Chapter 17: Wedding

It was a busy week.

For every problem, I solved we seemed to find two more. The first one was upsetting the girls. When they filled out the wedding invitations, I asked them to invite the guests to the wedding of Lord Storm Green, with no other names. I told them they would understand later.

Wally and Walter were getting so good at magical construction that they had all the buildings in town that I owned up to my specifications by the wedding, a win. We still had to do the farms, as apparently, I owned a few. I had some jubilant tenants, and they at least loved me. The new bathrooms, better sanitation and reduced rents didn’t hurt.

Veldor was really pissing me off. He was telling everyone I was a dishonourable man and had turned his poor sick daughter against him. I had told him that I was marrying her, but he said her name wasn’t on the wedding invitation because I planned to marry my boyfriend.

This last bit was true, but the first bit wasn’t. I said nothing if asked. He then set the Priests against me. He had them sprouting that I wasn’t natural and had unhealthy sexual desires and I was a fake Lord. That last bit was amusing coming from their source of information. Again, I said nothing.

I did make the girls happy again. I’d found a pedal sewing machine in one of the junk rooms, as I called them. The girls were amused that I actually knew how to use it. I taught them how to make button holes and to sew a straight seam.

We upset Veldor some more. Three days before the wedding, Jim posted on the news board in town a document with Lindell’s and my permissions. It claimed that Lord Veldor Tyson had not legally registered a claim as Lindell’s father when he married her mother, Raelene.

He wasn’t entitled to the title or other property that had been owned by Raelene. Jim had found that Lindell had in fact been registered as the daughter of Sir Iran Barton of Weston. He had been murdered one month after he wed Raelene and the murderer had not been found. This was news to Lindell.

She told me and in bed that night that her mother had never spoken her real father’s name to her, not even in private. She said that Veldor beat her mother regularly and used her like a whore, not a wife. He would even fuck her in front of the servants and her.

The one thing he hadn’t been allowed to do was touch her in a sexual way. The one time she had seen her mother stand up to him was when he had tried to rape her when she was seventeen. He had been drinking and had thrown her on the floor when she had disagreed with his plans for her.

He wanted her to seduce a man for him so he could use him. When she had refused, he threw her down and pinned her to the floor, he ripped her dress from her. Her mother had heard her screams and came running.

She had laid into Veldor with an iron poker and screamed at him that he had promised. She had screamed it repeatedly, as she laid into him. He had wrestled the poker from her mother and then threw her down.

Veldor had then fucked Raelene, as she lay huddled on the floor. Her mother had waved her out of the room and let him do as he wished to her. She never could understand why her mother let him treat her like that.

She also believed he had killed her mother. They found her body in the river near their house two years before. It was bloody and beaten, and it was thought she had been attacked while out walking. Lindell believed Veldor had gone too far one night.

She and her mother had only recently found out about her illness, and she now suspected that her mother had taunted him with this information. He had often threatened to fuck her when he was drunk and upset, but he had never touched her again.

I mentioned the truth spell I had put on his ring, and she had kissed me in delight. We invited him to the wedding.

We were to go to a party for New Year’s Eve at Mathews but had begged off. The wedding was the next day. We had our own party, and I think Kim, Lindell, the staff and their invited families were much happier with it just being us. We had a lot of fun.

They all got a surprise when I played my harmonica for them. I played Auld Lang Syne when the grandfather clock struck midnight. I’d not played the harmonica while in company since I’d been here. I played several songs for them, and they danced my favourite old time dances to the tunes.

The sex, well what could say about the sex in those couple of weeks? I’d never had so much. I’d never enjoyed it so much. It was mind blowing, being made love to by two people who loved you too.

I’d read about unconditional love but until I had met these two people it had just been a dream for me. I’d die for them, I’d kill for them, and I wouldn’t let anyone take them from me.

They were mine.

Every chance I got, I studied.

There was no point being a Lord Wizard if you couldn’t do magic. I learnt how to build the new books for my mages. I learned more about what sort of boxes I’d made and learnt to make new more specialised boxes.

I visited several people early in the morning or late at night while my loved ones slept. I’d shaken a lot of hands at the twin’s party and scanned a lot of people. I made sure I touched anyone I met and had walked the marketplace several times just brushing past people.

Some I didn’t need to touch. I was getting better at identifying the glow of a potential mage or even a novice, who for whatever reason, had never been tested or chosen. I had learnt that it cost a lot of money to be tested.

The corruption here had to be stopped, and I had a feeling it was one of my missions here. The ring cavern was getting brighter, and I wondered if I would be whipped away when my nine weeks were nearly up. I didn’t wish to leave.

There was too much I still had to do here, and my loves were here. A hundred years was starting to look like a good time to go if I had to. I still missed a lot of mod-cons, Velcro, zips, my I-pod, my movies and music, my computer, my crispy potato chips and jellied snakes. I really missed my jellied snakes.

At least they had a half decent beer here. I don’t drink much, but every now and then, a cold beer was the only way to finish the day.

We didn’t stay up late after the party.

The beer barrels were set up and chilling.

The wedding was planned for the Eighth-hour or about 6:30 pm Earth time. The caterers turned up early, and they did all the prep work for the dinner. Tyus and Lindell put the plants and flowers in place, so the ballroom looked spectacular.

Kim, Ian and I made sure the front gardens looked mowed and presentable. We set up a string line for the mules and put out salt licks, water and hay for them. We even built a pavilion for the coach drivers and footman. The caterers were to make sure that they were fed and watered.

It got cold at this time of year, but everyone had said it had been unusually warm since I had been here. To be honest, I’d found the weather quite pleasant. It had cooled off, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. I hadn’t even worried about a heavy coat.

The guests started turning up about half an hour early, and Kim, and I happily received them. If they were surprised to be received by just Kim and me, and no Lindell, they were smart enough to not show it. I knew that my relationship with Kim gave them a lot to speculate about. There were a lot of whispered conversations.

Kim and I were secretly amused. We had arranged bench seating on the dance floor facing the stage for the actual wedding. I’d get rid of the seats later. To my knowledge, no one had declined to come.

Inviting the Priests to witness the proceedings and been Kim’s idea. I gathered he didn’t have a high opinion of them like Lindell. We were not surprised when Veldor turned up. Our medallions warmed when he came near, but I wasn’t worried.

I guessed he planned to make a scene, but I had his number. I also had other information about him my loved ones didn’t know. Kim and I saw him looking for his daughter, but he said nothing to us and walked past without the customary greeting.

I have found that the 40km to Trenton is easy for me to teleport. The 100km to Weston didn’t take more than a fraction of a second longer. When my new friends, Magistrates John Wright and Peter Osteen, turned up, Kim looked at me in surprise.

I signalled Jim over to take care of the men. I grinned at Kim, “The entertainment.” He looked at me perplexed but let it go, as we had to greet the next couple. We’d opened the bar early and had nibbles set out for the guests.

I’d found they had legumes like chickpeas and peanuts, I’d then shown Pammy how to roast them to make my favourite nibble foods from back home. I also taught her how to make the flatbread into a type of savoury chip and to make sour cream dips. They were proving very popular.

We circulated for a bit, and at the appointed time, the orchestra played the first few bars of the wedding march. The people here didn’t know this song, and the music soon had their attention. Jim took the stage and asked the guests to be seated at the benches for the wedding.

He waited until they were seated and Kim and I had joined him on the stage. We stood in front of him, with Kim to my left. The orchestra started playing the march in its entirety. Kim and I turned to face the aisle in front of us. The guests turned as well to see what we were looking at.

They all gasped, when two little girls who were cousins of Wally, appeared behind the last bench and then started walking down the aisle scattering petals. Pammy then appeared, and she carried a small cushion with the rings on it.

Then our beautiful Lindell appeared with the Coltar twins behind her as the bridesmaids. They had loved the secrecy and told no one. I think we were all spellbound as we watched Lindell glide down the aisle. The lovely sparkling white dress and her jewellery made her look like a princess.

Kim and I put out our hands to assist her up the two steps to the stage. She stopped in front of Jim, gave her bouquet to Pammy, and we both took a hand. There was an excited whisper in the crowd when they realised we were both marrying her.