All characters are at least 18 years old.
*****
"Isn't it a lovely day?" Mae grinned up at Buck as their hands swung between them, clasped tightly.
"It surely is, my love," Buck agreed in his soft twang. His deep, resonant voice always made her quiver inside. She looked over at him, loving the way his straw-colored hair blew in the breeze. He was tall, several inches taller than her, and broad at the shoulders. His light blue eyes pierced her heart whenever he gazed at her.
They walked up the wide meadow as birds flew overhead and others sang in the surrounding forest. The sounds of the bubbling stream behind them added to the music of nature all around them.
The bright spring sun warmed them as they approached the long tables sheltered under the shade of large trees. White puffy clouds scudded overhead, their shadows moving over the house and yard behind them.
The children's table sat apart from the adults, and both Mae and Buck were quietly thrilled to take their place at the big table for the first time.
Children ran and played, laughing and screaming. Mae looked over and smiled, remembering that it was her and Buck just a few years ago, chasing each other, or walking and talking.
She loved the times when they would be together, in their secret place in the woods, down by the bend in the stream, away from the main house, and the little cabin that nestled upstream.
They would sit on the big rock, alone, and talk. And touch. She loved that part. It had taken him such a long time to finally hold her in his arms and kiss her. Mae felt she would burst when she felt his hands on her, tentatively touching her arms and back, then the time he'd briefly held her breast.
She remembered how his fingers pressed into her firm flesh, his hand hefting her, as if measuring its weight. She knew she was larger than her sister, though not as large as her mother, and hummed with pleasure when he touched her.
His touch made her shiver when his fingers swept through her long brown hair, then harder when he whispered in her ear how wonderful she felt in his hands, and how he loved her dark brown eyes.
Buck remained a gentleman, even after she'd once tried to have him go further. The next time he'd held her bosom, she guided his hand into her shirt where she'd quietly unfastened a button.
His fingers grazed over her hot flesh, finding her nipple. Buck moved a fingertip around it, feeling the ring of small bumps surrounding the stiff protrusion. His fingers tightened, grasping her as his lips pushed against hers.
Mae had almost summoned the courage to touch his manhood, so painfully long as it tented his trousers, when Buck pulled his hand back, breaking their kiss.
His profuse apologies for taking liberties, as he called them, endeared him to her, but also frustrated her. Mae's blood felt hot in her veins from his touch, and she wanted him. Wanted something, but she didn't know what it was.
As they approached, Mae's mother, Iris, rang the triangular bell that hung from a rafter on the back porch with a long metal rod. The sounds echoed off the trees, telling the playing children it was time to come and sit for supper.
"Come and get it!" she called out, her hand running the rod around the inside of the triangle. The kids looked over, then ran up to their table and sat. The few remaining men took their seats as the women brought over dishes of food.
"I better go help, or I'll be in trouble," Mae said as she squeezed Buck's hand.
"You go on ahead, darling."
She smiled at him, then trotted up the wide porch steps and disappeared into the large house.
Buck sat near the end of the adult's table, smiling around at the others. The men thanked the women as the food was arrayed on the tables. When the last was brought out, the women took their places with their men.
Ike cleared his throat, and everyone's head bowed. Mae looked over at the children's table and shushed the talking children before he said the blessing, and then everyone said, "Amen!"
Talk bubbled around the tables as the food was passed. After the meal, the women brought down some coffee pots, and the men passed around a few mason jars of clear, pungent moonshine.
"It's a fine thing, these two young ones getting hitched," Jasper said, smiling broadly at his son and Mae as they sat together.
"They've known each other all their lives," Buck's mother, Daisy, said. "I think it's time we get them hitched before something happens." She smiled at them, her eyes twinkling.
Laughter rolled over the table as the two lovers blushed and looked at each other.
"They've sure waited long enough. My Mae's already turned eighteen last month, and Buck's three months older than her," Mae's mother, Iris, said, grinning at the two youngsters.
"Ike, what do you think of the traditions?" Jasper asked from where he sat at the end of the long table.
Ike looked back from the far end of the table. "Iris and I hold by them. They were good then, and we reckon they're good now."
Jasper smiled. "Daisy and I agree completely. It's a sin how some families are falling away from the old ways. Thinking these things aren't the right thing to do anymore."
Mae looked at Jasper and saw something in his eyes that caused her heart to skip a beat. He was an older version of Buck, with a touch of gray along his temples. His sun-darkened face and lean physique came from years of hard work outdoors.
The sparkle in his eyes caused Mae to grow damp, confusing her. Only Buck had ever brought out that response in her. She'd gone home soaked after the time he'd touched her bare breast at their secret place.
She wriggled in her chair, worried she would leave a damp spot on the back of her dress as she thought about Buck's hands touching her. She glanced up the table, and her eyes caught Jasper's. He smiled, and she gushed, confusing her and causing her cheeks to glow.
Nodding, Ike said, "Darn shame, that is. Did you hear about the Owen's, down the hollow?" Heads turned to look at Ike. "I don't want to gossip, but I heard that their daughter Mabel didn't go through with the tradition."
"That's right," Daisy said, looking around. "Now she and her husband are at odds."
"What do you mean?" Iris asked her, craning her neck to see her down the table.
"Well, like Ike said, I don't want to gossip." She looked at the surrounding faces. "I hear she's gotten herself into some trouble."
"Do tell," someone said.
Daisy couldn't hide her smile when she said, "Well, her husband, Morris, was away working. He's one of them field engineers. He goes away for months at a time occasionally, working for the mines."
She paused as the others leaned in, waiting.
"I don't know the details, but I heard when he came back from working upstate for several months, she was in the way."
Her words were met with several gasps and rueful clucks. She nodded as she looked at the assembled family. "Well, you can imagine that scene."
She shook her head. "Turns out, Morris' older brother had been asked to watch over her while his brother was away."
Ike chuckled. "Sounds like he was watching after her, alright!" The men laughed and Iris smacked his arm, then laughed, unable to contain it.
Turning, Mae looked across the wide table, catching Buck's handsome oldest brother, Clyde, looking at her. He smiled and was surprised when a bolt of heat washed over her. He saw her slight shiver and winked at her, one corner of his mouth rising imperceptibly.
"That's why we hold to the old ways. To keep these sorts of things from happening," Jasper said, and everyone agreed.
"If they'd only listened," Daisy said, shaking her head as she looked down at the table. "So much hurt could have been avoided."
Mae leaned against Buck and put her mouth near his ear. In barely a whisper, she asked, "What do they mean by the tradition?"
Buck shrugged. "Beats me," he said in a low voice. "I guess we'll find out."
Mae nodded and looked around. Her mother and soon to be mother-in-law were both looking at her, smiling. Her mother winked at her, surprising Mae and wondering what was going through her mind.
Next to Clyde was Buck's next older brother, Jeb. He bore the closest resemblance to Buck of all the brothers. Not as tall as Buck, but still close enough to bring out the response that, until this day, only Buck had caused.
She couldn't see Buck's third brother as he sat on the same side of the table, on the other side of Clyde's pretty wife, sitting next to her. Abner was sweet but painfully shy. Mae always thought he'd had a crush on her. His longing looks were not well hidden, and she'd always been kind to him. His stutter made it difficult to talk with him from time to time.
It wasn't until Buck pointed out that his stutter got worse when she wore her sundresses or other loose clothing during the hot months. During the colder months, when everyone wore layers of clothes, Abner had little difficulty conversing with her.
But when it was warm, like today, he'd get positively tongue-tied. Buck had joked and told her to stop bouncing around him so much. She'd gotten upset with him, arguing that she didn't bounce and that she walked like a lady.
It wasn't until her older sister, Jeannette, listening to her complain, had explained what Buck meant. Her face reddened and she'd held her full boobs, thinking about Abner watching them sway. She, like the other women in the family, never wore a bra. It was an expensive luxury none of them had ever felt the need for.
"So the wedding is in two weeks," Ike said, looking at the young men. "Jasper, would you be willing to honor us the first night?"
Jasper tipped his head to his oldest friend. "It would be my honor, and pleasure, to uphold the traditions our families have always held to."
"Excellent!" Ike clapped his hands. "I'll have the mothers decide the best days, and we'll make this wonderful event happen."
Cheers rang around the table, with everyone but Mae and Buck laughing and talking.
She looked at Buck, and he looked back at her and shrugged.
####
"But you're not telling me anything," Mae said as she shook her head at the reflection in the mirror. She sat on a small stool before a vanity covered with items her sister used to make her pretty.
"I'm telling you what I can, and I admit, it's not that much." Jeannette looked at the mirror, locking eyes with her little sister. "Please don't worry. This tradition goes back generations, so far back no one remembers how it started."
"So why do I have to get all gussied up?" Mae asked, one hand touching her long, light brown curls. Her sister had used curlers on her earlier, making her normally wavy hair bouncier.
"It's part of the tradition," Jeannette said, sighing. "I can't tell you any more than that. Please, just trust us."
Mae shook her head, then looked away. "Oh, alright. I will."
Jeanette beamed at her. "Good! Now, do what's asked of you, even if you don't understand it." She looked right into Mae's eyes. "Even if it seems strange to you. You may not understand what's being asked of you at first, but by the time it's over, you will."
Looking back at her sister, Mae's eyebrows furrowed. "You went through this too?"
