There and back again - The continuing journey

CHAPTER 3 - A TRIPLE CELEBRATIO

August the twenty second arrived, all of a rush it seemed and friends and neighbours began to arrive in the late afternoon, including the Saintly Prior, whose presence was noted and wondered at, by all those gathered. Blankets had been arranged under the trees for sitting, and large planks placed on wooden trestles to hold the great amount of food prepared. No one came empty handed and the air was loud with children's laughter. It had been decided that the supper would begin at six, so the food remained covered, though the cider flowed freely.

    Guy and his son looked fine in their matching shirts, and Ghislaine looked delightful as she twirled about in her pretty new dress. No one had yet noticed that Auriel was absent from the throng, except Guy, who sought her out constantly and fretted on her absence. Then Ivor reassured him that he thought she was still in the kitchen, busy with last minute preparations and Guy seemed content with the answer.

    Promptly at five o'clock, Richildis called for silence, and said nervously, "I would crave your attention friends and neighbours, and this household thanks you for accepting its invitation to the double celebration of my Master's birthday and the Harvest supper."

    Then she smiled, adding, "But all is not as it seems, as there may well be an additional celebration if the plan of my Mistress comes to fruition."

    Everyone looked surprised at this, (especially Guy, who was still looking anxiously about him for Auriel), and then he heard the murmurs of his neighbours as she came into view around the side of the house, with his son and daughter following behind, his son carrying what appeared to be a footstool.

    Then Guy smiled as he saw that she was wearing a gown of the same colour and design as on the day of their first meeting and his heart lifted at the remembrance of it. He wondered at the wreath of flowers she wore in her hair, but simply thought how charming they looked, and attached no great importance to them.

    He stepped forward to kiss her, and to tell her how lovely she looked, but was prevented by Richildis, who said respectfully that he was to remain where he was, or all would be ruined. Then Gheraint placed the footstool on the ground just in front of his father, took his sister's hand and stepped back, smiling to himself at the excitement of it all, noting that his father looked very bewildered as events continued to unfold.

    In the silence, Auriel walked slowly towards him, her eyes never leaving his face, and her heart swelled at the sight of him as he stood there, quite still, returning her loving gaze. She gathered all the love that she felt for him, putting it into her smile, while she took his right hand, kneeling down before him on the footstool and all present seemed to hold their breath.

    "My love, you are my life's heartbeat," she said, looking up into Guy's blue eyes. "I have loved you from the first moment, and there will never be anyone else for me. You fill every day with such joy, and I am incomplete when you are away from me. Everything that I have, and everything that I am, is yours."

    Then she paused, as if to gather her courage, taking a deep breath before she continued, "In the presence of our children, friends and neighbours, I ask you now, if you will honour me by becoming my husband."

    There followed a very short moment of silence, though it seemed an eternity to Auriel, then Guy said, almost under his breath, " Of course I will, my beautiful girl, but the honour is mine."

    He lifted her to her feet, took her face gently in his hands and kissed her with so much love that she almost wept. Then he whispered to her, "Why have you waited so long?" and they laughed together at his words.

    Most of those assembled cheered, and clapped, though some were shocked at the happy couple's now apparent lack of wedlock, given their small, but very visible family, but then Auriel asked for the attention of all those gathered, for there was another great surprise in store for the husband to be.

    "Sweetheart, this may surprise you, but I have a mind to marry you this very day," she laughed, "are you willing? Answer quickly now, for there is one here who will perform the ceremony, and I do not think I can wait any longer!"

    Then the Prior stepped forward, (by now quite rosy with cider), thus revealing the true purpose for his invitation.

    Though bemused at Auriel's audacity, and the rapid appearance of the gold wedding rings, Guy quickly acquiesced, and they vowed to love and cherish each other forever, (but with no mention of obedience), as they stood together with their children as the sun set behind them.

    At the end of the ceremony Auriel kissed her new husband and whispered to him, "A wife for your birthday my love, now there is a gift, I hope it pleases you."

    Then she added, "As you are Sir Guy Of Gisborne, am I now to be the Lady Gisborne?"

    Smiling down at her, Guy replied, "I have called you My Lady from the first, our marriage has merely confirmed the title."

    Later, as the festivities continued apace, Guy looked on with great amusement and no little surprise, as the now stumbling Prior blessed his children as they went to their beds, whilst muttering incomprehensibly to himself of "wedlock, and legitimacy."

    But his evening improved somewhat when he was able, finally, to take his smiling new wife behind a large oak tree, where he put his hands in her hair, and gazed at her for a long moment, before saying, "My God, I am the most fortunate of men, to have a wife such as you," and he relished the word as it left his lips, "and what pray, am I to do with you now?"

    Then he kissed her fiercely, putting his hands on her waist to pull her even closer, before saying, "I love you to the point of madness, and I will never cease to want you, tell me again that you love me, for I will never tire of hearing it. Tell me now!"

    So she did, and her hands wandered a little in the telling of it.

    Then, with a broad smile, he slapped her rump, and called her a minx, saying that as she had kept such a great secret from him, it would please him to ponder on a suitable punishment for her.

    And ponder he did, whilst he watched her over the heads of their friends and neighbours, with such lust in his eyes, that her pulses had raced, and she had been forced to look away. Then he had appeared at her side, excused her from her company, and clutched at her hand, telling her that there was a matter that required her urgent attention in the kitchen, where he made love to her in the pantry, quickly, but very thoroughly, against the wall.

    Later, when the last of the guests had left, and they were alone at last, he took her again, halfway up the stairs, being too impatient to wait until they reached the bedchamber, and afterwards he laughingly told her that her punishment was now complete, congratulating her for bearing up to it so well!

    He woke her in the dark just before dawn to love her again, pulling her on top of him and she was surprised at the intensity of it. His hands and lips seemed to cover her whole body, as he turned her this way and that, seeking out all her small secret places, remembering that she had once said to him that such places for her were wherever he placed his hands.

    "My wife, my wife," he repeated, "my beautiful, beautiful wife!" as if the novelty of it had not yet left him.

    "I am watching your face my love," she whispered, looking down at him as she tightened her body around him, the better to feel him inside her.

    When she had reached her own pleasure, she teased him with her movements, moving her hips, and then stopping, before starting again, until he begged her for release, and she fell back exhausted on the pillows, trying not to think ofthe pain that would surely follow.

    They woke at the same time, the morning after the triple celebration, (and the triple loving), and she asked her new husband if he had liked his birthday gift, to which he replied, laughing, "Dear God, must I show you again? I already grow weary of you wife, get yourself to the kitchen, I require sustenance!"

    Then they lay there, laughing together, until the children woke and joined them in the wide, (but ill-balanced) bed.