Chapter Twenty-seven

Frodo opened his eyes, the room was dim in the gray, pre-dawn light. He took a moment to remember where he was. The cottage, and it was the morning after his wedding. Linwe was in his arms, her back nestled up against his chest. She was there with him. It had all really happened, like the most beautiful of dreams come to life. He held her a little tighter, suddenly overcome by the joy and wonder of it all. He buried his face in her soft hair, breathing deeply.

Summer

She smelled of summer.

He remembered the first time that thought had come to him. It was just after he had moved back to Bag End. He had found her in the kitchen preparing something for baking. He had watched transfixed at the graceful movements of her hands as they went about their task. She had those ever present loose curls that had fallen in her face. He remembered how he had longed to reach out to brush them back just so that he could feel the silkiness of them against his fingers.

He could do that now.

He loved her.

She loved him.

She was in his arms.

He reached up with trembling fingers to slowly brush the tumble of curls back from her face and neck. It felt like fine satin. Even in the dim light of early morning her hair seemed to shine with a light all it’s own.

Again he inhaled deeply. Once more her summery fragrance took him back to that day at Bag End. He had just invited her to come to stay once Sam and Rosie had moved in. She had joyfully thrown her arms around his neck, like a happy child presented with a gift. He remembered he had put his arms around her, holding her close. She had not felt like a child then or now. She was slender for a full grown Hobbit, but as he held her close he could feel her curves. There could be no doubt she was all grown up. Her hair and skin were redolent of sunshine, soft breezes, lush green grass and shade trees. Recalling that afternoon, that moment, he remembered how he had felt, the tingle of new born passion that had swept through him.

How could he have ignored it?

How could he have gone so long not understanding how he had felt about her?

He loved her.

As his heart relived the memory of that golden afternoon, Frodo reached forward and nuzzled the exposed skin of her neck, inhaling deeply of her mesmerizing fragrance. Once again he felt the tingling sensation sweep through him. His heart raced. His breath quickened. He brought his lips down on the delicate skin just behind her ear then kissed it once, twice, three times. She stirred in her sleep.

"Linwe" he whispered in her ear, kissing the tip of it softly.

She stirred once more. She smiled. He kissed her ear three times more and whispered her name again.

She stretched, moving against him like a cat. He started planting kiss after sensuous kiss on her neck. With a soft sigh she turned her head towards him. His lips closed over hers. He savored the supple feel of her lips against his as he deepened the kiss.

She shifted her body around to face him. Their lips parted briefly, in that moment he looked into her eyes only to be transfixed by the kaleidoscope of colors that were vivid even in the dusky light of early morning.

"I love you." He whispered, but the words did not seem enough to express the sheer force of the feelings he had for her.

As he gazed into her eyes gentle shimmering shades of blue and violet seemed to emerge next to the fiery glimmers of gold. She smiled "I love you," she whispered the words against his lips.

He savored the tender feel of her lips against his own. He could feel his passion for her grow stronger. He surrendered himself to it.

Caught up in the seething storm of feeling and emotion he was unaware that his hand had slid down to come to a rest on her hip until he felt her move against him. A wave of pure passion crashed over him. When Frodo emerged from the churning waters he found Linwe was beautifully naked. Another wave crashed over him this time when he broke through into awareness he found her caressing his bare skin.

Wave after wave of passion and joy hit him. Each coming faster than the one before, stealing his breath, washing all awareness of place and time away. There was only himself with her.

"Oh my Linwe!"

In time the waves subsided. The storm of passion moved off leaving him effused with a warm glow of happiness, contentment, and love.

~~~~~

A beam of sunlight crept across the floor stirring up motes of dust as it passed. Gradually it started to creep up the side of the bed playing with the colors of the quilt, jewel tones of amethyst, emerald, and sapphire. There were shadows as it came upon the peaks and valleys of mussed up bedding. Eventually the shaft of light fell upon a jumble of feet, two smallish ones entwined with two larger ones. There was a slight stirring in the bed the shifting of a leg, the gentle caressing movement of a hand, then a sigh of contentment.

Frodo and Linwe nestled together in the deep soft bedding, holding one another closely. Linwe’s cheek resting on Frodo’s chest as she listened happily to each beat of his heart.

Frodo’s chin rested on the top of Linwe’s head, one hand buried deep in the silky tumble of oh her hair, the other gently caressing her arm. He lay quietly bemused. It all seemed to good to be true, dreams made of sunlight and summer breezes. Frodo half expected to wake up to find he had been dozing under the Mallorn tree, that all that had happened in the last week was nothing but that, sun dreams.

"I love you." He said quietly.

Linwe tilted her head up, Frodo opened his eyes to gaze deeply into hers. "And I love you," she said with a gentle smile.

There lips came together for a lingering kiss, then Frodo let his head fall back to rest on the pillows again. He smiled at her. "I’m afraid Sam is right. I have been behaving the fool. To think I could have been enjoying your kisses long before now."

"Yes, it does seem that it took you a while to see sense, but I suppose that wisdom will eventually come to even one such as yourself." Said Linwe in the haughtiest tone she could manage.

"I am sorry I was blind for so long. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?" Pleaded Frodo.

"I don’t know. You did put me through so much. I really don’t see as I could have waited much longer for you. Do you have any idea how many marriage proposals I turned down while waiting for you?"

Frodo raised one eye brow, "I can’t say that I do, but I do know of one proposal you accepted, aside from my own that is."

Linwe pulled away from Frodo, her mouth fell open in shock. "How dare you say that? I have done no such thing!"

Frodo smiled mischievously, "I dare say it because it is true. It was after Sam and Rosie’s wedding, you were making a spectacle of yourself dancing with anyone who asked nicely. To think I had been lead to believe you were shy and reserved as well as having a dislike of being in a large crowd."

"I am normally quite shy." She protested.

"Yes dear," said Frodo patting her hand placatingly, "as I was saying, you were dancing at the moment in question. Your partner was Rudiger Bolger. I was standing close by when the dance ended. It was then young Rudiger asked you to marry him. You, my dear, accepted his proposal. The poor lad is only six years old and he is already having his heart broken by a lass with a fickle heart." Here Frodo sighed tragically "But then what can one expect of a Hobbit lass raised in Bree of all places. I would say consorting with all of the big folk there has made you quite strange."

Linwe had put some distance between herself and her husband. Propping her head up on one are she glared at him. "Are you quite finished?" She asked coldly

"Not really, I would like to add that the Baggins family used to be well thought of. Now we have you so I suppose we’ve lost all hope of regaining our former respectability. It is such a pity."

Linwe sat up, modestly keeping herself covered with the sheet. She started carefully arranging the folds of it about her as one might arrange the folds of a rich gown. Once that was done to her satisfaction she raised her head looking down on Frodo imperiously and proceeded to address him. "My dear Mr. Baggins, we are not amused, if you insist upon continuing to insult us in this manner, we shall be forced to take the one pony on the premises to return to Brandy Hall. You sir, may return to Bag End alone."

Frodo’s eyes lit up. "Does that mean I get to watch you walk out of here wearing nothing but that sheet and your dignity? I seem to recall a morning not to long ago when you walked out of my room in just that manner and I must say you were adorable."

Linwe couldn’t help but to return Frodo’s happy grin with one of her own. "Shame on you, Frodo, you are behaving like a cheeky lad." Said Linwe trying to sound stern and failing. "I would expect such behavior from Merry and Pippin but not from you."

"I do apologize, I would hate to disappoint you. Please tell me what you expect of me."

Linwe thought for a moment then said "I expect sweet words and tender caresses."

Frodo sat up moving closer to Linwe, he reached up and pushed a stray curl from her face, leaning in close he asked "Would kisses do?" he then pressed his lips to hers.

Linwe enthusiastically accepted his kiss, delighting in the feel of the movement of his lips against her own. A tingling sensation spread from her lips through out her body to her finger tips and toes. All was well until Linwe abruptly pulled back breaking the contact of their lips. "We simply must stop this." She said

Frodo blinked in confusion. "What…why?"

"Because if we keep this up we will not be leaving this bed at anytime this day."

Frodo looked at her, his wide blue eyes brimming with innocent astonishment. "Were we supposed to? I know my understanding of such matters is lacking to say the least, but I thought that it was customary for newly married Hobbits to spend their first few days of marriage getting better aquatinted with one another in this manner. How else are we supposed to fill Bag End with nine sons?"

"Nine sons?" asked Linwe "Why nine sons?"

"There were eight other members of the Fellowship. I would like to name one son for each member, and one after Bilbo so that makes nine." Explained Frodo.

"I am impressed, dear, that you have obviously given this some thought. But I must ask, will we have any daughters?"

"I am so sorry, I seem to have forgotten our daughters. Let me think for a moment." Frodo laid back on the pile of pillows, he started muttering to himself and counting on his fingers. At last he spoke again, "I have it all sorted out."

"Oh good, please enlighten me, my love," said Linwe, her voice filled with somewhat feigned admiration.

"We will have nine daughters as well as nine sons." He said the light of triumph filling his eyes.

Linwe just looked at him one of her eye brows slightly raised. "I assume you have names picked out for all of these daughters."

"Of course I have, their names will be Linwe, Merenwen, Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn, Lila, Primula, and Esmeralda."

"Those are lovely names dearest one, but there is one little flaw with your otherwise brilliant plans for naming our children." Said Linwe Sadly

Frodo was incredulous "What could possibly be wrong with those plans?"

"If we are going to name two of our daughters for our mothers and one for Esmeralda, then we really need to name two sons for our fathers and one for Saradoc. It would be the fair thing to do."

"We can’t leave anyone out of the boys names I have chosen. There is no help for it, we will have to have twelve sons."

"If we are having twelve sons then we have to have twelve daughters as well. We can name one ‘Lily’ for both Rosie’s mother and my grandmother."

"And then one for Sam’s mother ‘Bell’, and then maybe Pippin’s mother ‘Elagantine’." Added Frodo.

"There we are. Now we have twelve sons and twelve daughters, that is twenty-four all together."

"A well rounded number. Now that we appear to have that settled can we get back to what we were doing before?" asked Frodo hopefully.

"Not quite, there is something else that I wanted to do." Said Linwe.

"What else is there that my love would like to do, your wish is my command."

"You are getting very good at using sweet words." Linwe complemented him. "You seem to be getting more comfortable with your new roll in life."

"I am finding that this seems the path of least resistance and it is lovely path as well."

"I am so pleased to hear you say that, then we should get along quite well from now on. Now back to that wish that is your command."

"Of course, what does my beloved wish for?"

"I wish to take a bath. Saradoc told me there is a spring not far from here. I think that it sounds like the perfect place to bathe. Would you know where it is?"

"Yes I would."

"Wonderful, then I propose we get out of this bed, get dressed, have a bit of breakfast, then pack a lunch as well as a few necessities that I will need for taking a proper bath," said Linwe, a dreamy smile lighting up her face at the thought of taking a long luxurious bath.

"If that is what you want then that is what you shall have."

~~~~~

Frodo and Linwe took a leisurely pace getting to the spring, talking and laughing as they walked hand in hand. Each carrying a heavily laden basket in their other hand. Frodo led Linwe to a pretty glade where lush ferns grew in abundance. Sparkling sunlight filtered in through the trees filling the glade with a green tinged light. The glade was long and narrow, tendrils of stream rose up off of a spring fed pool surrounded by stone was at one end, the water falling over one edge of the pool feeding a tiny babbling brook.

"Here you are my beloved, your personal bath in the most luxurious surroundings nature could arrange for." Said Frodo with a flourish.

Linwe walked forward her eyes wide taking in the beauty of her surroundings. "This is beautiful." she breathed.

Frodo walked with her, not letting go of her hand. As they came to the edge of the pool, Linwe set down her basket , then holding tight to Frodo’s hand she carefully dipped one foot into the pool. "Is the water to your liking?" He asked.

"Yes, very much so." Linwe sighed.

Frodo watched as Linwe gazed into the pool. The water was crystal clear, all the way to it’s sandy bottom. Linwe’s face filled with longing. Frodo chuckled, "Why don’t I set up our picnic spot while you prepare for your bath."

Linwe absently nodded her head as she took her hand from Frodo’s then raising both hands up started to unfasten the buttons on the front of her dress. All thoughts of picnics left his head as he watched utterly bemused as she opened the front of her dress then pushed it down off of her smooth white shoulders, leaving her torso covered only by the rather sheer cotton of her sleeveless chemise. She then pushed the dress down off of her hips and over her petticoat which was also noticeably sheer.

She kicked her dress negligently aside as she reached up to undo the tiny buttons on the front of her chemise. She seemed unaware of the display she was creating. Frodo could only stand transfixed as he watched her shed these last few articles of clothing then step gracefully down into the waist deep water of the pool.

Linwe walked into the middle of the pool sinking low until the water was up to her chin and her hair fanned out around her floating on the surface of the water. She paused there like that to Frodo she looked like a beautiful flower, then suddenly disappeared the shimmering surface of the water, breaking the spell she had put Frodo under.

Frodo shook himself then set about the task of setting up a picnic space, determinedly keeping his back to the pool where he could hear Linwe splashing about. He had just finished setting things out when, unable to help himself, he turned to see Linwe sitting low in the water, working her hair into a soapy lather. Her eyes were closed as she hummed contentedly to her self. Frodo was mesmerized. With barely a thought for what he was doing, he removed his own clothes and quietly stepped into the pool. Linwe was unaware of his presence until she felt his hands in the sudsy mass of her hair. Frodo stood behind Linwe his fingers massaging her scalp, Linwe let her head rest against his hands luxuriating in the feel of having her hair washed for her. This went on for a few minutes then Linwe ducked her head under the water to rinse the soap out, when she came back up she was facing Frodo, she snaked her arms up around his neck then pulled him down kissing him soundly. "Thank you so much for washing my hair."

"You are most welcome." Smiled Frodo

"May I ask you something?"

"By all means do."

"Why did it take you so long to finally join me in here?" Linwe was now smiling impishly.

Frodo’s eyes widened in surprise. "You knew what you were doing with all of that show of taking your clothes off, didn’t you? You did it on purpose." He accused

Linwe cast her eyes down demurely. "I suppose that I may have a little anyway."

"Have you no shame?" Scolded Frodo "First you brazenly come into my room late at night and disrobe before me."

"Don’t forget I helped you to disrobe then as well." Added Linwe helpfully.

"And today, in broad day light you slowly took off all of your clothes, deliberately displaying yourself in a most scandalous manner. " Finished Frodo.

"In my defense, I would like to point out that you seemed to enjoy it both times. The first time especially, you displayed your appreciation most prominently. And I would think if you did not appreciate it today then you would not be here with me now, in this pool, with your arms around me." Linwe said smugly and with a slight wiggle.

"I ask that you kindly stop that wiggling and carrying on. I only came in here because you were stumbling around in here with your eyes closed. I was afraid you might hurt yourself and drown." Said Frodo loftily

"That is a shame because parts of you seem to like the wiggling and carrying of quite a bit," Linwe said with an arch look.

Frodo blushed "You really do have no shame. I have been deceived into thinking you were this quiet reserved lass. You have captured my here under false pretenses."

"No dearest, I have done no such thing. I am merely displaying a part of my nature that was waiting for my one true love to come along so that I could fully express it." Linwe said.

"Do you promise that is all there is to it? You have already accepted Rudiger Bolger’s proposal. I am sure when next I meet up with him I will have to deal with an embarrassing confrontation. Is there anything else I should know? I would rather not have any more."

"I promise you my dearest beloved there is nothing else you should worry about." Linwe said her eyes filled with sincerity.

"All right then," said Frodo a bit dubiously "I suppose I can trust you. But one hint of your behaving in an unseemly manner and I will have no choice but to never allow you to set foot outside our home again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, my love, you do. I am truly sorry if I caused you needless concern," said Linwe expressing feigned repentance.

"I love you so much, I don’t think I could ever truly be angry with you," Frodo’s eyes were filled with adoration.

Linwe smiled smugly. "I know," she said, touching his nose lightly with her right index finger.

"Cheeky Lass," growled Frodo, while catching her right hand in his left hand. Frodo started to bring her hand to his mouth to kiss it when the bright sunlight revealed a shimmering white mark on her third finger. Frodo looked at the mark closely and saw that it was a fine line that encircled her finger, a scar. He raised up his own right hand to lay it gently on the back of Linwe’s, his fingers resting on top of her own, the remains of his third finger ending where her finger was marked with the scar. All happiness had drained away from Frodo’s face. A deep sadness darkened his eyes. "In all that has gone on this last week I forgot about your scars and how you got them. You went through so much in you own life while I was gone then on top of that you had all of those nightmares that were all too real. I have not yet taken the time to ask you about them."

Frodo took her hand and raised it to his mouth kissing her scar tenderly. Moving around so that he was behind her he lifted aside her long wet hair. He gently touched the scar on the back of neck sighing sadly. He kissed that scar as well. Then moving through the water so that he stood facing her once more he kissed the pale gray scar on her left shoulder. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. "I love you," He said quietly as he looked deeply into her eyes, "And I would have done anything to have kept you from having to go through all of that, even if it meant never having you in my life."

Linwe lifted Frodo’s left hand to her mouth to kiss -the remaining stub of his third finger. She moved to stand behind him. There she pushed aside the dark curls that rested lightly on the back of neck and kissed the scar that was there. Moving through the water to once again stand before him, she kissed the shimmering scar on his left shoulder. She kissed him tenderly on the lips. "I love you." She said quietly with a tender smile "And I would have endured so much more for the chance to love you.