Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 107(@200wpm)___ 85(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 107(@200wpm)___ 85(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
"Again?" He lifts the stirring spoon and licks it, his playful gaze on me. "Would that not indeed be terrible."
He makes it sound like it wouldn't be terrible at all, and I agree, but I also don't want to have to answer more questions about why “Mommy and Daddy were wrestling naked again.” Erevair's old enough that he's getting a clue, but Relvi is little and gets distressed when she catches us doing something she doesn't understand. Because our house is small and privacy is tricky, they've caught us in the past. I guess it's not as bad as poor Marlene. She told me a story of playing kinky games with her mate and thought her daughter was sleeping, only for Zalene (then very little) to tell her to “spank Papa again.”
I move to my mate's side and lean in for a kiss. "Maybe once the kids are asleep, hm?"
"You will sit on my face and I will lick you like this spoon? I look forward to it." And his tongue snakes out and drags over the spoon again, making me all flushed. Goodness.
"Yes. Um. Where were we. Oh. Costumes. Halloween. It's a tradition back home, another holiday. It's one focused around children, really, though there are a lot of adults who enjoy it, too." Summing up all of Halloween suddenly feels very overwhelming. Where to begin?
"You do love your howl-days," Ereven tells me, his tone indulgent. "Is this another one we will celebrate?"
"Oh. I...I don't know. I didn't bring it up because of that..." Yet now the idea unfurls in my head. I do love a holiday. I love something special to celebrate, to see the kids' eyes light up at the thought of a big festival of some kind. No-Poison Day has become an annual experience, and a few couples have celebrated Valentine’s Day but not regularly. It would be nice to have another holiday to break up the long, dull brutal season. The sa-khui don't have official holidays but they celebrate births, matings and anything else they can.
We could certainly do a watered-down ice planet version of Halloween. Cute costumes, treats for the kids, maybe a festival for the adults of some kind...the idea has been toyed with before, but when the kits were very little, it seemed like a bad idea to introduce a holiday full of scares. But now a lot of the kits are older...
"Is this another holiday about poison?" my mate asks, expression skeptical. "Is that why you are reluctant?"
"No, this is the one about ghosts. Goblins. Scary things that go bump in the night."
He winces. "Relvi is already afraid of the dark."
"I know. The human version of the holiday loves to play up scary things, but maybe our version can just be about fun. It doesn't have to be about ghosts or spookiness." I brighten. "We could call it a fall festival!"
"A fall festival. Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do we fall? Why is it being celebrated?"
I giggle and lean in to kiss my mate again, because he's so cute and his misunderstandings just give me fuel. We need a holiday that's kid-safe but fun for the adults, too. Trick or treating and dressing up, absolutely. Maybe carnival games. Maybe a fun maze...
Ereven's lips linger on mine. He tastes like spices, and when he nibbles on my lower lip, I forget about holidays for a brief moment. The kiss deepens and he pulls away, giving me a wicked stare. "Are you sure we do not have time for you to sit on my face?"
I bite my lip. "Well, maybe just a quickie."
We grab hands and all but race to the furs.
CHAPTER
TWO
CLAIRE
I'm still thinking about Halloween the next day, and so I head over to visit Asha to get her perspective on things. Ereven has the kids. He takes them in the mornings so I can get my visits in with the other women, and so I can have “alone” time to catch up on anything I need to or to just unwind. Since it's the brutal season, he's staying close to camp, fishing when he has to, and plucking dirtbeak eggs and nests when necessary.
When I arrive, my friend has a visitor. Asha is sitting with Josie, and both wave at me as I enter. Asha is barely showing, and Josie's belly is huge—ironic because they both got pregnant again at about the same time. But that's sa-khui pregnancy for you. I beam at them, pulling up a stool. "Hi ladies. No kids today?"
"Haeden took ours for a nature walk since it's nice out." Josie beams and rubs her belly. "He's such a good dad."
"Shema has her hands in smelly paste, just like her father." Asha shakes her head and pretends to be irritated. "She might look like me, but she must create things with her hands like Hemalo."