Chapter 24: All of Them

The full moon rose over the Moon Circle at the end of a very long day.

By then I had been dressed, undressed and re-dressed by my mother, my daughter and the old midwife, who disagreed about everything but the hem.

The dress was plain cream wool.

My mother had made the belt out of the seeds from her windowsill tin, strung on thread.

I stood at the edge of the meadow with my hands shaking, and I could see all of Pine Ridge waiting in the grass.

Three hundred wolves stood in a great ring around the stones, in human shape, holding lanterns.

The brothers were already in the center.

They wore dark suits that someone had tailored overnight, and none of them could stand still.

Thane kept touching his collar.

Lorcan had a pencil behind his ear and had forgotten it.

Gareth waved at me with both arms, grinning, and Thane elbowed him.

"Ready?" said my mother at my side.

"No."

"Good," she said. "Nobody is. Go on."

I didn't get to go first.

My daughter went first.

She came out of the dark ahead of me in a green dress and an enormous paper crown, carrying a basket of torn paper flowers.

She marched down the aisle of lanterns, throwing the petals in precise handfuls, and the wolves on both sides bit their lips to keep from laughing.

My older son followed her at a dignified walk, carrying a cushion with three rings on it, which he checked every few steps.

My younger son came last, with his owl under one arm and a biscuit in his other hand.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Three Alphas Who Denied My Triplet Babies Came Back... from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.