The Gift She Gives Ch. 22

Vesper's time with Brigitte, Natasha, Domino, Fionna, Marci, Jo and several of the other females in residence at the spa was indeed spent over a very deliciously well-prepared meal, quite a few desserts that they partook in much more than they intended, a fair bit of alcohol, and several romantic movies that more than one woman shed a tear or two at while they'd all sat crowded into Vesper's living room. Anya had not come out to the house for the party as originally intended. Aidan had come to the door a short time after Vesper had returned to help Natasha finish preparing the food and said that the light siren sent her regrets. Her daughter, Hannah, was still very upset and she wanted to stay with her children. Vesper had understood and sent Aidan away with the smallest plate of desserts. The werewolf had commented on the smell coming from the house and she'd felt bad that he'd had to trek through the snow to tell her about Anya.

Her wedding day came with a crisp, bright ray of light hitting her face from the windows and Vesper smiled, knowing that the day would be chilly, but at least the sun would shine on the day she'd worried her whole life might never actually happen. Then she'd realized that her wedding was supposed to take place at a chapel that was outside of the actual boundaries of the spa, and how in the world could they safely leave the spa in order to hold the ceremony in the building her fiancé had worked hard to repair? A knock sounded at her door and Natasha pushed it open without waiting for her to respond.

"Good morning, Vesper." Her friend had a soft smile on her face and a tray of food in her hands.

"Good morning. Natasha-the chapel-."

"Mr. Hughes thought of that last night. He had Faeron open a rift in the enchantment to let some workers go and get the flowers and other items from the chapel and bring them into the spa overnight. He had Sergei and Alex and a few others up late prepping a new location for today. You won't be disappointed, Vesper."

"It's not going to be in the spa, is it?" Vesper frowned, she really did not like the idea of getting married in a sex spa, but if it was the safest alternative...

"No, it's not. Eat up, Vesper. You'll need it." Natasha grinned knowingly as she watched the ayperi pull the lid off a plate of toast.

"I can't believe it's finally the day. Is he up? Is he still wanting to-?"

"Vesper, it's ok. Mr. Hughes has been up for a while. I think he's anxious for today, hopeful that everything will go well. He...missed you last night." Natasha chuckled throatily as she moved back towards the door.

Vesper frowned, she wanted to know everything about what her angel was doing, but she knew Natasha was not going to be her spy. The elf waved a goodbye at her as she left the room. Looking down at the toast in her hands, she sighed, how could she possibly wait the whole day to see her fiancé and finally say 'I do?' Dusk seemed forever from now. Groaning at the need to wait until the vampires were awake and able to attend, Vesper plowed through her breakfast before going into the bathroom to bathe. The day seemed like it would be long, but she knew that with all of the preparations that would be required before the actual ceremony this evening, she would very quickly run out of time.

After her shower, Vesper spent the morning thinking about Mr. Hughes, about what he was doing, where he would be at, and where he could possibly be having the ceremony for the large crowd that they expected to be in attendance if it was not to be held at the chapel. She tried to get it out of Natasha more than once, and then Brigitte when the woman came to the house to help Natasha prep some food for lunch. Anya would be out with her children for the midday meal. That had been decided before she'd left the spa last night. Then everyone was to go back to their respective rooms for an afternoon nap before a large dinner that would be served in the dragons' upstairs room where she'd helped Corvus's mare deliver his daughter. Vesper couldn't help but grin when she thought about little Cometes. The young centaur was being doted on by not only her parents, but her two uncles and grandfather. You would think that the young female was made of glass from how the males treated her so gently, but she knew it was because of the love they had for her, for the only female centaur they'd seen in a long time. In a life time, really, for the younger centaurs.

She had asked Corvus if he would let his daughter walk down the aisle with Elarinya, as the young half unicorn child was very timid and while she was excited to be Vesper's flower girl, she was also just as likely to be too afraid when it came down to it. Corvus had been reluctant at first, but had relented and said that he would be more than happy to let her, and Cometes was incredibly willing to accompany Elarinya. Her protective father was supposed to bring her by later in the afternoon to have her hair braided and threaded with flowers. All of the centaurs would be attending the wedding even though they rarely left their domicile. The wedding was off limits to clients, so there was very little exposure outside the nonhuman community that they'd made for themselves at the spa.

When they'd planned the large dinner, it had taken some time to figure out how both she and her fiancé could be in attendance, and follow Mr. Hughes' request that he not see her again before the wedding. Samir had told Vesper that it had all been settled, but it was to be a surprise to her when she arrived. She trusted that they had everything in hand, though her curiosity was running rampant as she heard a knock at her door and before she was able to put down the bowl of potatoes she'd been smashing, it burst open and a stream of children, all in human form, came barreling into the living room of her house, a house that suddenly seemed way too small. Smiling, she put the potato masher down in the large bowl and wiped her hands on her apron as she watched Anya walk in, a sleeping baby in her arms.

After depositing the little boy in a playpen that had been brought out a short time ago, Anya took first one, then another sleeping baby from the arms of their fathers and placed them down in one playpen or another throughout the house to continue their nap. Once that was done, the men left and Anya came into the kitchen, Penny on her heels as they looked over the amount of food that had been prepped for lunch.

"You are so kind to take care of all of us like this. We could have just had the cooks do something, or I could have used Shi's kitchen." Anya told her after giving her a quick hug.

"Working on lunch is keeping me from slowly going crazy with the need to go find Arc. I miss him." Vesper bit her lower lip as she grabbed a stick of butter and began taking off the paper.

"I know exactly how you feel. I waited a long time to go to Minnesota. I felt like I had to get a lot of things in order. And then at the very last moment I thought maybe everything I thought I was about to do wouldn't even happen." Anya sighed as she picked up a head of lettuce that Brigitte had set aside already to make a salad and started to chop it up carefully.

She had come to really like Brigitte, the woman was good at planning and directing others, and she was kind. Very kind, which seemed strange considering the woman's proclivities included having sex with unconscious humans. Now, the woman was stirring a large pot of potato soup and asking Elarinya to hand her the salt. The two had been working together for an hour now and Natasha seemed to enjoy seeing her daughter connect with someone other than those she saw constantly at the spa.

"The dragons?" Vesper asked, she knew that they were supposed to show sometime this afternoon for the wedding. She figured Anya would be anxious to see her children with them.

"Yes. Wei-," Anya sighed and shook her head, Vesper could tell that she was communicating with her pack, most likely Sergei, "Wei is very...compelling. If it hadn't been for the depth of my feeling, the need to get back to the pack bond that they'd pulled from me, I think I would have been more than a little swayed by a dragon."

"He's very handsome. They all are. And kind. It will be nice to see Zheng again." Vesper nodded, she hadn't seen the eldest dragon brother since he'd kissed her on the plane.

"He regretted bringing you here for a long time. You're a little compelling yourself, Vesper." Anya chuckled, picking up a tomato.

"So says the light siren." They turned to look at Brigitte when she spoke quietly and Anya frowned for a second.

"It's okay. I'm not mad about it. Not anymore. But you are quite compelling. Hell, I'm not into women at all, but even I feel kind of-something-when you're around. You should take it as a compliment." Brigitte grinned and Anya sighed, nodding slowly.

"Thank you, Brigitte. It's been really strange...these last few years. I never felt very compelling before I came here." Anya shrugged and returned to her salad making.

Lunch went well, with only one slight hiccup when the babies started waking up right when they'd gotten all the children seated with their warm meals. Anya had picked up the closest one, and then suddenly, Sergei and the other men in the pack were there, going into the bedrooms and feeding the littlest ones so that Anya could eat with the rest of her family. Grigory was still missing, but Vesper didn't comment on it, she knew that it would only upset Anya, and the woman was handling it as best she could that one of her lovers had left over another woman. Talking about him would just rub open a raw wound.

Yu walked in the door first, his son Li walking in right after, his hand clutching the back of the man's suit jacket. Yu smiled softly at Anya and then nodded over at Vesper. His relationship with the light siren was complicated and the child he'd born her had not been conceived with her permission, but Anya loved the boy all the same, Vesper could tell. She watched as Anya stood and walked over to her child and wrapped her arms around him and smothered his face with kisses until he begged her to stop. Vesper watched as Yu stood back, keeping a distance from the light siren, and she knew why, the throaty whisper soft growls coming from the hallway as Sergei and Yakov returned to the living area would have stopped pretty much anyone in their tracks.

"You two are ridiculous." Anya sighed as a squeal came from the door, and then the brunette was moving towards a little girl who she quickly wrapped up into her grasp. It was amazing to Vesper that Zhen and her brother had grown even since she'd last seen them. It had been less than a year, but the two dragon children had aged much more than normal.

"Whatever that is, it smells delicious." Wei said from the doorway, a beautiful young girl standing near his side.

"There's plenty left." Brigitte said from the doorway of the kitchen.

Wei nodded as Anya bent and kissed Mei on the cheek. Her brother, Ju-long, was coming in behind, in mid-sentence with his oldest uncle, Zheng. When they entered, his mother grabbed him by both sides of his face and gave him a hard kiss before hugging him close to her.

"Hi, Mom." He said as he wrapped his arms around her, as well.

"I've got enough here for all of you, too, Sergei, if you haven't eaten yet." Brigitte spoke again and watched as Sergei nodded and made a slight inclination of his jaw before walking with her into the kitchen.

Vesper stayed where she was on a seat near the fireplace with her plate half-empty of her meal and watched the commotion around her. Natasha and Elarinya were sitting on the floor with their food, Penny and Catarina were their closest neighbors in the crowded room. Her dining room was also overflowing with children, as well as the counter in the kitchen on either side of the sink. Zheng walked over to her and she stood so that he could give her a hug. She felt him put his face in near her shoulder and breathe deeply before slowly releasing her.

"Congratulations, Vesper." He said somewhat huskily.

"Thank you, Zheng. When you brought me here, I never thought I would find someone to love like I love him." Vesper smiled kindly up at the male dragon, keeping her hands in his as he stepped a little back from her.

"I was congratulating you on the baby you're expecting, but congratulations on the wedding, as well. You deserve happiness." Zheng's wide mouth spread in a knowing smile and she felt herself blush. They hadn't sent out baby announcements or anything like that. She wasn't sure who Mr. Hughes had or hadn't told.

"Thank you. I'm really excited." She nodded.

"And Arc? He is excited?"

Vesper grinned, "He wasn't at first, he was pretty petrified, but I think he's okay about it all now. He never expected to be a father."

Zheng nodded, "You must not be very far along, you won't know what it is yet. I am sure his worry is for if you birth an ayperi, but that is not something to fear so much."

"It is a girl. Grigory-Grigory said he could smell her." Vesper said quietly.

Zheng cocked his head to the side for a second and then nodded, "A girl will be quite beautiful, especially if she takes after her mother. If she is predisposed to have her father's temperament, then God help us all."

Vesper chuckled and hugged him again, "Thank you, Zheng, for everything. I know you wanted to protect me by bringing me here, but you've given me so much more."

"I do not generally attempt to play matchmaker. Dragons are too lusty for monogamous relationships to work, or I would have been after you harder myself." He leaned in when he said that and Vesper felt heat rise up her neck a little. These men, all of these men, were so ruled by sex. Nonhumans seemed so much more at peace with their sexuality than humans, however, so his behavior was probably totally normal to him and others like him. Vesper had just been raised very differently.

Vesper smiled at him in reply, "There's plenty of food left, Zheng. Go get something to eat."

She watched as the dragons made their way into the kitchen. Shu was not with them. She had still not been spotted since leaving Anya's house that day. Vesper worried about her, about the fact that what she'd done had caused this estrangement with her siblings who obviously cared a great deal for her. It made her frown a little. Grigory had left because of her, too. She hadn't meant for any of it to happen, but it had, and she was responsible.

'They're grown adults, Vesper. Much older than you. Their decisions are not on you. It's your wedding day, don't be melancholy!' She heard Natasha in her head and turned to the half-elf and sighed.

'You're right. I definitely shouldn't think that way.'

Picking up her spoon, she dipped it into the bowl of soup that she'd been eating before the arrival of the dragons and continued eating. After lunch, the older children were supposed to nap, and she planned to, as well. Anya had told her that the werewolves would be entertaining the smallest of their pack while she rested with the rest of her large brood, but she wondered how much time the light siren would get with her dragon children just having arrived. Vesper knew she was going to sequester herself in her bedroom and pull the shades down so that she could get some rest. It would be a late night and she didn't want to get sleepy in the middle of it.

Was it bad luck to yawn in the middle of your own wedding ceremony?

~*~*~*~

"That dress is just too gorgeous on you, Vesper." Anya was sitting on the couch later that day, her hands around Hannah, she almost always had one of her children in her arms.

Vesper looked down at the dark purple evening gown that she had bought for the dinner tonight. It had spaghetti straps and a low sweeping back so that her wings weren't an issue with putting it on. The waist was empire and the long, flowing skirt landed halfway down her calves. She'd felt like a princess when she'd tried it on with Shi in Toronto, and wearing the diamond filled tiara that Deandra had brought to the house after lunch after she and Marc had arrived, she was almost convinced that she was one. Marc had, of course, stayed at the spa, a little concerned about how a meeting with Anya would go. The two hadn't spoken since she'd discovered him in her lawyer's office.

"Thank you. It feels amazing." Vesper smiled and watched as Natasha and Elarinya came in the room. Most of the children would be eating in a smaller dining room with some of Mr. Hughes' staff to keep them company, but Elarinya had requested to eat with her mother. Both of them were dressed in light green gowns that were simple, with beautiful, sparkling embroidery running up the long sleeves and down each side. Natasha didn't often try to wear clothing of the elves, but she had been gifted the outfits from Thorontur and had apparently wanted to please him by wearing them. It was a difficult relationship between the two of them.

"We should start heading over to the spa." Natasha raised an eyebrow at her but didn't comment about where her thoughts had gone.

Vesper nodded, "Yes, we should. I am curious as to how they're going to keep Arc from seeing me tonight."

Anya and Natasha both smiled and set about getting everyone else in the house ready to make the trek over to the spa. It didn't take long, and she was sure everyone for miles could hear their progress down the path, as the children they were with were quite noisy. Anya seemed to just go with it, however, and didn't try to shush the children until they reached the back door of the spa. Once they were inside, the children were ushered away from them and by the time Vesper, Natasha, and Anya turned to walk down the corridor that would lead them to where they would be dining tonight, the noise level had dropped to practically nothing.

Vesper watched as Natasha put a hand on one of the doorknobs of the double doors that led into the dragon's large upper rooms and pause, turning to look at Vesper for a moment. With a soft smile on her face, she pulled the doors open and motioned for Vesper to walk inside. She only hesitated a little, knowing that the plan was that Mr. Hughes would not see her until she walked up the aisle later...if there was to be an aisle. Stepping past Natasha and into the large, candlelit room, she saw tables and tables of people, mostly nonhumans, some employees, and others were friends, mostly of her fiancé. Vesper knew so few people, and most of the friends that she had, she'd made here at the spa. The dragons, except for Shu, were all in attendance. The werewolves, except for Grigory, and Anya would be dining here, as well, and were here for her more than they were here for Mr. Hughes.

Vesper realized that the head table was set up on the left. The long, rectangular table was decked out beautifully in flowers, a crisp white table cloth, and the finest china and crystal goblets and glasses. She knew the silverware would be real silver, and the table linens would all be freshly pressed and carefully folded. Mr. Hughes would have sought for perfection. What was different about the set up was that the rectangular table had some sort of wooden barrier that had been built behind, over, and in front of the table itself. The wall went back about five feet to meet the rear wall of the room, and it even blocked under the table so that she could not have even seen his feet. Biting the inside of her cheek as she smiled, Vesper made her way over to the cushioned chair that one of the servants was directing her to, and she sat down, smiling out at the people who had risen to their feet when she entered. They sat after she did, and Vesper waved at a few of them that she knew.

Natasha sat beside her while Anya moved through the room to take her seat beside her husband. The only ones missing the dinner would be the vampires that were still sleeping. They would wake up in a few hours and join them at the ceremony. Then afterward, there was to be dancing and a dessert reception in the rooms where they were now to have dinner. That change had been just one of many that were necessary because of the devil quite literally at their heels.