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McKale’s thumb stroked the top of my hand. “I was coming yer way to see ya when the blasted pixie came back, so I went to me own room to be safe.”
We were all quiet.
“Keefe,” Brogan said, ru
The young man stepped up and removed the beret from his head.
“I want someone watching the portal all night. Ye lads can take shifts. Tell ‘em to keep the horn handy and sound it if the gate opens.”
“Aye, Brogan.” Keefe gave a small bow and ran to do his duty.
“Brogan, sir, if I may…” Leilah stepped forward and gave a timid curtsey.
“Aye, lassie?”
“’Tis no’ the tradition, I know, but…” Even in the dark of night I sensed the flush of embarrassment on her features. She stared at the ground and Brogan urged her to continue.
Leilah lifted her head and asked, “Might McKale and Robyn bind this very evening? The official ceremony on the morrow could still take place fer show.”
Murmurs rose around us.
McKale and I looked at each other. Brogan ran a hand down his beard, unsure.
Mom stepped forward. “It’s a good idea. If they want to, I say let them bind. Let them have this night.”
She didn’t have to say “just in case” because we were all thinking it. The thought of what might happen tomorrow if our plan failed made my stomach seize. This could be our last night together: our only night. Brogan looked at my father, who nodded his agreement. I smiled at McKale as a fluttery nervousness settle inside.
“Aye?” he whispered to me.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
He gave me a half-grin and nodded before turning to Brogan.
“We wish to bind this night, Father.”
“Aye. Well, then.” Brogan nodded to Leilah. “Fetch the bindings. McKale, straighten yer room, son. ‘Tis no’ fit fer a female in that state of disaster.”
My cheeks flamed. Everyone cheered as Leilah ran off and a group of older women descended upon McKale’s room, bustling past him and clucking about the mess. He gave them a sheepish shrug and grin as the oldest woman swatted his backside then shut the door on us.
A sudden thought hit me and I thought aloud, “What about my dress?” My current outfit was a t-shirt and cotton shorts. I wasn’t even wearing a bra! I crossed my arms.
“You’ll wear the dress tomorrow for the fake binding,” Cassidy said. “You don’t need it tonight.” She dug an elbow into my ribs and I met her glinting eye.
Oh my goodness… I’m go
Cass giggled and wrapped an arm around my waist. “It’ll be fine,” she whispered.
Leilah returned with a woven basket full of colorful silken scraps. I pressed my free hand to my nervous stomach as the women began to untangle the mass of material.
Mom sidled close to my side. “Are you okay with this?”
I nodded. Dad cleared his throat behind us.
“Nothing like an impromptu wedding,” he said under his breath. I turned to see him rubbing his neck.
Mom wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. “Our babies are growing up, Leon.” They both gazed at me, eyes full of sentiment, and Cass squeezed my hand.
Things got a little crazy when McKale and the women emerged from his hut. It didn’t take long to realize this was a “hands-on” kind of ceremony. McKale and I were pushed by excited hands to the middle of the group where a small opening had been made. Mom and Cassidy followed us while Dad hung back with the other men. A fiddler and flautist had retrieved their instruments and began to play soft, sweet music. Love ballads.
There was no big a
One by one, women of the clan stepped up to take part. Strip after colored strip was tied around us, from our hips to our chests, pressing us together. Knowing what this symbolized, it was hard not to be embarrassed. But that feeling fled when I looked at my betrothed. My Kale, who’d turned out to be even more than I’d hoped. His eyes glistened with happiness in the moonlight.
When it came time for the father part, Mom waved to Dad, who followed Brogan’s lead. Dad cleared his throat several times, evidently not at ease with the marital mummification of his daughter, but he played along.
Dad and Brogan each had two white strips of cloth. Brogan bent down and moved our feet so that our ankles were side-by-side. There was a bad moment where I thought we might topple over, but each time we tilted the crowd would push us back into place, saying “Whoa!” in unison and laughing with merriment. Dad and Brogan tied our ankles, and then stood up and tied our wrists. I watched McKale’s stoic face the whole time. When they finished I pressed my cheek to McKale’s and tried to breathe evenly. My parents stepped back. Cassidy stood in my sights and winked.
The song ended and the area quieted with anticipation.
Brogan spoke with hearty volume. “We come together this eve to bind the lives and bodies of our Leprechaun, McKale, with Robyn of the Masons!”
“Here, here!” shouted the crowd. The reverence and excitement in the air gave me chills.
“We wish them blessings and fertility,” Brogan said.
“Here, here!”
Brogan then spoke something beautiful in Gaelic and the people responded in kind. It sounded magical and I experienced another set of goose bumps.
“We’re gettin’ the short version,” McKale whispered in my ear.
The Leprechauns and women chanted lines in Gaelic, and it produced the sort of mesmerizing sound that was probably meant to stir my ovaries into action or something. And then an ominous silence fell.
“Brace yerself,” McKale whispered.
“To the lodgings!” Brogan shouted, punching his little round fist in the air.
“To the lodgings!”
I yelped with surprise as we were swept off our feet sideways with a falling sensation and carried by dozens of hands into McKale’s room amid shouts and cheers. We were both laughing as they rolled us onto his bed and bowed low before leaving. We lay there in a literal tangle with me on top of him, listening to their happy chants get quieter and quieter until everyone was gone.
“Um, wow,” I said. “So…” Now what? My pulse danced wildly.
They’d wrapped our torsos and legs, but left our arms free except the wrists. My breath caught as McKale brought the wrists of one set of our hands up to his mouth. The gas lamp in his room was lit on low, and I watched in wonder as he bit the end of the neat bow with his teeth and pulled it until our hands were free. He did the same with the other wrists. Then he captured both of my wrists and kissed them.
I sighed, too overcome and nervous to say anything.
“Thank ye fer coming to me tonight,” he said in a low voice.
“How could I not? That song… They beat up the pixie for me! Did you see that?” Okay, I was feeling a little nervous, and I think McKale could tell because he chuckled and looked at me like he thought it was cute.
“How did you do it?” I blurted. I had to know, before we went any further, what happened last night with FFG. “How’d you get away with not kissing her?”
McKale’s eyebrows came together and he was quiet a moment. “I did not get away with anything, love. I don’ wish to recall a single moment of it, but ye should know. I hope ye can forgive me.”
“You kissed her?” He nodded once. His eyes were strained. “Really kiss her?” Another nod.
Jealousy reared, but I didn’t feel angry at McKale. I knew he did what he had to do to get the FFG to believe him and go back to the portal. But the thought of his mouth on hers… I buried my face in his neck, trembling. “How is your mind so clear after that?”