A loud clap from the opposite side of the room had everyone jumping. They turned toward the source of the sound to find the three aunts standing at the edge of the kitchen with joyous and somewhat smug expressions on their faces. Willie was cradling yet more flowers while Jo held aloft two bottles of champagne.
“It’s about fucking time you figured this out,” Flo grumbled.
“Let’s get these two bonded,” Jo shouted.
Willie proceeded to skip around the island, tossing her armload of wildflowers into the air.
“Think long and hard about this, Wiley,” Grey said in a dark voice. “Do you really want to be bonded to this family?”
Wiley looked straight into Baer’s eyes, and all Baer could see was love in those beautiful brown orbs shining at him. “Definitely.”
Baer’s heart skipped inside his chest. Never in his life did Baer believe he’d find a love like this. Nothing had prepared him for the wonder that was Wiley. His strength, courage, and willingness to sacrifice his happiness for others. Baer was simply in awe of him.
“Come over here, you two,” Jo instructed. “We’ll get you bonded in a jiff.”
Wiley jumped out of Baer’s lap and Baer rose, but he kept Wiley at his side. “Wait! I want to do this right.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Flo snapped. “You think we’re gonna get the ceremony wrong?”
Baer blushed. “No, I just mean I want to make it nice. At least a little nice.”
“Oh, you mean you don’t want it like my bonding ceremony to Dane, where we did it over your blood-covered body on what was nearly your deathbed,” Clay griped.
“Corpses really do put a damper on festivities,” Grey mocked.
Lucien dropped down on the arm of Grey’s chair and poked the Soul Weaver with one finger. “Y’all are gonna have to give me details on that story.”
“Willie, could you get some more flowers for the family room here?” Baer asked, motioning to the area they were standing in.
Willie squeaked, bounced a couple of times where she stood, and then disappeared completely.
Flo groaned. “God help you now.”
Baer ignored the grumpy goddess and looked to her sister. “Jo, a cake?”
Jo twirled, clapping her hands. “I have just the one in mind.”
“That’ll give me enough time to shower and at least put on a clean shirt.”
Flo groaned again but gave a little wave of her hand. “Thirty minutes, we meet here again.”
Wiley laughed and was off like a shot, running across the room toward the stairs. Baer followed on his heels, laughter bubbling up his chest as he followed his soul mate up to their bedroom. But it was only when he was reaching the door that he realized Wiley didn’t count the stairs that time.
It was on the tip of his tongue to mention it, but he swallowed the words. Maybe he’d finally given Wiley a joy that at least temporarily overshadowed that old anxiety.
They dressed and showered quickly, though separately. There was no way they could be trusted to shower together and not be late for their own bonding ceremony. Without a shadow of a doubt, Flo would march into that shower and drag them out. They managed to keep it down to long shared looks and little touches as they prepared. Baer didn’t have any fancy clothes, but he grabbed his nicest pair of jeans and a hunter-green polo shirt. Wiley looked dapper in a pair of navy slacks and a white oxford.
Downstairs, they found the other Weavers waiting, and to his shock, all had cleaned up as much as they could under the time constraints. Clay and Dane were dressed similarly to Baer, while Lucien and Grey were actually in suits.
Lucien adjusted his tie and winked at Baer. “My bonding ceremony is going to be fabulous.”
Grey snorted beside him. “You’ll be lucky if your bonding ceremony isn’t in the middle of a fight with the pestilents.”
The family room had become a bower of blooms. Now he understood Flo’s muttered remark. Baer couldn’t guess at where all the flowers had come from, but this was what he got for asking a goddess to decorate for him. It was an explosion of scents and colors. The air was thick like a hothouse.
Even Dane was rubbing his eyes. “My sinuses are going to be a mess for days,” he muttered.
Clay leaned over and pressed a kiss to his temple. “We’ll move everything outside after the ceremony.”
Slender fingers slid across Baer’s palm and threaded with his own. Baer looked down to find Wiley staring up at him with such a look of joy and love, it took his breath away.
“You sure you want to do this? The binding is forever. You’ll be stuck with me,” Baer said in a rough voice.
“Sounds kind of like heaven to me. Let’s do this.”
Together, they walked past the men who’d become his family and stood in front of the three goddesses. Baer lifted up their joined hands, and Willie solemnly wrapped them together with a delicate fabric that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in the fading sunlight.