Page 106 of My Tiny Giant

Agan and I used the down time to set up our cute two-story house and to finally plan our wedding. Since our move here, I’d also completed the entire immigration process of getting my parents over to Tragul. They’d since moved here, too, and happily settled in a house around the corner from ours.

Mom had been busy in the expansive garden she’d managed to plant and grow in the couple of months since their arrival. And Dad, forever a social butterfly, had been making friends with the neighbors. He and Mom had been getting dinner invitations nearly every night.

Right now, they both were standing on the city wall, along with many of our neighbors and friends. I couldn’t see their faces from this distance and only heard a steady murmur of voices. I couldn’t distinguish their words, but I knew that they were watching me while having drinks and holding handfuls of flower petals in their hands.

The breeze caught the white silk of my long, wide skirt. It billowed like a sail around my legs. A gold-embroidered veil flowed over my hair, and a white scarf with gold fringe bound my breasts.

Gold and white were the wedding colors in Ravie. I stood on the top of the hill, waiting for my new husband to “abduct” me as was the ancient tradition of the Ravil people.

Almost exactly a year since Agan had shipped himself into my lap, we finally got married. It had taken us much longer than we’d thought to make it official. But with so many changes happening in the past year, the wedding took a while to plan and organize.

In addition, I had amazing news for him. I’d kept it a secret for three days now, having decided to tell him tonight—a part of my wedding gift to my husband.

A rider appeared from the jungle. Mounted on a marid , the elegant six-legged riding animal of the Ravils, he rode toward me. The setting sun shined off the golden-white fur of the animal and the thick, wavy mane of my man.

Long ago, the marriage abductions were exactly that: a Ravil male would grab the woman he wanted to marry, with or without her permission.

Over the centuries, law and customs had changed. Now, illegal abduction was a crime, punishable by law. However, the tradition of the marid -riding groom carrying his bride away remained a part of the wedding celebration.

Agan was a vision in white silk pants and a gold sash tied around his trim waist. The long ends of the sash flew behind him, billowing in the wind. He was in his element, in his world. A wide, happy grin spread on his face as he approached me.

Pushed by the chest of the marid and the wide torso of its rider, the wall of air hit me as they got close. I withdrew my head into my shoulders, overwhelmed by the mass and the speed of the two. But I wasn’t afraid, I trusted Agan.

Not slowing down, he bent over, scooping me off the ground with one arm.

“Got you!” He placed me in the saddle in front of him, and I grabbed him around his middle, pressing myself to him.

“Hold me.”

“Always.” Agan slowed the marid down a little and tightened his arm around me.

A roar of cheers erupted from the city walls where our wedding guests raised their glasses to our happy marriage and threw flower petals our way.

We wouldn’t see any of them until the next week. Agan was taking me to the town up the hill where he’d rented a cabin next to a beautiful waterfall for our honeymoon.

“All mine now.” Agan kissed the top of my head, his heart thundering wildly in his chest pressed to me. He shifted the reins into the hand at my waist, then reached into his sash with the free hand. “I’ve got something for you.” He held up a gold ring with an opaque round stone. “This is your tradition from back home, isn’t it? To exchange rings on a wedding day?”

I gasped at the sight of the gorgeous stone. The sun's rays shined through it with a splash of multi-colored sparkles.

“How did you know?”

“Your father told me.” He grinned, placing the ring on my finger.

“So beautiful.” I tilted my hand, admiring the bursts of light playing inside the stone. “And it fits.”

“Of course it does,” he replied confidently. “I know your body in and out, every single part of it. Every size, too.”

I nuzzled his chest. My cheeks heated up at the thought of all the “learning” of each other’s bodies we had done over the past year.

“I have something for you, too,” I said softly, my heart speeding up with excitement and just a bit of trepidation. “Just make sure you don’t fall off the saddle when I say what it is.”

“Fall off the saddle?” He laughed heartily. “I was born in it. There is nothing that’d knock me off a marid .”

I lifted my face to his, needing to see his eyes when I said it. “I’m pregnant, Agan. We’ll be parents soon.”

He jerked away from me, swaying to the side, as his mouth fell open. I grabbed onto his sash, yanking him back to me.

“Nearly knocked you off the saddle after all, didn’t I?”

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