“Michael is going to make an awesome husband, Maggie. Good catch, girlfriend.”
“Yeah, and you’re cool, too,” said Lina. “We were afraid Michael would end up with someone a little more...” she scrunched up her nose, searching for the right word.
“... stuck-up,” Taryn finished. The rest of them nodded in agreement.
Maggie’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, we’re not -, I mean he hasn’t - ” she stuttered, unable to stammer her way into clarification. “We’ve barely known each other a week.”
They all smiled as if they knew a secret she didn’t. It was Lexi who spoke first. “Trust us on this, Maggie. Michael plans on marrying you.”
“How could you possibly know something like that?”
“Because we’ve all been in your shoes, Maggie. It’s fast, it’s furious, and you can’t believe it’s happening, but it is. And you know in your heart it’s right, even if your mind can’t quite wrap itself around the idea just yet.”
It was like they knew. Maggie had refused to let herself think too much about it. About the feelings she had when she was with Michael. About the way he’d wrapped himself around her heart, commanded her soul. Things like this just didn’t happen, except maybe in books.
“There’s one way to know for sure,” Taryn said quietly as if reading her mind. The other women looked at her, knowledge on their faces.
“How?” Maggie asked, wondering how her voice could tremble so much on a single word. Keely tipped the brandy into Maggie’s glass and nodded slightly, encouraging her to sip. Maggie gratefully raised it to her lips.
Taryn leaned forward and dropped her voice so only those at the table could hear. “Our men, they aren’t choir boys, not even Michael.” Maggie had suspected as much, but had been afraid to ask. “And among other things, they’ve had their fair share of women. But they are careful men, Maggie, and like we said before, they leave nothing to chance.”
She paused, searching for the right words. “Jake told me once that they all are of the belief that there is but one woman fated for them. They even have a name for her – they call her their croie.”
Maggie’s mind translated the word. “Heart?”
“Heart, soul mate. And when they find her, their hearts and bodies will recognize her even before their mind does. When they find her, Maggie, they will not use protection. It goes against every instinct they have, and these men live and breathe by their instincts. That’s how you know if you’re the one.”
Taryn took a deep breath and sat back. Several emotions hit Maggie hard simultaneously: hope, denial, shock, fear. Maggie tipped the glass and downed the rest of her drink in one swallow.
Lexi placed her hand over Maggie’s. Keely did the same on the other side. “It’s okay, Maggie,” Lexi said. “These are good men. Michael’s a good man. You’ll never find another man who will care for you the way he will.”
“She’s right, you know,” Taryn said. “We’ve all tried fighting it, but in the end, it’s pointless. You need him as much as he needs you.”
“So true,” Stacey said. “If you read Salienne Dulcette, you’ll see the truth of that soon enough.”
“But those are just stories,” Maggie murmured, feeling a bit numb and dizzy. “They’re not real.”
“More real than you’d think,” Lina said.
“And your story – that is pure Salienne right there. Do you mind?” Maggie looked at Stacey as if she didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
“Stacey’s an author,” Lina explained. “She’s always looking for ideas. I think we’ve all contributed in one way or another.”
Stacey grinned. “With a family like this - ” she spread her hands out, encompassing the entire room, “- I’ll have enough material to last me a lifetime.”
“What kind of stories do you write?”
“Romantic, erotic fiction.”
“Like Salienne Dulcette?”
The women exchanged knowing glances, while Stacey tried to bite back a smile. “You know Salienne’s work then?”
“I love it,” Maggie confessed somewhat shyly. Why did she have the feeling she was missing something? Her mind was still reeling from Taryn’s little revelation and buzzing comfortably from the brandy she’d been sipping, not to mention a few of the pain pills she’d taken as a precautionary measure earlier. When she spoke, it was as if someone else was speaking for her.
“As a matter of fact, I posted a thank-you note on her website yesterday,” she added. “Her books can be very, um, educational.”
Maggie was slightly shocked by the words that seemed to come out on their own, but the other women were nodding in ready agreement.
“Which book did you find especially, er, helpful?” Stacey asked.
“The one set along the beach, where the woman kind of, uh, takes charge of things and surprises the man by sneaking into his room and waking him in the middle of the night...”