First, Gawain reached out and touched the necklace he’d given Drea, its blood-red beads resting against that graceful throat. He ran his fingers over the hanging crystal, as if that might infuse the charm with love, then he pulled Drea up against him.
“How much time have you got for a kiss?” he whispered playfully.
“For you? All my life.”
Their mouths came together in a long, eager kiss. Gawain allowed his lips to linger as the guests cheered. He heard the knights in the background, doing their chant of, “Hoo, hoo, hoo,” and he pumped his fist in the air in a victory gesture.
He and Drea separated with smiles, but they kept their hands joined in front of them. Wallace kept up the knights’ chant, spinning, dancing, his new necklace bouncing off his chest.
To think two days earlier, Gawain had been at the lowest point in his life, pondering an existence without his beloved, yet here she stood, his, for good.
Servants marched in, bearing platters of food, mead, and wine. There were few chairs available, so people would have to stand and celebrate, but no one seemed to care. In moments, guests were imbibing and nibbling on sundry tarts and skewers of roast meat. Gawain’s mouth watered, but first, he wanted a few moments alone with his bride. He swept her off to the side.
“My wife…” …show more content…
Neither of them had much rest during the past two nights, and Drea drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Gawain would join her soon, but first, he took a moment to absorb Drea’s sheer beauty. A smile crossed his lips as he studied her flushed cheeks—a result of their lovemaking—and the thick red eyelashes that graced her lids. And then there was the necklace he gave her, something she never removed. To him, it would always be a token of how they started out, a beginning fraught with uncertainty and challenges, but always filled with love. Their lives might grow messy, and the unexpected was sure to happen, but they would face it