“Cadie, I have not the right to bind you to Jo. Only you have this right. If it is your wish, say so at this time and place your ring in her hand.”
“Oh, it’s my wish.”
A soft chuckle broke out among the crowd at Cadie’s tone and Jo grinned as she took the ring.
“Jo, if it is your wish for Cadie to be bound to you, place the ring on her finger.”
Jo did so, doing as Cadie had done and kissing the band softly once it was in place.
“Jo and Cadie have written their own vows, which they will now exchange,” Marilyn said, stepping back a little and letting the two women have the floor.
They had decided earlier that Jo would go first, but now that the moment had come, she was completely tongue-tied. Their left hands were still clasped and Cadie pulled them closer till she could kiss Jo’s knuckles.
“Want me to go first?” she whispered.
Jo cleared her throat and then shook her head. “No. I’m okay.”
“Time to ‘fess up, Jo-Jo,” came a playful call from the back of the crowd, breaking the tension.
“Quiet in the cheap seats,” Jo retorted, grinning at her friends.
“Aye, aye skipper.”
“Oh, shut up.” It was a welcome relief and reminded Jo that she was surrounded by people who loved her. She took a deep breath and turned back to Cadie, drawn in once more by the warmth shining from those sea-green eyes.
“There are an awful lot of things I’ve done in my life that I’m not proud of,” she said quietly. Immediately, the murmuring and laughter around them settled back into attentive silence. “I never felt like I deserved to be loved the way you love me. But when you arrived in my life it was like you laid me bare. I couldn’t resist you.” She smiled at the slowly rising blush that colored Cadie’s cheeks. “You have taught me so much about trusting again. About recognizing true love. About letting myself be loved.” A tear slipped from Cadie’s right eye and Jo reached up and gently caught it with the pad of her thumb. “I have some promises to make to you.
“You already know that I will love you forever.” They smiled at each other. “But there is more to this than that, isn’t there?” Cadie nodded. “I promise to listen to you closely, and speak to you honestly. I promise not to expect perfection from you, nor to demean you, or take you for granted. I will hold your welfare equal to or greater than my own, and I vow to put our relationship first, above all things. And I will thank you in my heart every day, for giving me back my life.”
Cadie couldn’t speak for several seconds after Jo finished. They hadn’t shared their vows with each other before the ceremony and Jo’s had come as a revelation. She knows exactly what’s important to me, Cadie thought. She reached up and touched Jo’s cheek, smiling tearily.
“You’re welcome, my love,” Cadie said softly. “My turn, I guess.” Jo nodded.
Cadie took a deep breath. “When I met you I was in a very bad place,” she began. “I had lost sight of so many things in my life – I didn’t really know who I was anymore, or where I was meant to be going. And then you appeared, like magic.” She smiled, the joy radiating out from her. “You are my beacon, Jo. You led me home.” Now it was Cadie’s turn to brush a tear from Jo’s cheek. “I have promises to make to you, too. I promise to treat you, always, with loving respect. I promise to mend my own mistakes, and forgive easily. I promise to defend and support you. I will walk beside you on our path, but I will not try to choose for you, nor ask you to make my decisions for me. And I will also thank you in my heart every day, for giving me back my freedom.” Her voice cracked on the last word, and her own tears spilled over once again.
There was hardly a dry eye on board the three yachts, and the sound of quiet sniffling came from every direction. Jo and Cadie leaned towards each other until their foreheads touched, and they basked in their connection.
Even Marilyn, a veteran of touching moments, was forced to wipe her eyes before continuing. She leaned forward and picked up the purple ribbon. Jo and Cadie turned back towards the celebrant and reached out with their clasped hands. Marilyn draped the ribbon over their hands.
“I bind Jo and Cadie to the vows that they each have made.” She wrapped the ribbon around their hands three times. “However, this binding is not tied, so that neither is restricted by the other, and the binding is only enforced by both their wills.”
With their free hands, Cadie and Jo picked up their respective lit candles.
"Your separate lives are symbolized by the separate candles you now bear,” Marilyn said. “As you join their flames to make one flame, know that at that moment you are willingly joining your lives forever. Is this what you wish?"
“It is,” Jo and Cadie said together.
“Then so be it.”
They tipped their individual candles together until the flames merged and then lowered it down to light the big candle in the middle of the table. As the wick flickered into life, they both spoke.
“Heart to thee, soul to thee, body to thee.” They replaced their individual candles and turned to each other. “Now and forever.”
As they kissed, finally, their hands still bound, applause and cheers broke out around them. But Jo and Cadie were largely oblivious, lost in the depths of their connection. Not even the meowing of a large black cat as he wove between their feet and bumped against their shins, could distract them from their own, private, celebration.
Jo closed her eyes and let her head fall back as the heat of the newly-risen sun began to sink into her bones. Behind her, at the top of wooden steps she was sprawled across, was a luxurious cabin. It was raised on stilts above the still, clear waters of a large lagoon, which lapped, tantalizingly, at the bottom step. In front of Jo there was nothing but empty sea and the shimmering sun.
Jo felt wickedly contented. Tired, but contented, she thought. She and Cadie had arrived at the resort late the night before and by mutual consent they had done little more than collapse into bed and fall asleep in each other’s arms. Plenty of time for exploring our little world here, Jo had decided as she drifted off.
She leaned back on her elbows, which rested on the deck. With one hand she pushed her sunglasses back up her nose, the sunlight glinting on the ring her parents had given her. Jo gazed at it. That was a pleasant surprise, she thought. I’ve always loved this ring. Cadie had produced the small jewelry box as they were climbing into bed and Jo had thought it absolutely fitting that Cadie had chosen the signet ring. She fingered the emerald setting of her mother’s ring absently. And now I have a constant reminder of Cadie’s eyes, even when she’s not with me. Jo smiled.
Cadie emerged from sleep slowly and rolled towards Jo’s expected warmth. The realization that there was an empty space in the bed brought her fully awake. It took a few seconds of blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings for her to remember just where she was. The thought brought a small smile to her face.
Cadie sat up in bed and looked around the small, but luxurious apartment. Everything was open plan, the large bed dominating this part of the space, the walls lined with bookshelves filled with classic literature. To her right was the living area, comfortable seats sitting on a glass panel in the floor that allowed the occupants to watch the wildlife swimming under the cabin. A large plasma screen television nestled against the far wall and beyond that again was a large, well-appointed bathroom that included a huge bath that overlooked the lagoon.
Mmmmmm, my parents rock, Cadie decided as she took in her surroundings. I’d heard about this place but I never thought we’d get the chance to come up here. It had taken over an hour in Bill’s chopper to reach the exclusive resort which was north of the Whitsundays and priced to exclude all but the world’s rich and famous.
Cadie stretched and caught sight of a familiar dark head and torso poking up above the level of the decking outside. The bedroom and its decking were shielded from the other cabins sprinkled around the lagoon by two large rattan dividers, affording this side of the hut complete
privacy. Cadie therefore had no qualms about slipping out of bed and padding, naked, out onto the deck.
She slid in behind Jo, spreading her legs on either side of her partner’s long torso. Jo’s hair was up in a loose bun and Cadie took the opportunity to kiss the nape of her neck softly.
“Hello wife,” Jo purred, dropping her head back until it rested on Cadie’s shoulder.
“Mmmm, I like how that sounds,” Cadie whispered, dropping more kisses on any exposed skin she could find.
“Me too,” Jo agreed.
Cadie’s arms wrapped around Jo’s waist and her hands traveled north, cupping Jo’s breasts playfully. “Aren’t you rather overdressed, wife?” she murmured close to her partner’s ear, even as one hand slid under the strap of Jo’s swimsuit and slipped it off her shoulder.
Jo shivered involuntarily even as she laughed softly. “Probably,” she answered. “I didn’t really think about it to be honest. I just got up and put the suit on.” She reached up and kissed Cadie’s cheek. “I’m more than happy to take it off for you, though,” she burred.
Cadie chuckled, recognizing the tone of Jo’s voice for what it was, a blatant come-on. Grinning, she decided a little more teasing was in order.
“Oh, I don’t know, I could go for some breakfast,” she said playfully, as her fingers continued to tease Jo. “By the way, how do we get food?” she asked. “We don’t seem to have a kitchen.”
Jo was finding Cadie’s wandering fingers incredibly distracting and she groaned. “Um, we just call room service, and a little man comes out in a boat from the main island,” she finally said, trying to ignore the wide grin on Cadie’s face. “You are a wicked, wicked woman.”
“And you love it,” Cadie confirmed.
“No question.” Jo wriggled out of Cadie's grip and stood up. She turned to face her partner and Cadie was treated to a silhouetted vision as the rising sun formed a halo around Jo's lean and shapely figure. The blonde leaned back on her elbows.
“You are beautiful,” she said breathlessly, gazing up at Jo, whose features were in shadow, though her smile was evident.
“Mmmm, you're biased.”
“And you're still beautiful,” Cadie retorted, long used to Jo's strategies for deflecting compliments.
Jo continued to smile as she reached up and let her hair down, allowing it to spill across her shoulders. Cadie sucked in a long, slow breath, loving every minute of the show her lover was putting on. Jo slipped the other strap off her shoulder and wriggled seductively out of her swimsuit, letting it pool around her feet. Cadie groaned.
“You know,” Jo said casually as she dropped to her knees between Cadie's legs. “That privacy thing could come in very handy.” She leaned forward, sliding her body over the blonde's torso. “If we wanted to, we could make love, right here, on the deck.”
Cadie felt the tingles from the tips of her toes to the top of her head as Jo ducked down and began dropping slow, sensuous kisses across her neck and breasts.
“We could do that,” she murmured, wrapping her legs around Jo's hips and pulling her closer. “But I know for a fact that that big bed in there is a lot softer and easier on the bones than this.”
Jo's mouth claimed hers in a searing kiss that made Cadie forget everything but the heat they were generating, quite apart from the sunshine beating down on them both. Her hand slid up into Jo's hair, tangling in the long, silky locks. Jo moved against her and soon they were rocking and sliding together in a sweaty, sensual tangle of limbs.
“Then again,” Cadie gasped once Jo's lips found another target. “We do have a week. I guess... oh... uh, I guess we could make love on every square inch of this place if we w-wanted to.” She arched as Jo teased a particularly sensitive spot. “God, woman.”
A throaty chuckle came from somewhere south of Cadie's navel.
“Jo, darling, we're going to get sunburned in the most wicked ... p-places,” Cadie reasoned dreamily. Not that she was feeling in the least bit rational at that moment. Far from it. In fact... a surge of passion claimed her and Cadie felt herself slipping into a blissful oblivion.
Jo made a decision and took a firmer grip on Cadie's body, using her powerful legs to push them both upright. She paused for a few seconds to regain her balance as they threatened to topple backwards into the ocean, but then she surged up and forward, walking them across the deck and through the open sliding glass door, into the cool shade of the bedroom.
Cadie kissed her deeply as Jo carried her inside. Her skin felt like it was on fire and all she wanted was to fall into bed and ravish this gloriously sexy woman until they had exhausted themselves. Jo turned so her back was to the bed and then dropped slowly. Cadie had a vague sense of just how strong her new wife was and then suddenly she was astride those slim hips and gazing down into impossibly blue eyes.
They were both breathing heavily and for a few seconds they gazed at each other.
“I don’t ever want to stop feeling like this,” Jo whispered.
“We don’t ever have to, Jo-Jo,” Cadie replied as she rested on her hands. Jo’s hair was splayed across the pillow and Cadie didn’t think she had ever seen anything as entrancing. “We can do this forever. I’m yours forever.”
Nothing will ever beat this feeling, Jo thought, mesmerized by the deep love shining out of Cadie’s eyes. Nothing. “And I’m yours, my love. Now and forever.”
“Now and forever.”
No Ocean Deep Page 44
