by Heidi Sexton
Chadwick became aware that he could not move his hand up her thighs. He was stunned to realize that he had lost control. He lifted his head away, but did not let her go. Brittany’s eyes were closed tightly and she was breathing as hard as he was. Her thighs still gripped his hand. He knew now that she was a virgin. He would find out why tomorrow. But for now he had to get her home, before he undid whatever had preserved her chastity thus far.
“Brittany, you can relax. I am not going to force you to do anything.” He felt her tremble and felt a twinge of conscience. He removed his hand from her thighs and pulled her skirt down. He kissed her cheek and settled back into his seat. Reaching up, he switched the light off, giving her some much needed privacy as she regained her composure.
He was shaken too. Chadwick believed in God, but he wasn’t sure if God bothered to intervene in people’s lives. How was it that he, Chadwick Jordan, had literally run into a virgin in this day and time? He had been with enough women to know a virgin without actually having to break her skin. Brittany had it written all over her, if any one cared to see past her natural sexual wonder. He was frightened. He didn’t know what to do with her now. He knew one thing for sure though. She had him totally enthralled and he would die before he left her alone. She would be his wife, just as he had said before. Only now, the stakes were higher and his sense of desperation was palpable.
CHAPTER 7
Brittany was silently crying underneath her covers. She had made a fool out of herself. She knew that she had seen the last of Chadwick. He had been too quiet while driving her home. He hadn't said a word. By the time she got home, she was extremely nervous and anxious. He had gotten out of the car, walked around and opened her door. He had not touched her again. She smothered a sob as she remembered how he had stumbled back, almost falling, in his haste to get away from her, when she had bent over to gather her purse and things. Even when she passed him in the door as they carried her bags and equipment in, he had been very careful not to touch her. When they finished unpacking her things, he had backed away from her, while waving and said, “I’ll call you”, and then he was gone.
“Brittany, are you crying?” It was Amber, the last person Brittany wanted to talk to right now. Amber seemed to never be able to understand what a person was feeling. One had to spell it out all out to her. It was really tiresome to have to go through a series of explanations in order for her to comprehend your emotional dilemma. Already exhausted from giving a one-hour massage and enduring a mortally embarrassing experience with Chadwick, Brittany didn’t have the strength to explain anything. “What has that man done to you now?” Amber pulled the cover from over Brittany’s head. When she saw Brittany’s face, she sat on the edge of the bed and said, “Tell me, now.”
“I want him, Amber. I thought he wanted me, but this evening after he kissed me, he started acting strange. I think I turned him off.”
“Honey, you couldn’t turn that man off, if you had a seizure and pee’d on yourself. I saw the way he looked at you and the way he touched you when we were at McDonald’s. So, don’t even waste your time thinking like that. Really, Brittany, you can be very slow at times.” She stood up, patted Brittany on the head, stretched, yawned, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Brittany sat very still, watching the door Amber had gone out of. Amber was unnatural. How could she be so detached?
“Here I am crying my heart out and when I tell her what’s wrong, she tells me I am slow and leaves.”
Brittany had stopped crying and was fussing to herself. Amber had somehow made her feel really stupid for crying under her covers. She was right, Chadwick definitely wanted her. She had no doubt about that. That kiss said it all. His tongue had touched every corner of her mouth. She had felt the greed in his kiss. Yes, he wanted her. It wasn’t until afterwards that everything changed or was it before. She said something that had disturbed him. She saw it in his face when he turned the car light on. He had wanted to know if she had ever had casual sex. Of course she hadn’t. She had not had any type of sex. Had he figured it out? Had he somehow realized that she was a virgin? Brittany covered her face with her hands when she thought about how she had stopped his hand from going up her thighs by squeezing her legs shut. She was sure he knew. That explained the change in him. That’s the only thing that could explain why he had pulled away. That’s why he had reassured her that he would not force her. Brittany already knew he would never do a thing like that. She would never have gotten in the car with him, if she felt he was that sort of man.
Brittany no longer cared if he was rich. She had seen enough to know that he was not your typical wealthy man. His money did not wear him, he wore his money. Chadwick, heart, soul and body completely outshone the wealth. He was a man to be had by any warm-blooded woman. Brittany hoped fervently that she could be that woman.
Getting out of bed, she left her small bedroom to go the bathroom. The floors creaked and she smiled. She really did like the little house they lived in. It had been their mother’s home. Wendy Bradfield had been a deeply God-fearing woman. She had not been a fanatic, but she had had a deep reverence for God and enjoyed studying the Bible. Her husband had not shared her beliefs. He was polar opposite. He would make fun of her and he absolutely forbade her to “oppress his girls with her nunnery." Instead of supporting Wendy in her efforts to raise their girls to be wholesome and God-fearing, he had persecuted her and forbade her to even take them with her when she went to the Kingdom Hall, her chosen place of worship. In the end, Brittany and her sisters learned the hard way that mom's way was the best way.
Their father had come to a very sad ending. He had been murdered. The newspapers said that he had been caught with another man’s wife. It had cost him his life. If he had listened to their momma, he would probably still be alive. Brittany was twelve when her father had been murdered. The whole situation had traumatized her. Her mother had been wise enough to take that opportunity to show them what the Bible had to say about sex. Her mother had been very clear that there was nothing wrong with sex, but that it had a proper place and that was only within marriage. The murder of their father and those scriptural warnings combined were potent enough to leave its mark on every mental and emotional fiber in their little beings. The Bradfield sisters were vigilant about not having sex before they were married and never ever would they commit adultery, after all, that very thing had gotten their beloved father murdered at the age of forty-five.
They had truly loved their father and his death had brought them deep sorrow. It had also thrown their family into destitution. It was at this point they had begun to experience real poverty. Their mother had had to take on extra work. By day she was one of many secretaries for a huge aluminum coil making company. At night she sat with a rich old lady who had become infirm. Working this way she had eked out a tolerable existence for them, but they no longer had new clothes every year for school. Dining out became nonexistent. Trips to the parlor turned into trips into the kitchen where Wendy would experiment with their hair. They had learned how to do one another's hair and were pretty self-sufficient in that arena.
Their mother had been gentle and reserved, but never weak. Wendy had stretched her money and budgeted down to a penny all so that she could save the little house that she and her husband had gone through so much trouble to buy. She was never late or short on the mortgage. The house always came first and then food. Mention of anything else and her eyes would glaze over and she would seem deaf.
As Brittany stood in their only bathroom, she reminisced about her loving and insightful mother. Wendy Bradfield was her daughters’ inspiration and voice of wisdom. Each one of them remembered her with great love. As adults, they still cherished her lessons in life.
Wendy had died of breast cancer. It had ravaged her quickly. Wendy’s daughters had rallied around her like miniature soldiers. Wendy had tried to teach them everything she knew before she died. Her most valuable gift was the knowledge of God. The gir
l’s responses were heartfelt. Brittany and Amber made a solemn promise to Wendy on her deathbed that they would not be immoral. They would be virginal brides.
Wendy was dead within eight months of the diagnosis. Brittany had been seventeen. They were devastated. Amber at eighteen had been old enough and smart enough to hold back the ensuing chaos. She had held them together by sheer will.
On Wendy’s death the mortgage was paid in full. She had left the little house as an inheritance to them. They had a place to live and the rest had been up to them. In the beginning Amber had tried to work in her mother’s place sitting with the wealthy old woman, but that had been a huge and unforgettable disaster. The woman’s fifty-year-old son had sexually propositioned Amber and when she told him no, he had sent her away without paying her for two weeks of work. He heaped injury onto the insult by bragging that he had paid Wendy less than minimum wage, because she would not cooperate either. This had enraged and hurt Amber to the point that she was inconsolable. Amber had been so angry that she had gone to several legal professionals to see if anything could be done and all of them encouraged her to leave it alone because of, “Mr. Rutledge’s status.”
This incident spearheaded many heated discussions amongst the Bradfield girls regarding the purely evil nature of rich people. They fed and fostered these feelings until they were convinced that the majority, if not all, wealthy people were soulless. They had sought out and exploited every seemingly unjust thing the affluent did. In hindsight, Brittany could see that their youthful vehemence should have been tempered by age. It was clear that throwing all affluent people in the same category was immature and unfair. She could never see Chadwick doing anything unprincipled as soliciting a young girl for sex and he would never brag about an ill deed done to a deceased woman. Mr. Rutledge was despicable and he had better be in a class of his own, because Brittany was not sure how she would react if she ran into his type again.
Brittany showered and put on a gown. She was heading back to her room when she heard the television on in the living room. She walked to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner to see which sister was still up. It was Christy. Relieved, Brittany scuttled over to the couch and plopped down on Christy’s feet.
“Hey, girl, get off my feet.” Christy said, as she pulled them from under Brittany’s rump. Christy was snuggled in a baby blue blanket with a blue silk scarf wrapped around her head. Brittany stared at her and wondered how it was that Christy managed to be so stylish and pretty all the time. She actually had a matching head scarf to her blanket.
“What are you watching this time of night, little girl?” Brittany loved lording it over Christy, because she knew she hated it. Brittany and Amber had been like mother hens to Christy for the past five years. Secretly, Brittany felt that sometimes Christy got tired of them. Amber especially could be overbearing. But Christy was only nineteen; she was definitely still in need of guidance.
Christy sat up on the couch and looked at Brittany. “So, what were you crying about?”
“You guys act like I was wailing and screaming. My head was underneath the cover and I was crying to myself. You two are just some nosy wenches.” Brittany could not believe they heard her. Now that was the disadvantage of living in a small house with your sisters. Brittany loved her home and she loved her sisters, but they really were all up on each other at times. She yearned for privacy every now and then.
“Okay, we did hear you come in. As a matter of fact we watched you and Chadwick when he dropped you off. He was really skittish, girlie. What did you do to him? He acted like he was afraid of you.” Of course, Christy never missed a thing. She was expressing the very same impression Brittany had gotten.
“I think he figured out that I am a virgin. Evidently it unsettled him. I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine, but it did hurt my feelings that he was in such a rush to get away from me.”
“You really like him, don’t you, Brittany?” Christy was looking her directly in the eyes. At this proximity Brittany could never get away with a lie, but she wasn’t inclined to lie about how she felt about Chadwick. She wanted him desperately.
“Yep, I really like him”, was all she said.
“Good. I like him too and I want him for a brother-in-law, you know with all his money and everything. Oh, I’m kidding, but I really do like him. I think you guys are going to end up getting married. I just feel it.” Christy’s eyes had taken on a dreamy expectant look.
“Girl, stop that. If we end how we’ve started, there won’t be any marriage, because after tonight it seems like we’re taking more steps backward than forward.”
Brittany slapped Christy’s leg and stood up. She decided to go on to bed. Maybe tomorrow morning would literally shed more light on the events of this evening, because right now she was really confused and between Christy and Amber, she was getting more confused.
#
Amber lay in her bed and wondered whether Brittany had calmed down. She heard her go to the bathroom. She decided to check on her. She opened her door to find all the lights off. Christy and Brittany both must have gone to bed. Crossing the hallway she peeked into Brittany’s room. The soft light from the moon glowed across Brittany’s bed. She was asleep. Amber stared at her sleeping sister for a few more seconds before she gently closed the door. She went back into her room in deep thought. In her heart Amber knew that Chadwick was the man for Brittany. It would not be long before she and Christy would be saying their goodbyes to Brittany. Amber knew determination when she saw it and what she saw in Chadwick’s eyes was a steely resolve to have Brittany. He would have to marry her first. Amber would make sure of that. She had promised her mom on her deathbed that she would watch over Brittany and Christy. Slipping between her covers, Amber wondered what she could do to insure that Mr. Chadwick Jordan didn’t put the cart before the horse. It seemed improbable, but Chadwick Jordan would be marrying Ms. Brittany Bradfield before he would be putting one finger on her. These thoughts followed Amber into a restless sleep.
CHAPTER 8
Brittany was a keeper. She had disarmed James Jordan. James had gone to bed that night and slept a deeply relaxing sleep. He had awaken in the early morning hours and made love with his wife of forty-one years. He had satisfied her and therefore, he was very satisfied. As he lay with his wife in his arms, he wondered what more a man could want. Then it dawned on him that a man could want a daughter-in-law who could give a massage that would make him sleep like a baby. He nudged Mara awake.
“Mara, wake up. I need you to call that girl and invite her over for dinner. I want to see her again.” He thought for a minute and added, “Invite her whole family.”
“James, I don’t think Chadwick wants us interfering in his business too much.” She turned over and laid her head on James chest. She could feel the gentle thump of his heartbeat.
“Well, he should have thought about that before he involved us in the first place. You know, I saw them together in the hallway right before he took her home. It was something to see. I thought the boy was going to do something stupid like throw her to the floor and climb on top of her. So, I interrupted them.” James shook his head as he remembered the way Chadwick had stared at Brittany as if she was edible. He had seen Chadwick with women before, but he had never seen him so out of control. James wasn’t sure what might have happened if he had not spoken up, because it was clear that Chadwick had had only one thing on his mind. James wondered whether Chadwick had been as well behaved as Brittany was expecting him to be on her ride home.
Mara already knew what James was thinking. She had seen Brittany’s face after she had come from Chadwick’s bedroom. Mara was sure Brittany had stumbled upon Chadwick. Nothing else could have put that flush on Brittany’s skin or that quiver in her voice. Mara new women. She was a woman herself. She also knew her son. Chadwick had never been mediocre about anything. He did everything with gusto and fervor. She always knew he would love the same way. She herself had been a passionate pe
rson. Time had moderated some of her passion, but she would always recognize it when she saw it. She knew Chadwick had found someone to be passionate about. Mara hoped that even if Brittany could not match him, she would at least embrace him in his passion and accept him with all her heart. But Brittany had a suspicion that Chadwick had met his match.
“James don’t you think Chadwick can handle this by himself? If he needs us to do anything he will let us know. He knows that we are always here for him.” Mara rolled away from James. Sitting up, she put her feet on the floor and fished around for her slippers. She was hungry after her early morning activity.
" I can’t wait to see Chadwick this morning to find out how things went last night.” Mara had tied her robe and was brushing her hair as she walked into the connecting bathroom. James could hear her running a bath. He decided he didn’t have time for all that. He wanted to speak with Chadwick now. He put on his robe and slippers and left the room.
#
James went straight to Chadwick’s bedroom and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He turned the knob to enter the room thinking that maybe Chadwick was in the shower and couldn’t hear him. Upon entering the room, he was shocked to find Chadwick still in bed. James knew Chadwick was a light sleeper and it disturbed him that Chadwick had not heard his knock.
He walked to the side of Chadwick’s bed to get a closer look at him. He noticed the bottle of sleeping pills on the side table. He was sleeping deeply. He was on his back with his right arm thrown above his head and his left arm holding a pillow across his chest.
“Wake up, son. I need to talk to you.” James bellowed.
“Dad, please go away.” Chadwick murmured as he turned over and away from James.
