The Major's Wife Read online

  Chapter 23

  A knock on the door forced them apart. Jeffrey rose and opened it, motioning Frank Grogan inside. He carried a metal bowl smaller than the horse troughs, but big enough for a small woman. He set it on the floor beside the cold stove. “Need some help, Major, getting that fire started?”

  “No, thanks, Frank, I can do it myself.” The man left and Jeffrey waited at the door before he turned to his bride. She sat on the bed with eyes wide and tears running silently down her cheeks. She stood and walked slowly to him, into his waiting arms.

  “Oh, Jeffrey, you are the most wonderful man in the world. To think how I hated you just yesterday makes me so ashamed. I love you!”

  “Honey, I know you do and you can show me later. First, I want to show you how to build a fire in this contraption, then we will heat some water, and I will sit here and watch you bathe. How is that idea?”

  That is exactly what they did. She quickly got over her squeamishness about the bugs and creepy crawlers on and in the wood, even though she hated to touch the wood that contained them. Once the fire was hot, Jeffrey carried in buckets of water to warm. “We will heat several buckets full and add cold as we need it. From now on, a bucket on the stove at all times is the rule. How about that, pretty one?”

  They embraced, kissing sweetly at first. Jeffrey pressed her closer to him so he could feel her breasts against his chest and his hips against her. Her hand stole down between them to rub his cock through his trousers. He groaned and pushed himself harder against her hand before stepping back to open his pants for her. She kissed him and slid her tongue into his mouth and her hand over his throbbing shaft. She shoved his trousers to the floor with her other hand, lifted her skirt, and pushed down her littles.

  There was nothing stopping him from rubbing her smooth stomach and down into her curls. When he touched her clit, she whimpered and opened her legs. There they stood, masturbating each other until their organs exploded. He sprayed his cum into her hand, where it dripped to the floor, sinking into the packed dirt. She rocked back and forth while her wetness came forth onto his moving fingers before she stopped moving to cling weakly to him.

  “Jeffrey, why is it that all you have to do is kiss me and I am nothing but a ball of butter in your hands?”

  “Because, my dear, I am an incredible lover!”

  She laughed and pushed away from him. “I would hardly call what we did ‘incredible loving,’ but it was nice. However, so is a bath nice. How about it?”

  He poured two buckets of nearly boiling water into the tub after one bucket of cold water, to keep the metal tub from getting too hot. A third bucket of hot and one more of cold filled it. Lucretia tore off her clothes like a child opening gifts at Christmas. He held her hand for balance as she stepped into the water. Although it had been only minutes since he had emptied his balls, he began to stir again, just looking at her. Lord, she is so beautiful, he thought, and all mine. For a split-second, he remembered parts of his nightmare, but shoved those thoughts away. He knew she was his.

  Chapter 24

  Jeffrey watched his wife wash her head and body. He laughed as she scrubbed her feet until they were red, trying to get the dirt off them. She stood, pink and yellow, drying herself on a huge towel from one of her trunks. “Come on, the water is fine,” Lucretia said, as she wrapped her body tightly in the towel.

  She loved watching him as he finished undressing. His shoulders were wide, his arms long and muscular, his stomach flat, and his penis erect. She looked at it, shaking her head as if she could not believe it was ready again. She stepped out onto her discarded clothes to keep her feet clean, at least for a minute.

  Jeffrey stepped into the tub, kissing her as he passed by. She laughed aloud at how funny he looked with his knees pulled up as he scrunched himself into the small tub. He began to sing a nameless tune as he scrubbed his body clean. “When the weather turns warm,” he told her, “you will have a shower outside where the sun keeps the water hot. I know you find this hard to believe, but like I told you before, sometimes the water is too hot, even.”

  “You are right, Jeffrey. I do not believe it ever gets warm here, let alone hot. You are just making it up to reassure me that it will not always be freezing. Showers are nice, but I still prefer a bath so that I can lie back in the water and soak.”

  “Sure, look at me soak,” he replied sarcastically.

  “Well, how about I wash your back for you, since you can’t lie in the water?”

  He leaned forward. She jumped back to the pile of clothes and bent over to soap him. Her towel dropped a bit in the front, giving him a clear view of her tits. He could not resist pulling the towel to his face so he could lick the globes that immediately responded to his tongue. She did not stop him, but rinsed his back and said, “Stand up. I will help you dry off.”

  He stood, but instead of a towel, she pressed her breasts against his chest. He reached for her, but she dropped to her knees to take his hard-on into her mouth. She felt him jerk away in surprise. Nevertheless, she held him tight and moved her mouth up and down his shaft while sucking it. She ran her tongue around the tip. She knew he was ready when he gripped her shoulders and held her tightly as she continued her movements. He tried to push her away at the last second, not wanting to drop his seed in her mouth, but she held fast. She took it as he came, a burst that dripped out her lips and down over her chin into the water below.

  He shook with spasm after spasm until he drained himself into her mouth. She smiled up at him as she rubbed the last few drips over his softening penis. “I never knew before just how much you have inside of you. Inside my body it is hard to tell, but this way, I know exactly.”

  “Why did you do that, Lucretia? It is not right.” His face reflected his words.

  She said nothing, just rinsed her face with a cloth before reaching to wash him. He grabbed the cloth from her hand and dropped to his knees in the tub to wash himself. Lucretia did not understand his apparent anger. She stood, pulled the towel tighter around her, and jumped back to the bed, where she sat watching him.

  He took his old towel from a nail and quickly dried himself. He reached for his clean trousers and shirt, and he quickly dressed. Boots were next, without socks. He did not speak until he dragged the tub through the door and outside. “The others are waiting their turn.” He closed the door behind him, not to return until dark.

  Lucretia had no idea what she had done wrong. Her friend Ruby told her last summer that whatever men and women did together, if they both liked it, was right. Had Jeffrey not liked it? Of course, he did. He came, shook, and moaned, just like every time. So, what was wrong? She sure wished she could talk to Ruby now.

  Chapter 25

  “May I sit here?” Lucretia asked the young woman on the park bench. She knew Auntie Liz, her guardian since her parents died two years ago, would disapprove, but the other benches were all taken. Auntie Liz would be upset in the first place because Lucretia had ventured across the street to the park by herself. That in itself was unheard of, and now to sit with a woman Auntie would consider unworthy.

  The woman looked up, startled. “You can, but are you sure you want to? I am not what most consider respectable company for a lady such as you are.”

  “Poo,” answered Lucretia. “I am a newly married lady and I can make my decisions myself now. My name is Lucretia Sawyer now… Mrs. Jeffrey Sawyer,” She said the name proudly and Ruby realized the young woman was little more than a child.

  “It is nice to meet you, Mrs. Sawyer. I am Ruby Clanton. I saw you cross the street. Is that big house where you live?”

  “Yes, but please call me Lucretia or Lulu, which is what my friends call me.”

  “Perhaps a bit between. I will call you Miss Lulu. How is that?” Lucretia rewarded her with a warm smile and offered her hand.

  Their meeting led to a strange relationship over the next couple of months. Liz was horrified when she saw Lulu’s new friend for the first time. “Lucretia L
ucinda Sawyer, you will not associate with that woman. She is…she is…well, she is unfit for your company.”

  Seldom had Lucretia ever disagreed with her aunt, whom she loved so dearly, but this time she held firm. “Auntie, Ruby is my friend and I am proud to say so. She is a nice person, although I will admit sometimes that I am amazed by what she wears and her loud laughter. Oh, yes, and that wild bright red hair. I think she dyes it. Nevertheless, if I decide to bring her home for tea, I shall do so.”

  Lulu was sorry her aunt was hurt, but she was so old-fashioned and overprotective of her ward. Now that Lucretia was a married lady, Auntie would just have to accept that she would make her own decisions. Liz only said one more thing on the matter: “I certainly doubt if your husband would approve either.”

  Chapter 26

  Ruby refused the offer of tea, as horrified by the idea as Liz had been. Lucretia did not understand, but accepted the refusal. Instead, they agreed to go to a small tea parlor a few blocks away. Lucretia had no idea that Ruby hoped no one there would see them together, so afraid of hurting Lucretia’s reputation and standing in the community.

  As often happened, one afternoon conversation turned to the marriage bed. “Ruby, there is nothing I would not do for or with my husband, if he asked me to. I love him so much that if he told me to stand on my head naked in the middle of the street, I would do it.”

  Ruby’s loud laughter turned heads, as usual. “Honey, I doubt he would ask that, but there are things he might ask that…well, things you probably have never heard of. Believe me, I have done them all. I think you are so naïve and sweet, you have no idea what I am. What I do.”

  “Well, I have thought about it and decided you serve drinks somewhere, probably in a place I have never been.”

  “Oh, honey, it is far more than that. Lulu, have you read in the Bible about harlots?” Lucretia nodded. “I am one of them. I am a whore. I make my living by selling my body to anyone—man or woman—who wants it enough to pay me. I get paid very well, because I am good at what I do.

  “Many high-quality people come to me. I see many of them when we sit here watching the carriages in the street. Sometimes a man or woman who is my customer will bring their children or grandchildren here to play.”

  Lucretia hid her amazement as best she could, but Ruby saw it on her face and the way she suddenly looked around as if someone might be wearing a sign that read “I am Ruby’s customer.”

  Ruby stood and nodded as if to leave. “Wait, Ruby, where are you going? Sit right back down here. Do you think that changes anything? You are my friend, period.”

  Ruby looked up to see tears welling up in the green eyes that looked at her so gently. She sat, smiling through her tears. No one but her Johns and Janes had ever accepted her for what she was, and even they used her and considered her their lesser. “Lulu, if ever in this life I can do something for you, I promise to do it.”

  “Do you mean it? Will you tell me how to keep my husband happy forever? I can cook and clean and such, but I know so little about the…the …”

  “Sex. It is sex. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Bad if anyone gets hurt in any way by it. Good if you enjoy it and so does your partner. Tomorrow I will bring you a book that can answer your questions. It has a lot of actual pictures of people fucking. There, did that word bother you? Because if it does, I will not bring the book. What we do with our genitals is fucking, in one way or another. Do you like what you do with your husband?” Lulu nodded. “The book will give you ideas.”

  Ruby brought the book the next day, carefully wrapped in bright paper and carried in a shopping bag. Lucretia entered the house, glad to find no one around. She crept up to her room to slip the package under her mattress, way to the middle so if the maids changed her bed, they would not see it. When night finally came, she yawned in pretence that she was tired and went to bed.

  She slipped into her nightie, fluffed her pillows, and slid the book out. It was called The Kama Sutra. The pictures astounded her. They left nothing to the imagination. She wondered at how some of the positions could be accomplished, as she knew she could never twist in those ways. She read every word and looked at the pictures again. Her body responded to what she saw and she ached for Jeffrey to satisfy her need. Without him, she did the best she could and brought herself to climax with her fingers. It was not the same as when Jeffrey did it, but she enjoyed it.

  In the days that followed, Lucretia asked more and more questions about the things Ruby did with men. She dismissed the women seeking other women as something too far-fetched to even consider. She made a little statement one day that caught Ruby’s attention. She said, rather offhandedly, “I think I would like to see what men want from you. But then, again, how silly of me.”

  “Why is that silly, Lulu?” Ruby asked.

  “The men would never do it in front of anyone else, and you would have to be naked in front of them, too, I suppose.”

  Ruby’s loud laugh was deeper than ever. “Listen, my little friend, I do not care one whit who looks at me or sees me naked. Hundreds already have. If you really want to see, we could hide you in a closet or something. Not only that, some of my johns like to be watched. It is as if they think they fuck better than any other guy and want to show off. We could put a costume on you and cover your face. But, you could not talk. That would give you away in a second as a lady.”

  “Could we do that?” Lucretia could barely contain her excitement.

  “Yes, I can think of no reason we cannot. I will figure it out. How about Monday afternoon when my Big-Nosed Banker comes to put his teenie peenie in me?”

  Chapter 27

  Jeffrey quietly opened the door. Through the shaft of moonlight, he could see his wife asleep on the bed, still wrapped in her towel. The fire had died down and the room cooled off fast. He knelt in front of the stove to stoke it back to life and feed it more wood. He stood and looked at her in the twilight. She was awake now, watching him as a mouse might watch the cat ready to pounce.

  He cleared his throat. “I came to see if you would like some supper. You have not eaten all day.”

  “No, thank you. I am not hungry.” She slid under the blankets and turned her back toward him.

  “Lucretia, I think we need to talk. I am sorry I yelled at you. What you did…I never expected you even knew about those things, let alone how to do them. Besides that, you did it with so much expertise, it was as if you had practiced it many times before.” When she did not reply, he sat on the bed beside her back. “Honey, talk to me.”

  She sat up, pulling the towel up to cover her breasts and shoulders. “Talk? You want me to talk? Okay, I will talk. Yes, I had lots of practice doing that. I practiced on long squash and stuff like that. Ruby showed me first; then I understood how to do it better after I watched her and a couple of her johns.”

  Jeffrey shook his head in confusion. “You practiced? Why? Who is Ruby? You watched her suck some cock?”

  “Yes.” Her reply was matter-of-fact. “I wanted to learn to do it to please you. I learned a lot of things I thought you would like and some things I thought I would like. Ruby is my friend.” She slid back down under the blanket and turned her back to him again. “Now, go away.”

  Jeffrey felt his anger building. “I am not through talking to you. Sit up and look at me.” She did not move. He rolled her over on her back and roughly pulled her back into a sitting position. She struck out at him, catching him on the side of his neck. He grabbed her hands and pinned them with one of his above her head against the wall. “Answer me, Lucretia. You will answer all my questions. Let us start with who Ruby is.”

  Her face froze in a mask of anger that aroused him as much as it fed his fury. He dropped his pants. His cock was erect and throbbing. He would show her who the man in the family was. Before he was done, she would tell him everything. He jerked the blanket and towel away and spread her legs, but before he could enter her, his penis began to shrink.

  His anger turned i
nto self-loathing. He turned toward her. “Baby, oh, I am so sorry. I do not know what came over me. I would never hurt you. You know that.” He tried to take her in his arms, but she flew from the bed, dragging her towel with her.

  “If that is how you want sex in the future, please give me warning so I can at least grease up my hole for you. Bear grease or whatever you have handy, will be fine.” She stepped into her filthy dress on the floor and, barefoot, ran out the door without another word.

  She ran across the compound to the cabin where Liz lived. She knocked quietly. When the door opened, she rushed inside into her aunt’s open arms.

  Jeffrey dropped to the bed, ashamed, with no idea of what to do or say to her. She had been right, but she had been wrong. He loved her to distraction and the idea of her even looking at another man’s body filled him with fear and anger again. What if she liked the looks of the other naked men and compared them to Jeffrey? What if he failed in comparison? What if she desired the others? Ruby and her johns…Ruby must be a prostitute. How did Lucretia even know such a person? And to watch them…how could she?

  He had no answers and until she was ready to share with him, he would not know. He doubted that Liz knew about any of it, so he saw no reason to upset her as well. Therefore, it boiled down to Lucretia and Lucretia alone to tell him. First, he had to get her back. But how? His mind roamed through the day and he remembered the lumber in the bottom of the wagon from the depot. He had ordered it months ago to enlarge his cabin before she arrived.