The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

and then began to weave it into a ring. I placed the golden ring on her left ring finger. “I have loved you for a thousand years, Mrs. Chastain.”
    “I will love you for thousands more, my husband,” she breathed. The air thickened with passion and love and we started all over again where fireflies bask in afterglow.
     

     
    I don’t know how long we made love in the meadow of fireflies. Not long enough, I could never get enough of my wife. Eventually the sun broke over the hills and I dressed my wife back into her flowing bridal gown, slowly kissing every part of her before covering it. She served me in the same way. We sat on the boulder and watched the perfect sunrise while she crafted a golden ring for me and placed it on my finger.
    We spent the day wrapped in the bliss of our new favorite activity. We began to laugh at our insatiable appetite for one another. As the sun set and the fireflies returned, we collapsed against the boulder, exhausted, and fell asleep.
    When we woke we were propped against the cave wall in the Scriptorium chamber. Dirk slept on the opposite side of the circular chamber. We didn’t wake him. We wrapped ourselves around each other and went back to sleep.
     

     
    Kate stirred in my arms, and I opened my eyes. Dirk fashioned a meal on the cave floor across from us.
    “Welcome back,” he smiled and offered me a bagel with cream cheese.
    I woke famished, but I was not separate and other anymore. I had a wife to care for and we were the same. “Kate, darling, wake up, my love,” I kissed her sweet lips. She woke with an appetite and not for bagels.
    I chuckled and she floated back to gaze at me lovingly. She snapped her head around and blushed when she saw Dirk.
    “I forgot. I thought we were still on our boulder.”
    My insides fluttered with a thousand fireflies, and I helped her to sit up straight and gave her the bagel.
    “Mmmm, I’m so hungry.” She bit into the bagel and then turned it around and made me take a bite. We shared the breakfast, alternating bites and simmering glances.
    Dirk produced a thermos and cracked the seal. Kate sang. “Coffee!” When Dirk handed her the cup, she grabbed the thermos instead. “This will do just fine.”
    We shared the thermos, while Dirk chuckled and made do with the cup.
    “So, have the others come back already?” I asked.
    “Nope. Just you two.” He settled against the cave wall. “So, spill. What happened in there?”
    Kate’s face flushed and she buried her head in my bicep. I cleared my throat and said, “We were married by the Beautiful One.”
    “Married?” Dirk’s head snapped up.
    “Yes.”
    “Meaning what exactly?”
    “Meaning, Kate and I are married, husband and wife, ’til death do we part.”
    “So you…you…in there you…”
    “We consummated the marriage if that is what you are asking.” I hugged Kate closer. “We consummated it thoroughly.” Kate’s cheek grew warm.
    Dirk let out a whistle. “That’s a first.” He scratched behind his ear as though not sure what to think. “Did it ever occur to you that if Kate gets pregnant, it’ll really make this mission more difficult?”
    Pregnant! No that never occurred to me, but now that it did, I had a picture of chasing a little blond boy and holding a perfectly round brunette girl in my arms while we ran around the First Cabin with their mother, my Kate. I smiled.
    “Dirk, not that it is any of your business,” Kate snapped. “I have been on birth control for over a year now. We aren’t children!”
    Dirk threw his head back and laughed. “You look like children to me, Katie.”
    Kate cracked a smile. “You know what I mean. We have already lived an eternity. Our bodies may be teenagers but our minds and experiences are ancient. Right, old man?” She nudged my rib.
    “Most definitely,” I kissed her nose then turned back to Dirk. “How long were we gone?”
    Dirk shifted. “It’s been about twenty six hours.”
    “Who went after