A Very Lusty Christmas (29 page)

“Oh, God, I feel so full, and so good.”

“Relax everything, baby.” Patrick cupped the globes of her ass, and then stroked down, over her thighs. “Let the control go, Katie. Yes, just like that.”

She hadn’t even realized she’d tensed up until he smoothed his hands over her clenched muscles. The moment she let go, everything just felt
more
.

They began to move, these dominant men of hers, a kind of tandem dance that found her never without one cock inside her. Patrick would ease almost all the way out and Gerald would thrust in. Then he’d withdraw nearly completely, and Patrick would thrust in.

“Oh, yes.
Yes
. That feels…” Her words died off, because the pleasure was just too great for words. Every movement in and out felt electric. Every caress, every chaste kiss placed on her shoulder or the top of her head felt cherishing.

“Let’s come together, darling.” Gerald kissed her forehead. He smoothed his hand over her back, his touch heated and possessive.

Kate melted into them both, unknowing and uncaring where they ended and she began. Slow, languid movements gave way to faster, sharper thrusts as rapture beckoned to them all.

Kate couldn’t control it, she couldn’t entice her orgasm closer, she could only take what they gave her, what they forced upon her. Her body tingled with excitement, every nerve ending quivering in delight, adding to the whole of it.

She didn’t know how much more she could take, and thought the sound of her hums and moans of pleasure blended with their more masculine sighs and groans into the most perfect opus ever performed.

“Oh!” It came to her in a flash, a sudden eruption of ecstasy, wave after wave of hot, orgasmic thrills.

“Oh,
fuck
!” Gerald held her tight as he thrust, fast and hard, then held himself still within her. Patrick’s actions mimicked his brother’s, and both men came at the same time, flooding her with their cum even as she soared among the clouds.

“I’m dead.” Kate didn’t know where the words had come from, but hearing her voice say them made her smile.

Patrick chuckled and kissed her shoulder. He eased some of his weight off her and said, “Did you know the French refer to orgasms as
le petit mort
? That translates to ‘the little death.’”

Kate sighed and nuzzled her face against Gerald’s wonderful chest. Gerald, for his part, just grunted, and stroked her back.

She said, “I didn’t know that.”

“Lie still, sweet.” Patrick withdrew from her slowly. He left the bed, returning moments later with a damp cloth. He cleaned her gently.

Moments later he lifted her off his brother and then joined them in the bed. Gerald pulled her close, and she laid her head on him. Patrick spooned her and she sighed.

“I love you.” Kate said the words into Gerald’s chest. She stretched up and kissed him, then turned and kissed Patrick, too. “I love you both so much. I don’t know if one lifetime will be enough for me to show you both how much.”

“Whether long or short, sweet, our time together will be eternal.” Gerald caressed her with one hand.

“He’s right,” Patrick said. “No one can see the future. But what we have here, among the three of us, isn’t so much of the world as it is of our hearts, and our souls. Together or apart, we’re eternal.”

“Eternal. That sounds perfect.” Kate closed her eyes and knew the truth of their words, for they echoed within her heart.

* * * *

“Are you ready?”

Kate nodded to Charles Benedict, doing her best to quell her nervousness. This day would have been completely perfect if her parents had chosen to come.

Her mother sounded pleased on the phone that Kate was getting married—she decided to leave for a later time all the details of this particular sort of marriage. But even though she was pleased, and despite the offer of travel being provided by the Benedicts, the Wesleys had decided to stay home in Virginia.

After all, it was Christmas, and their friends were expecting them at the club.

Kate didn’t allow melancholy a place inside her. Not today. In just a few moments, she and Gerald would be officially married right here in the dining room of the Convalescent Home. Later, there’d be another, private family ceremony at the Big House. There, in the newly minted tradition of the ménage families of Lusty, Texas, the three of them would speak their promises, each to the others.

Since she had no father of her own present to walk her to her groom, one of the groom’s fathers was doing so, instead.

This part of the wedding was traditional, and short. In under twenty minutes, Major Kate Wesley became Major Kate Benedict.

Gerald kissed her sweetly, but the twinkle in his eye told her there’d be more lusty kisses later.

The residents had each conveyed their pleasure at being included in the festivities. The ceremony was to be followed by a luncheon, and then the opening of a few gifts that the townspeople had wrapped and put under the tree for the men living temporarily among them.

Kate had arranged for one gift for one resident, in particular. That gift couldn’t go under the tree, and was the special something she’d needed the help of Sarah and Amanda to help make happen.

Now, as she greeted each man and accepted their congratulations, she looked toward the door between the dining room and the entrance hall.

Jeremy Jessop-Kendall had been given the honor of driving to the train station in Waco earlier that day to pick up the “parcel” that Kate, with Amanda’s help, had arranged to have delivered.

Now, as Captain Somerville stood before her, she nodded to Jeremy, who extended his hand, indicating the people who’d been waiting by the doorway could enter.

“Congratulations, Major.” Craig Somerville chuckled. “That’s going to be confusing, don’t you think? Three majors named Benedict?”

Kate grinned. “It could be, indeed. Thank you, Captain. And Merry Christmas to you.”

“It’s hard to believe it is Christmas. Central Texas doesn’t much look like Colorado.”

“No, it doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be special.”

She thought that maybe there was something in her eyes that alerted the man. He stiffened for just a moment. Then he inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and opened them again. Maneuvering on his crutches, he turned around, even as the woman, with a young boy in hand, stepped closer to him and called his name.

“Craig.”

“Debra…Steven…I…”

Kate nodded to the woman, and smiled at the boy. Somerville nearly wobbled on his crutches when he saw them. And then, when his wife put her arms around him, he simply let the wooden supports go and clung to her, instead.

Kate’s eyes watered, and that was a fine thing. She looked up and saw Amanda watching the Somervilles embracing, and noticed her eyes were damp, too.

Kate acknowledged this idea she’d had, to bring this stubborn man face-to-face with his family, might fall under the heading of having overreached. But sometimes love needed a bit of a hand. And judging from the look of pleasure on Amanda’s face, this particular good deed had enjoyed more than three benefactors.

“I think that could have gone either way,” Gerald said. He slipped his arm around her, and she let herself lean on him, just a little.

Patrick stepped close on her other side, and it pained her, a little, that she couldn’t slip her arm around his waist and hug him, too.

“It’s all right, angel.” His voice just above a whisper, he winked at her, and then turned his attention toward the wounded man and his family.

“Charles thought it would be all right. Working together at the ranch, they’ve talked.” Kate looked at Gerald. “I didn’t know if it would be a good idea, or not. I didn’t understand the captain’s mind-set, but I could very easily imagine how his wife felt.”

“Well it looks like he isn’t going to let go of either of them anytime soon. They look like they’re settling in to enjoy lunch and each other’s company.”

“Sarah’s going to let them know that there’s a house just down the street where they can stay together while Mrs. Somerville and their son are here.”

“I suspect the captain will be ready to go home soon.”

“Yes, I think so, too. It was his spirit that needed to heal, not his body.”

They finished accepting congratulations, then stood off to the side and simply watched as the men, and members of the community mingled and chatted. Several of his fellow residents spoke to Captain Somerville and that man seemed to beam with pride as he introduced his family to them.

“We have something for you.” Patrick said that, and stepped in front of her. He handed her a small, wrapped box.

Kate shook her head at him, just a little. “We agreed, no wedding gifts.”

“We agreed,” Patrick said. “But this isn’t that—not really. I asked the jeweler, where we bought your ring, to make this. To commemorate our wedding, yes, but also our first Christmas together.”

She took the box and then looked from Patrick to Gerald. “Go on,” Gerald said. “Open it.”

Kate did as they asked, even as she wondered what the small, flat box could possibly hold. Inside she found a thin piece of paper, and beneath that…

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” She lifted the delicate gold filigree angel. As she held it up, the decoration seemed to catch the light, and simply glow.

“You’ve been our angel from the beginning,” Patrick said. “And I thought it would be something simple, and significant, that we can put on our tree, every year. Something we could look at, and remember this day, and our promises to each other.”

“I want very badly to kiss you,” she said.

Patrick tapped his cheek. “I’ll consider it a down payment.”

Kate kissed his cheek, and then she smiled. “I’ll make good on that tonight.”

“I know you will.”

Sarah came into the dining room just then, her gaze on the woman who’d been a cousin first, and a best friend second. When she reached Amanda, their arms slipped around each other.

Kate was taken by the look of peace and pride each woman wore. She understood that look, and she marveled at it, maybe just a little.

“What are you thinking, wife?” Patrick asked.

“I’m looking at your grandmothers, and I’m thinking about the time I’ve spent here in Lusty, and the years that are stretching out ahead of us. And I’ve made a decision.”

“What’s that?”

“When I grow up, I want to be just like them.”

“That is a very fine ambition,” Gerald said.

“It is indeed,” Patrick said.

Kate nodded once. Sarah Carmichael Benedict and Amanda Jessop-Kendall were women who’d taken bold action, and dared to live their lives, and claim love, in a way that most would scorn. And yet their living and their loving had created a very real legacy, a legacy that would endure and flourish for decades to come.

I will be just like them, by damn, or there’ll be hell to pay
.

Kate smiled as she made herself one more promise. She’d make sure she took a little time, each Christmas Eve, to look at her angel, and remember the most wonderful Christmas any woman ever had. She held up the angel once more, and watched as she seemed to dance and spin with joy…

December 24, 2012

“Did your husbands ever have to go back into battle, Grandma Kate?” Ginny asked.

Kate took a moment to tuck her memories back into that special place in her heart where they not only lived, but thrived.

“Yes,” she said. “They received orders in October of 1943—just a couple of weeks after we welcomed our first babies—the twins, Caleb and Jonathan, into the world. Oh, Gerald and Patrick were
not
happy that they had to leave us so soon, let me tell you—and yet, they remembered when
their
fathers had to answer the call of duty. And they knew, too, that they weren’t leaving us alone. After all, we had family.” Kate looked around the room full of her family—hers and Gerald’s and Patrick’s. Some more of her darlings had come into the great room while she’d told her story. They’d brought trays of desserts and a coffee cart. Julia sat next to Tracy, sisters of the heart, both big with their babies due next month. Standing along the edges of the room, too, were some of her grandsons, born and acquired—Dev and Drew ranged next to Peter and Jordan, all four keeping an eye on their respective wives. Adam and Jake, who had eyes only for their Ginny. The flyboys, Morgan and Henry who in some ways reminded her of her beloved husbands, sat on the floor with Tamara between them. Robert and David Jessop had arrived, also choosing to sit on the floor, back near the window that looked out over the land. The rest, too, had come in, or arrived, and quietly chosen spots where they could listen, and watch—Joshua and Alex with their baby, Colt and Ryder holding their son Michael, Matthew and Steven cradling little Amanda Rose, and the triplets and the twins. And waiting, quietly intense, as they so often were lately, those two Jessops who had their sights set on Carrie’s sister, Chloe.

It occurred to her then, that there was so much love in this room, it was a wonder the walls could hold it all in. And this love, this bounty, had come in part from the love she’d dared to grab hold of for herself seventy years ago.