by Bree Cariad
“Can I call you Mommy?” The question made Celie gasp with delighted surprise even as Marcus pulled back.
“Let’s wait on that, pumpkin. Not for a few more months.”
She pouted, but then her smile was back. “Are we having ice cream again?”
“Not tonight,” Celia laughed softly. “But I have something just as good.”
How things could change so instantly surprised her. One day she was trying to fit into Hyacinth and wondering about this whole courting thing and if she had made a good decision in doing it, and the next? She was courted by a wonderful man and his daughter. For there was no doubt that Marcus included Vanna. And she could understand why. Celia was in both of their lives now, not just his.
The morning the banns were posted, she received several phone calls. The first was Jaylee.
“Celie! I’m so excited for you. How’s Granny dealing with the news?”
“She’s accepted it,” Celie admitted with a grin. “I think having Marcus and Vanna over for dinner a few times first helped. She adores his little girl.”
“Wow. Taking on the mantle of mom before you’re even married. I don’t know if I could have done it. Oh, Dirk’s off on Tuesday. So let’s talk then. Right now? I need to go take care of Kenley. He’s beginning to fuss. I just wanted to tell you how excited I am for you.”
“Thanks, Jaylee. See you on Tuesday.”
And the calls kept coming.
Julienne from the Lava Lamp called and then her aunt Betty. By the time Stephanie called, Celia was honestly tired of all the hubbub about it. They were just starting out. She wished people would stop acting as though they were getting married. Plus, everyone kept referring to her being a mother now. It was beginning to freak her out.
“Hello?” she said when her grandmother handed her the phone again.
“Celia,” Stephanie said warmly. “How are you doing?”
“Fine, thanks.” She wondered if Stephanie had heard yet.
“Well, I wanted to know if you’d like to meet for coffee. Cami, Kathy, and I are at the Lava Lamp for a couple hours and we’d love for you to join us.”
Grabbing at the excuse to get out of the house, Celie accepted and quickly got ready.
“I’m heading out, Nana!” she called as she grabbed her purse.
“Have fun, honey!”
The Bug made it there quickly and after finding a parking place, she quickly made her way to the coffee shop. It was relatively quiet inside except for the laughter of three women seated at one of the corner tables. Stephanie looked up and waved. Pointing at the front counter to let her know she was getting a coffee, Celia was glad to put off this moment for a few seconds. First off, because she was feeling a little jittery. Second, because her grandmother praised the Covingtons up, down, and sideways and she knew that Camille and Kathy both belonged to that family. After getting her large caramel macchiato, she finally made the trip over to their table.
As she sat in the fourth chair, both Camille and Kathy smiled at her as Stephanie made introductions. “Cami, you know Celia. Kathy, this is Celia Compton, granddaughter to Leyton and Jude and in a courting with Marcus Hotham.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Kathy said with a grin. “How are you handling the whole courting thing?”
“Umm…” Celie paused, not knowing how to admit how she was feeling.
“Overwhelmed? Nauseated?” Camille offered.
“Freaked out? Wanting to run?” Kathy added.
“Wanting everyone to keep their noses out of your business?” Stephanie suggested with a wry smile making her laugh.
“We’ve all been there,” Kathy said, nodding. “I mean, I wanted to share it with my friends, but complete strangers? Uh, no. The day Xander’s and my courting banns were announced? I received twelve calls from ladies in the community I didn’t know. He had to talk me down from my ultra-freak out.”
“It’s a little overwhelming,” Celia admitted. “I mean, everyone’s supportive and nice, but they’re acting like we’re getting married.”
Snorting, Camille nodded. “Sound familiar, Kathy?”
“Ugh,” Kathy agreed, nodding. “See, Celia, I had the same issue. I had just moved to Hyacinth. Had just heard about the courting thing and wham! I was courted. It was a shock, an overload, and for the first two weeks Xander and my mother kept me busy a lot because I would change my mind every two seconds. It’s a good thing they don’t allow you to call things off until the fifth month. Our first month? I could have done it a dozen times. Not because of Xander,” she rushed in to say. “When he was around, everything was perfect. No, it was the pressure from the town about it.”
“Stephie and I were lucky,” Camille said. “We grew up here. So for us, the courting was kind of the beginning of a long engagement. Even then, the calls became a bit much.”
Relaxing as she realized these women understood where she was coming from, Celie took a drink of her macchiato.
“So, let’s talk about something else,” Stephanie suggested. “After all, we’re here away from our men. And nobody to get on our cases. What’s the latest gossip?”
Laughing, Celia shook her head. “What? Your husbands don’t let you gossip?”
“Oh, no,” they all said, shaking their heads emphatically.
“Why not?”
“It’s judging, usually unfairly,” Cami said, talking as though she was rattling off reasons she had been given. “Telling tales, spreading lies…a litany of sins, really.”
“All spankable offenses,” Stephanie agreed, her natural tone catching Celia by surprise.
“Excuse me?”
All three looked at her. “Did you read the courting contract?” Kathy asked slowly.
“Well, yes, but…I guess it just shocked me to have it spoken of so openly.”
“Oh, we talk about it all the time,” Cami said, shrugging. “Ever been spanked before?” The natural tone and her polite inquiry made it easy to answer.
“When I was a kid. Not since then.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Stephanie said. “I had never been spanked before Chris. As painful as it is, it rights everything that’s wrong and I know he does it because he loves me.”
There was a pause that was not at all uneasy. Instead it felt ordinary as if discussing being spanked was the most natural thing in the world.
“So, do you want a piece of really juicy gossip?” Camille asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
“How high up on the spanking scale?” Kathy asked, cocking her head. “I’m already under some strict rules at the moment because of something stupid I did. I really don’t need more.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s too bad. Jerod’s the one that told me and he isn’t the gossipy type.”
“Tell us,” Stephanie said. “You look like you could burst. And then I’ll tell you mine.”
Grinning, Cami nodded. “Okay. So, Carol Struthers was our science teacher in high school.” Almost instantly the other two girls groaned.
“That woman’s a witch,” Stephanie snapped. “She hated everyone.”
“Well, she just got suspended.”
Kathy’s mouth dropped open. “Why?”
“Cavorting with one of her students. I don’t know who or when or what. All I know is the principal caught her being less than professional in May and her ‘family emergency’ was just a way to get her out.”
“Whoa,” Stephanie said. “Think the student was trying to get an A?”
“A B,” Kathy snorted. “That woman never gave As.” Turning to Stephanie, she nudged her. “Your turn.”
Beaming, Stephanie nodded. “Guess who’s coming home for a three-week visit?”
“Dora!” squealed the other two, making Celia jump.
“Oh, Celia, wait till you meet Dora! She’s simply amazing,” Cami said in a rush. “When will she be here?”
“End of August. Gaelic took vacation and they decided to spend it here. Chris is over the moon with happin
ess.”
“As are we,” Cami said, clapping her hands together. “And they’ll probably be staying with Mom and Dad, so I can go visit them often. Yay!”
In the next two hours, the three girls shared stories of their friend Dora, their relationships, and their husbands, asking her for stories from her life as well and by the time they left, Celie knew she had three friends in this town she would not hesitate to call upon. Rushing home as Marcus and Vanna would be there soon and she needed to get dinner started, Celia felt she was truly beginning to settle into Hyacinth.
“Nothing can go wrong now,” she said with a comfortable sigh.
Chapter 7
The first three months of her courtship flew by. She saw Marcus and Vanna every Friday and Saturday and he came over every Sunday afternoon by himself for the first month. Once their second stage hit, they went out to dinner three days a week, twice with Vanna, once by themselves and each time she saw him, she felt more and more comfortable.
The third stage was a little odd in that Marcus began to ask her to do things, simple things, that she knew had to do with him being head of the household. He had her write in a journal every night and asked her to share it with him when they would meet. It was difficult to do so at first, in that sharing personal stuff wasn’t easy at all, and sharing it with him was scary. But he was so sweet and encouraging that in no time, that became one of her favorite things to do and when he would pull her close and they would read her journal, it felt like casting off some sort of heavy blanket that had been holding her down.
When her grandfather told them they were in the fourth stage, she wasn’t worried about it. Celie wasn’t a rule-breaker, not really, so she didn’t see a spanking anywhere in her future. Kathy encouraged her to get it out of the way. “Ask him for it,” she had said. “You need to know what it feels like, both physically and emotionally. It’s something you should know before your fifth stage.” However, Celie didn’t intend to ever get into that much trouble, so she just ignored the advice.
As Thanksgiving approached, the weather took a major turn and as she drove back from the animal shelter with the wind buffeting her little car like crazy, a strange shiver went down her spine. Being an intuitive person, she knew that meant something was up. She just didn’t have any idea what until she got home.
“Your mother’s coming for Thanksgiving,” Nana told her the moment she walked in the door.
“What?” Celie said in surprise, hanging up her coat and removing her boots so she wouldn’t drag snow through the house.
“She just called and informed me she’d purchased her ticket.”
It took a couple minutes for that to sink in. “Oh.” Celie’s mother. In Hyacinth. With Marcus and Cavanaugh coming to dinner. “Oh, no.”
“She needs to know sometime,” her grandmother reminded her gently.
“I know. I know. I just figured that would be later on.” And time had just whisked away. Her mother would be in town in less than a week and she still had no idea that Celia had come specifically for the courting ritual and that she was now courting someone. Given Kaycee’s strange moods, she might take it well, or she might explode all over everyone.
Her mind was barely on what she was doing as she cooked dinner. Nana had to step in several times to make sure she got everything done correctly. By the time Marcus arrived, she was a bit of a basket-case. Not wanting to show him this side of her, Celia managed to put on a smile and act like everything was fine. Or, she thought she did.
“Are you all right, Celie?” he asked gently after dinner was through. Her grandparents had gone to play bridge with their friends and it was just the two of them at the house.
“Fine,” she lied. “Where’s Vanna this evening?”
“Chris and Stephie’s. She adores their little girl.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, running his hand lazily over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” The fact that he asked a second time, unnerved her. Was she that easy to read?
“I’m fine, Marcus,” she said, leaning her head against his chest. “It’s just…my mother has decided to fly in for Thanksgiving.”
“Wonderful. I look forward to meeting her.”
Groaning, she shook her head. “Momma can be unpredictable. There’s no way to know how she’s going to react.”
For a moment, he didn’t respond, his hand lightly brushing along her collar bone. “Are you afraid of how she will react to Vanna?”
“Not so much Vanna. I mean who can dislike your little girl? No. I’m more afraid of how she’ll react to our courting.” He didn’t respond and as she was nervous, she started to prattle. “See, Momma doesn’t know why I came. She moved out here with Dad when they married and I thought they were happy but after he died and we moved, she had nothing good to say about Hyacinth and when she agreed to let me come, her main stipulation was that I not give in to anything. Most especially courting.”
For a while, the only sound in the room was that of the grandfather clock in the hallway ticking away. “Celie, you need to tell her.”
“But she’ll be unhappy.”
He chuckled. “Honey, she’s going to be even more unhappy if she receives a wedding invite next summer without even being aware, don’t you think? Besides, you know Vanna adores you. She won’t be able to stay away from your side when we’re here on Thursday. Your mom will figure things out, Celie.” His tone changed from softly teasing to firm and a small thud landed in her gut as he added, “I want you to call your mother tonight and tell her about us, Vanna, and the fact you came here to court.”
Horrified at the thought, Celia’s mind raced to find a way out. “I’d really rather tell her face-to-face.”
“When does she fly in?”
“Tuesday?” She didn’t actually know as she hadn’t asked, and in her nervousness, she just picked a day.
“All right. Then promise me you’ll tell her on Tuesday.”
“Okay,” she said, hoping this was over. When he lifted up her chin and pressed his wonderful lips to hers, she forgot everything. Including her promise.
The next few days were busy what with her helping her grandmother get ready for Thanksgiving and the few dinners she and Marcus had been invited to at her friends’ houses. So when she walked into the house on Tuesday to find her mother in the living room, it was a bit of a shock. “Momma!”
“Celie!” Kaycee yelled, jumping up and pulling her into a tight hug. Celie hugged her before pulling back, taking in her mother’s whole look.
“You look good, Momma.” Kaycee had cut her hair since she’d last seen her, was wearing a normal amount of makeup instead of the major amounts she usually wore, and her clothes were somewhat ordinary looking for her. Instead of looking like a flower-girl reject, she was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a sweater.
“Thanks, honey. I’ve got news.” The way her mother was vibrating, Celia wondered if she’d gotten a record deal or something. Though, admittedly that would be shocking. Celie loved her, but she also knew her mother had little musical talent. How she had survived the last decade as a singer never ceased to amaze her daughter.
“Oh? So do I,” Celie said, Marcus’s request coming back to her. It was like a neon sign appearing in front of her eyes blinking, “Tell your mom,” over and over again.
“Come, let’s sit,” Kaycee suggested, pulling her to the small sofa Celia hadn’t sat on yet as it was pushed into the corner of the room. “So, well…” Her mother blushed a little, confusing her, and so Celie just waited. “Since you’ve been gone, I’ve been, um, sort of busy. Found a weekly gig in Tuscaloosa that allowed me to stay in the same city. Can you believe that?” she asked with a laugh. “So, anyway…I kind of met someone.”
The neon sign disappeared in a flash and was replaced with, “What?”
“His name is Ken, he’s a real estate developer out there. He’s sweet and happy and divorced. Anyway, we got married two weeks ago. Isn’t that great?” Kaycee’s voice and her ex
pression brightened while Celia stared at her with her mouth open.
“You got married. Without telling me.”
Wincing, Kaycee wrung her hands together. “I know, Celia. I should have called, but…it was so romantic. We went for a weekend over to Las Vegas and we were there and he proposed and it’s so easy to get married and next thing you know? I was Mrs. Ken Korun.”
“And you still didn’t tell me for two weeks.” The similarities between her mother’s marriage and her courtship made Celie grimace. Geez. She was as bad as her mother.
“That’s why I got a flight here. I wanted to tell you.”
Reeling a bit from the info, Celia took a deep breath and looked at her mother. “All right. I guess we have a like-mother, like-daughter scenario here. I’m courting.”
Her mother’s eyes went from pleading, to confused, to fiery in the span of three seconds. “No you’re not!” she spat, standing up. “I left here so you wouldn’t get involved in their centuries-old dating ritual. No daughter of mine—”
“It was my choice,” Celia said, interrupting her. “Plenty of guys were interested, but there was only one I was interested in. His name is Marcus and—”
“No! You’re not doing this. They’ve brainwashed you,” Kaycee said, standing up and pacing. “We can leave tonight. Go to Seattle. Fly out tomorrow. Yes. That’ll be perfect. You’ll love Tuscaloosa.”
“I’m not moving to Tuscaloosa, Momma.”
Her mother didn’t even seem to hear her. “Which is your room?” she asked as she dashed up the stairs.
“Momma!” Celie called, running after her.
Kaycee had already dashed into her closet and had an armful of clothes. “Grab your suitcases, Celia. We need to go.”
“No,” Celia said, trying to sound firm.
“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady. I’m still your momma. Suitcases now.”
“I’m eighteen, Momma.”
“I don’t care. I’m not leaving my baby to have some man lord it over her and smack her rear end if she doesn’t follow the letter of the law.”