With Kaylene and Fire Thunder, it was going to be a sharing of hearts until they took their last breaths on this earth. Theirs was a special loving, a special, mutual admiration between them. And she felt so very, very blessed!
“I have come for you,” Fire Thunder said, reaching a hand out for Kaylene. “Come. My people are waiting.”
“The flowers,” Anna said, rushing to Kaylene with a handful of pink roses, their thorns removed from the stems. “Let me put the flowers in Kaylene’s hair.”
Fire Thunder’s eyes danced at Kaylene’s. “Yes, make my woman special today,” he said huskily. “A surprise awaits her this morning.”
“Surprise?” Kaylene said, her eyes widening. She stood perfectly still as her mother pinned the roses in her hair above each ear. “What sort?”
“Now if I told you, it would not be a surprise, would it?” Fire Thunder said. He turned to Little Sparrow as she came into the cabin with Midnight at her side, on a new red leash.
The way Little Sparrow smiled so devilishly up at her, Kaylene’s curiosity increased.
With her hands she spoke to Little Sparrow, shaping the word surprise on her lips in a question.
Little Sparrow giggled and shook her head, refusing to tell Kaylene what the surprise was.
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see,” Kaylene said, letting out a frustrated sigh, then laughed softly.
“There, darling, the roses are beautiful,” Anna said, stepping back to admire her daughter.
Anna wore a new dress, also, one that she had purchased at San Carlos. To her surprise, only one week ago, several carnival men came to the village and handed her an envelope in which she found several hundreds of dollars.
The men had sold the carnival. They had brought Anna her share of the money, having kept only enough to tide them over until they got established elsewhere, doing other work.
Anna had been deeply touched by their generosity. She felt rich, not only money-wise, but also mentally, as well, for never had she been as happy as now.
Fire Thunder went to Kaylene. He gently framed her face between his hands. He gazed at her, at her flawless features. He had never seen her so vibrant and glowing as now. He so badly wished to cover her moist lips with his mouth, but held back until later, when they would be alone and free to do as they pleased.
The soft glimmer of her hair spilled over her bare, fair shoulders and tumbled down her back in thick waves.
The bodice of her dress was low, and he gazed down the front of it, his heart leaping with desire at the sight of her tantalizing cleavage.
He ran his thumbs over the exquisite, creamy flesh of her cheeks.
Then his hands rediscovered the delicate contours of her face as she gazed up at him with eyes darkening with the depths of her emotion.
Again Fire Thunder cradled Kaylene’s face in his hands and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “Are you ready?” he whispered.
“I’m somewhat frightened,” Kaylene whispered against his lips. “Should I be?”
“There is no reason to be,” Fire Thunder said. He eased away from her and took one of her hands. He gave her a smile of reassurance, then left the cabin, with her mother and Little Sparrow following close behind them.
When Kaylene stepped outside, her breath was stolen away as she looked at what awaited her. While she had been inside Anna’s cabin, getting ready for this special day, a great outdoor fire had been built. Large platters of various types of food had been placed around it. Wild flowers lay strewn along the ground that led to a platform that was also covered with flowers.
Fire Thunder’s people were all there, smiling, and watching her.
Something else drew Kaylene’s attention. She gasped when she saw the large pile of gifts that were scattered before the platform, among them everything that she could ever imagine that a woman might need for housekeeping, or to wear.
She turned joyous eyes to Fire Thunder. “This is a wonderful surprise,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “Everything is beautiful.”
“My woman, this is not the surprise I was referring to,” Fire Thunder said, his eyes flashing devilishly into hers, with almost the same expression that Kaylene had seen when she had tried to urge Little Sparrow into telling her what the surprise was.
“Then . . . what?” Kaylene said, her eyes widening. “How could anything else be as wonderful as this?”
“Come and you will see,” Fire Thunder said, placing his hand at one of her elbows.
He led her through the crowd.