Chapter Six
After all the pampering and brushing out my hair, the women came back to the village to have me try on some shoes to protect my feet. I asked why are protecting my feet necessary and they all laughed at me. The whole day went by with all their hands combing my hair, trimming my toenails, cleaning my face, plucking unwanted hair strands on my eyebrows. Then the women chose a wide variety of clothes suitable for women along with pregnancy clothes. By the end of it all, I wasn't able to recognize myself in a nearby reflection.
Once they were completely finished with pampering me, Estelle walked up to me and placed a flower behind my right ear as a finishing touch.
"Thank you," I tell them, "I've never had this type of attention from women before. I was raised by my father most of my life and I didn't know what this was. I only remember my mother as a distant memory, and it wasn't the most pleasant memory she left me with."
"It's okay," says Estelle, "we all have experienced bad memories in our past lives before we came here. This is why we are here for each other for these reasons, I was once forced to be betrothed to my father simply because my mother was gone, and he missed her dearly. Then I was taking one full moon and I never had to meet my fate with him ever again."
"My brother use to beat me," says Monica. "My mother use to tell me that it was a sign of affection because my father would do the same to her most her life and that I would expect that when the time comes with my husband. Then I wandered into the woods one full moon, and I never looked back since."
"I can't say the same for me," says Suzette, "I was worshipped in my village, being the last woman there. The men use to do anything I would ask, and I wouldn't have to ask twice. I never had to worry about anything until they were all destined to be my spouses. They wanted me to be a baby breeding machine until another girl came along. I lost two children within the same year, and they still couldn't stop trying after losing such precious souls. I ran away one night during the full moon, and I woke up here the next day. I have a choice to live a life that is right for me here. We have a choice as women if we want happy lives and to forget the past that we once knew."
I couldn't reply with anything other than closing my eyes to take a deep breath before coming in with a big group hug to help ease the emotional scars these women will carry for the rest of their lives.
"What should I do," I ask, "what did you girls do once you arrived here?" I break away from contact and they all looked at me.
"Talk to Greg, give him a chance. Hear his point and don't judge from our way of living. We all want to live in peace and to be ourselves."
I nod quietly. Once the sun set, we all walked back to the Moon Village center where Greg is standing there waiting for me with his hair in a long braid at his back. Once I meet a few inches from him, his gaze softens and looks at me from head to toe.
"They fixed you up good," he nods in approval.
"I could say the same to you," I motion to his new hairstyle.
"I do it myself," he grabs his braid from behind, "I don't want anybody touching me."
"Hmm," I say as we continue to stand in silence for ten long seconds. "Now what?"
"We go home, and they expect me to ravish you into a lustful state and make you mine." My eyes widen and stop the laugh coming out.
"Are you serious?" He nods. "And if I refuse?"
"They'll know that we have no intention of being mates. Remember I don't want this, but we need to fake it in order to reach our goals."
"So, you're suggesting that we pretend to..."
"Exactly," he nods in agreement. "So, let's go home." He stops and looks at me before lifting me into his arms with swift move. I gasp from this sudden contact and fight the urge to pound him to the ground. "Sorry but we have people watching us."
"How about warning me before you touch me," I say in disgust. My body, however, couldn't help but yearn for more than his arms holding me up as he walks us back to his hut.
"I trust the women were treating you well," Greg says as he clears his throat.
"To be honest, that was my first time with so many women. I felt uneasy but they did their best with making me feel welcomed." I felt a deep chuckle vibrate from his chest, making my skin hypersensitive to his warm touch.
"It was a bit unnerving for me as well the first time I saw so many women bathing together."
"You spied on us?"
"No, I was a kid at the age of 10 when they all were bathing in the lake. They told me to come out from hiding and I ran back to the village."
We reached his hut as he set me back on my feet, leaving me standing by the bed as he walks back to close entrance with the animal hide. All is quiet and dark except the small lights above the hut. He walks up to me, clearly uneasy, watchful of my reaction.
"You said we didn't have to," I whisper, "you told me we could fake it." My eyes rake over his muscular chest to his arms and finally his face.
"Yes, I did," he says in a low voice, "but your body has other ideas." He motions to my stomach that is holding my unborn child. He's right but I refuse to lay with him for the sake of the Moon Village gossip and out of respect for John.
"My mind is in charge and I'm saying no," I put my foot down. He lifts his hand to rest on my shoulder.
"We don't have to lay together, but I do need your scent on me by tomorrow morning," he says as a hint of pink colors his cheeks.
"I suppose you can lie next to me while we sleep, will that be enough?" Greg shakes his head.
"I need your personal scent as if we mated. There are other ways to pleasure a woman without mating."
"Will it be painful or harm it," I point to my fetus, "in any way?"
"You can be reassured that it's not painful and it shouldn't harm your baby. But you do need to lie down otherwise you'll fall."
"If I don't like it, will you stop if I ask you," I ask lastly before laying down.
"You have my word, Minerva," he kneels beside the bed once I lay my head down.
Greg opens my legs slowly before he leans his face into my pelvis as I look up to the lights above the hut.