Secrets of the Siren [Sirens and Sailors 5] (Siren Publishing Classic) (12 page)

“Suzette’s the eldest of all of us,” Aitan explained, turning the volume up on the machine.

“Ligia, Aitan, I am so sorry for our mom,” Suzette began in the same lazy drawl as her brother. “I’ve given her a good talking to and, believe me she is so sorry for what she said. Ligia, I’m particularly sorry that you heard her. Our mom is the sweetest old lady you could meet, but she’s also very silly at times. She believes everything she hears and reads because she trusts everyone too much. I don’t know if Aitan will have told you but she and our daddy split up several years ago after he cheated on her. She was real cut up over it and I think it left her a little bitter about marriage in general. You should have seen her reaction when I told her I was planning to marry Nuri. She was livid, called me all kinds of stupid!

“I explained to her that I planned to go ahead with or without her blessing because we loved each other and that’s what we wanted. I told her we had to live our own lives, and not be afraid of the mistakes she and our daddy had made. Lord knows we can make enough mistakes of our own! Ha ha.” She chuckled. “Anyway, I reminded her of that very conversation yesterday and she got real upset. She agreed with me that it was our own choice how we led our lives and who with, and just ’cos it didn’t work for her and our daddy didn’t mean it wouldn’t work for us. I’m afraid I made momma cry, but I don’t regret it ’cos I know she made you cry too, Ligia, and I’m real sorry for that. She’s promised me she’s gonna apologise to you for what she said, and I’ve told her if she don’t do it soon she’ll have me to deal with—
again!

“I sure hope you guys can forgive her, and I’m already picking out a new outfit for your weddin’ so you better not forget to invite me.” Suzette was wagging her finger toward the camera playfully, her face in a broad smile, just like the one which was now on Aitan’s face. Ligia giggled.

“I’m signing off now, Aitan’ll tell you how much I hate these dang things,” she continued, with a grin. “You let me know how it’s all goin’ and I wish you lots of love. Ligia, I can’t wait to welcome you to our family. We’re all a bit weird, but then you must know that as you’ve already met my little brother.” She waved to the camera as she laughed, and then the screen went blank.

“Your sisters are so lovely!” Ligia cried happily.

“Yeah, they must take after me.” Aitan slung his arm around her shoulder and gave her a deep kiss. Ligia felt the heat of that kiss right down to her girly parts and she flushed.

“You wanna hear Momma grovel?” Aitan’s voice vibrated over her bottom lip as he spoke.

She gushed again. That really wasn’t what she had in mind right now.

Ligia saw the fire in his eyes but somehow she knew better than to let temptation grip her right now. To his apparent surprise she sat upright. “Yeah, I think we should,” she said with a grimace. She really didn’t want to do this right now but she knew it could bring a sense of closure to the whole situation, and that would be good. After that they could relax.

She gaped as the visual message started up. Aitan’s mother didn’t look anything like she had seen her before. Her hair was all messed up and she wore no makeup. Her eyes were puffy where she had obviously been crying. Ligia’s heart lurched at the sight of the woman who was always so immaculately turned out.

“Aitan, Ligia, I hope you’ll open this message when you see it’s from me,” she began, her voice quiet and croaky. “I know I’ve no right to ask you for anything, but I’m asking you, no,
begging
you, to forgive me for what I said about Ligia.” She sniffed before recommencing. “I know I’m getting old, but that’s no excuse for ignorance, and it was very wrong of me to believe what they wrote in those papers. I should have had more faith in you, Aitan, and I would have known that you would only pick out a lovely girl to make you a good wife. Ligia, I hope you’ll forgive me for being so stupid and cruel.”

Tears streamed down her face as she spoke and Ligia leaned forward, wishing she could reach into the computer and hold the poor lady’s hand. The older lady composed herself with the help of a lace handkerchief and a glass of water, and continued.

“Ligia, my marriage ended badly, and I’m afraid it left me a little cynical about matrimony. When Aitan’s sister, Suzette, announced her marriage plans I was totally against it. I didn’t want to see her make the same mistakes I did, you see. Anyway, Suzette reminded me today of that, and pointed out how happy she and Nuri are, especially now little Hyam has come along.” She smiled weakly as she mentioned her grandson.

“I know now that I was being selfish and trying to impose my prejudice onto you kids, and that was very wrong of me. If you love each other as much as I believe you do, you’ll marry regardless of what I say, and so you should. Ligia, I would be happy to be your mother-in-law if you still want me. I understand if you want to cut me out altogether after what I said about you, and I will respect that. But if you can find it in your heart to forgive a silly old lady, I would welcome you into our family with open arms. I’m so sorry, darlin’.” She was crying as she reached her arms out toward the camera to emphasize her words. Then the screen went blank.

Aitan put an arm around Ligia, who was also crying. “Aitan, you’ve got to tell her right away that she doesn’t have to worry,” Ligia sobbed. “You can’t leave her upset like that.”

“You want me to tell her she’s forgiven?” Aitan murmured into her ear as he nuzzled into her neck.

“Of course. Of course she is.” Ligia wrapped her arms around her fiancé and wept into his muscular chest. She hated to think of anyone being upset because of her.

“You don’t want to read all the e-mails first?” Aitan teased her.

“No. I don’t think so,” she said with a frown.

He giggled. “It’s OK. They only say much the same thing, apart from the ones asking where we are and if we’re OK. I think they got a bit worried when we didn’t respond right away. They must have thought we didn’t want to talk to them.”

“I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t read your mail or go through your messages.” Ligia’s eyes were wide as she realized what they must have thought.

“It’s OK, darlin’.’” Aitan rubbed her shoulders, obviously seeing how upset she was becoming. “It couldn’t be helped. If I’d come back last night like we planned I’d have gone through them, but we just couldn’t risk it in that storm. It’s my fault if anyone’s, not yours.”

He kissed away the tears which had begun to fall down her cheeks again. He gave her a handkerchief and a couple of minutes to compose herself before calling his mom on Super-Skype.

“Aitan!” His mom’s eyes were still puffy, as she stared in visible relief at the screen. “I’m so sorry, son. Did you get my messages?”

“Yes, Mom, we just got them. I got stuck on the mainland in a storm last night and didn’t have the laptop with me. I hope we didn’t worry you?”

“Well, I was a little…” She sniffed as she spoke, and sounded very unsure of herself, not at all like the confident woman Ligia had come to know.

“It’s all right, Mom. We wouldn’t have ignored your messages, you should know that.” Aitan smiled kindly at her. “Ligia’s with me.”

He nodded to Ligia to urge her to speak into the mic. She was a little hesitant. “Hi, Mrs. Daoud. I–I hope you’re OK?”

The old lady smiled through her tears. She was obviously relieved to speak to Ligia. “I’m OK now, darlin’,” she said with a weak smile. “Ligia, honey, I’m so sorry for those awful things I said about you. I know I hurt you and I’m so, so sorry for that.” Tears streamed down her pale face and she sniffed into her lace handkerchief.

“Oh, that’s all right. I understand, Mrs. Daoud. And thank you for your message.” Ligia smiled sympathetically at the lady on the screen, wishing she could touch her.

“Thank you so much, darlin’. That means everything to me. And my name’s Eritha, but I hope you won’t mind calling me Mom? After all, you’re gonna be my daughter-in-law soon.”

Ligia’s heart leapt. She’d never had a mom before. “I’d love to,” she gushed, holding onto Aitan’s arm to steady herself. “Thank you so much, Mrs., er,
Mom
.” She beamed into the old lady’s image and then at Aitan. Tears of joy began to trail down her beautiful face, which was now radiant.

Aitan put an arm around her shoulder. “Well, now I’ve managed to reduce both my ladies to tears, I think I’d better go.” He chuckled.

His mom wiped her face and gave them a smile so bright it sparkled all the way to her eyes. “I love you, Aitan. And you, too, Ligia, although I know we’ve never met. Aitan’s told me so much about you, and he’s obviously deeply in love with you, and that’s good enough for me.”

“We love you, too, Mom. We’ll be sure to let you know when the wedding’s gonna be, but you best pick out something pretty to wear real soon ’cos we ain’t planning on waiting around.”

His mom beamed again. “I will, and I can’t wait to see you both.” She waved into the camera until the screen went blank.

Ligia let out a huge breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Aitan closed down the laptop. “Well I’m glad that’s sorted.”

Ligia snuggled into his warm chest. “Me too. You’ve got such a lovely family, Aitan.”

“You still sure you want to be a part of it?” He grinned, but it was a serious question.

“Oh yes. I can’t wait to have a momma and sisters. I’ve never had a family.” Tears were in her eyes as she smiled up at him.

“Well that’s good, ’cos I was kinda hopin’ we’d have a family of our own one day.” His optimistic eyes only made her love him more. Her own eyes were wide with wonder and the tears spilled over.

He frowned. “You would like to have a child or two, wouldn’t you? I mean, it doesn’t have to be right away, we could wait…”

“Yes. Yes I’d love to have babies with you, Aitan. Lots of them. You’ll be such a good daddy to them, I just know it.”

His arms enveloped her slender frame and she was surrounded by his heat. His tongue teased her bottom lip before plunging her mouth. Their tongues danced and their breathing became heavier. Soon they were panting hard and grabbing at each other, each trying to get into the other’s skin. Ligia felt a gush between her legs and pressed herself against his ripped body. She was disappointed when he suddenly pulled away.

“Now, you just hold on a minute, darlin’.” His beautiful face held a stern expression she hadn’t seen before. She liked it.

“What’s wrong?” Her heart was thumping heavily.

“Quite a few things, actually,” he said with a wicked grin.

“Oh?” She wracked her brain to think of what she’d done wrong but found it hard to think straight with the way he was looking at her. His stare was hard, but so sexy. She felt another gush in her panties and was glad she was still sitting down. Excitement and anxiety began to well in her.

“I take it you don’t know what you’ve done wrong, huh?” He was standing up now, and held a hand out to her. She shook her head and followed him. She frowned when he led her to the front door instead of the one which led to their bedroom.

“Where are we going?”

“Someplace we can’t be heard.” His voice was low and she felt something lurch in her stomach. She was intrigued but a little apprehensive.

He picked up a flashlight on his way out the door. She felt her heart hammering as she followed him down the path and up the trail which led to the woodland. She didn’t like being out in the dark and gripped his hand tightly. His confidence empowered her as she strode up to the clearing in the woods. She had been here before, alone, in secret. She had touched the spanking bench which Rechavia had fashioned from a tree trunk, and had rubbed her hands over the bark of the tree which had the rope hanging from it. She had sat on the sofa and wondered what the others did there. Her heart had pounded then, but not half as hard as it did now. It hadn’t been dark then. And Aitan hadn’t been with her.

“Ligia, if we’re going to be married we have to be totally honest with each other,” Aitan began as he turned her toward him.

She stared at him. She had never lied to anyone in her life. He seemed to be searching her face. She hadn’t seen him gaze at her quite like this before. Whatever he saw there seemed to satisfy him, as he nodded.

“Ligia, have you ever been spanked before?”

Her eyes were like saucers and her mouth gaped.

“Hmm, I’ll take that as a no, then. Have you ever
wanted
to be spanked before?”

She felt a gush from her pussy and hoped he hadn’t noticed. He had.

“You see, I think it’s time you took a little punishment for your dishonesty. And I reckon a good spanking might suit you just fine, darlin’.”

She stared at him.
He wouldn’t!

“I–I haven’t done anything.” Her voice was much smaller than the indignant tone she was hoping for.

“Well, see, that’s where you’re wrong. Come on over here and I’ll explain it to you.”

He led her to the spanking bench and her heart leapt. She had always wondered what this would be like, but would never dare to ask.

“Now, I know this won’t be familiar to you, so let me tell you a little about it.”

She instinctively ran her hand over the smooth wood on top of the log.

“This here’s what we call a spanking bench. You lie over here with your hands and feet here.” He pointed to the top and underside of the trunk. “I’ll use this rope to tie your hands and feet together.”