23nd December

Maia woke up in the arm of Derick. She slept with him in one bed again and she loved the feeling of his strong arm around her body and his steady breath while sleep slowly faded away.

Now, that Maia was out of her heat and the experiments and excitement of her sexual adventures were over, she started to enjoy the other sides of her relationship with Derick as well.

It was not, that she did not have sex with him anymore, but it was not as much as before her appointment at the doctor and her talk with her mother and aunt Sophie.

But the two fox cubs had a lot of intimacy even without direct intercourse. They cuddled a lot in the last days and Maia loved to feel his body next to herself and hear his breath. Sometimes she even wished to experience the same with her uncle. She loved her uncle nearly as much as Derick, but she tried hard to not show this openly to everyone.

Maia was a bit sad but also excited. The excitement came from an announcement of her uncle the last night, when she came back from the hot spring.

The men of the village had, while the women were away, worked together to prepare a big party for Maia. This was meant as a celebration of her pregnancy, something everyone in the town knew already about, and the promise that Derick and Maia had given each other. It had been decided that they would marry at Christmas eve, during the Christmas mass.

Another reason for the party was also the reason, why Maia was a bit sad. The end of her trip to Europe came to an end. One day after Christmas even she had to fly back to her parents already.

She was happy to see her parents again, after being longer away from them than ever before, but at the same time she was sad, that her time with Derick was, at least for the moment, coming to an end.

This was one of the reasons that Maia did not want to stand up this morning. She wanted to enjoy every minute with Derick as long as she could.

Even after Derick woke up, they cuddled and caressed each other. Derick seemed to have similar thoughts than Maia had.

Only one hour later, her aunt got them out of the bed and to a breakfast. Patrick and Sophie threw a few gazes to the couple during the breakfast and smiled at each other. Maia and Derick spent more time caressing each other's hand than actually eating.

Until noon, Maia helped Sophie with a few chores around the house and then to prepare the meal, while Derick helped his father, and the other men, with preparing the big stable as a party hall.

In the afternoon, Derick and Maia went to play with the other kids. It snowed overnight, and they built snowmen and had a snow fight but even then, most of the time Derick and Maia were inseparable. The held hands most of the time and even though the other kids made a few jokes about it, they did not press the issue too hard. After all they knew the situation.

In the evening, the party was started. Everyone brought some food and drinks with them and there was so much, that Maia did not know where to start.

Patrick rose his glass and knocked with a spoon against it to get the attention.

"We are here today with all friends, no with all our family. This village is more than just friendship. We are a family and this year my beautiful niece came here to become part of our family." The others grunted and mumbled in support of his words.

"It is sad, that her visit will soon be over, but we have a lot to celebrate. Even if not planned, she already worked with Derick on the extension of the family and they will have a cub." The listeners applauded, and Maia looked to Patrick with a shy gaze.

Patrick grinned and winked an eye to her as if he knew what went through her head. Maia was not sure if Derick really was the father of her cub, even though she told this to the doctor. The chances were, that one of the other boys was the father or even her own uncle. If it was he uncle, it would not be visible at least. No one should be able to tell the difference between a cub of her uncle or his son.

"But not enough with that, our kids decided to take the responsibility as parents and marry. Derick asked her, and she agreed to become his wife." A cheer from everyone around made Maia look into the round. All faces were smiling.

"Tonight, we want to celebrate their promise and especially a very special vixen. Let's hear it for Maia!" he closed his speech, and everyone was cheering and coming by to personally congratulate her for the cub and both for their engagement.

The music started, and Derick asked her for a dance. This evening, Patrick had an eye on the drinks of Maia and made sure that she would not drink any alcohol like in the night where the boys got the idea to have some action with her.

The other women had warned her to be careful about her food, drinks and actions from now on, because she also had to think about the cub.

At this night however, food was the least of her concerns. She danced with all the boys and men. A lot of the boys gave her a kiss after the dance as a sign of their affection and they congratulated Derick for getting the girl.

Maia noticed, that a lot of them were jealous, even though they had no hard feelings for her cousin. It was more, that she noticed from how they approached her, that more than one of the boys she let take her had a crush on her.

The party went long past midnight and when she got tired, Derick brought her back to the house and cuddled into the bed with her.

"Good night my wonderful vixen." He whispered and placed a soft kiss on her cheeks. "Good night my strong fox." She replied with a giggled and after returning the kiss, she snuggled her head into his chest and sleep grabbed her mind.