“Yes. He said it would be ready for today.”
“Sure. I can do that for you.”
She grinned at him. “Thanks.”
The men finally left and the four of us quickly cleaned up the mess in the kitchen.
Tara smiled at me. “Hayden, can you go heat up the tub? You girls look like you’ve been on the road for a week!”
I looked at myself in the hall mirror and laughed. “Geez. You’re not kidding.”
I made my way upstairs and found that Tara had already filled the tub. I picked one of the lighter red waves and pushed it gently toward the water. I kept it aimed there until I could see the steam starting to rise. I pulled the wave back and put my hand in the water to test it. “Perfect.”
Tara came into the room carrying four dresses. Mel followed behind her with a wooden box that held the combs we had bought last time we had come to town.
Dawn clapped her hands. “I love a good party!”
I grinned at her. “I honestly hate them. I probably hate them even more than Jasper.”
Tara laughed. “She’s not lying.”
“You’re not going to back out on us, are you?” Mel was stripping out of her clothes.
I shook my head and pulled my shirt over my head. “No way. I’m not missing this. I just hope I remember all the dances that Ben was showing me.”
Dawn tipped her hair forward and dipped her hair into the water. I passed her the soap.
“Thanks.” She grinned at me, upside down.
We quickly washed then sat down in our towels and took turns rolling each others’ hair up around corks. Once that was done, they all looked at me.
Dawn closed her eyes. “Ok, Hayden.”
I moved so that we were all standing back to back, took a grey wave and aimed it at the ceiling. The wind blew up, bounced off of the ceiling, and blew back down onto us.
Tara smiled. “Almost as good as a blow dryer.”
Mel reached over and felt everybody’s curls. “That should do it.”
I stopped the wind and Tara reached for the dresses.
“Do you remember how to put it on?” she asked me.
I chuckled. “Tara, there’s just two pieces to it.”
She grinned at me.
I pulled the first part of the dress over my head and looked in the mirror. It was a warm beige color and by itself looked like a simple floor length cotton summer dress with short sleeves and a low cut square neck line. There were laces that ran from my belly button all the way up to the top. Tara tied these snugly then handed me the top layer which I pulled over my head.
“Oops. That’s backwards.”
Mel laughed at me then sucked in a breath as Dawn tied the laces from her first layer for her.
I turned the dress around and put my arms through it. This layer was dark green silk, almost the color of a pine tree. It had three quarter length sleeves that slit open at the elbow. This one had an open vee shape that went from my shoulders to just a bit higher than my belly button. Between the edges of the vee was some gold lacing that was purely for decoration. Two slits started at each hip on the front of the dress and split to show the cream color underneath. The back of this piece laced up from my waist to just between my shoulder blades.
I stood in front of the mirror and smiled at the delicate gold leaves that were embroidered along the edges of the green piece.
I looked over at Mel. “Wow! That color is great on you!”
She smiled. “Thanks.” Her dress was similar in style to mine, the main difference being that the top vee in her top layer only went as far as the bottom of her breast. The skirt part of her dress had six slits, all of them spaced out evenly around her waist. Her bottom layer was white, and her top layer was a deep burgundy with silver embroidering.
I sat down and pulled my boots on. “Ugh. I should have done this first!” I stood up and handed Tara her dress.
She pulled on her bottom layer which was the long sleeved cream colored version of mine. The sleeves on hers belled out at the elbows and continued to widen all the way to her wrists. The top layer of her dress was a beautiful caramel color that matched her eyes. The bodice part of it was corset style and the skirt had one slit that ran down the front.
I gave her a hug. “You look great.”
We looked over to Dawn as a small grunt escape her throat. “Settle down back there!” she laughed. “I know I said tight, but I still want to be able to breath!”
Mel chuckled. “Sorry.” She finished tying the laces and stepped back. Dawn turned to look at us.
All we could do was stare.
She blushed. “What?”
“You look amazing!” I wasn’t lying.
The bottom layer of her dress was a beautiful pale blue. She had the long sleeve version like Tara, only her sleeves slit open at the elbows. Her top layer was a blue so dark it could have been black. It had wide straps over the shoulders and the neck line came down just below her breast. Her dress had four slits that were evenly spaced around her waist. She had picked a thin gold rope belt to tie around her waist.
“Zane is going to want to come just to make sure no one tries to take you home!” laughed Mel.
Dawn grinned mischievously. “That’s the plan! That’s why I didn’t bother fighting with him about the jacket. He’ll come.”
I started to pull out all the corks that were still on my head. My hair fell in perfect ringlets around my face. “Ok, girls. Work your magic. If it’s not a pony tail, I don’t know how to do it.”
Dawn laughed. “Ok. I think we should pin it all up loosely and leave some stray curls around her face.” She piled my hair up on my head like she thought it should go and held it there for the other two to see.
Mel bit her lip. “Move the pile a little farther back.”
Dawn did as she was told.
Tara squinted her eyes as she scrutinized the look. “Can you give her a side part and sweep the bangs sideways before pulling them up? We might need to pin it just behind her ear.”
Dawn grabbed a pin and tried to do what Tara was describing. “Mel, grab me those combs. The gold ones with the green stones.”
I sat quietly and waited until they were done. The three of them stood back and looked me over.
Tara smiled. “Perfect.”
I turned around and looked at myself in the mirror. The reflection in it stared at me with wide eyes. “Wow. You guys are good.” I turned and gave them all a hug.
Mel started to pull her corks out of her hair and sat on the chair. When Tara and Dawn were done, her hair cascaded down from the top of her head where they had pinned each curl individually. She had on a delicate silver tiara that shone against her black hair.
Tara’s hair was pinned up on each side with some gold combs of her own. Hers had clear stones that looked like diamonds.
I helped Dawn as she pulled the corks from her hair.
“What in the world are we going to do with all this hair?” laughed Mel.
There was a knock at the door. “Just so you know, we’re home.” It was Jasper.
My eyes widened. “Ok. Did you get that thing for Tara?”
“Yes. Are you decent?”
“No!” The four of us laughed as we all blurted out the answer.
“We’re going to go to Lantoc’s to get ready.” That was Ben. “He invited us over to have a mug of sloan while we were at his shop.”
Lantoc was Tara’s next door neighbor. He also owned one of the most respected jewelry shops in Sageden.
“Alright. We’ll go there when we’re done.” Tara smiled.
Mel frowned. “How are we going to show Dawn to Zane so he can get ready too?”
“Tell him you want to talk to him about the babysitting,” I whispered.
She smiled. “Zane? Would you mind hanging around here for a couple of minutes? I just want to go over a few things if you’re going to watch the twins tonight.”
You could almost hear his big sigh of relief. “S
ure. I’ll just wait downstairs.”
Dawn smiled. “Zane, love. Do you think you could bring us up each a mug of sloan?”
“Alright.”
We heard the men head back down the stairs.
Tara started to laugh. “You know he’s going to change his mind about babysitting as soon as he sees Dawn.”
Mel grinned. “I know. But I had to get him in here somehow.” She looked at Dawn and nodded. “I think we should leave it down.” She made a side part and swept the bangs around behind the ear.
She stopped and looked again. “And a comb.” She looked through the wooden box until she found a gold comb with dark blue stones. She pinned up the one side. “There.”
“Wow.” I grinned. Dawn’s waist long hair came to the middle of her back with the curls in it. “Ok, get your boots on.”
There was another knock at the door.
“It’s me.” Zane turned the handle then stopped. “I’ll just leave them at the door.”
Mel opened the door. “Why don’t you bring them in and set them on the little end table for us?”
Zane walked into the room, glanced around, and stopped. “Wow.”
Dawn blushed. “Do you like it?”
“You look...” He looked at all of us. “Well, you all look...but you look...”
I laughed and took the drinks from him and passed them around. I took a drink of my sloan. It reminded me a lot of a type of honey brown ale I had tried once back home. I tried to think of the name but couldn’t.
“Don’t worry, Zane. We’ll make sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble.” I patted him on the arm.
He looked down at me, his black eyes wide. His gaze moved back to her. “You can’t...”
Dawn raised an eyebrow at him.
“But I can’t...” He frowned.
Dawn smiled at him. “If there was one thing you could ask for right now, what would it be?”
Tara, Mel and I busied ourselves cleaning things up, pretending to not be listening.
Zane looked down at her. “For you to stay home and stay all dressed up just for me.”
Mel burst out laughing. “Sorry, but that’s a pretty good answer.”
Dawn shook her head. “Something else.”
“Well if you’re not going to stay home, then I wish I had found a stupid jacket.”
She grinned. “How much do you love me?”
He smiled back at her and leaned down to kiss her. “More than life itself.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck then drew back to look at him. “And now you’ll love me even more. Actually, you’ll have to love Tara.”
She went to the closet and pulled out a beautiful black jacket with dark red and gold embroidering. She was grinning from ear to ear. “Try it on.”
“Where did you find it?”
“Tara made it.”
Zane glanced at Tara as he slipped into the coat. It fit perfectly. “Thank you.”
She nodded. “No problem. Glad I could help.”
“Very nice, Zane!” I motioned for him to turn so we could see from all angles.
The jacket was long, to the middle of his thigh. The collar could either be turned up or down. Dawn tried both and decided on keeping it down. She smiled.
“Your good shirt and pants are in the bag downstairs. You had better hurry up and get to Lantoc’s if you’re coming.”
Zane bent over for a kiss, slightly shaking his head. “You had this planned all along.”
She kissed him back and grinned. “Yes, I did. Now get out of here. We’ll be right there.”
We finished cleaning up the bathroom and made our way over to Lantoc’s.
Tara gave a quick knock to announce our arrival before opening the door and walking into the house.
The small entrance led to a wide open floor plan. Directly to our left was the sitting room, which was separated by a counter top from the dining room/kitchen.
The men were sitting around the table. Luke and Jasper had their backs to us.
Brice’s eyes widened and he stood to acknowledge us. The tan color of his jacket almost matched his hair. Ben’s face lit up with a smile at the sight of Tara. His doublet was a dark red trimmed with silver.
Jasper and Luke stood and turned toward us.
“I must say that is an unbelievable color on you, my dear.” Luke bent to give her a kiss. His jacket was dark brown with beige trim.
Jasper’s eyes locked on mine and my pulse started to race. He looked amazing. His dark blue doublet was trimmed with simple gold embroidering. It was mid-thigh in length.
I smiled.
He blinked and came over to give me a long soft kiss. “You look incredible.”
I blushed. “So do you.”
He ginned at me. “So Tara had a little something laying around, did she?”
I shrugged. “Well, it was just lying around at Tara’s. But I picked up the material for it when I bought your jacket.”
He kissed me again. “You look amazing.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Would you lovely ladies like a drink?” offered Lantoc. He was already setting the mugs down on the table for us. Lantoc was an old widower. His mate had been bit by a venomous lizard of some sort while out picking berries and hadn’t had time to find help before succumbing to the effects of the poison.
Though his hair was completely silver, his dark brown eyes had lost none of their life. Every time I looked at him I was amazed at how the charcoal color of his skin was starting to get a silver tinge to it.
Tyler and Trent came running into the room and gave their mom a hug.
“Wow, Momma! You look like a princess!” Tyler looked at his dad. “Doesn’t she, Daddy?”
Luke grinned. “She sure does.” He hooked an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze.
Mel turned red.
We all took a sip of our drinks.
“So, explain to me again how this week works,” I asked of Jasper as I sat on his lap.
He took another drink before answering. “Well, tonight is the big ball. Everyone will meet at the edge of town. You remember where the tall silver tree is?”
I nodded. It was in a large meadow just on the outskirts of the small city. Unlike the silver green and silver pink trees, this one had a silver trunk and silver leaves. It was one of a kind.
“That’s where the dance is. Then, tomorrow, everyone who has brought something to sell, will set up their booths throughout the town. The booths stay set up for four days.
Every night, there will be bonfires, dances, that sort of thing. Those aren’t formal like the ball, and there are usually a few of them spread out in the area. Everyone wanders from one bonfire to the next.
Then, at the end of the fourth day, everyone packs up. There is one last bonfire, this one a big one, in the meadow with the silver tree.
The next day everyone travels to the games grounds, where you saw Tara and Ben race. Everyone who feels like it is invited to join in the games, which are played over the next three days. When the third day is done, everyone heads home.”
I smiled. “It sounds like a blast.”
Tara laughed. “Remember the regional fair last summer?”
I nodded. We had gone to show the horses.
“Even better than that!” she exclaimed.
I held my mug up to her, grinning, and she returned the gesture. My face turned a bit red as I thought of that week and I hid it behind my drink.
Ben looked back and forth between the two of us. “What happened at the fair?”
I chuckled. “Well, we did awesome in the classes. Tara and Foxy actually took first in the open freestyle reining. We hit all the dances and met up with a group that was visiting from Scotland. It was just a very fun week.”
Jasper turned me a bit so he could look at me. “That hardly seems to be a good enough reason to become the shade of red you just turned.”
I looked at Tara and mock glared at her.
She shrugged. “I think Hayden is thinking of the night we played poker. It’s a card game,” she explained.
“Oh?” Jasper still seemed confused.
“Actually, it was a game of strip poker.” Tara was turning a bit pink under her green skin herself.
Ben stared at her. “You can’t play poker to save your life!”
I took a long drink from my mug.
“Neither can Hayden.” Tara burst out laughing and I almost choked on my sloan.
Ben was laughing so hard he could hardly talk. “I...I suppose you two were a team?”
I nodded and grinned. “I blame it on the case of beer. And we didn’t come in dead last. There were six teams. We came in fifth.”
Ben was still laughing. “Who came in last?”
Tara looked at me and we grinned. “Donnan and Nevin. Two of the Scottish guys.”
“I still think they were just being nice,” I said to her.
She shrugged. “Does it matter?”
I laughed. “No. And I’m not complaining by any means, but if that is the case, then I am forever grateful to them. I can’t believe Dave showed up there.”
Ben’s grin disappeared and was replaced by a frown. “He didn’t try anything, did he?”
I shook my head.
“He is such a jackass,” muttered Tara.
“Nevin not so kindly showed him what he thought of a comment Dave made about me.”
“And then after that, we had a couple of bodyguards wherever we went.”
Jasper was frowning. “Who is Dave?”
I kissed him and he relaxed a bit. “Some idiot I never have to worry about again.”
He was still frowning.
“You know, that’s what it sounds like.” I smiled at him
“What’s that?”
“Your accent. The first day I met you, I was trying to figure out where you were from because you have an accent. It sounds a bit Scottish. Like, maybe someone who was born in Scotland, but moved away when he was really young. It’s barely there, but every once in a while it comes out. Actually, you, Zane and Brice have it. Tara and Ben, you guys don’t really have one. Luke, Mel and Dawn, you have one, but slightly different.”
“Aye, weel, since Donnan and Nevin canna be here jist this minute, mayhap yee will settle for meself, then, lass.” Ben broke into a not so bad imitation of a Scot and had everyone laughing
Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' Page 18