by Megan McCoy
She’s beautiful. He had the same thought now, as he’d had before he made love to her. His feelings for her had not changed, but intensified. He hadn’t slept more than a few winks through the night. Once Rachel had fallen to sleep on him, he’d felt just as exhausted and it had taken the last of his strength to pull the quilt over them and sleep. However, an hour later, he was up and hard for her again. He told himself to leave her, get on his clothes and go, but he couldn’t stay away from her.
She been curled on her side with his arms around her and her sweet backside pressed into his cock, his hard cock. The lamp oil had burned down and had plunged them into darkness with only the light of the moon offering a sliver of light. He couldn’t resist touching her, slipping his hands between her thighs, and stroking her wet heat.
She parted for him.
It had turned him inside out to hear her whisper his name. Even before her eyes opened, she’d known his touch, or maybe she’d been dreaming of what they’d done earlier in the night. Either way, his heart tripled inside with his affection towards her.
It hadn’t taken more than a single thrust to bury himself to the hilt inside her tight pussy. She’d winced a little and he felt like an ass for taking her again after he’d loved her so thoroughly before. She had to be tender. However, his own guilt wasn’t enough to stop him from slowly, and gently rocking them both into a spine-tingling climax.
Sleep had claimed her again, but not before he’d heard her say the words that would leave his heart here with her. “I love you, Lyle Joseph.”
She’d been snoring softly, before he could ask her to repeat it or before he could declare his own feelings.
Now, he was up and dressed, prepared to get himself out the door. It would be dawn soon, and he needed to get going before someone on the property spotted him coming from the house. With the Tuckers being out of town, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who he had been at the house seeing. Just as he’d told the sheriff, he wanted to keep the woman’s reputation from being tarnished. Of course, he should have considered that a little stronger last night before he’d agreed to bed her.
But he didn’t regret it.
He also didn’t regret not talking to Rachel about coming forth against the cattle rustlers. They had enough on the criminals without her speaking up.
From the bedroom door, he looked at her one last time, before he turned and headed to the front door. He’d stirred the fire and added more logs to it, so that the house would be warm when she woke. While he’d been up, he’d also cleaned and put away the dishes, then emptied the copper tub only to fill it once again. When she awoke, she’d be needing a fresh warm bath to soak her sore parts.
He hoped she’d see the things he’d done and know that he was showing her he planned to take care of her. Not only today, but the rest of their life. With his coat and hat on, he went out the door.
At the side of the house, he stepped to Domino with two of the carrots he’d seen in the basket on the counter along with a few other vegetables. He hoped Rachel didn’t mind him taking them. Once his horse had consumed the bits of food, he led him out of the lean-to and into the predawn night. Saddled up, he guided the steed toward the tree line, to keep out of sight and headed home.
It would take him some days to get his things in order, but once he had, he’d be back for what he considered his.
“Hello, Ms. Morrison.”
“Lyle Joseph, what brings you here, and so early in the day, and the day before Christmas at that.” The woman, an older replica of Rachel, stood at the back door that led into the kitchen of the Harlot and the Hero.
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“If you’re here to see any of the ladies, you’ll be disappointed. After a long night, they’ll be restin’ until the evening.” She kept her bulk at the door as if guarding the place.
He smiled at her, but shook his head. “I’ve come for another reason. And bearing gifts.” Lyle held up the canister of fresh milk, a pound of salted butter, and a carafe of buttermilk.
“Well, then come on in.” She smiled broadly and stepped back so he could move past her to bring in his haul.
“Now, my order isn’t due for a few days.” She pushed the door shut to keep out the cold. The snow from a few weeks ago was melted now, but everyone knew that more would be on the way by the start of the next year. There would be more of it and it would keep snowing off and on until spring.
“Well, I thought you might need it now, with Christmas being tomorrow and all.” He set the canister on the floor by the table and the other two items on the counter where she had been pressing a tart shell into a tin.
“I can always use some fresh buttermilk; the kids love my biscuits with some jam. Give Mr. Rand my thanks. Sit for a spell, I can make you some breakfast, if you haven’t eaten.” She stood by the set up for her dessert, but stared at him.
Lyle removed his hat from his head. “I already ate.”
“Well, you look as if you have somethin’ on your mind. Can I help?”
“It’s not that I need help. I’ve come over to ask you somethin’.” Lyle felt as nervous as a schoolboy. He’d rehearsed what he would say for over a week now, so why he felt upside down about it, he wasn’t sure.
“All right.” Her eagle-eyed gaze fixed on him.
“I normally, would be askin’ this of your husband. However, since Mr. Morrison has long since passed, I felt it was respectable to come to you. It’s about your daughter Rachel.”
A single brow arched up high as Mrs. Morrison’s stare became hard.
A shiver ran along his spine at her look. He wasn’t sure why it appeared that the older woman had an issue with him. Pushing it aside, he continued, sure that once she heard what he had to say, she’d be excited for the news. “I am here to ask for your daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage.”
“Is that so?” Her expression didn’t change.
“Um… yes. I care for her deeply and I am hopin’ to make her my wife.” He ran his hand along the brim of his hat. There was a part of him that felt as if he was missing something. Every time he’d made a delivery to the whorehouse from the dairy, the woman always smiled and seemed happy to see him, usually sending him off with breads and treats she’d made that day or the night before. Over the last few moments, her countenance was the opposite of its norm.
“Well, don’t you think that you should have thought about getting her hand before anything else?”
He couldn’t help the tightness in his throat at her words. He never would have thought that Rachel would have told her mama about them laying together. Of course, it was her body and her relationship with a mama, but it still surprised him that she would do it. “What happened between your daughter and me is something I consider private.”
“Well, private or not, my baby girl is going to be out of a job, and with another mouth to feed.”
Out of a job. Shit, someone must have seen him coming from the house, even after he did everything to be careful, removing all signs of his presence. He dragged a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to have shame—”
His words faltered as something that Mrs. Morrison said clicked into his mind. “Another mouth?”
“Isn’t that what I said?” Fisting a hand on her ample hip, she shook her head.
Rachel was pregnant, with his child. Even as her mother continued to stare at him, Lyle couldn’t help but smile. It hadn’t been his plan, but he was still overjoyed about it. “I promise you I’ll make things right. Where is she now?”
She wagged a finger at him. “You better fix this before the whole town is talkin’ about my child.”
“If I have to carry her on my back to Pastor Morgan, I’ll make an honest woman out of her.” Lyle waited.
“I s’pect she’s still out at the Reynolds’. She sent word last night that Peter would bring her around to the boarding house this afternoon with her things. She’s planning to stay with Vera while she looks for a
job.”
“There’s no need for that.” He settled his hat on his head as he headed back to the door. “Do I have your blessin’?”
She sighed, but light filled her eyes. “I’m givin’ it. Just take care of her and treat my daughter right, she’d been through a lot.”
“It will be my pleasure.” He winked at the older woman, then left. There was one stop he had to make in town before he went to claim his bride.
She pulled her hands away from the buckle of her carpet bag. They were shaking so badly that she couldn’t get the leather and brass fastened together. She had a crate by her room door with the few other items she possessed. Over the years that she had worked in the Reynolds’ household and lived with the Tuckers, she’d never felt comfortable buying too many things. The space she was in was on loan, or rather it had been. Three days ago, her coworker had caught her at the back of the main house bringing up her dinner from the night before. She hadn’t eaten breakfast for over a week because her stomach always staged a revolt each morning. The first two days, she’d lied and said she’d eaten earlier, or that the lye soap was a new brand, and it made her nauseous. It was true that the smell of the lye now made her ill while she did the laundry, but so did bacon, and the smell of fried eggs, and peaches.
The peaches had been the first thing that turned her stomach upside down when she’d smeared the preserve on her toast a week ago and barely made it to the outhouse. She had thought she was coming down with a stomach bug, because one of the children at church had been sick beside her. However, when her sickness went away by noon meal and she was famished, it had been Mrs. Tucker who had pulled her aside the other night after the kids had bathed and gone to bed, telling her that she suspected she was pregnant.
“I can’t have a single woman with child under my roof. I have two girls and it wouldn’t be right for them to see.”
Those words had echoed in Rachel’s mind. She’d hung her head in shame, not because she regretted what had happened between her and Lyle, but because Mrs. Tucker had opened her home to her, and she had disappointed the woman by her actions. Even though she refused to confess where the incident had happened or with whom, Rachel still wished she had considered the consequences.
Rachel knew she’d have to leave her job before the Reynolds family discovered she was pregnant and had to let her go. She’d lied to them and told them that her sister needed help at the boardinghouse since they had lost their cleaning girl. It wasn’t a complete lie, since Mrs. Livingston was in need, but she still hated telling an untruth. She’d met with her mama and sister after church on Sunday and told them both what was going on. Even to them she had kept silent about the father. Her mother had promised to either find a man to marry her or send her away to have the baby.
“Women pretend to be widows all the time when they find themselves in the family way,” her mother had said.
She reached for her bag again. A knock came at the door. She figured it was Peter to get her things. Moving through the house, she arrived at the door and opened it. Shocked, she stood there staring at the man before her.
“Hello, darlin’.”
It had been almost three weeks since the last time she’d seen Lyle Joseph. Her stomach rolled from the nerves settled there. She was too afraid to speak, thinking that the contents from within would come out.
“May I come in?”
She swallowed back the bile, as she glanced around him to see if anyone was around. “You really shouldn’t. It wouldn’t be right, one of the Tuckers could come at any moment.”
It wasn’t only that she was afraid Mrs. Tucker would see him and draw a conclusion to him being the unborn child’s father. It was also that fact that her body was tingling and humming just seeing him. Her mind was replaying all the things he had done to her and she yearned for it again, even though they agreed it would only be that once.
“Then can you put on a coat and take a walk with me?” His blue eyes were as clear and captivating as the sun, they made it hard for her to deny him anything.
“One moment.” She closed the door, to keep out the cold, then she went to her room and got her repaired cape from the bed. She put it on as she went back to the door. “I can’t be long; I need to get somewhere.”
“I can give you a ride there. I have the wagon out from the farm.”
“Um, that’s all right. Peter is already going to take me.”
He didn’t argue, just held his arm out for her to take.
She looked at him for a moment, but his face didn’t show any signs of what was going on in the man’s mind. Why was he acting this way?
Slipping her hand around his elbow, she let him lead her down the steps and into the yard. She thought he would walk towards the far side of the house away, from the main house and prying eyes and bent ears. However, he didn’t. He strolled along with her as if they were out on a proper Sunday stroll.
“How do you fair from the other night? Were you all right?” His voice was low as he questioned her.
She glanced around; she saw Peter talking to the children over by the herb garden. “It’s been three weeks. I’m doing just fine.” She tried to keep the bite from her voice, but she couldn’t help it. Even though she was the one that had set up the situation between them, it had still bothered her that Lyle hadn’t come around.
Had their night together meant nothing to him? Her stomach tightened and she fisted her hand to keep from placing it over her belly where her child lay, their child.
“I heard you’re leaving your position here.” When they got to the front of the house, he walked up the lane that led to the main road. There was a wagon there that didn’t belong to the Reynolds, with Domino standing before it.
“Yes. I-I’m going to get a job with my sister.” She hoped.
“I thought you liked it here.” His hand covered hers on his arm and stroked the back of it.
Her heart fluttered at his touch; she remembered those same strong hands caressing her, bringing her pleasure. “I do, but something has come up and it is best that I leave.”
He stopped. They were still in front of the house, but far enough away that no one could hear them talking. He turned and stared at her. “I thought we meant something to each other, Rachel. Or are you truly just happy with that one night between us?”
“What? Yes.” She felt confused at his word. “Lyle, you did me a favor, I don’t have the right to look for somethin’ more.”
“Why not? I think you deserve a lot more than that.”
She refused to allow his words to make her hope for anything more, especially from him. It would crush her if he only wanted another roll in the sack. “I can’t do this now, here. I need to go.” She stepped away and started to turn and go back to the house.
“Were you planning to keep the fact you’re carrying my child from me?”
Her feet caught on a pebble and she almost tripped, but she caught herself before she toppled forward. She turned back to face him. It startled her to see that he was standing close to her again. “What did you say?” she whispered, as she shot a glance towards the house to make sure Mrs. Reynolds hadn’t come out.
“I know your pregnant, darlin’. That we made a baby that night.”
Jerking the cape tight around her body, she told him, “I don’t expect anything from you. It wasn’t in our agreement. I should have gone to see my mama and gotten the midwife there to give me one of her special teas to take care of it.”
The sound that came out of him was nothing short of a growl. He took hold of her arms and in a low voice he said, “You would not have consumed something to rid yourself of my child.”
No, I wouldn’t. She didn’t say those words to him, even though she knew that even if she’d considered there was a remote chance that she would become pregnant with Lyle’s baby, she would not have taken anything.
“Still, you don’t have any obligations here. I have some savings and I can care for it until I can find employment.”
She shook her head. “I just told you—”
“No. I’m telling you. Rachel Morrison, I want you to be my wife.”
Her heart was thumping at his words even as she pulled away. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes. I do. I want to do this.”
“I know you don’t care about me like that. So, let’s not force something.” She felt the burning in her eyes, she was going to have to allow him to walk away. Holding him to her because of a child would just ruin the glimmer of joy they had shared to bring the child to life.
“What makes you think I don’t care for you?”
“Three weeks, Lyle. It has been almost three weeks since I’ve seen hide or hair of you.” She felt the tears she’d been fighting roll down her face. “I’m not blamin’ you for not comin’ round.” She swiped at the wetness on her cheeks.
He reached up and cupped her face. “Sweet Rachel, I haven’t been around because I wanted to get my place set up for a wife. It was just an empty shell of a place. I couldn’t bring you there with a cot and one small potbelly in the corner. I’ve been workin’ out at the carpenter shop to get some pieces finished in a hurry. That’s done, so I’m here.” He drew her closer to him. “If I would have known you were carryin’ my babe, darlin’, I’d’ve come running a long time ago.”
The tears were flowing freely from her eyes now. “Are you certain, Lyle? You’re not just sayin’ this because you feel obligated for taking my virtue and all?”
“I’m sayin’ it, because I love you.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “I have loved you for years. I never said anything because I wanted a better job to take care of you in the fashion you should be cared for.”
“Oh, Lyle. I love you too.” She sniffed. “I think I’ve loved you since the day you bought me licorice. Is that silly?”
“I’ll show you just how silly it is.” He took her hand and walked her over to his wagon. When they got there, he picked up a small brown paper sack. “Here.”
