Of necessity, the wedding arrangements were made quickly.  Sarah and Wes were asked in their roles as elders and Marigold’s ancestors to officiate.  Sarah agreed to speak at the ceremony, but left the handling of the vows to Wes, since she still couldn’t hear Zeck.

Marigold’s burgeoning size made most traditional details of a wedding an impossibility.  The notion of a gown on a woman who was, by the time of the ceremony, a mile and a half tall and virtually guaranteed of growing even more enormous during the ceremony, was absurd on the face of it.  It took acres of fabric to simply cover her private parts in a way that gave her a chance of remaining covered throughout the ceremony.

The ceremony itself took place against a backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, the only way Marigold could make an entrance into the scene.  It was a worldwide news event, with members of the public from the standard population and virtually the entire giant community.

On laying eyes on Zeck, dressed up for the ceremony, the bride added a full half-mile to her height.  The vows brought another ¾ of a mile, and the pronouncement a full mile.  Each surge brought gasps from the crowd.  The bride’s impossible height had more than doubled during the ceremony.

Zeck had planned as far ahead as possible.  He had warned state and federal air travel officials and the military about Sarah’s unique problem, since he knew she would likely grow into air space lanes during the wedding, as she did.  He had used the blog income to make a land purchase in what would be, for him, an extremely inhospitable area, but one where Marigold could have some peace and room for what they both hoped would be her final round of growth.  He had even worked to provide a footpath for Marigold to reach their destination.  The site was one that was unlikely to result in spy satellites or aircraft flying overhead and taking pictures, but it wasn’t guaranteed they’d have privacy.  On Marigold’s scale, true privacy was virtually impossible.

Zeck finally met Marigold’s parents and grandparents. He was relieved to learn that they accepted him gladly.  Marigold’s mother, Erin Bloomberg, told him she had always believed, since Marigold started surging, that this might well happen; she just wanted her daughter to be happy, since this might be the heart of a third miracle in the giant faith.  She was pleased Marigold was happy, and commented on how much similarity she saw between Zeck and Seven-Papa Wes.

Once Marigold gave her love to family and friends, and Zeck did the same, he flew up to land his hovercar on Marigold’s shoulder.  He had an oxygen supply with him in case her growth took him high enough he would need it, and he had a Standard Sexual Center sensor suit with him.  He had cold weather gear, too, but hoped he wouldn’t need it.

Marigold was able now to span more than a mile with a single step.  While her proportional movement was slow, she was still able to cover miles in a minute, and nearly a thousand miles an hour.

Marigold walked north along Zeck’s path, following his guidance using a GPS device.  Soon they had reached the straits between Alaska and Russia, which Marigold was astonished to learn she could cross easily due to her sheer size.  In a couple of minutes, she had moved into the Eastern Hemisphere.

Zeck’s land was a massive tract in Siberia.  The setting would have been inhospitable at best to most other humans, and unreachable for any smaller giants, but it was a wonderland for Marigold.  On laying sight on her new home, sparkling with a blanket of snow lit by the sun, Marigold said, “Oh, Zeck!  It’s so beautiful!  This is our home?”

Zeck nodded.  “This is it,” he said.

Marigold was so happy it triggered yet another surge.  When she was done growing, she was a full five miles tall.

The wedding night was more chaste than either Marigold or Zeck really wanted, but each knew they had to be careful or Marigold might climb out of Earth’s atmosphere.  Still, Zeck needed to stay warm, and they wanted to do something.

Marigold lay on her back, her breast now each the size of mountains in their own right.  She directed Zeck to land the hover car on the tip of her left nipple, where her sensitivity would allow him to pleasure both himself and her.

From Zeck’s perspective, his up-close view of his bride now clearly encompassed pores and skin cells, but it didn’t matter.  Where he was to spend the night was warm with both his Sunshine’s love and body heat, and he reveled in the sheer softness of her breast and the firmness of her nipple as he felt it erect.  He realized at one point Marigold was growing, but he also knew that had probably been coming.  He knew vaginal sex might have produced even more growth.  At least this way her height was still in the single digits of miles.

It was only two days until the date Zeck and Marigold had calculated, the day Marigold was due to ovulate.  With Marigold lying on her back, Zeck landed the hover car and put on the sensor suit.  Wearing the suit was a risk, given Marigold’s sensitivity, but it was the only way Zeck could survive inside her for as long as he would need to be there.

The plan was simple enough.  It was pregnancy that stopped Sarah’s growth.  The hope was that pregnancy would stop Marigold’s too.  But, without the aid of the kind of miracle Wes and Sarah had experienced, Zeck and Marigold would have to accomplish the goal this way.

Knowing the hover car wouldn’t be able to function inside Marigold, Zeck climbed inside.  Once she felt him in her, she grew yet again. Based on the distances Zeck now saw, he guesstimated she was now about 10 miles tall.  That meant one more surge and the air Marigold would be breathing would be much thinner if she stood up.  Zeck hoped her body, which kept adapting as it grew, would be able to make that change if need be.  If it happened, she would literally be stratospheric.

The hope had been that the ovum would be in Marigold’s womb when Zeck arrived there, but there was no sign of it.  Still, he knew that was a possibility.  He had brought a device some scientists had rigged to track which of Marigold’s fallopian tubes the egg cell would come from; they were happy to put it together, given the notoriety and income its success would bring their lab.

From Zeck’s perspective, the egg was traveling down the tube on his right; it would actually be on Marigold’s left.  He made his way to it, traveling about a mile between swimming and hiking. 

Soon Zeck was at the entrance to the tube.  He went inside only a short distance.  Going too far in would be useless; the egg had to be fertilized while it was inside Marigold’s womb, or at least very close to it, so it would embed in a viable place.

After a wait of an hour, Zeck saw it; a sphere a meter across moving down the tube.  He positioned himself to be ready when it passed, then jumped on the ovum.  In the meantime, his member had been released from the suit; at the very thought of where he was and what he was doing, and what it would mean for his Sunshine’s future, it quickly swelled.

As he landed atop the egg, he realized that it and his surroundings were enlarging yet again.  The ovum was now a meter and a half across; that meant Marigold was now about 15 miles tall, with her height extending about four miles in to the stratosphere when she stood up.  Zeck realized her sensitivity had let her know where in the process he was; she knew he was about to father their child, they hoped the first of many.  That had filled her colossal heart with even more pleasure, and triggered the latest -- and Zeck hoped last -- surge.

Holding the warm ovum, Zeck felt his own love for Marigold and for the child he hoped this egg would become swelling, and felt it translate into another kind of growth.  The pressure of the situation could have been counterproductive, but Zeck hoped and prayed he would (the writer in him chuckled at his own pun) be able to come through.

Zeck felt a surge of a more traditional kind through his entire body.  He hoped he was right, that his sperm would be able to get through into the super-sized egg and fertilize it.  He knew it might not work, that the egg cell wall might be too tough, but it was all he had.

Then, as his body relaxed, Zeck gasped.  He could see sperm getting through the cell wall.  It was working!  Despite everything that said it shouldn’t, couldn’t work, it was working!

Then Zeck realized the cell -- and his surroundings -- were growing again.  Marigold had felt him come!  It had triggered yet another surge!

Panic-stricken, Zeck looked at the egg.  The sperm was still making its way through the now-even-thicker cell wall.  It hadn’t fertilized the egg yet.  That was why Marigold was still growing … or, at least, he hoped that was why.

Zeck watched in wonder as the sperm continued their journey.  He saw them get inside the cell wall, saw them combine … and realized the egg itself was starting to divide.  The egg had divided.  It appeared two sperm had gotten through, and somehow the egg had divided, maybe due to its sheer size.  Marigold might have more than one child -- if this ended as he hoped.

First, though, Zeck had to make sure at least one of the eggs implanted.  Without that, all of this was for nothing.

As best he could, Zeck worked to put some spin on one of the eggs.  It made its way to the uterine wall.  He had to dive off to keep from being pinned between the egg and the wall, but it landed and attached.

Zeck started the hours-long journey back out of Marigold’s now much-bigger body.  He turned as he prepared to exit her uterus. The other egg also had embedded.  Zeck smiled, and tears ran down his cheeks.  He had gotten to see his first two children conceived.

Once he was finally out, Zeck got out of the sensor suit, now coated in a heavy layer of Marigold’s natural lubricants.  He clambered into the hover car.  After a moment to pull himself together, Zeck piloted the hover car up to Marigold, floating it above her face.

“Sunshine!” Zeck shouted.  “Sunshine!  We did it!”

Marigold looked at him and began to sob.  “Darling, I … I can’t hear you,” his wife said.  “You’re too small.  Try getting by my ear.  I can still see you.  Maybe I can hear you there.”

Zeck knew his expression reflected the shock he felt, but he couldn’t help it.  He landed it just inside her left ear.  “Can you hear me here?” he shouted.

“Yes,” Marigold whispered.  He realized why she was whispering when he felt her voice carry through her body by bone conduction.  Her skull was close enough to let the noise travel that way.

“We did it, Sunshine,” Zeck said.  “You’re pregnant.  And not just with one baby.  I saw them implant.  We’re having twins!”

Zeck felt the massive sobs from Marigold.  “Oh, Zeck!” she said.  “I’m going to be the mama of your children!”

“Yes, my love,” he said.

Then he felt Marigold’s whole upper body move as she gasped.  “Zeck!” she said.  “I’m … I’m so happy -- but I’m not growing!  It worked!  It worked!”

Both of them began to sob.  “Yes,” Zeck said.  "It worked.  Marigold, would you mind if I sleep here?  I’m pretty exhausted, and I want you to be able to hear me.”

Zeck felt Marigold’s jaw muscles move; she was smiling.  “You’re fine there, Dearest,” she said.  “Besides, it’s no wonder you’re tired.  You gave your all in there; and I love that I could tell.  And Zeck, it worked!”

Yeah, thought Zeck.  Now I just hope the next phase works as well.