She drifted blissfully until she felt gentle fingers stroking her breasts.
“Angel, we have something for you,” Ransome whispered.
She opened her eyes and looked up at them—Val and Ransome before her and Justin still behind her. Then her eyes focused and she saw the white velvet boxes resting in Val’s and Ransome’s hands.
Val was the first to speak as he opened his box, revealing a yellow gold band set with brilliant baguette diamonds. “Charity, we weren’t just playing all weekend, or wasting your time. We want forever with you, if you’ll have us.”
Ransome’s eyes twinkled and he asked, “Will you bind with us, angel? Add us to your family and make us the happiest men who ever lived.” He opened his box which contained a ring identical to the one in Val’s box, only this one was set with bright baguette sapphires, her favorite stone besides diamonds.
Charity turned teary eyes up to Justin, and he said, “Pretty baby, they love you so much. I know you want this and I want it for you, too.”
Turning back to Val and Ransome, Charity whispered, “Yes.”
She didn’t realize they’d been holding them until both men let out loud breaths and removed the rings from the boxes.
Giggling, she said, “Oh, right. Like I could possibly turn the two of you down. Yes! Yes! Of course I’ll bind with you.”
They slid the rings on her left ring finger so they were nestled against her wedding band, looking like they’d belonged there all along.
“Grace is going to be so excited when we tell her,” Charity said as she admired the way the stones shimmered in the light and then looked at her men. Her three men. “I suppose I’ll have to shop for a dress for a binding ceremony when we take Justine shopping for her prom dress later this month.”
Justin squeezed her and said, “Ethan wished you the best when we let him know what we planned. He said he’d be happy to perform the ceremony for us whenever we’d like.”
Smiling, Charity looked up at him and said, “How about on our wedding anniversary in July?”
Justin nodded and kissed her. “Sounds perfect to me.”
Not worrying about jostling her men together, she hugged Val and Ransome to her as she held on to Justin’s arm around her. “I really am so lucky.”
Chapter Eight
Later in March…
Justin put his arm around Charity’s shoulders as they surveyed his “booth” at March’s Divine Market Days. Some of the pieces he’d brought were large and he’d decided to rent twice the normal size space so that people would have room to move around them. He hoped the investment wasn’t a waste of their hard-earned money.
Charity looked up at him with glowing eyes and said, “How does your debut feel so far, Mister Artiste?”
Justin squeezed her as a little heat crept into his cheeks. “I’m wondering what people will think of them.”
“Everyone will love them. I know it.” She came up on tiptoe to kiss him and then looked around at all the sculptures. “They’re all so beautiful. I’m proud of you.”
I hope customers agree, or I’m about to make a total ass of myself. He sighed, thinking of the sculptures Clay Cook displayed at his jewelry shop occasionally, and what he’d seen of his work at a gallery in Morehead. He looked around at the sculptures, created from scrap metal and pieces he’d found over the years and he felt like he would never measure up to someone like that. His work was rougher, literally, and he wondered if anyone would understand what he was reaching for when he worked on them or not.
While Charity went to supervise Beau and Justine as they put the smaller pieces out for display, he turned the bust of a female nude, the outer surface made entirely of stainless steel eating utensils, on its base. He hoped the display allowed enough space so no one caught their clothing on it and decided to move it back a bit. He looked around at the other pieces and prayed that he didn’t wind up packing them all up and taking them home.
The surrounding booths sold much smaller things like handmade quilts, pottery, and stained glass. He’d tagged everything with the bare minimum he could afford to sell them for and would’ve marked them down further, but Charity had stopped him that morning from doing so.
Val and Ransome showed up with the last two large pieces on dollies. One was a stainless steel dragon that he’d made from salvaged stainless steel barrels and stainless flatware he’d found at a Goodwill store in Morehead. Val had bet him that would be the first piece to sell.
The other one was a horse, made from weathered, rusted pieces salvaged from an old 1959 Chevy pickup truck his dad had driven as a teenager, until it had lost an argument with a speeding tree. His dad had held on to it for sentimental reasons all those years but when he’d discovered what Justin was up to on his weekends off, he’d hauled it over to their place for him to salvage the metal and use in his sculptures. It’d meant a lot that his dad had supported his creativity like that.