Liam stepped up, bent and brushed a quick, hard kiss on her lips. “Ye’ll do fine, lass. I love ye.”
“I love you, too,” she managed to whisper, though her throat was tight with fear.
As soon as he stepped back, Penn took his place. “Smile, luv, it will be all right. After all, ye are the Dream Weaver.” Then he too kissed her hard and fast.
Their kisses, words, and the warm looks of love in their eyes sent shivers of lust through her. But she couldn’t strip off and attack them until she’d finished her business with Mother Nature.
Taking a deep breath, she smiled up at her men. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
“We’ll be right here waitin’ fer ye,” they said in unison.
Suz turned and, with a deep breath that straightened her back and shoulders, walked into Spring Castle. She heard the gates close behind her.
* * * *
Liam watched the solid wood gates close, then reached over and grabbed his brother’s arm. “We should have told her.”
“Ruth made us promise not to. Every Dream Weaver must learn that secret herself, she said. Remember?”
“Aye, I remember, but I still think we should have told her. She looked so scared.”
He felt Penn pull away. With a sigh, Liam followed the other man to the ancient bench sitting by the side of the road.
“She’ll be fine. She doesn’t realize it, but she’s stronger than she, or we, realize.” Penn sat down, extended his legs, and crossed his ankles. He looked like he was settling in for a while.
Liam couldn’t sit down. He thought he was feeling almost as nervous as he knew Suz had felt. So he paced, walking circles around the bench. Every time he could, he looked toward the castle courtyard, but the gates remained firmly closed. “It’s taking too long. All she’s supposed to do is hand the shawl to the captain of the guard and then come back out.”
“Sit down, brother. This is her first delivery. Mother Nature probably wanted to meet her and express her condolences on Ruth’s passin’.”
“Aye, I suppose.” Liam knew he didn’t sound convinced.
Penn grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the bench next to him. “Relax. All will be well. She’ll come out in a few minutes and we’ll go back, and after lunch with the clan, we’ll slip her away into the woods for a little outdoor play.”
“Do ye think she’ll go fer that?” Liam smiled at the thought of bending their beautiful wench over a fallen tree trunk and fucking her brains out while she sucked Penn to completion. “Damn. Now look what ye’ve done.” Liam reached over and punched his brother’s arm.
“Me? I didna do a thing. Yer the one with the dirty mind,” Penn returned.
“Aye, but ye started it.”
* * * *
By the time the gates swung open more than an hour later, Penn was ready to storm the gates and go in after their woman. He’d joined Liam in pacing back and forth across the road and then around the bench.
They’d muttered back and forth that Suz was fine, the world was not about to come to an end, she really had woven a beautiful shawl, and they would find a way to cement their unique relationship with a marriage of some kind.
He froze when Suz appeared and walked through the gates which then closed behind her. Though she was smiling, her eyes looked red rimmed and puffy as if she’d been crying.
“Suz?” Liam said as he reached her.
He pulled her tight to his chest and kissed her. Penn joined them a second later, pushing tight against her back. Since Liam’s arms were already wrapped around her body, he settled his hands on her shoulders and buried his face in her hair. Massaging her shoulders, he felt no tight muscles, no tension from worry.
When Liam finally lifted his lips from hers, Penn turned her and kissed her, parting her lips to allow his tongue to dive deep into her mouth. He tasted his brother, he tasted fine chocolate, and he tasted Suz. The potent combination sent tiny sparks straight to his cock which inflated like a balloon. When he couldn’t take any more without stripping down and taking her right here, he lifted his head. “How did it go?”
Suz slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him, obviously dazed. “Huh?”
“Luv, ye’ve been in there more than an hour. What happened? How did it go? Did she like the shawl?” Penn released her and took a step back but grabbed her upper arms when she wobbled.
Suz took a deep breath. “It went fine. She wanted to meet me and we talked about Ruth and the others before her. She loved the shawl, said it was beautiful and would perfectly with her dress.” Wrapping one hand around Penn’s elbow and taking Liam’s hand with her other, she turned and started walking down the hill, pulling the two men behind her. “Funny thing, though. I didn’t remember the shawl being as beautiful as it was. I mean, I know it was pretty, but it seemed different somehow, more polished.”
Penn smiled over her head to his brother. “Must be the magic of the Dream Weaver. Of course yer eyes were a bit prejudice on how pretty it truly was.”
“She also had a solution to our marriage problem, if you’re willing.”
“Oh? And what would that be?” Penn asked.
* * * *
Suz looked from one man to the other. Would they be willing to defy modern day convention and abide by the ways of their ancestors?
“She said she would be willing to join us in a handfasting ceremony. She said it was the ceremony of the pagans. It’s normally done for couples, but triads are also using it to bind three lives together.”
“But handfasting is normally only for a year and a day. The ancients used it as an engagement,” Liam said, frowning down at her.
“We don’t have to set a time limit or we could come back each year and repeat the ceremony. That way if she gets sick of us or decides she doesna want us any longer, she can put an end to us.” Penn observed, looking pensive.
Suz stopped in the middle of the road. She jerked her hands from their hold and settled them on her hips. Planting her feet wide, she frowned at them through eyes full of fury. “Listen here, you two. I love you. Both of you. If you don’t want to be tied to me for the rest of our lives, tell me. I don’t want to handfast for just a year. I want to honor your ancestors and mine with this ceremony. I want a way to tie the three of us together until our last breaths, but I’ll leave it up to you. I’ll be standing at that gate,” she said, pointing toward the castle, “at six o’clock. If you want to be handfasted to me for the rest of our lives, you’ll be there waiting for me.”
With that, she turned and quickstepped down the hill. As she walked away, she thought she heard one of them say, “Hormones?” but she didn’t hear the other respond.
She held her head high and back straight, not wanting them to know how scared she was. She blinked back tears that sprang into her eyes, not sure if they came from anger or fear. She truly was frightened they wouldn’t want her while also so angry she would have clubbed them.
Was it just hormones? Or had she gone crazy from the stress of being the Dream Weaver and her love for two men? She kept walking until she reached the cabin where Catherine and Kendrick sat on the front porch.
“How did it go, lassie?” Kendrick asked as he studied her with a slight frown.
“She loved the shawl, and we talked for a long time about Ruth and the other Dream Weavers. She even offered to perform a handfasting ceremony for us, if we wanted.”
“Now, why didn’t ye think of that? Surely someone on the council could have thought of that.” Catherine glanced at her husband. “Are ye going ta have the ceremony?”
“I don’t know. Penn and Liam didn’t sound too enthusiastic. I’ve given them the afternoon to think about it.” Suz sighed and twisted her fingers together.
She wasn’t sure what had happened or why she’d growled at them, but it was done now.
“Maybe ye should think about it as well,” Kendrick pointed out. “Being tied ta two men isna goin’ ta be an easy life. People will always be lookin’ at
ye strange. A handfasting ceremony isn’t as legally binding as a marriage certificate.”
Suz smiled. “I don’t care about legalities. Dodge can do the paperwork so that property settlements and stuff are taken care of. I just want an acknowledgement before family and friends that we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together as a family.”
Kendrick nodded. “Sounds like ye’ve thought this out a’ready. I hope me sons realize what a special woman they’ve got.”
“Come inside and eat. I ken ye didna have breakfast and now it’s well past noon. Then ye’ll lay down fer a bit and rest we prepare ye for the ball.” Catherine stood and took Suz by the arm. “Kendrick, go spend the afternoon with yer sons. Talk with them and the council about the handfasting. Knock some sense into your sons.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kendrick snarked.
Suz wondered if he saluted, but Catherine had pulled her inside and pushed the door closed in his face.
Chapter 12
News spread through the chieftain’s compound quickly. By the time Suz woke from her nap, the wives had gathered. They spent the rest of the afternoon preparing Suz for the ball. As they did, each woman offered bits of advice on how to keep a man sexually on edge, interested, and willing to do anything she asked of him.
Suz listened to the news, but her fear still outweighed her excitement. Did they really want her? Were they willing to spend the rest of their lives with a woman who even now wasn’t sure what she was doing with her life?
Catherine saw her growing distress and gently ushered the other ladies out of the cabin, reminding them that they, too, needed to dress for the ball. They agreed to leave but would be back in plenty of time to escort Suz to meet her men.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” Catherine pushed Suz into a rocking chair and handed her the knitting that Callum had brought from her cabin.
“Am I crazy for wanting this? For wanting both of them? What if they’re not there? What if they really don’t want me but can’t tell me?” Suz sniffed and fought back her tears. After sitting still for a half hour to have her makeup done, she didn’t want to ruin it with tears.
Catherine smiled at her. “I felt the same thing just before Kendrick arrived at me parents’ door, too impatient to wait for me at the Kirk. It’s the same thing every bride feels, jitters. But I know me sons. They’re probably pacing new trails in these hills wantin’ ta come ta ye.”
“But what if…”
“Pshaw, lassie. Those boys love ye so much they canna see straight. They’ve waited a dozen years fer ye ta come back ta them.” Catherine bent down and kissed Suz’s forehead. “Now enough worryin’ over things ye canna control. Ye should be tryin’ ta figure out how soon ye’ll be able ta sneak those two big hulkin’ sons of mine out of the ball and back ta yer cabin ta start the honeymoonin’.”
“Hmm, you’re right. Thank you. For being kind to me and allowing me to claim both of your sons.” Suz stood and hugged the older woman. “Now we need to get you ready for the ball.”
“Och, there’s not much ta do. All I’ve gotta do is run a brush through me hair and pull on me dress, but yer right, ’tis time.”
Well before six o’clock the women gathered again on the porch wearing their ball gowns. As Suz and Catherine emerged from the cabin, a group of men appeared out of the woods. They were dressed in their finest kilts and gillies with white shirts, bow ties, and waist-length tuxedo jackets. They were a handsome lot, from Callum all the way to the eldest chieftain.
Leading the pack were Penn and Liam. While the rest of the men stopped in the middle of the road to the castle, the twins continued marching forward. They didn’t stop until they stood shoulder to shoulder in front of Suz. Then they knelt and each held out a bouquet of creamy white roses.
“Mistress Bowen, we’ve come ta escort ye ta the ball,” they said in unison.
Suz took the roses with a teary smile. Penn rose and kissed her left cheek. Then Liam followed and kissed her right.
“We’ve also come ta demand ye handfast us and be our woman for the rest of our lives,” Penn said as he held out his hand.
“It may not be as modern as a wedding, but we’ve been married to ye in our hearts for so long, this jes’ seems like a formality,” Liam finished as he, too, held out his hand.
The women surrounding them cooed at the twins’ romantic gesture. The men in the road groaned.
Suz smiled. After handing Catherine the roses, she laid one of her hands in each of theirs. Looking around the porch, she said, “Thank you ladies, for everything.”
She allowed her McKenzie men to escort her to Spring Castle for the formality of the handfasting ceremony, though she realized her McKenzie men belonged to their Dream Weaver since she had claimed them twenty-four years before. And she was more than thankful that they had indeed waited for her to grow up.
THE END
www.coopermckenzie.webs.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cooper McKenzie always thought she had been born a hundred years too late, but appreciates air conditioning, computers, and other conveniences of modern-day living. She enjoys the slower pace of New Bern, North Carolina as well as the history and small town community found there. In addition to dreaming up her next story, Cooper enjoys reading everything except scary books, singing in her church choir and needle-weaving. She loves hearing from readers at [email protected].
Also by Cooper McKenzie
Claiming Their Dream Weaver
Loving Their Dream Weaver
Available at
BOOKSTRAND.COM
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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Marrying Their Dream Weaver Page 7