No More Laters

by Coleen Singer

  Despite the hot summer night, Jill could feel herself trembling and her teeth were chattering and hard to control.

  "It's late," she managed to mumble, embarrassed to look at him. "We'd better get back," and once more she began to hurry off into the darkness. Again her caught hold of her.

  "Yes, it is late, and we probably should be getting back, but we certainly don't have to rush. Come on, let's take it a bit slower. The pink will be sure to be gone from your thighs then as well."

  Jill blushed at the reminder that he had so recently spanked her—again! He made her feel like a helpless little girl when he pulled her across his knee and spanked her like that, and yet she didn't feel as resentful as she imagined she should. Somehow the spanking also made her feel secure, as though someone strong and male was looking out for her, watching over her, protecting her.

  Without further comment, he gently took her hand in his and set off at a leisurely pace. Jill walked with him, aware only of the pressure of his large hand enveloping hers. The feel of his skin sent tingles up her arm, and she felt a dryness in her throat that had nothing to do with the heat of the still evening air.

  "This brings back memories," he murmured, and half turning his head he sent her a look from under his long lashes. So intense was the fire in his eyes, that Jill almost lost her footing.

  "Yes," she whispered.

  "You remember, too?"

  "Yes," she whispered again.

  As if satisfied, he turned his attention back towards the lights from the house now clearly visible in front of them, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. The spanking now behind her and her hand sitting snugly in his, Jill wished they could take forever to reach their destination, but it was only minutes later that they reached the sheds near the house.

  "Are you coming in?" she asked as she felt him slow.

  "No, I think I'll just say goodnight here."

  Jill stopped and turned to face him. "Thanks for seeing me safely back."

  "My pleasure," he said, a tiny curl appearing at the corner of his mouth.

  Once more, Jill's heart gave the same queer lurch as she marvelled at his extraordinary good looks. Beauty was not a word she normally associated with men, but despite Michael's overwhelming masculinity, heartbreakingly beautiful were the words she would have used to describe him at that moment. She hadn't meant to stare, but once again her eyes were locked into his as though drawn and held by a magnet.

  Wordlessly he took a step forward, and without taking his eyes from hers, he reached out and took hold of her shoulders. She could feel his warm breath, smell the sweet aroma emanating from his body, see the vein throbbing at his temple in rhythm with the pounding of her own heart. A shock rippled through her and her legs appeared in danger of giving way as she waited in tense anticipation.

  She was sure he was going to say something, do something, but after the longest time looking at her, he just murmured, "Goodnight," and then he was gone, swallowed up by the shadows as he headed for the room he'd made for himself in the shearers' quarters.

  Jill stood motionless watching the darkness into which he'd disappeared. She needed time to calm herself before she went indoors, time to quieten her heart which was still beating way too fast, time to cool the flush on all her cheeks and time to sort out the questions whirling around her brain. Were Michael and Rachel a couple? Why had he spanked her and then held her hand so tenderly and protectively. And why did he provoke such a powerful response in her whenever she was near him?

  At last, though she had found no satisfactory answers to any of her questions, she let herself into the house through the kitchen door. Inside the others were just sitting down to supper. Dave's wet hair and towel were evidence he had indeed cooled off in the pool.

  "Ah, here she is," Ali remarked. "We were just discussing whether to send out a search party."

  "It was probably Michael who slowed her down. All that running isn't good for a man his age," Dave grinned.

  "Goodness, you do go on!" Elizabeth said, looking fondly at her youngest son. "He's only 28." Then turning to Jill, she enquired, "Did you enjoy your walk, dear?"

  "Yes, thanks," Jill answered, relieved that no one seemed to think it amiss her being out for so long alone with Michael. Although, she hadn't dared let her eye catch Vicky's.

  "Would you like a cup of tea or a cool drink?" Elizabeth asked, adding "Isn't Michael coming in?"

  "No, he said he was going to go to bed, and I think I'll do the same if you don't mind. It's been quite a long day, and I'm rather tired."

  "Of course, love. Goodnight." Elizabeth kissed her warmly on the cheek. "It's nice to have you home."

  "It's wonderful to be here," Jill assured her, returning the kiss.

  "Goodnight," chorused Dave and Alistair.

  Jill finally turned to face Vicky, who until then had uncharacteristically, not said a word. Her fears were allayed, however, as her friend seemed to be regarding her perfectly normally.

  "Goodnight, Vick."

  "Goodnight, Roo. I'll pop up in a moment and just make sure you've got everything you need."

  "Okay." Jill left the room certain Vicky really wanted the opportunity to delve for information as to what had occurred to keep her out alone in the dark so long with Michael. There was no way Jill would ever tell, though. Michael's spanking of her was definitely their secret, and she would be far too embarrassed to ever tell Vicky. She wasn't even sure quite what her friend would make of it if she ever found out.

  Ten minutes later, her nightly toilette completed, and her bottom carefully inspected to see what little evidence remained of her recent punishment, Jill had pushed thoughts of spanking from her mind for the moment, and was propped up in bed with a book when Vicky appeared at the door, a glass in her hand.

  "Can I come in? I've brought you some of Mum's lemonade."

  "Thanks." Jill took the proffered glass while her friend settled herself comfortably on the end of the bed as she had done so many times in the past. "Mmm, this is delicious. Your Mum still makes the best lemonade in the world."

  "Now then," Vicky said with a mischievous expression, "let's get down to serious business. How's Tim?"

  "Tim?" Jill couldn't conceal her surprise. She had been so sure Vicky wanted to interrogate her about Michael, that the question caught her completely off-guard. She quickly recovered, but not before Vicky had noticed and, playfully nudging her, added, "Aha! I thought as much. So, come on then, spill the beans, what's going on between you two?"

  "Well, after you, he's probably my best friend."

  "Friend?" asked Vicky, one eyebrow arched upward to add emphasis to her question.

  "Yes, friend." Jill shook her head at her friend's incorrigible romanticism.

  "Ah well," Vicky sighed dramatically. "How disappointing. You're not hiding anything from me, are you, Roo? I mean, your letters were always so full of Tim this and Tim that, I thought surely by now...."

  As Vicky was speaking, Jill placed her glass on the bedside table, picked up a pillow and threw it at the other girl.

  "All right, all right!" Vicky put up her hands in surrender. "But don't forget that Ali and I started off as friends and—" she added with smug contentment, "look at us now."

  "Yes, you two certainly progressed onto something more but, before you get any ideas, it is not going to happen with Tim and I."

  "So, who are the other men in your life, then?" Vicky persisted. "I'm sure there must be hundreds of men beating a path to your door. Come on, 'fess up!"

  "Well, they must be beating it while I'm out," Jill laughed, "because I'm sure I haven't seen them." But Vicky's expression made it quite plain that this flippancy was not going to be enough. She shrugged. "Okay, I've been out with a couple of guys, but nothing serious."

  "Aha!" Vicky's tone was triumphant. "Come on then, names and places please, and," her voice dropped to a suggestive whisper, "juicy details."

  "There are definitely none of those," Jill laughed. "Ther
e's Ben, who lives downstairs, and Daniel, who I met through work. I've been out with both a few times, dinner, movies, stuff like that. But I've never even kissed either of them. It's strictly platonic and I'm sure, for you, very boring."

  "Are they both madly in love with you and disgustingly jealous of each other?"

  "For goodness sake, you're starting to sound like one of those romantic novels you're always reading. No they are not!"

  "All right," Vicky finally conceded defeat. "But I can see I shall have to keep a closer eye on you when I get back to Melbourne. We can't have you running around breaking men's hearts willy-nilly."

  "I haven't broken anyone's heart," Jill protested but Vicky would brook no disagreement.

  "Nonsense," she retorted. "I bet right at this moment Tim, Bill, and Ben are all pining away."

  "Daniel," Jill corrected, realising argument was useless.

  "Him too! See what I mean? A veritable army of suitors wistfully longing for your return. Perhaps one will arrive on our doorstep here and whisk you away."

  An involuntary snort escaped Jill. Where on earth did Vicky get these preposterous ideas?

  "Okay, well, I'm off to bed," Vicky said, standing up. "And you should reflect on your sinful ways. You can't just keep stringing all these men along, you know. You really should make up your mind. So, who will it be? Fred? Bill? Actually, my money's on Tim. I'm sure if you just stop being stubborn and think about it, you'll find your half in love with him already." She bent and kissed Jill's cheek. "Goodnight, Roo. We're putting up the decorations tomorrow. We waited especially until you got here. I love it when the decorations are up. I can't wait, can you?"

  Jill, only too aware of the impossibility of getting a word in edgewise when her friend was in full flight, waited patiently for a break. It came as Vicky paused for breath.

  "No, I can't wait either," she hurriedly slipped in. "It feels so much more Christmassy once the tree and decorations are up."

  Vicky leaned against the door. "Yes, I know what you mean. Now off to sleep and remember, you have to have a serious think about Tim. He's a wonderful man, I'm sure. Well, he's always seemed very nice the few times I've met him. And I bet he's hopelessly in love with you."

  "I can't begin to imagine what you base that assumption on," Jill said with a touch of exasperation.

  "Well, he doesn't have another girlfriend, does he?" For a moment, Vicky's eyebrows knitted together in a worried frown as a previously unconsidered thought struck her.

  "No… well, not as far as I know."

  "There you are then!" And with a triumphant toss of her head, she was gone, closing the door behind her.

  As Jill switched off the lamp and pulled the sheet over the lower half of her body, Vicky's words echoed in her brain. Her and Tim? Could it ever be possible? When Jill had met him three years earlier, it was not long after he'd become a widower and his grief had been palpable. Any thought of him being interested in other women at that stage would have been simply ridiculous, but as time passed, it would be quite natural for him to fall in love again, maybe even remarry… but her?

  She willed herself to picture his face. He was quite handsome, she thought, and gentle and kind and… but try as she might to think of Tim, it was another face which intruded upon her thoughts. A tremor rippled through her as she recognized the dark, enigmatic, sometimes brooding features of Michael. Her chest involuntarily tightened, making breathing difficult and a peculiar sickness settled in the pit of her stomach.

  The memory of him pulling her over his knee and holding her there while he spanked her bottom caused an ache between her legs and she moved restlessly between the sheets. She wanted to assuage the ache, to rub the tingling craving in her bottom, to sort out her tangled emotions, to understand how this man could have such a turbulent effect on her and to explain why she continued to let him spank her even now she was a grown woman. Could she still be suffering from the schoolgirl crush she'd had on him so many years ago?

  Well, she'd have to get over it if she was. It was totally inappropriate and obviously not reciprocated from the start, and it was even more ridiculous now that he was apparently courting Rachel Longroh. Perhaps Vicky was right—what she needed was to find a man of her own. She had denied herself sensual pleasure thus far, concentrating her energies on her work. Was this her body's way of telling her it was not to be ignored any longer? As drowsiness began to overtake her and thinking became more difficult, she again tried to conjure up Tim's image. But again, it was not his visage which set her heart racing and her juices flowing, it was Michael's, intruding unbidden.

  "I'll spank you whether you want me to or not..." she heard him scolding and as her body burned with a warmth that had nothing to do with the sultry heat of the night, she slipped into restless unconsciousness.

  The next day being Monday and the rest of the family back at work, it fell to Jill, Vicky and Alistair to organize the Christmas tree. Taking an axe, they wandered down to the river where there was an abundance of trees amongst which they could find a suitable branch. The day promised to be every bit as hot as the previous one and although it was only mid-morning, the air was already thick with heat and the lazy persistent hum of flies. In no hurry and with the whole day to fill, they took their bathers and towels. The river had lost none of its appeal and it was well past midday when they returned to the farmhouse, damp and relaxed, dragging the eucalypt branch which would become the focus of their Christmas.

  The men had already eaten their lunch and returned to the paddocks, but Elizabeth had saved plenty of food and the three tree-collectors were soon tucking into cold mutton and salad. After lunch, Elizabeth pulled out the box of Christmas decorations, which Vicky and Jill remembered from their first Christmas together. Although some had broken over the years and replaced by new ones, there were still many old favourites. Each one was lovingly unpacked and exclaimed over with delight, a process now as much an institutionalized ritual of Christmas at River Gums as the eating of turkey on Christmas Day.

  After filling a bin with sand and planting the branch in it, they began transforming the tree into a glittering spectacle of tinsel, coloured glass balls and tiny wooden ornaments of reindeer, snowmen, angels and Santas. As the tree neared completion, Jill was awarded the honour of placing the most beautiful angel of them all on the tree's uppermost tip, and then, lastly, a string of lights was wound around the branches. The effect as they flashed colourfully on and off was entrancing, and the finishing touch was provided as presents wrapped in Christmas paper were arranged beneath the tree.

  "Now it really is Christmas," Vicky said happily as the three admired their creation.

  "Yes," agreed Jill with conviction. "It is a very beautiful tree. We have done well, I think."

  "Let's put up the rest of the decorations now," Vicky suggested, and so out came the streamers, the folding paper bells, an array of wreaths to hang on doors, and lastly the mistletoe which was fastened in the doorway between the dining room and the entrance foyer for the front door.

  "I think we'd better test this out," Vicky told Alistair, leading him to the doorway.

  "It seems to work fine," Jill laughed as the lovers indulged in a very long kiss.

  "Come on, Roo," Vicky called when the kiss eventually ended, "your turn."

  Jill joined them in the doorway and exchanged a quick but affectionate kiss with Ali and warm hug and kiss on the cheek with Vicky.

  "Hmm, I really think we need to find you someone to do this with properly, Roo," said Vicky.

  "Ah no," Jill replied emphatically. "That was quite enough. I told you, Vicky, I'm just fine the way I am. I'm not looking for any complications."

  "All right, I believe you," shrugged Vicky, sounding anything but convinced. "Whew, well, I'm hot now. Let's tidy up and have a dip in the pool, shall we?"

  After dinner that evening, instead of gravitating to the cool of the verandah as usual, everyone seemed drawn to the lounge room and the tree.

  "I th
ink we ought to get in some practise for Christmas Eve," Vicky said, seating herself on the stool in front of the piano and selecting some sheet music. She began with The First Noel and, despite her brother's teasing, she had quite a pleasant singing voice. The sound of it was enough to encourage the others to join in beginning with Alistair leaning against the piano, then Jill moving closer until she was leaning on the other side. From her seat on the couch, Elizabeth joined in also, and by the end of the second verse, Jack's deep baritone could be heard as well.

  "Hey!" cried Dave, bounding over and plonking himself on the stool beside his sister. "Make way for someone who can really sing."

  "Yeow!" wailed Vicky, as he bellowed in her ear with rather more gusto than mellifluousness.

  As The First Noel came to an end, Vicky turned the page and immediately began Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. During the singing, Jill, sensing a movement behind her, turned slightly to see Michael coming to stand almost next to her yet just behind. As her eyes met his, his face softened into a slow gentle smile. Her heart turned completely over and stopped! For what seemed the longest time, she was lost in the depths of his eyes, her bones had melted and she had no idea how she was managing not to simply swoon to the floor. Fortunately, a new carol started then and the spell was broken.

  Jill quickly turned away, her face burning with embarrassment as she realized she had been staring. Every cell in her body was aware that he was standing so close behind her that if she were to just sway back very slightly she would be nestled against him.

  Determined to push him from her thoughts, she concentrated on the singing, but then she heard him take a breath and the sound of his voice filled her ears, drowning out the thudding of her heart. He had a magnificent voice and despite her efforts to ignore him, she was aware of nothing else. Then that carol also ended and in the quiet before the next began, she heard him whisper, "Sing," in her ear.