glances.
Dirk produced a thermos and cracked the seal. Kate sang. “Coffee!” When Dirk handed her the cup, she grabbed the thermos instead. “This will do just fine.”
We shared the thermos, while Dirk chuckled and made do with the cup.
“So, have the others come back already?” I asked.
“Nope. Just you two.” He settled against the cave wall. “So, spill. What happened in there?”
Kate’s face flushed and she buried her head in my bicep. I cleared my throat and said, “We were married by the Beautiful One.”
“Married?” Dirk’s head snapped up.
“Yes.”
“Meaning what exactly?”
“Meaning, Kate and I are married, husband and wife, ’til death do we part.”
“So you…you…in there you…”
“We consummated the marriage if that is what you are asking.” I hugged Kate closer. “We consummated it thoroughly.” Kate’s cheek grew warm.
Dirk let out a whistle. “That’s a first.” He scratched behind his ear as though not sure what to think. “Did it ever occur to you that if
Kate gets pregnant, it’ll really make this mission more difficult?”
Pregnant! No that never occurred to me, but now that it did, I had a picture of chasing a little blond boy and holding a perfectly round brunette girl in my arms while we ran around the First Cabin with their mother, my Kate. I smiled.
“Dirk, not that it is any of your business,” Kate snapped. “I have been on birth control for over a year now. We aren’t children!”
Dirk threw his head back and laughed. “You look like children to me, Katie.”
Kate cracked a smile. “You know what I mean. We have already lived an eternity. Our bodies may be teenagers but our minds and experiences are ancient. Right, old man?” She nudged my rib.
“Most definitely,” I kissed her nose then turned back to Dirk. “How long were we gone?”
Dirk shifted. “It’s been about twenty six hours.”
“Who went after us?”
“Mel and Tara were chosen to go next.”
“Mel and Tara?” Kate cocked her head. “I just thought we would all go in couples.”
“Very rarely are couples chosen after the team leaders.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That’s strange because four couples were chosen out of our other team,” I commented.
“You have no idea how strange that is,” Dirk replied. “Practically unheard of.”
“I guess the One knew what the future held and prepared us for the two century jump.”
“So what do we do?” Kate asked.
“We wait.
“My wife, Shanna, quite literally fell into another dimension, another world, sending ripples through our research. We now know that quantum travel is possible and we are expending great resources to solidifying a controlled conveyance.” ~ Dr. Rick J. Wilson in Science Digest, Volume XXIV, 2006
DONNIE AND TRIP hit the dust of the cave floor first. They stood shoulder to shoulder and just swept the room, scanning for danger and assuming a defensive stance. Dirk opened his mouth to speak then snapped it closed, violently interrupted.
Screaming sliced through his words and announced Tara and Mel’s arrival. They clung to one another, wailing, tears streaming down their faces. They jerked up as they appeared in the Scriptorium and whirled around. When their desperate search found me they screeched.
“Corey! You are alive!” They took turns with the phrase and leapt into my arms, sobbing hysterically. We couldn’t make out any other words.
I looked over their heads desperately at Trip and Donnie who stood staring, just as baffled as I. “What, uh…what’s wrong?” I asked in soft tones. They just kept pawing at me and weeping. Kate eased toward them with soft caresses and tender tones, worry saturated her features.
Dirk cleared his throat and rammed his brows together. “Okay, okay, let’s try to control ourselves, ladies.”
It still took several minutes of soft croons from Trip and Donnie to peel them off of me. Kate stood with her palms twisting together, fighting back her own tears at seeing her friends in so much anguish. I understood, right there with her. These two were like sisters to me.
Trip, though obviously upset about Tara, couldn’t stop staring at my wife’s sheer gown. His lustful leer kept sliding over her form, and I wanted to punch him. When he finally accepted Tara out of my arms, I took off my shirt and wrapped it around Kate.
This sent Tara into another fit of wailing. I had never in two hundred plus years seen her shed one tear, much less act like this. I shifted, not eager to hear what possibly could drive her to this behavior.
“Let’s get out of here. I’ve had all of our things taken to First Cabin.” Dirk directed us up the stone steps into the night. The stars sprinkled on the surface of the lake like the teardrops on the girl’s faces as we paddled to shore.
We piled into a waiting golf cart and Dirk drove us to First Cabin. I caught a whiff of jasmine on the breeze as the cart hummed over the dew damp grass. The calm of the village at night and soft buzz of crickets spoke peace to our cart mates, and by the time we turned into the driveway the soughs and snivels had dried up.
Our tires crunched up the gravel drive. We took in our first gander at our assigned cabin, the home of the scientist who developed quantum sphere technology. The original cabin on the village property. It stood, steadfast and ancient, a testament to the creator of sphere travel.
First Cabin’s wide front porch opened to a green lawn that swooped down to a magical pond reflecting the rippling moon. The scientist’s wife had been taken into a jump from the center of the pond. Then years after her return, their granddaughter had crossed into a jump and had come back within hours.
Her disappearance gave her grandfather the impetus to develop the original sphere matrix. It had taken 40 years to actually put the algorithm into practice. Long in his grave by the time the first shaky sphere transported a living being, he would’ve been impressed to see the advancements in technology since then.
I felt a strange connection to the cabin as I stared at the picture perfect place. Memories of summers here, as a young child, flitted through my mind. They were the last good memories with my mom and dad. I could live here for the rest of my life. Kate and I could raise our children in this home.
I glanced at Kate. She appeared struck by the beauty of the cabin, mouth agape as she took it all in. The tiny pond mirrored the stars, as still as glass except where dragonflies lighted from budding circles. Silver misted the edges and cattails.
The boathouse hovered over the mystic mirror, and I remembered that Mel and Donnie were going to live there. I glanced around to find them head to head. The idea of a married couple being separated seemed repugnant to me suddenly. I leaned over to breathe in the scent of my wife. Desire convulsed through me, and she responded by touching my face and gazing into my eyes. We communed like that until the cart jolted to a stop.
We scuffled up the steps to the porch. Dirk flung open the doors and flipped on the lights. The cabin had undergone many changes over the years. A den had been added on and a private master suite in the back of the house that opened up to a pool and Jacuzzi. The kitchen had been expanded and updated several times, but the quaintness of the rustic design had been maintained.
I watched Kate as she took in the surroundings. She smiled brightly and said. “Now this is the way to camp.” She ran to the wall of windows in the back of the house and looked out at the glowing pool.
“Can we have our debriefing out there?” she smiled.
Dirk shrugged. “Why not?”
Our baggage waited for us in the corner of the living room, so we claimed our own, then turned to look at Dirk.
He scratched his head and sighed. “Okay, first we have to make some decisions about rooms.”
“We already know where we are staying.” Donnie and Mel headed to the front door. “We’ll be back in about thirty minutes.”
“Make it an hour,” Mel yelled from the porch.
Donnie grinned sheepishly and wrestled his luggage out of the screen door.
“So what’s the problem?” Trip asked.
Dirk pinned me with a stern gaze. “Do you intend to move forward from your experience or step back to the way things were?”
“There is no going back, Dirk,” I stated firmly. “We are one.”
Kate leaned into me.
Trip frowned. “What is this about?” His focus landed on the matching rings that Kate and I wore. “What the hell did you do, Corey?” Ire blistered through his expression as it landed on Kate.
“Kate and I are married,” I said firmly, with finality.
Tara jerked her head up and studied us. Then she let out a huge sigh, and her shoulders fell. A strange reaction, I thought she of all people would have been happy about Kate choosing me.
“Well you two take the master suite. Trip and I will take the upstairs and Tara you take the front room.” Dirk shook his head. “Meet in the pool in one hour. Don’t be late!”
Kate and I carried our
luggage to our room. I had so much to tell her, I didn’t think an hour would be enough time. We entered the master suite and it hit me. Our room. Our home. Our bed.
Kate dropped her luggage on the settee in front of the bed and spun in a circle. “This is amazing. We get a real honeymoon, Corey.”
I dropped the luggage and rushed to take her into my arms. I carried her to the bed. “I didn’t get to carry you over the threshold, this is the least I can do.” I kissed her, spread her out beneath me and made love to my beautiful wife again. Time flew by and still we had not been able to talk.
As we changed into our swimsuits, I hinted. “I have so much to tell you, Kate. We need some time to be alone. We have some decisions to make, together.”
She turned her head toward me curiously. “It sounds important. Tie me up?” She backed into me and held the strings of her bikini top for me. A monumental moment for me, this was our first “married” couple mundane moment. I didn’t want it to pass us by without commemorating it.
I dropped the strings of her bikini and wrapped my hands around her rib cage, drew her toward me and kissed her shoulders in an impulsive act. Kate gasped, turned around and threw herself in my arms. We were late to the meeting.
Meetings should always be held at 2 AM in private swimming pools with beautiful girls in bikinis, especially when one of them belongs to you. We splashed around for a bit until Dirk called us all to the deep end. We rode on noodles and floats, bobbing through the debriefing.
“The parents will arrive first thing in the morning for Family Week.” Dirk kicked his feet back and forth, a silhouette against the underwater spotlight. “This is the last chance we will have this week to share our Scriptorium experiences.”
A moot point for me, I knew my family wouldn’t be coming. I looked forward to meeting the families of my teammates, though. I caught Donnie’s eye. He wouldn’t be having any family visitors either. He had grown up in the foster care system.
The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series Page 3