{"id":1116,"date":"2021-03-15T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/?p=1116"},"modified":"2023-01-22T21:48:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T16:48:56","slug":"fanfare-frills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/fanfare-frills\/","title":{"rendered":"Fanfare &#038; Frills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Note: This is an F\/F epilogue to <a href=\"http:\/\/mybook.to\/manners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Manners &amp; Mannerisms<\/a>. It will be most of interest to those who&#8217;ve read Manners &amp; Mannerisms but is readable as F\/F historical erotica.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Catherine<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine stood in the guest bedroom she\u2019d been shown to, regarding herself in the long mirror propped up in the corner. Her wedding day had come too quickly for a new gown to be commissioned, but she\u2019d only worn this blue silk dress once before, on what had been the best day of her life prior to this one. That was the day she\u2019d danced and danced, confident in Susan\u2019s love for her and that Susan and Susan\u2019s brother Reginald would find a way to bring them together safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That night, when Susan and Reginald\u2019s carriage had gone missing, Catherine had brought Susan up to her rooms and spent a whole, amazing night with her, right there in the bed where she\u2019d always slept alone. But the next morning, all her hopes had come crashing down again. The news that Jeremy and Tom had been discovered in the coat closet and run off to London together had separated the two families for a long and desperate time, during which Catherine had wondered if she would ever see Susan again. But now she was to be married to Susan. Well and truly and married!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course she was already married in the eyes of the church\u2014to Reginald\u2014just as Susan was married to Catherine\u2019s brother William, but amongst the four of them, it was understood that the true weddings were about to happen now. William would marry Reginald, and Catherine would marry Susan. And they would live so happily together, all four of them, forever and ever. Susan had said they might have children even, if Catherine and God agreed to make it so, which was a dream Catherine had long since given up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She hugged herself, and her image in the mirror did likewise. Her brown hair didn\u2019t have Susan\u2019s beautiful auburn highlights, but it\u2019d been elaborately dressed, and it gleamed in the candlelight, shiny and smooth. The gown made the most of her soft figure, and though Catherine had never been one to call herself beautiful, the smile she wore tonight made her so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI will,\u201d she practiced out loud. Her voice quavered, shot through with nerves, so she said it again, more emphatically. \u201cI <em>will<\/em>.\u201d She would. She most definitely would. And then after\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her gaze trailed over to the bed. Though she and Susan had spent that one night together, they\u2019d not fully consummated their relationship. Catherine had thought they ought to, as there was no knowing when they would have another opportunity, but Susan had held her off, insisting that a fuller solution was coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They had kissed much\u2014not just on that night but at every opportunity for privacy\u2014and pressed their bodies together. Catherine in her thin nightdress and Susan in a borrowed nightdress every bit as thin, had been almost one body as their kisses grew wet and hungry and their hands roamed first over the parts of their bodies that were above the sheets and then over the parts of their bodies that were below the sheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine flushed to remember it, how Susan\u2019s warm and fragrant body had rubbed against hers and Susan\u2019s hands, daring to be bolder than Catherine\u2019s, had teased across one of her nipples. Susan had thrust a thigh between Catherine\u2019s legs, bunching her nightdress into a tangle, and Catherine had ridden it like a saddle until a feeling unlike any other had burst through her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After, Susan had petted Catherine and made her go to sleep without allowing her to bring Susan to a similar peak of ecstasy, but tonight Catherine must do better. Susan was to be her wife, and that meant seeing to her every need and especially to her needs in the bedroom. Catherine didn\u2019t know how to do such a thing, but Susan was knowledgeable and patient, always ready to explain any matter, and Susan would teach her the way of it. Soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Susan<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan waited at the altar. She\u2019d decorated it with her own hands after Gatwick, Reginald\u2019s valet, had erected it at the end of the hallway that ran down the long second-story floor where she and Reginald kept their bedchambers. She\u2019d spent all of yesterday twining flowers and ribbon through the latticework because she\u2019d been far too excited for any other pursuit, imagining the whole time how she would stand in front of it to exchange vows with the most beautiful woman in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except that the most beautiful woman in the world seemed to be missing. Susan flashed a concerned look at her brother Reginald, who stood arm-in-arm with his intended. Reginald patted her hand comfortingly. It wasn\u2019t like Susan to panic, but oh, if Kitty had changed her mind\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But no. The door across from her creaked open, only slightly at first but then wider, and behind it stood Catherine, wearing her blue ball gown with the white lace accents that so complimented her rosy pink skin. She held a bouquet in one hand, and with the other she swept the hem of her gown through the door in a graceful gesture that nearly took Susan\u2019s breath away. To think, this woman would be hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan had to look away for a moment. Her gaze landed on her lady\u2019s maid, Gretta, who beamed back at her with a grin wider than either of the brides was managing. Gretta was pleased for her, and of course Susan was pleased for herself. So pleased she might die. But if she survived the next few minutes, paradise would be hers, right here on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She extended her hand, and Catherine took it, and there. It was all fine now, with them touching each other. Their smiles grew as wide as Gretta\u2019s as they gazed into each other\u2019s eyes, exchanging all the vows that needed to be said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reginald had offered to let the ladies go first, but Susan had demurred, thinking it would be easier on Catherine to watch William set an example before taking such a monumental step herself. Now, though, she chafed at the delay as Reginald and William exchanged vows, reminded of how William had said the same words to her only this morning. He hadn\u2019t meant them then, nor more than she\u2019d meant the vows she\u2019d made in return, but she could hear how fervently he meant them now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then it was their turn. With their hands still joined, she and Catherine took their places in front of Cards. Cards officiated all the household ceremonies, being the son of a country preacher. He intoned his lines with proper gravity, and it meant so much more when Susan said \u201cI will\u201d to Catherine than it had when she\u2019d said the same words to William earlier. This hallway, decorated in floral garlands, shined to a waxy gloss, and lined with their servant who were also their friends, was a higher church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI will,\u201d Catherine said when it was her turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan squeezed Catherine\u2019s fingers, overcome with what she realized was relief. For all that she\u2019d expressed every confidence of their eventual and continued happiness, she\u2019d expected anything else\u2014that Catherine would get cold feet or William would get cold feet or Catherine and William\u2019s sister-in-law would withdraw her approval of their sham marriages. The enterprise seemed so fraught with the possibility for disruption, but now they\u2019d done it. The four of them belonged together, forever and ever. Which meant Susan got to bring her bride to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Catherine<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine gave William one last, lingering hug and then was glad to watch him walk away. She didn\u2019t care to think of her brother being close by while she celebrated her wedding night with her wife. Susan brought her to the other end of the hallway, where her personal rooms were kept. Catherine had been in Susan\u2019s sitting room before, but she\u2019d never passed through the door that separated it from Susan\u2019s actual bedchamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe won\u2019t need Gretta to help us undress, I don\u2019t think,\u201d Susan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine shook her head, but she remained standing in the center of the generous room, not moving any closer to the four-poster bed dressed in yards and yards of emerald green satin. It was the color Susan had worn that night at the ball, but she wore a paler green tonight, unexpectedly demure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She came around to Catherine\u2019s back and began to unhook her, going through the motions that were so familiar, though not from a lover. Susan separated articles of clothing from Catherine\u2019s body one by one, laying each one over a low stand and then returning to put her hands where the cloth had been, until the last bit of underclothing was gone and Catherine stood naked and trembling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAre you cold?\u201d Susan asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She ran her hands along Catherine\u2019s arms, stirring up the light hairs on her forearms and soothing warmth into her, but Catherine wasn\u2019t truly cold. A boisterous fire crackled in the fireplace, and a stronger heat came from within\u2014a mixture of anticipation and embarrassment. Only her lady\u2019s maid ever saw like this, as nature had made her, and only while assisting her at her bath with her eyes low and respectful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan\u2019s eyes, when Catherine turned in the circle of her arms to let Susan see her whole self, were neither downcast nor respectful. They were admiring, eager, hungry. A flush suffused her, making her skin feel more alive than it\u2019d ever been, as though any touch might topple her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMay I do you now?\u201d she asked, as eager to see Susan in her entirety as Susan was to see her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan presented her back, and Catherine went again through the familiar motions, but this time she was on the less familiar side of them. She\u2019d never undressed anyone before, and her movements were hesitant, slowed by novelty and awe. She added Susan\u2019s garments to the pile of hers until Susan stepped out of her chemise, and there she was. Nothing but skin, and all Catherine\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine almost couldn\u2019t bring herself to touch, she was so overcome by the sight. Susan\u2019s breasts sat high on her chest, smaller than Catherine\u2019s and firmer. Her nipples were brown circles atop creamy flesh, hardened to wrinkled points. Her stomach beneath them was soft and rounded, the skin the same pale ivory as Catherine\u2019s, though Susan\u2019s face was somewhat browner from her greater exposure to the sun. She didn\u2019t wear a bonnet as religiously as Catherine had been taught to, and her arms, which had been likewise bared to the sun on occasion over the summer, were tan against the lightness of her torso. Her thighs dimpled gently, and her knees were so preciously plump. Everything about her was delightful, a treasure Catherine had never expected to own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAre we really here?\u201d she asked. \u201cCan this be true?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s almost too wonderful to believe,\u201d Susan agreed, though she had seemed so certain all through those months as friendship blossomed to more, as though she\u2019d always known they would one day be here\u2014wives who were about to become lovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine counted on Susan\u2019s confidence, given how little she had of her own. And it seemed Susan must have some experience as well because her hands as they roamed over Catherine\u2019s arms and stomach and breasts knew exactly how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWill you come with me to the bed?\u201d Susan asked. \u201cIt\u2019s to be our bed now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd no one will mind? Or tell?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo one at all, I promise. In the eyes of our friends and brothers, there is no more rightful place you could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea that they could share a bed night after night was almost too wonderful to contemplate, and Catherine drew Susan toward the large four-poster as her answer. Yes, she would come to bed with Susan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan turned down the covers, and Catherine climbed onto the bed as gracefully as she could manage, though her derri\u00e8re stuck out rather awkwardly as she hiked her knee up. She turned over her shoulder to catch Susan admiring it and lost any worry about her lack of grace. Instead, she stopped on all fours and wriggled the body part in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan laughed, a delightful sound Catherine always loved, but tonight it was tinged with an extra layer of glee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy love,\u201d she said. \u201cMay you always be so saucy for me.\u201d She leaned down and kissed the flesh of Catherine\u2019s bottom, gracing one of her cheeks with a firm press of warm lips. \u201cNow in you go, that I may join you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine scurried to climb the rest of the way into bed and rolled onto her back to watch Susan come after her. Susan hovered over her, her breasts drooping down to form tempting peaks. Catherine reared up to nip at one, catching the bud between her lips even as a giggle escaped her. So wonderful to be so free. All this lovely flesh, absolutely hers to play with and to hold. She caught Susan around the waist and pulled her down so their bodies pressed together with nothing at all between them, not even air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Susan<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan hadn\u2019t expected Catherine to be so forward and easy. She\u2019d thought she might have to coach her slowly in the ways of womanly love, accustom her to the idea that it was all right to touch and be touched. But Catherine was a clever girl, adept at sewing or riding or painting, at anything she wished to try, and she was adept at this as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan released her fear that a too-rigid upbringing would make it difficult for Catherine to accept their love. Catherine wasn\u2019t merely accepting it. She was driving it. Her hands roamed over Susan\u2019s body as if she wanted to catalogue every inch of it right now. They would have time, Susan hoped. Years and years\u2019 worth of time to get to know each other\u2019s every fold and crevice, but she didn\u2019t stop Catherine\u2019s explorations, only tried to return them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their mouths came together between moans, tongues tangling as Susan had already taught Catherine to kiss in many a heated session in Catherine\u2019s sitting room while they pretended Catherine was painting her portrait. Perhaps now they would find some time for actual painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine was so sweet with her kisses, so open and soft, and her breath huffed out her pleasure as their lower halves arched into each other, rubbing and grinding their way toward release. Susan had brought her to release like this before, but today she longed to do more, to use her fingers and even her tongue. So she rolled them until they were side by side, allowing her to free up a hand. She licked her fingers before lowering them between Catherine\u2019s legs, but she needn\u2019t have bothered, for all was wet down there already. Catherine\u2019s juices coated the folds of her quim, and her button reared up, engorged and hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine gasped when Susan touched her there. Her hands clamped hard on Susan\u2019s shoulders, her own exploration halted as Susan manipulated the tender bud gently, rolling it between her fingers which she kept wet with Catherine\u2019s own juices so as not to overwhelm her with sensation. Catherine bucked a little, both asking for more and shying away from it, as Susan murmured encouragement in her ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCome for me, Kitty. Come on my fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOh, Susan,\u201d Catherine muttered back. \u201cOh, I must.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes, don\u2019t hold back.\u201d Susan continued to tweak and tease Catherine\u2019s bud as she eased a finger inside her wife, working slowly in case her membrane was still intact, but the finger slid in easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She stroked Catherine\u2019s inner walls, angling for the firm spot where sensation collected. Catherine gave a low groan, and her hips churned more wildly. Before Susan could insert a second finger, Catherine stiffened, her hands biting down on Susan\u2019s shoulders and her eyes opening as wide as if she could see God right there in their bedroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan lightened her attention to Catherine\u2019s bud and eased out her finger, sliding her palm gently but firmly all over Catherine\u2019s mound as Catherine shuddered out her pleasure. Susan was eager to have her tongue between Catherine\u2019s legs, but it must wait until she recovered, else she would be too sensitive to enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Catherine<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine\u2019s whole body shook from the force of her release. But it couldn\u2019t be like that other night, where pleasure was taken but not returned. She must learn to do her wifely duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAm I to do the same to you?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you like.\u201d Susan was trying to sound indifferent, but she didn\u2019t fool Catherine, who knew her every mood. She was excited, the bud between her legs undoubtedly as hard as Catherine\u2019s had been, her folds as slippery with the excretions of arousal. She must need release, and Catherine would bring it to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou said we might\u2026\u201d she started, but it was difficult to continue. \u201cThat sometimes a person might put their mouth there. Where your fingers have been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan nodded eagerly. \u201cHave you recovered sufficiently? Will you let me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSilly.\u201d Catherine pushed on Susan\u2019s shoulder teasingly. It was always Susan\u2019s way to try to care for her. \u201cI meant that I might like to do that to you. If you\u2019ll teach me the way of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCatherine.\u201d Susan\u2019s voice sounded almost anguished. \u201cAre you certain, darling?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m certain I\u2019d like to try, but also certain I shall need instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know that you will. If your mouth were on my quim, I might come at the first touch of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then they must waste no time proceeding. Catherine wiggled down the bed, pushing Susan onto her back as she went until she was on her stomach between Susan\u2019s legs, looking right at that part of Susan\u2019s body which she had never seen on her own. It was difficult to catch more than an oblique glimpse of it, and she\u2019d barely dared try even that. It felt so sinful. But Susan was her wife, so no sin could be involved in knowing her every part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She separated Susan\u2019s legs more widely, pushing them up until Susan planted her feet on the bed, leaving her entirely revealed. It was so beautiful, her quim. Like a flower, with its layers of petals and in the center, a rosy bud. Susan\u2019s folds glistened with her arousal, and a pleasant yeasty smell rose up to Catherine\u2019s nose\u2014a small so entrancing it called Catherine\u2019s tongue out of its own accord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She dabbed at Susan\u2019s quim, into the pool at the bottom of her hole where her fluids collected. The tip of her tongue pierced Susan\u2019s hole, opening it wider until the whole thing had disappeared into her channel. The walls of Susan\u2019s quim were surprisingly muscular, closing around Catherine\u2019s tongue. She remembered how Susan\u2019s finger had felt inside her\u2014as though nothing larger could possibly fit. But entire babies came through this opening! What a miracle it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She withdrew her tongue, savoring the taste and slickness that came with it. Susan put a hand in Catherine\u2019s hair, and Catherine realized they hadn\u2019t taken their hair down, such a rush they\u2019d been in to explore each other\u2019s bodies. What a sight they must be with formal hairstyles and not a lick of clothes. It made her giggle to think of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her giggle was wet against Susan\u2019s quim, drawing her back to that delicious flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be teaching me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve no need of it, Kitty. Only lick me anywhere you like, and use your fingers also, if you will. I\u2019ll say if you do something that displeases me, but I can\u2019t imagine it ever happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catherine dropped a kiss onto Susan\u2019s bud, loving how perky and red it was for her. It confirmed Susan\u2019s words, echoed how Susan wanted her, so she put aside her nerves and began. She licked and suckled, thinking of how Susan\u2019s fingers had brought her to her release and using similar movements except with her lips and tongue to roll and squeeze and tease and stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan grew wild as she worked, tossing her plaited head across the pillow, and all the while the most encouraging words dropped from her lips. Catherine eased a finger into Susan\u2019s hole, wanting to know how it felt to touch as well as to lick, and Susan\u2019s channel gripped her tightly, the flesh inside so warm and slick, almost pulsing as Susan clenched around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The combination of mouth and fingers had Susan bucking up to meet her, so frenzied that Catherine struggled to keep her mouth aligned with Susan\u2019s center of pleasure, but finally her goal was achieved. Susan released with a gasp, unquestionably having hit some pinnacle for her hips froze in mid gyration and the sound that came from her had Catherine eager for release all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s enough, Kitty.\u201d Susan petted the back of her head, and Catherine reluctantly eased her mouth away, taking only a last swipe from bottom to top to catch all Susan\u2019s remaining juices. Her face was wet with them, from nose to chin and cheek to cheek. She\u2019d been rolling around in Susan\u2019s quim like a child in a puddle, and she was as happy and joyous and free as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDid I do well?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOnly too well,\u201d Susan said. \u201cAs you do everything you put your hand to. Come up here now. Let us hold each other a while before\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore what?\u201d Catherine asked as she wrapped Susan in her arms and Susan wrapped her back just as tightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore we do it all again. Only this time, I\u2019ll have my mouth on you, and perhaps you\u2019ll use only your fingers on me. And then we might do it again by sliding along each other. And then\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy goodness, Susan,\u201d Catherine exclaimed. \u201cWe shall never leave our bedroom again at that rate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan grinned\u2014a salacious, loving grin. \u201cWould you be sorry if we didn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot a bit of it. I\u2019m home now. Forever and forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The End<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Make sure you never miss a new free story by <a href=\"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">signing up for my newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"theend\"><strong><em>If you enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybook.to\/manners\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1121\" src=\"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MM-cover-small-188x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for Manners &amp; Mannerisms by Tanya Chris shows two men in historical clothes reclining on a chaise together in a gilded room\" width=\"150\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MM-cover-small-188x300.jpg 188w, https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MM-cover-small-313x500.jpg 313w, https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MM-cover-small.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/mybook.to\/WIAFD\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-112\" src=\"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/wiafd_small-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for When It All Falls Down by Tanya Chris\" width=\"155\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/wiafd_small-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/wiafd_small.jpg 518w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 155px) 100vw, 155px\" \/><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/mybook.to\/mmlove\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-111\" src=\"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Merge_Ahead-small-188x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for Merge Ahead by Tanya Chris\" width=\"150\" height=\"240\"><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s Catherine and Susan\u2019s wedding night. 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