Joshua, hoping his beard and moustache hid his grin, stood solemnly until the couples reached him. Blade and Jenny standing to his right, Hickok and Sherry to his left.
Plato and his wife, Nadine, were in the front row of the Family, Nadine with tears in her eyes.
Joshua raised his hands over his head.
“Brothers and sisters,” he began, “fellow children of our loving Creator, we are gathered here today for a very special ceremony, for the eternal binding of these two couples. As the Spirit is our witness, we pray for their happiness together as husband and wife.”
Joshua lowered his arms and stared at the four people in front of him.
“Binding,” he continued, “is a serious responsibility. A union of a man and a woman should be an equal partnership, a mutual sharing predicated on love and loyalty. The woman agrees to go through life with her man, to assist the man in dealing with the hardships of life, and to diligently shoulder the burden of bearing and rearing children.”
Joshua glanced at Hickok and Blade.
“The man must appreciate the sacrifice the woman makes in carrying, bearing, and usually assuming the far-greater share of responsibility in raising the children. The man must be willing to offer not only protection from the evils of this world, but also the loving companionship and consideration the woman deserves.”
Joshua’s voice rose in volume.
“The man and the woman have not only joined in partnership with one another, they have also joined in partnership with the Spirit as co-directors of their destiny and as procreators of a new life, new eternal souls, for the bringing of innocent infants into the world.”
He gazed at the women.
“Do you, Jenny and Sherry, take these men as your respective mates, to love and cherish throughout all eternity?”
“I do,” Jenny stated.
“I do,” Sherry concurred.
“And do you, Blade and Hickok, take these women as your respective mates, to love and honor throughout time without end?”
“I do,” Blade promptly replied.
“I…” Hickok began, and then coughed, his throat congested.
Sherry glared at her beloved.
“I do!” Hickok hastily exclaimed, so loudly they heard him in the infirmary.
Star, standing in the front row alongside Plato and Nadine, giggled.
“Remember your vows to one another,” Joshua resumed. “When the storm clouds gather overhead, in times of sickness or danger, ever bear in mind the supernal affection you share, the unbreakable bond of love, cemented by this ceremony.”
He paused.
“I now declare you to be husband and wife. You may kiss as a symbol of this union.”
Many Family members were clapping as Blade took Jenny in his arms.
Hickok hesitated.
“You’d better kiss me,” Sherry warned.
“In front of all these people?”
“Would you rather have a kiss or a fat lip?”
Hickok reluctantly complied, embracing Sherry and gingerly kissing her on the lips.
“Oh, good grief!” she declared, and grabbed him by his hair, planting a kiss on him, her tongue boring into his mouth, that he’d never forget.
A strident horn suddenly sounded from the west wall, and the gunman stiffened and pushed Sherry away.
“Hey! Something wrong with my kiss?” she demanded.
“Shhhh!” he shushed her.
The horn blasted twice more in quick succession.
Instantly, the Family members were in motion, running every which way.
“What’s going on?” Sherry asked, alarmed.
“The danger signal,” Hickok answered. He pecked her on the cheek.
“You get inside until I see what it is.”
“I will not,” she defied him. “I’m a Warrior now, and where you go, I go!”
Blade and Jenny were racing toward the west wall.
“All right,” Hickok agreed. “But stay close to me.” He jogged after Blade, noting the drawbridge was up, relieved because any attackers would experience supreme difficulty in gaining entrance to the Home otherwise.
Hickok reached the stairs. Sherry on his heels. Blade and Jenny were already at the top.
“I make it about forty horsemen,” Blade stated as Hickok reached his side.
“Any idea who they are?” Hickok asked.
The line of riders was poised at the edge of the forest, one hundred and fifty yards from the compound walls. The fields surrounding the Home were kept cleared of all vegetation as a security precaution.
“They’re not Watchers,” Blade deduced, “and they don’t look like scavengers. The Moles don’t own horses, and neither do the people in the Twin Cities. I don’t know who they are.”
Three of the riders detached themselves from the rest and rode slowly toward the wall.
“Is one of them a woman?” Sherry inquired, squinting to see better.
Rikki joined them, binoculars in his left hand, his katana in his right.
“Here,” he said, offering the binoculars to Blade. “You’d better take a look.”
Blade did, and grinned. “Well, I’ll be damned!”
“What is it?” Hickok pressed him.
“See for yourself.”
Hickok took one look and spun, bellowing at several men standing near the massive mechanism utilized for lowering and raising the drawbridge.
“What are you yokels waiting for? Lower the blasted drawbridge!”
The men exchanged puzzled looks as they obeyed the order.
Hickok tossed the binoculars to Blade and bolted down the stairs. He impatiently waited for the drawbridge to fully lower, then casually sauntered across it to the field.
“I don’t understand…” Sherry said to Blade.
“You will in a minute,” he predicted.
The three riders reined in when they reached the gunman.
Hickok, all smiles, strolled over to one of the horsemen, his thumbs hooked in his gunbelt. “Howdy there, pard. Long time no see.”
“Did you miss me?” Geronimo asked.
Hickok feigned a yawn. “Naw. I never even noticed you were still gone until this morning.”
“Oh.” Geronimo sounded disappointed. “Anything happen while I was away?”
“Nope. Nothing much. How about you? Run into any trouble out there in the big, bad world?”
“A very boring trip,” Geronimo answered. “Nothing much happened.”
The lovely woman on the horse next to Geronimo glanced at him, her black hair waving in the wind. “Oh? Is that right?” She wore black pants and a yellow blouse, both in reasonably good shape.
Geronimo cleared his throat. “One event of some significance did occur,” he sheepishly admitted.
“What’s that, pard?”
“I got married.”
Hickok’s astonishment showed. “You did what?”
“Her parents wouldn’t allow her to come here if we weren’t married,” Geronimo explained. “Otherwise, I’d have invited you to the wedding.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Hickok said.
“Why not?”
“Because,” Hickok smiled, “Blade and I got hitched too.”
“What? When?”
“You’re interrupting the ceremony right now,” Hickok informed him.
“We pushed it as fast as we could,” commented the third rider, a tall man with blue eyes and light brown hair, wearing buckskins and mounted on a fine Palomino.
“Hickok,” Geronimo introduced them, “this is Kilrane. the leader of the Cavalry.”
“The what?”
“I’ll explain after we’re inside,” Geronimo said.
“I’m right pleased to make your acquaintance,” Kilrane declared, extending his right hand.
Hickok reached up and shook.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Kilrane mentioned.
“So have I,” Cynthia stated, offering her own hand.
“You must be the lucky lady,” Hickok commented as he turned and shook with her.