Epilogue
Marion rolled over onto her back and rubbed her swelling belly.
She’d finally gotten her bump within the last fortnight, and she couldn’t keep her hands from touching it.
And if she wasn’t touching it, Alexander was.
He’d even placed his ear to it and talked to the growing bairn within her, for he was convinced ’twas a wee lad and was already choosing names.
She lay there for a few more moments enjoying the quiet of the early morn and the fact that the sickness that had plagued her for the first few weeks had fully passed now.
She smiled as she got out of bed and donned her robe to sit by the fire.
Today Jean and Alain would wed, and the excitement throughout the castle and the village was enormous.
Thick garlands with strings of bright red berries were strung all over the great hall and their small chapel.
The aroma coming from the kitchens for the past few days was enough to make a person drool in ecstasy with each delectable dish.
Marion had seen to every detail. Her transition to head of the household was not as daunting as she’d thought, and the staff were considerably kind and patient with her when she ordered the wrong things together for dinner or not enough supplies for a particular meal.
But she’d weathered it, and Jean and she had become as close as sisters could be.
Unlike her preparation, or lack thereof, she had offered much advice and detail about what would happen on the wedding night.
While the conversations were sometimes uncomfortable, Marion made sure Jean knew what to expect.
Marion opened her chest for her new gowns.
Alexander had ten new ones made so that they could expand with her and while she was only just showing, she was excited to wear one of them today.
She selected a deep forest-green brocade gown with her favorite gold stitching on the sleeves and neckline and laid it on the bed.
Alexander had risen early to spend the morning with Alain and to help him be ready for the day.
It was so exciting having a wedding to look forward to before the long cold days of winter set in.
She was thankful that she would at least have the bairn growing in her belly to distract her through those awful months.
Jean and Alain would remain at Inverary as well until the spring when they could move formally to the manor house, though Alexander and Alain had made regular trips to set it up properly with furnishings and determine sufficient staff.
When she was fully dressed, she left her chamber to see to Jean. The sight that met her upon entering Jean’s chamber was breathtaking. Jean wore a deep-crimson brocade gown with a yellow gold wreath on her head, accentuating her beautiful features.
“My dear, you are stunning,” Marion said to her.
Jean turned to her with watery eyes. “I never thought this day would ever arrive.”
From behind them, Alexander cleared his throat. “Are you ready?” His voice was quiet and gentle. He’d grown closer to his siblings in the past months if that was even possible. And Marion loved him more with each passing day.
“Aye, I am as ready as I can be.”
Alexander walked with Jean, and Marion followed to the chapel which was lit with hundreds of candles that were reflected in the berries on the garland.
It was warm and welcoming as they took their places.
Marion reflected on her own as the priest spoke of the blessing of marriage at this holy special time.
Though Jean had specifically wanted the wedding to take place on Yule, the priest was not about to let them forget the Christian significance as well.
Once the ceremony was over and they’d returned to the great hall, the feasting began.
Hundreds of people moved in and out of the hall throughout the day and evening as clansmen and villagers flocked to see the common man who’d married into such an important family.
For Marion, the thing that pleased her the most was that the family in question did not put on any airs that they were any different than anyone else and she supposed that was why they were so beloved in the region.
At the end of the evening and upon retiring, she sat by the fire in her robe with her husband combing her hair. He’d gotten into the habit of it during her early pregnancy as it became soothing to her. Now he did it because he told her it relaxed him as well.
It had been many weeks since they’d last been together in that way, and many evenings he complied with her wishes to sleep elsewhere as she did not want him listening to her losing her guts all night long. It was certainly not the image she wanted him to have of her in their bed.
“How do you feel?” he asked like he did every evening.
“I feel wonderful,” she said. “But maybe a little hungry.”
He stopped brushing. “Did you not have enough to eat at the feast?”
“Aye, I had plenty of food.”
“Then what do you want? I will get it for you.”
She turned to him and let her robe slip open enough to expose her swollen breasts.
“Marion,” he whispered. “We can’t. You are ill.”
“I am ill no longer and ’tis perfectly safe.”
“You are sure? How do you know ’tis safe?”
“I have spoken with the midwife, and she assures me not only is it safe, but is encouraged because it helps the mother relax and a stress-free mama is a healthy one.”
Alexander appeared to need no more encouragement. With great care, he lifted her from the chair and brought her to the bed. He gently laid her upon it and then removed his clothes and joined her under the covers.
He stroked her arm and brushed his fingers across her breasts and nipples, sending thrilling shivers through her.
“Are you cold? I will get another cover.”
She laughed lightly. “I am not cold, Alex. I am hungry for my husband to pleasure me, and I am not so delicate that I will break.”
“You are sure?” he said again.
“Aye, stop asking me that. I am sure. Now do as you are told and take away this ache that you put in me every time you are near me.
Alexander slid his hand into her hair and drew her close for a soul-stirring kiss that she felt right down to her toes.
The reverence in that kiss was such that she would never forget for the rest of her days.
This was not the hungry insatiable passion they’d initially shared, rather a slow and steady never-wavering passion that would see them through the coming years.
Her soul sighed as he rolled onto his back, clearly still thinking she was so fragile.
Well, she would give him this for tonight, but after this she would show him that they could love each other as often and however they liked.
She crawled on top of him and slid onto his hard erection. God, she’d missed this so much. The way his eyes grew darker when the passion was in him, the way he gripped her hips, gentler than normal, but holding on nonetheless like his life depended on it.
Marion rode him as hard as he would let her, stilling her if she got too excited. But she didn’t want to slow down. She wanted him to lose himself as he had so many times before and for this to pleasure him as much as her.
Reaching down, she spread her hands across his chest and flicked his nipples with her nails.
Then she pinched one and loved that way his cock pulsed inside her.
Feeling brave, she pinched them both at the same time and squeezed her womanhood around him.
Air hissed through his teeth as he turned their bodies and pulled out of her so that she was on her belly.
He lifted her hips and thrust hard inside her once, twice, and reached around to rub her clit.
Her orgasm hit her hard and fast as he stiffened behind her.
“Christ,” he said as he slid out of her and lay by her side to stroke her hips and arms and breasts. “You don’t have to grin like you’ve just won a great prize,” he said with a chuckle.
“But I have won a great prize. I do not think you are so opposed to me winning that prize, are you, my love?”
“I would never deny you anything in this world, even if it means letting you seduce me.”
“I should hope you want me as much as I want you,” she said, already knowing the answer. They lay like that for a while, staring into one another’s eyes, touching each other softly.
He rolled on top of her and spread her legs wide. “You are sure it is safe in all the ways we love one another?”
“Aye, that is what I have been told.”
“Then this is how I want to have you.”
He kissed her slowly, his tongue dancing with hers as he entered her all the while staring into her eyes. “I want to watch you reach your peak,” he said as he hooked her legs up over his back.
His movement increased as he brought her higher and higher toward that final release she achieved each and every time they joined.
“Marion, my love, my life,” he whispered as he brought her to her climax and reached down to pinch her clit to hold the ecstasy.
She exploded over and over again thinking she could take no more, and when the one ended, another began.
For what seemed like an age, he watched her as her body shivered and shook in pure delight.
When it was over and she was completely spent, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly to him.
Her heartbeat took a while to slow as she lay there in his arms and thanked the pagan gods, and hers too, for making and bringing her a man like him. Her life and the life they were building together was more than she could have ever hoped for.
“I thought of another name for our wee laddie,” he said.
“And how can you be sure ’tis a wee laddie?”
“Oh, I just know when he speaks to me. He tells me he can see how beautiful his mammy is on the inside so she must be very beautiful on the outside and he can’t wait to meet you.”
Marion choked back a sob. That was the most beautiful thought she’d ever heard, and though ’twas impossible, she would hear him express such thoughts for all time.
“How did I get to be so fortunate to find you?”
“I don’t know, love, but I’m very glad you did. And I’m glad for whatever force it was that brought me to you, even if it did cost me a concussion.”
Marion lifted her head. “What?”
“I said nothing.”
“You fell because you were thinking of me?”
“Go to sleep. You’re hearing things.”
“I will ask Alain. He’ll tell me.”
“Alain will tell you nothing,” he said and kissed her on the forehead. “Now go to sleep, you and the bairn.”
She snuggled down wearing the biggest grin of her life.
She’d get him to admit it one day. And before long, she did exactly as she had been told; she fell asleep feeling safer and happier than she ever had in her life, knowing that when she woke, he would still be there with her and for all the days and all the bairns to come.
THE END