She looked ather son with the flower clutched in his little fist. Serin, Deno,and Kekoa were standing nearby, but she only had eyes for hermen.
The singingcontinued from the crowd, and Jane walked to her son, the scent offlowers everywhere. The crown she was wearing gave off a headyperfume.
Terro began tohop with excitement, and he let out a toddler squeal as she gotthere. Terro handed her the flower, and she stroked his hair abovehis own floral crown. A dark hand took the flower from her hand andtucked it into the crown on her head.
They stood withone hand holding the other’s, and Terro had his arms stretched highto join them.
Kekoa said, “Itis my pleasure to witness a new family linked and with theappropriate paperwork.”
The gatheringlaughed.
Serin saidsoftly, “The spirit of the island decided that you were the matchfor one of our oldest family lines but had to figure out how to getyou together. It used the same mechanism that brought Eonic toMonique, but it had to work faster, and your own magic made thingsawkward, sea witch.”
Several peoplechuckled.
“So, here youare with the product of that first meeting with the hopes for alarger family to help the islands thrive. You will have a long roadahead of you, but I believe that with Terro’s help, you two canmanage. That being said, I still need you as the final editor, so,Andreux, maintain your Wi-Fi signal, or I will send the life of theislands to wither your crops. You mess with my productivity, and Iwill mess with yours.” Serin smiled brightly.
“Right, now,your vows if you wish.”
Jane looked atAndreux. “I forgot about many things, but when I saw your son,things made a bit of sense. We went looking, but you weren’tonline, and your image wasn’t anywhere until Serin invited me tothe islands. At that point, every single person knew who you wereexactly. I considered it a sign.”
Andreuxlaughed. “Spending years with flickering memories of our meetingwas torture. I gave up on everything but work. When I got the call,wow, was it only yesterday? It was earthshaking. I got myself toLigo’s a moment later and saw you standing there with our son inyour arms. My soul left my body and rushed back with fire ofpurpose. Making you happy and keeping you content in the islandswhile our son grows and we tried to get him siblings were mypriorities.”
There was a lotof laughter, and it was mostly masculine.
“Whether ourlife together brings us other alphas, or only this one, more betasor omegas. Heck, even deltas are okay. I am happy to spend everyday with you, showing you the beauty of the islands and making sureto provide you with unlimited Wi-Fi at all times.”
Deno held outhis hand, and flowers and vines wrapped their hands together. Serinflicked her fingers, and the flowers turned to glowing light undertheir skin.
“Oooooooo.”Terro stared at the sparkles.
Jane andAndreux laughed, and he picked up their son. They turned to facetheir friends and his family. They kissed and heard, “Oooooo.”
More laughter,and then, Jane closed her eyes and threw the bouquet toward thegathered ladies. Aeryn caught it and pumped it into the air. “Wooo!My turn. Get up there and look pretty, guys.”
Jane blinked.“What’s going on?”
Andreuxmurmured, “Ceremonies for those ladies who didn’t get one. Vows andflowers, torches and food. Now, we get to eat.”
There were lowtables, and Andreux started to introduce her to staff from theirtea plantation. They were all enthralled with the adorable littleboy who was stuffing shredded pork into his mouth with all hisfingers.
Jane was aboutto move, but Andreux got the vegetables into the bowl and pausedTerro to sip from his water cup.
Large fingersheld some food to her mouth, and she met Andreux’s gaze as sheaccepted. The moment was altered when chubby, shiny fingers grabbedsome sweet potato and mushed it into her mouth. She chewed andlaughed, and dinner was underway.
One by one, thecouples, triads, and quads said their vows in the shade of thetrees next to the wide archway made of flowers, were blessed by thespirits of the island, mind, body, and spirit, and then settleddown to eat.
“This is a bigparty.”
Andreux nodded.“It is, but everyone helped to get what we needed here. Sohar’syacht has been in transit since dawn.”
“So, youplanned this?”
“For close tothree years. Eat. I’ve got him.” Andreux took over Terro’s mealmanagement, and Jane actually got to eat.
She looked outat everyone having a lovely time, the ladies and their alphas andothers wearing garlands, including Kekoa and his three. Haravin andAlohi looked lovely with their garlands. All of the betas andomegas looked happy. It was the ceremony and celebration that hadbeen missing in the mating frenzy. The alphas looked happy thattheir mates were happy, and the food was amazing.
When Terrocuddled up against her lap, she stroked his hair. “Long day, huh,little buddy?”