by Tanya Allan
“What is so funny?” he said. The first words he had spoken.
‘My mother will be pleased, at last!’ I thought. He smiled. It wasn’t a freak; we could telepathically talk to each other.
‘This is crazy,’ he thought.
‘I can talk dirty to you all day, and no one will ever know,’ I thought back. He grinned and kissed me.
‘I can remember your life in Scotland, can you remember mine?’ he asked me.
“Everything, it is as if I have lived your life, I liked the way you punched that guy on the nose at your reunion,’ I told him. But then I saw a girl called Jane, and my mouth must have opened in surprise. I saw everything, from the puddle to the Civil War. Then I re-lived Layla’s life in the ancient world.
Ed smiled.
“It’s kinda crazy, but that was me.”
“How?”
“Look deeper.”
I did, and the whole story unfurled before me. I stared at him, as he simply smiled. I shared Jane’s memories, so I realised how deep this man’s feeling had gone!
“The feeling has gone now. You have it.”
“Mmm.”
He smiled. ‘I can’t believe that you never made love to anyone, before me.’
‘I’m glad, but that last time.’
‘I know, it was something else, wasn’t it?’
‘You are going to have to marry me, you know that?’
‘I have every intention of doing just that. Life is looking better and better.’
‘I can’t wait to take you to meet my mum,’ I thought, and he kissed me.
We lay beside each other, just exploring our new-found world, which had been opened to us. After a while, I noticed he was becoming aroused once more, so I pushed him onto his back, kissing him from the tips of his toes to his head, spending a lot of time in between. Finally, he could take no more, so he threw me onto my back, and screwed me with such vigour and power that I could not help screaming with pleasure. He went on and on, as our minds melded into one again, and as he thrust deep inside and shuddered as he came. Somehow, we both felt the pleasure that the other experienced.
He lay exhausted, so I gently caressed him. I felt his juices running down the inside of my legs and enjoyed the feeling. I still wanted to be the mother of his child! That it was irrational, I knew, but it was the strongest feeling I had.
I wrapped a towel about my breasts, and so it covered me, and left the hut.
‘I’m going swimming, coming?’ I thought.
‘I just came,’ he thought back, so I laughed.
He stood up and pulled on a pair of shorts. We walked down to the creek together, when I took my towel off. I was naked underneath, so I dived into the water. The creek was higher than normal, due to the flash floods, so it was quite muddy. Ed had no qualms in removing his shorts, and we played in the water for ages. He made love to me, again, and I wondered what a nymphomaniac felt like.
We eventually joined the human race, so I dressed in a wrap around skirt, made from an old scarf, and my bikini top. I was a complete woman, and I wanted the world to know it.
It was wonderful not having to talk all the time, and it was nice that we had the ability to screen thoughts even from each other. I couldn’t resist sending him sexy thoughts, and he gave as good as he got. We kept sneaking off to make love. I had never been so happy and contented with my lot. It was so weird, though. Something was missing, and there was a hole in my persona. I had carried that damn feeling for so long it had become part of who I was. To suddenly not have it there from the moment I woke up in the morning was almost painful. I say painful rather like having had a sore tooth extracted. It was awful when it had been there, but now it was gone, the hole was obvious, and I almost missed it.
Almost!
Lucky Lucy arrived, so Ed and I went down and found that the rib was stuck up a nearby palm tree, but remarkably it was still in one piece. The outboard required a bit of coaxing, but spluttered into life after Ed had worked his magic on it. We went across the reef, and were welcomed by Mickey.
We brought him and a crate of beer, back with us, and made our way to the village.
“You’ve changed,” Mickey said to me.
“Oh yes, how?” I asked, which made Ed laugh.
“I’m not sure, maybe it is just that you are dressed more like a beautiful woman should be,” he said, slightly confused.
I laughed, as I was only wearing a bikini, with the makeshift skirt.
The feast that night started at about five o’clock, with music and dancing. The girls got up and danced, while the men sat in a circle watching. They were all pretty girls, and none of them wore any clothes, except a small strip of cloth covering their genitals. They were all dancing for their men, and I had this overwhelming urge to dance too.
So I stood up, took off my bikini top and scarf, and danced with all the other girls. The tempo and rhythm was wonderful, and far better than any disco or rave. Strangely, it wasn’t that energetic, with only small movements of the feet - shuffle steps really. The movement of the body was rhythmic and highly charged. One by one the girls selected their men, who joined them in the circle, so I pulled Ed to his feet and danced in front of him.
I was thinking all kinds of naughty thoughts at him, so he pulled me close to him, and I could feel that he was aroused. I laughed and broke free, dancing just out of his reach.
The music slowed and then stopped. Then the married women brought out the food. There was a huge amount of food, and I found that they had even managed to cook our supplies in ways the makers had never dreamed of. Ed passed me a beer, so we clinked bottles together.
Mickey was enjoying himself, and he kept muttering, “If only I’d known,” over and over again. After the food, the dancing started, and this was obviously more serious, as only a handful of girls danced this time.
“What dance is this?” I asked Gorran. Ed was talking to Mickey.
“This is the brides’ dance. The girls choose their husbands, and they must marry before the day is ended,” he said.
I stood up and joined them in the dance, while Ed just grinned at me, then he read my thoughts. The dance was slow and very sensuous, and I knew that I was only achieving a poor approximation of what the girls managed. But it seemed to do the trick.
Silence dropped on the assembled throng, while all eyes were on those who were dancing. I only saw Ed, as the drum-beats were now muted as the feet on the dancers seemed to beat out the rhythm by themselves.
I had never felt quite so sexual, ever, and it was a completely new feeling. The power of the woman over her man was indescribable, and I relished it.
Finally, the girls danced close to their chosen partner, and lay at his feet. It was then for him to pick them up, to lead them, in dance, in front of the Shaman who would conduct the marriage ceremony.
I danced in front of Ed and lay at his feet. Then, I felt his strong arms around me, as he picked me up. We danced together, with the others towards where Russak sat.
We sat, as a couple, in a small semi-circle around him, as he chanted and waved things about, with Ed holding my hand.
I smiled at him.
‘I do,’ I thought.
‘I do too, Mrs Ryan!’
Russak was now on his feet. He bound each couple together and shook his dust all over them. Then he came to us, he bound our hands together and shook his dust all over us, and we were married. Not in the eyes of the church, or in the law, but at that moment Ed became my husband, and I, his wife!
Chapter Five
The Marine.
Gigi knew, almost instinctively, what had happened to us, but was less settled than I was. I think she was more aware of the process, so that unnerved and confused her a little. I was oblivious to the process. After Roger had given me all that dope, and with whatever the old witch doctor gave me, I was blissfully out of it. I was only aware that I had lost part of what made me unhappy, and over time, gathered that we’d both gained so much more.
All my life, I’d been burdened with something that I neither wanted, nor asked for. I couldn’t get rid of it, so I lived with it. I could have done stuff to make it more me, so I could feel better about myself, but they would never have gone far enough. I now discovered that I had lost the whole damn thing, but gained Gigi’s burden in the process. The difference being our burdens somehow managed to become blessings for each other, as they enhanced who we were and always should have been. So, together with Russak’s gift, we were truly soul mates in fact!
The fact my knee was now as good as new was almost secondary, because what Gigi and I had was out of this world. I have no idea what he did to my knee, as clearly it was a medical impossibility. I mean, the doctors back home had removed my old knee and replaced it with the metal and ceramic one that now sat on the floor in a mangled heap. Technically, I had no knee. Clearly I had something in there that felt fine. In fact, it felt better than it had for a hell of a long time.
When she danced in the Brides’ dance, which ended when she’d lain at my feet, I realised how much of a blessing she was to my life. It was a joy and an honour to make her my wife, so when we went to our hut, much later, our lovemaking was on a different plain even to what we had enjoyed earlier.
The next day, we loaded up the rib, and Mickey and I started to ferry the equipment out to Lucky Lucy. There was a long and very emotional farewell, and I was genuinely sad to say goodbye. Gorran told me that I was now his brother, to which I agreed, as it seemed fitting somehow. Bose wanted to come with me, but I told him that when Gigi and I got a home, he could come and visit.
Old Russak even managed to come to the shore. I had no words to thank the man, but his hand rested on Bose’s head, so I knew that Bose was to be the next Shaman. I had saved his special grandson, so no words were needed.
He simply grinned at me, with his eyes saying it all. He knew and I knew, and that is all that mattered. He hugged me, like the father I never had, and I found myself crying surreptitiously. This man had saved my life, in more ways than one.
Gigi openly wept and hugged everyone. I thought I was going to have to knock her out to get her to the boat.
‘Don’t even think about it!’ she thought, so I grinned at her.
As we stood at the rail of Lucky Lucy, watching the island get smaller and smaller, I looked at the five people I had come with. We had all changed on the island; even Craig had become a reasonable fellow, for a civilian.
As the island dropped below the horizon, they all drifted away to their own thoughts. I put my arm around my wife, and we were alone with our thoughts.
‘I need a ring,’ she thought.
‘I’ll get you one when we land.’
‘It can wait until the wedding.’
‘Oh yes, and just where is that taking place?’ I thought.
‘In Scotland, where else?’
‘Where else indeed?’
‘You do want to marry me?’
‘I thought I already had.’
‘You have, but we still need to do it properly,’ she told me.
I laughed.
‘Okay. Mrs Ryan, when?’
‘Can you come back to Scotland with me, when we get back?’
‘Sure, I have a few weeks left.’
‘Then we will get married as soon as we get back. I can’t wait any longer, I want your babies.’
‘Then you need to tell your parents before we get back. Just to give them some warning,’ I told her, handing her the satellite phone. She grinned at me, and punched in the numbers. I listened with amusement to her end of the conversation.
“Hi mum, it’s Gilly.”
“No, I am on a boat heading back from an island off the Venezuelan coast.”
“I told you, we went to study a group of people who are the descendants of some slaves who were shipwrecked in the eighteenth century.”
“But I have some news for you. I am coming home to get married.”
“Hello, Mum? Are you there? No I did say that. I am engaged to a wonderful man, called Edward. He is an American, and I love him dearly.”
“We want to get married as soon as possible, and he is coming back to Scotland, so we can get married there. You always said you wanted your only daughter to marry near home. Well I am going to.”
“We will be back in the States in a few days, and I suppose we will be back in Scotland in about a week.”
“No, he’s in his thirties.”
“Actually, he’s thirty-nine, and he is a US Marine.”
“No, Mum, he is not an officer, but he is a senior Sergeant.”
“I don’t think he wants a commission.”
“Fine, if you book the church and a hall or something, invite who you want, I just want him and me, so the rest is up to you.”
“I have to go, I know it is not much notice, but it is better than nothing.”
“Bye, and I will see you soon.”
She switched the phone off.
“That was sensible, my poor dad is going to have a hell of a life for the next couple of weeks,” she said.
“I love your accent, we must speak more often,” I said.
She smiled and hugged me. I loved feeling her close to me.
“What will you do when you get back to America?” she asked.
“I have to speak to my colonel, and I had best see the doc. I need to make sure I can get the couple of weeks leave, and then I need to get medically certified as fit for combat,” I said.
“Must you go to combat?” she asked, and my heart lurched. All my reasons for wanting to be combat fit were no longer valid.
“I suppose not,” I said.
“If you don’t mention the knee and got a training job, then I could get a teaching job near the base, and then you would be around for your kids,” she said, and I smiled, as she made it sound real good.
We stayed out on the deck as it was a warm night and just enjoyed being together.
We arrived back in Florida a couple of days later, so once we had unloaded the ship, we headed for the bar. Gigi went for a long bath, while I sat with Mickey and enjoyed a cool beer on the deck.
“You have one hell of a fine woman there, Ed,” he said.
“I know that, Mickey.”
“She’s changed,” he said.
“So you said.”
“No, seriously, she has changed. When we first met her, she was pretty damn butch. Now she is so much more of a woman that she oozes sex appeal. It’s not like she’s all girly and giggly or anything, but something has surely changed. What the hell happened?”
“Hell, Mickey, I guess I just bring the best out in a girl,” I said, taking a long pull on my beer.
We sat a while, as the sun started to drop towards the horizon. Gigi came out, wearing a white tee shirt and a pair of jeans. It was about 5 pm.
She kissed me, saying, “I’m off shopping, do you want anything?”
“What are you after?” I asked.
“This and that. I haven’t much to wear, so I need some cosmetics.”
“Don’t get it for me; I like you the way you are.”
“I’m not, big-head, I’m getting it for me.”
I chuckled, understanding completely.
“No, I don’t need anything. We will eat around eight,” I told her.
“Okay, I’ll see you later,” she kissed me again, and I felt myself getting aroused, as she had a way of kissing that defied imagination.
Knowing the affect she had on me, she laughed and walked off.
“You see, she has changed,” said Mickey, chuckling at our domesticity. We had a few more beers. I took a short walk to a small jewellery store and bought an engagement ring. It was a diamond ring, with a circle of blue sapphires around the diamond. The blue stones matched her eyes perfectly. Then I went back and rang Colonel Rick Masterson.
“Colonel, just thought I’d report in,” I said.
“Ed, good to hear you’re back. What are your plans?”
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br /> “Sir, if it is in order, I guess I’d like to take that training post you offered me. If the job is still on the table?”
Rick’s chuckle came down the line.
“You surprise me. I thought you wanted combat or nothing.”
“Sir, I have some responsibilities now, it seems I will be married soon, and well, I need some security if I’m to become a family man,” I said.
There was a stunned silence.
“Sir?”
“Ed, did I hear you right?”
“Yes sir, you did. I need to ask for some extra leave, I have to go to Scotland to marry my bride, so I need two weeks,” I said.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“No sir.”
“I can’t wait to meet this woman. Does she know what she is taking on?”
“Sir, yes sir. She does at that, sir.”
“Scotland, I always wanted to go to Scotland.”
“Sir, you have an open invitation to attend the wedding. When I know when and where, you will too,” I said, grinning like an idiot.
“You have your leave, and I would like to attend the wedding. But I have to pass on a bit of good news.”
“Sir?”
“As from this moment you are Sergeant Major Ryan, you are the chief instructor for the Marines in Training, at Parris Island. Okay?”
“Sir, yes sir! Thanks colonel,” I said.
“It’s the least I could do. Are you coming back to the base?”
“I’ll have to collect my personal stuff, as I’ll need my number one uniform for the wedding, with new rank insignia.”
“Are you bringing the intended Mrs Ryan?”
“Sure, I ain’t letting this one go,” I said.
“Good, then please bring her over to dinner. I want to meet her.”
“Yes sir. I’ll see you tomorrow night then.”
“Bye Ed.”
I hung up the phone, and looked at Mickey. The poor man was having a stroke or something. His eyes were bulging out of his head, and his jaw was slack. He was drooling and trying to speak, but nothing intelligible was getting out.