May 1461

"You've all abandoned me," Fari sighed. He leaned against the bedpost, watching Theo and Frodo help Eomer get dressed for his wedding.

"Not for long," said Frodo. "My sister's making sure of that."

"But we've got ages to go before we can get married," said Fari. "Not for three more years at least!" He shook his head sadly. "I've been left behind."

"I think you'll live," Theo said, rolling his eyes.

"Probably," Fari grinned. He hopped down from the bed. "I won't have to go through the stress of weddings and babies for a while." He crossed his arms. "In fact, it looks like I've got a pretty stress free three years coming up."

"Well, you just better hope you keep them stress free," Frodo scolded, shaking a finger at him. "Don't let me catch you getting up to anything with my sister." Frodo gave him an evil grin. "Or I'll tell my Dad."

They all laughed at the look of horror on Fari's face--even Eomer, who had started this morning quite nervous. He'd barely been able to choke down breakfast. Second breakfast, he'd only managed to clear half his plate.

"I hope you know how lucky you are, Eomer," Fari pouted. "Mr. Underhill letting you go out without a chaperone." He shook his head. "Something you never took advantage of."

Eomer rolled his eyes. "We wanted to wait. Nothing wrong with that."

Fari snorted. "I know I would have--" He looked up into Frodo's glare. "Never mind."

"Don't worry, Frodo" said Theo, clapping his friend on the back. "He knows very well that your dad will kill him if he tries anything."

They laughed, and Eomer took a deep breath. He was feeling a little less nervous now. But he would be glad when it was over with.

Then his dad was at the door and Theo clapped him on the shoulder. "Time to go," his brother said.

He was barely aware of the crowd that he walked through to get to the arbor. Then he stood there and fidgeted--for what seemed like hours but what was mostly likely just a few minutes--waiting, until Éowyn waved from the doorway and then Moira appeared and walked to the arbor, followed by one of her aunts from Staddle and Éowyn. After that, the wedding passed as a blur for Eomer. All he cared about was Moira. He said the words Pippin told him to say, half conscious of them, his eyes focused on the lass holding his hand. She was dressed in blue, in a Rohirric-style dress that Éowyn had helped her make, and had blue and white flowers twined into her dark curls. She wore a silver knotwork pendant, a gift given to her by Ivy from his mum's jewelry box. He wished his mum could have been here.

A nudge to his foot startled him from his thoughts. "You can kiss your wife, now," Pippin said, winking at him.

Eomer grinned and did just that.

-o-O-o-

Moira was unusually quiet on their journey to Crickhollow. Eomer glanced over at her. She was staring at her hands, her fingers twisting in the light blue skirt of her dress. He knew she was nervous about this night. He knew she had talked to Éowyn, then Éowyn had talked to his father, and then his father had talked to him, about nervous brides and wedding nights. But, embarassing as it was, he was glad his dad had given him the advice, because he wanted this night to be good for Moira. Or, at least not bad.

He reached over to touch her hand and she startled. "Are you all right, Moira?"

"Yes," she said, but there was a tremble in her voice. "Well...nervous." She looked up at him. "Scared, actually. Can you believe that? Of all the things in the world to be frightened of..." She sighed and looked back at her hands.

He squeezed the hand under his own. "I'm nervous, too," he said. "Dad said most everyone is nervous about it."

"Yes, but... I've never been scared to do anything. Ever. But now... I'm afraid I won't know what to do. Or it will hurt. Or I won't like it." Her voice trailed off.

Eomer chewed his lip, wondering what to say to her. What could he say to her. It wasn't going to be the same for him. It very well could be painful for her and there was nothing he could do about it. He squeezed her hand again. "Well, I don't know what to do either. We'll just have to figure it out." He gave her an encouraging smile, but only received a weak smile in return. She turned back to twisting her skirt.

They reached Crickhollow and he took care of the pony and cart while Moira went up to the house. When he came inside, she was already in the bedroom, sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed.

He went in and sat next to her. He put his arm around her and kissed her brow. "We won't do anything you're not ready to do, all right?"

She looked at him and shook her head. "No. I don't want to be afraid of this." She leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to be afraid of you."

He touched her face, tilting her head up to kiss her gently. "I love you," he said.

"I love you." She took a deep breath, then reached a hand up to finger the collar of his jacket. "I suppose we should start." She slid the jacket off him, then slowly worked her way down the buttons of his waistcoat. Every touch of her hand made his desire for her grow, but he was going to let her set the pace. He distracted himself by plucking the flowers from her hair as she worked.

The waistcoat was done and then she ran a hand along the buttons of his shirt, making him shudder a bit. "Do you want me to do this?" he asked, a bit breathless.

She shook her head, then she set to work on his shirt, keeping her eyes fixed on her task. With every button undone, her confidence seemed to grow. When the last button was done, she slid the shirt off his shoulders and paused. Then she completely surprised him by moving on to the buttons of his trousers.

He had to work hard to fight back the groan as her fingers brushed over his erection. When it was finally free of his trousers, Moira sat back, wide-eyed.

Eomer glanced down at the object of her attention. His dad had said humor might put her at ease. He'd try that. "You're not going to say it looks like a creature, are you?"

"Oh, that's right! Ivy said..." She covered a giggle with her hand and looked up at him, her eyes shining with amusement.

"Should have known," he said, rolling his eyes and giving an exaggerated sigh. He slid out of the trousers, then turned back to Moira. She was grinning at him, her nervousness temporarily forgotten. He couldn't help himself--he leaned in and kissed her.

It was a soft kiss at first, but he gradually deepened it. She didn't hesitate or pull away and he took that as a sign he could be a bit bolder. He put his hand on her hip, then slowly slid it upward, up her side and around her back until he reached the laces at the back of her dress. He found an end and gave gentle tug. "Can I?" he asked.

She nodded and he pulled harder. The tie came loose. Moira sat back to look at him a moment, before standing and pulling off the dress, leaving her in her chemise. She took a deep breath and tugged the chemise off as well.

She stood before him, naked, now. He reached out for her, hands on her hips, and pulled her to him. He kissed her belly, dipping his tongue into her navel.

"Eomer," she moaned, placing her hands on his shoulders, her fingers gripping tight. She was trembling again, but Eomer didn't think it was from nervousness.

He pulled her down to lay on the bed and turned his attention to all the places his dad had told him about that would made her forget her fear. When she was relaxed under his touch, sighing with pleasure at touch of tongue and hands, he lifted his head to look at her. "Are you ready, love?"

She nodded and pulled him down to kiss her.

Now it was his turn to be nervous. He wanted to make sure he didn't hurt her. He tried to be slow about it, once he found the right spot, but then she was tugging at him, pushing her hips into him, and he needed to be inside her.

It all went rather quickly--Dad had warned him about that, too--and when he was able to think again, he rolled over onto the bed, panting and sweaty, and looked at his wife, ready to comfort her if it had been awful for her.

To his suprrise, Moira smiled and rolled over to kiss his shoulder. "I can't believe I was scared about it," she said. "It didn't hurt at all. And I really liked it." She grinned. "Can we do it again?"

He chuckled breathlessly and kissed her cheek. "Well, not for a little while. I need to rest a bit first."

She frowned. "You're tired already?"

"No, it's just that..." He blushed. He wished Éowyn would have told her about this. "I can't go again right after. It just takes a while to... get aroused again."

She nodded and lay back down in the crook of his arm. "So how long does it take."

He chuckled. Now that she was no longer nervous, Moira had her confidence back. Especially when it came to questions, it seemed.

"I don't know. I've never noticed."

"Oh, from when you would..." She made an up-and-down motion with her hand below her belly.

Eomer coughed, his face suddenly burning. "How do you know about that?"

She shrugged. "Goldi told me. She had asked Éowyn about it, and Éowyn told her that all lads do it."

Eomer shifted to prop himself up to look at her. "Why was Goldi asking Éowyn about it?"

She giggled. "Because she walked in on Fari doing it once. He doesn't know she saw him, though."

Eomer snorted.

"What?"

Eomer laughed and lay back. "I was just thinking about Fari, if he found out that Goldi had seen him."

Moira frowned. "Would he be mad?"

Eomer chuckled and shook his head. "No. It would probably make him do it even more."

They looked at each other, then collapsed in a fit of laughter. Then Moira cuddled against him, head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. "I love you."

Eomer pressed his nose into her hair. He was so relieved this night had turned out good for her. He didn't know what he would have done if it hadn't. He kissed her brow. "I love you, too."


Author's Notes:

Moira's conversation with Goldi can be found in the short story, "Girl Talk".