Madison's Life Lessons (15 page)

Madison cared nothing about gossip or envy. She just wanted to be happy.

She held Momma’s gaze in the reflection of the mirror, determined not to allow anyone the power to ruin her big day. And she suspected that was her mother’s aim.

In less than twenty minutes, she’d walk down the aisle and become Mrs. Micah Dominus. She had to be dreaming. Someone should pinch her. No! If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up.

She’d be having sex soon. The thought excited and worried her. Or had excited her until Daddy started in with his negative comments a month ago…
Only whores enjoyed sex…no man expected his wife to enjoy it…she would lose Micah because she would expose her trollop tendencies…
and the comments went on in similar fashion from there. More than once, she wondered about Momma and Daddy’s bedroom relations. Momma laughed anytime their honeymoon was mentioned, as if she knew some terrible secret Madison didn’t.

“The virgin bride, trussed up in white, being led to the altar like a sacrificial lamb,” Momma cooed from behind her shoulder as if she could read her thoughts. Her mother smoothed Madison’s hair over her shoulder. “Wish I could be a fly on the all when Micah screws up bedding you. Because he will.”

Madison tried to swallow past the nervous lump expanding in her throat. “Why do you hate me?” She almost called her by her name, Celeste, but resisted at the last moment.

“I don’t hate you.” Celeste met her eyes in the mirror. “I never wanted you.”

“Then why have a child if you felt that way?” Madison would make damn sure any offspring of hers felt her love. She’d never make them feel inadequate or unwanted.

“You could say I made a deal with the devil. An offer too good to pass up.”

Madison frowned. What could Daddy have offered that was so good?

Speak of the devil, Daddy entered the room. His posture was so rigid she worried he’d crack vertebrae with a hard enough wind.

“It’s time, Madison.” Daddy strode toward her and stepped around Momma to grasp Madison’s hand. “This is your last chance…call off the wedding now. Or Micah Dominus will be the cause of your mortal soul’s damnation.”

Madison ground her teeth and just caught Momma’s eye-roll. “At least he treats me like an equal and never attempts to crush my spirit the way you do, Daddy.”

“Lies to draw you in, my child.”

Celeste snorted.

“I’m marrying him.” Nothing and no one would stop her.

“Very well, I’ve done my best by you.” Shocked by that comment, she gaped at him as he tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow. “My final warnings: Only a whore enjoys the marital bed and Micah Dominus
will
be the cause of your mortal soul’s damnation.”

“Doesn’t Momma enjoy the marital bed?” She gasped as the words fell from her lips.

“Celeste is above reproach. The perfect wife and mother, you could learn a lot from her.”

Madison gawked, sputtering over a dozen replies. In the end, she said nothing as Daddy led her out of the dressing room. Pastor Raguel stopped them in the hallway. A young, dark haired man, attractive in a rugged kind of way, but so serious even his smiles appeared forced. Micah proclaimed him ‘like a brother’. Until recently, she hadn’t known Micah knew any godly men. Raguel always looked at her with respect, but with a hint of awe, as if she was the next best thing since sliced bread. She preferred it as opposed to the way Micah’s brother, Elias, looked at her, as if he stripped her naked and fantasized about carnal activities. After one of his visits, she felt the urge to scrub in near scalding bath water.

“You’re stunning, Madison.” A brief smile tugged at the corners of Raguel’s lips.

Her stomach heaved, as a sliver of nerves lanced down her spine.

“I’m on my way to the altar with Micah, but he wanted me to give you a message beforehand, to help settle your nerves.”

Madison smiled, warmed that Micah guessed her needs so accurately all the time.
I am the luckiest woman alive
.

“Excuse us, Mr. Wescott, but I should deliver this in private.” Raguel pulled her several steps away from her father and kept his voice low. “Micah says to put aside any fears you have. Today begins a brighter future with a woman he loves and adores. He promises to fill your life with happiness and to cherish you for an eternity.”

She squeezed his forearm and blinked back tears. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

“Let us go now and create a new world together.”

Madison nodded. Raguel kissed her temple and walked down the hall to the door that would lead to the front of the church. She squared her shoulders and stood straight. In a matter of minutes a new world would dawn for her and Micah.

Instead of nerves jangling down her spine, anticipation tingled her skin.

Micah watched Madison walk down the aisle. She looked at no one, but him. She nibbled on her bottom lip, the only sign of nerves she displayed. But the gleam in her eyes suggested excitement instead of anxiety. The latter was the theory he preferred to go with.

His
goddess clothed in white. A chaste woman dressed in the purest of colors. Her golden blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders. No veil hid her face, because she came to him not shrouded in secrecy but embraced her new future openly. The opal runestone he’d had specially crafted into a necklace and engraved with the deity Beliel’s sigil danced like fire around her throat. It’d been his Christmas gift to her and she’d oohed and ahhed over it. Pride fisted his heart in a tight knot that she honored him by wearing the opal on their special day.

“Who gives this woman to this man?” Raguel spoke loud enough his voice would carry to the back pews.

Bruce’s voice sounded strained when he spoke. “Madison gives herself to him.”

Perfect. All he needed was her freewill, not her father’s. Micah extended his arm, palm up and she accepted by placing her hand into his. “I freely give myself to Madison, as well.”

Offering himself to her wasn’t required, but he hoped one day she’d understand the significance. Madison smiled as he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

They progressed through the ceremony, each speaking their “I do’s” and “I will’s” at the appropriate moments. As Micah slid her diamond encrusted wedding band onto her finger, he spoke vows from his heart.

“Madison, you are the master of my universe, my heaven and my salvation. Before you entered my life, I only existed, blind to what it really meant to live.” Tears glistened in her eyes, but he had more to say. “I embrace my future with you by my side with the expectations of an eternity of love filled with unending happiness. After today, I vow to you, kitten, only death will claim the power to separate you from my devotion.”

She cupped his cheek with her palm and mouthed, “I love you, Micah.”

Micah kissed her and muttered against her lips, “And I love you.”

“We’re not to the kissing part yet.” Raguel’s voice held a tinge of humor and a wave of mild laughter sifted through the congregation.

“Sorry,” Madison said quickly, a cute blush hitting her cheeks.

Dropping his voice a notch, so only Madison and Raguel could hear, Micah said, “You’re killing me, Raguel, wrap it up please.”

Raguel grinned. “Patience is a virtue, my brother.” Micah would wring his neck if he slowed down the wedding. “Madison, you have a ring for Micah?”

She pulled a titanium band off her thumb and pushed it onto Micah’s ring finger. “Micah, you’re my white knight that rode in on a black Porsche. You taught me to trust again, how to believe in myself and demand respect from others. But I fell in love with the man you are, gentle, kind, good-hearted.” Micah shifted. He claimed none of those traits. She stepped closer and his thoughts vanished. “I don’t know when I fell in love with you, Micah Dominus, but you’re now the King of my heart.”

Raguel cleared his throat, but neither of them stepped away from the other. Micah wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close, uncaring that it went against tradition.

“For as long as the Dominus name has existed, Micah’s family has participated in a marriage tradition where the marrying couple covenants with one another. Micah and Madison, your chalices…” He offered the goblets to each of them. “Since the man is the head of the household, Micah will lead the covenant.”

Micah captured her blue eyes in his gaze, anticipation scurrying through his nervous system. His heart pounded in his chest so hard it was like a drumbeat in his ears. All of his preparation and planning led to this moment. “Madison, I offer you this covenant…to protect you and defend you, to love you and place no other ahead of your needs. The nectar of my lineage is yours for the taking.” A slight frown lined her forehead, but he hurried on. It’d be many years before she understood that sentence or the severity of the pact they made. “I bind my life to yours throughout eternity and your death shall become mine.”

Madison laced her arm around his as any other married couple did on their wedding day when they toasted one another. She knew what to say because he’d given her her lines last night. He had faith in her not to mess them up, while eagerness swirled like flies in his gut.

“Micah…” She cleared her throat and spoke louder. “Micah, you’re my heart and I never wish to be forced to live without you—”
not part of the covenant
“—so I accept your covenant and bind my life to yours of my own freewill. Your death shall become mine, also.”

Micah smiled. Everything had gone as planned, everything except he hadn’t expected to fall in love with her.

“To you,” she said and sipped the bloody-red wine. She swallowed and shivered. Micah smiled, encouraged by her reaction to the wine’s other contents.

“To us and our new world.” He drained half the wine…but there was only one thing remaining. He leaned in and nipped her bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood on the inside of her mouth. A slight gasp at his roughness marked her surprise. He soothed the injury away with his tongue and groaned as the power of the covenant washed through him. “You’re my woman now, kitten, now and always.”

Madison nodded, slow and unsure, a hesitancy he disliked and one that was unexpected.

Micah inclined his head toward the congregation. “Shall we finish the covenant?”

“Yes.” Her voice trembled. Why the sudden uncertainty? Because of the unexpected and aggressive bite? If so, it’d been necessary to finalize the covenant. Time was his friend. He could soothe away her hesitation. And when she was ready for the truth, she would understand his actions today.

He laced their fingers together and in unison they faced the crowd. As one, they toasted the onlookers and spoke together. “This covenant bind souls together as one. No man or God may dismantle the pledge between husband and wife.” They finished off the remainder of the liquid in the chalices.

Micah smiled and caught the wide-eyed fear in Bruce’s gape.
Bruce understands the importance of our deal.
He allowed his smile to widen into a toothy grin. Seated beside Bruce, Celeste made silent hand-clapping movements, a toast to their success.

“It is done.” Raguel’s voice rang out. “Micah, you may kiss your bride.”

Micah needed no further provocation. He turned to Madison and dragged her into his embrace. Because he didn’t do chaste well, he gave her a wet, sensual kiss that left her trembling in his arms by the time he lifted his mouth from hers.

Micah reclined in a chair, watching his wife schmooze with the various politicians and friends that attended the wedding. He just wanted the goddamn reception to be over so he could consummate their marriage.
Fucking mercy
, the very idea of sinking his body into hers….

“I bet I know what you’re thinking.” Elias tugged out a chair and sunk onto it, the smirk teasing the corners of his brother’s mouth irritated him.

“I would recommend you keep your thoughts to yourself unless you want to be eating your teeth.”

Elias chuckled, but saved himself a punch to his mouth when he handed over a glass of liquor. Micah drained it in one gulp.

“Patience, big brother, you’ll be between her thighs soon.”

“Don’t be crass.” Micah nailed him with a glare. “Not about her.”

“Touché.” His brother’s eyebrows flashed upward. “That’s a first.”

“She’s a first.” To have something to distract him, he twisted his glass on the table. “She’s our future.”

Elias shrugged and leaned casually into his seat, propping an ankle over his knee. “That doesn’t grant her instant respect.”