Elizabeth's Flight: a tale of loving discipline out west

by Susan Thomas

  Charles had pulled on a nightshirt and began to walk towards their bed. Emily looked at him and quite deliberately began to undo the buttons on her nightdress. She had never done anything like that before and it felt daring and very rude. She saw Charles' sharp intake of breath and the desire spring to his face. She smiled. He climbed slowly onto the bed his eyes never leaving hers. Parting the nightdress, he leaned over and began to nuzzle her breasts. He took a nipple in his mouth and nipped it with his lips, gently, but it was something Emily loved. She put her hands behind his head and pulled him closer running her fingers through his long curly hair. What Charles was doing to her breasts made her pant with desire and sent tingles down in between her legs. The pleasures of the marriage bed had been a wonderful discovery for her.

  "Oh Charles, take me. Please take me."

  Emily was shocked at the words coming from her mouth. She had never said such things before. Would Charles be angry with her? He certainly didn't seem angry. He smiled and lifting her nightdress put his fingers between her legs. One finger slid easily into her and she gasped with pleasure, lying back and parting her legs widely for him. He moved between her legs and pulled her nightdress right up around her waist. Then he lifted his own, revealing his hardness. Emily began breathing harder at the sight.

  "Please Charles, take me now."

  He pushed the hard length of his member against her opening and it began to slide smoothly in. Emily sighed with pleasure and watched him, her eyes gleaming with her desire. Now Charles came up over on her taking his weight on his knees and forearms. She loved him being so close. Loved to feel him against her. Loved the masculine smell of him. Loved him being in her.

  "Do it Charles."

  He smiled and now thrust hard into her. Emily gasped with pleasure and lay back, her eyes closed, as Charles thrust slowly in and out of her... each one deep and hard. It seemed as if her knees rose further up the bed with each thrust until suddenly Emily lifted her legs right up and wrapped them around her husband. Charles lifted himself so he could thrust more deeply and began to power into his wife making the bed rock and creak with every thrust. Emily made little sound but he could tell she was aroused as never before. Suddenly her whole body spasmed and he felt her tighten hard around his member. He could feel the tightness taking him to his edge and he used all his power to thrust harder into her, suddenly giving a great groan and pumping his seed hard and deep into her. Emily held him tightly in with her legs locked around him. Even when he had finished spurting she held him tightly.

  Finally, she relaxed and sighed, "Oh Charles."

  Chapter 3

  Beth's imagination had painted many scenarios for her arrival in Kirkham but not one had included anything like the reality. The whole Emily business was bewildering but now to add to it was the motherly way she and Arthur were being treated by the Spencers. Arthur was completely taken over by Mrs. Spencer and being told he needed a good bath. Arthur was nodding and Beth heard him agreeing Mrs. Spencer could bathe him. Beth's heart went out to him. Poor Arthur missed his mother dreadfully so the warm hearted woman must seem like God's gift to him. To add to her bewilderment, Mayor Spencer was not treating her as an employer but more like a father. They had, from the goodness of their hearts, offered to accommodate the town's new teacher until she could sort out her own accommodation, but the way he was talking it was clear that he regarded her and Arthur as permanent residents.

  "This is your room, Beth. It used to be our Emily's until she got married. I'll let you unpack and then come down to my office while Mary baths Arthur. You can have your bath when she has done with him. You two have made my wife a happy woman I can tell you. I hope the poor boy doesn't mind her mothering him."

  Beth grinned. "Oh I don't think so Sir."

  Beth felt curiously at home in Emily's old room. Everything was arranged just as she would have had it. She didn't need to look where to put things; instinct told her just where would be the best place. A built-in cupboard held her attention for a moment. Without thought she bent down and found a place where the boards could be lifted; sure enough there was a secret compartment and even an empty tin to hold treasures. How did she know all this? Was this why she had felt so drawn to Kirkham? It was all very strange.

  When all her things were away she went downstairs. From the sounds there was a bathroom of some sort behind a door. Arthur sounded quite happy and she found Mayor Spencer's office.

  "Ah come in Beth. Oh, I guess I am being presumptuous in using your Christian name."

  "I don't mind Sir. You and Mrs. Spencer are being very kind. I do apologize for landing Arthur on you but circumstances dictated. I expected to have to look after him myself."

  "Beth, you'll understand more when you see Emily. The Good Lord chose not to give us children of our own but there was an orphanage where we used to live and we took our Emily. She was but a few weeks old when we got her. We always wanted more children but somehow the opportunities just never came our way but now you have brought Arthur and yourself. Tell me something Beth - do you engage in practical jokes and tricks?"

  Beth gave him a quizzical look. "No Sir."

  "That's a relief. Oh, our Emily is a one for mischief I can tell you. Lovely girl but a mischief. Now the town need some papers signing for your employment. I'll have to show them to the Town Council. You don't mind doing it now do you?"

  He let Beth sit at his desk to read and sign the quite unremarkable documents and while she was there she glanced up and saw something hanging on the wall. She guessed what it might be but wasn't sure.

  Mayor Spencer saw her looking and laughed. He took it down and handed it to her. It was about two feet long in total by about three inches wide. Made of oak, there was a handle with a rounded top to it which had a hole for the leather loop that held it on the wall.

  "It's a paddle. Our Emily was such a mischief I was driven to applying this medicine to her rear end from time to time - only when she got too big for me to decently put her over my knee of course."

  As Elizabeth Franklin Jones, Beth had never received corporal punishment at home or school. It occurred to her that it would have been preferable to be brought up in the warmth of the Spencer's home and get the occasional spanking than in the cold hostility of her upbringing.

  "I've never had any corporal punishment."

  "My goodness. You must have been one very good child is all I can say. Well in this town and area we know when to apply the smarts to a rear end and when a firm word is better. Now I must ask a question. How do you feel about having a twin sister if that is how it turns out?"

  "Well you know it is very odd. Emily's room is just how I would have set it out. I didn't need to move or change anything. I just knew where it all should go. When I was younger I made up a friend and I used to do that. I'd ask my friend where I should put something or hide something and my friend would tell me. Looking at that room I can see Emily might just as well have been my friend."

  "But the friend wasn't real?"

  "No. Real enough to me but not to anyone else. I hope if Emily is my sister she will like me."

  John Spencer smiled broadly. "Our Emily is a very loving girl and from what I've seen of you there is nothing not to love."

  At that point Mary Spencer stuck her head around the door and told Beth she could now use the bathroom. Saved from further embarrassment, Beth went to her room, grabbed a change of clothes and hurried to the ground floor bathroom. That there was a bathroom was a surprise to Beth. She had expected a zinc bath in an outhouse filled by buckets of hot water. She has been brought up with a bathroom, a wonderful, glorious place of white glazed bricks and brass pipes linked back to the boiler heated by a furnace. There was even a flushing toilet imported from England and made by the Thomas Crapper Company. This was not so grand. A plain flagstone floor and whitewashed brick walls did hold a flushing toilet probably leading to a cesspit outside. A very plain bath had a big brass tap on the wall above which was for hot water and must conne
ct with a tank behind the range. A hand-cranked pump brought cold water. But it was a bath with soap and towels and Beth enjoyed her first proper wash in a quite a few days.

  Feeling clean and fresh from her bath Beth was now extremely hungry. She went in search of everyone and found Arthur dressed in completely different clothes.

  "Where did you get those Arthur? You had no luggage."

  Mary Spencer intervened, "Now don't go scolding your brother. I sent Henry off to get him some clothes from the store. I'll wash and mend the others. I expect you'll both be hungry. We'll all eat just as soon as Emily and Charles get here. I can't wait to see you two together."

  Beth's attempt to offer payment was politely, but firmly, rejected. It was clear Mary Spencer had every intention of mothering Arthur and clear that he had no problem with letting her do it. Henry Flight was talking to John Spencer although his eyes strayed every now and then to the girl sitting on the other side of the room. Mary Spencer was deep in conversation with Arthur.

  Their conversations left Beth alone with her thoughts and she was thinking about Emily. Was it really possible she had a twin? If so, why had her mother given one girl away? There was plenty of money for nannies and wet nurses and bottles could have been used if needed. Martha had been her wet nurse and nanny although no one ever talked about exactly why she had unneeded breast milk at sixteen. A twin would explain much about her own feelings. Elizabeth had always felt as if there was something missing in her... a piece torn away. As she had told Mayor Spencer she had even created a 'friend' with whom she shared secrets and confidences. The friend was as real to her as any real girl although it irritated the life out of her mother. Then there were those mysterious times when she had strong feelings of fright or pain but when there was nothing to frighten or hurt her. She had said nothing about Emily having a scar on her head; but she remembered, as if was yesterday, that day when she was eight and suddenly had a blinding pain in her head which passed quickly enough but was replaced by a long headache.

  The arrival of Emily and Charles was sudden and Beth stood ready to meet this girl that everyone seemed to think was her twin. There was a lot of fuss and then Emily was brought into the room. Everyone else moved to the sides leaving the two girls facing each other just a few yards apart. Silence fell and it seemed as if they all stopped breathing.

  Elizabeth looked at the girl standing opposite her. It was like seeing herself in a looking glass. There was the same long wavy auburn hair which both of them had tied back with a pretty ribbon. Beth was a little surprised that Emily had not put her hair up, as did most married women, but perhaps Charles preferred it like that. There were the same bright blue eyes with those long eye lashes, the same thin auburn eyebrows not to mention those hated freckles that, like her own, flowed from that small nose and over her cheeks. There too, was the same funny little mouth that always seemed to want to smile even when it shouldn't.

  Beth looked at her reflection and knew who it was. The feeling was so strong it took her breath and left her with tears in her eyes and she saw the same look mirrored in Emily's face. Without a word being spoken the two girls rushed into the other's arms and held tightly. Although no word was spoken tears flowed freely.

  There was a collective intake of breath from everyone else but still no one spoke. The moment was too holy for speech. Finally, the twins pulled apart, but still holding each other's arms, and Beth found herself saying the strangest thing.

  "I've missed you so much."

  Emily gave a little nod and kissed her sister. It was a signal and everyone began to talk loudly and with great excitement. Later neither girl could remember what they said.

  Emily spotted Arthur and pulled him over to join them. "So," she said curiously, "this is our little brother?"

  Beth looked at her sister and gave the merest movement of the eyes. It was undetectable to anyone else but Emily saw it and her eyes sparkled. The eyes said, "Oh, a secret. What fun!"

  Finally, the men pushed for the meal to begin. They could all talk while they ate. It was simple enough fare compared with what Beth had at home but good, well cooked and plentiful. A tasty vegetable soup, cutlets and poultry with vegetables, and a dessert of custard and various stewed fruits. The talk went backwards and forwards mainly focusing on the two girls but Sheriff Henry Flight said little. He was watching, listening and thinking. He deduced that Beth and Arthur came from money and he could tell Beth was very well educated. Why would a girl from that background seek out a poorly paid teaching post in a small town out West? They both at different times mentioned their mothers. Beth's mother was clearly still alive but, unless he had misheard, Arthur's was dead. How was that possible? It might be if Arthur was a step-brother but Beth claimed him as her brother. Beth had known she was coming here as a teacher and although she had luggage it wasn't as much as most girls from money would have. Then there was Arthur. Why did the boy have no luggage but just the clothes he stood up in? No one else seemed to notice or comment but he felt there was something deeply suspicious about the whole story. Henry decided he would do some investigating and tell no one.

  When the meal was over Emily was desperate to discover what the secret might be about Arthur. "Charles darling and papa, you won't mind if we three go off outside for a while to talk will you?"

  Permission was naturally granted though the others would have loved to listen into the conversation. Once well away from prying ears Emily demanded the whole story and was thrilled by Beth and Arthur's tale.

  "So you're both fleeing the same man. What happens if they find you?"

  Arthur was vehement. "He's not taking me back. I'll keep running away."

  Beth could see Emily was testing him when she said, "Why? Are you afraid of a good spanking? I've been spanked lots and lots of times by my papa."

  Arthur was so quiet it was almost hard to hear him. "If it was just a spanking I wouldn't be afraid."

  Emily said nothing just gave him a quick hug. "What about you Beth? What will you do if they find you?"

  "My father will try and make me marry Rankin Blake. I don't know what the law says but it doesn't really matter. My father is a state senator and a wealthy man. Blake is even wealthier. Who is going to listen to an eighteen-year-old runaway in the face of men like that? I'll have to get away again."

  Emily was thoughtful. "There is another way. If you were already married it would be too late wouldn't it and you would be safe. I'm married to Charles but his brother isn't married. Henry is a really good man and there is a real shortage of women out here for the men to marry. Some men get what they call mail order brides; they advertise back East for a wife and the woman comes out here and they get married. Henry would love a wife and he is a real good man just like Charles."

  ---oOo---

  Once they returned to their home Charles and Emily talked about little else other than the appearance of Beth and Arthur. Charles noticed that Emily seemed different. She was still the same loving bubbly girl she always had been but there was a change.

  "You seem different tonight. I can't put my finger on what it is but there is something changed about you."

  Emily looked at him thoughtfully and said nothing for a while. "I feel different," she said eventually. "I feel complete. It's like part of me was missing before but now I'm whole again. I have a feeling Beth on her own was more serious and I was more mischievous. Perhaps now we are together she will be more mischievous and I will be more serious... we'll sort of balance out."

  Charles laughed and said little more as he had husbandly duties to attend to that involved quite a lot of creaking from the bed. However, the next day at work he was giving some serious thought to the issue of why one twin was in the orphanage and the other with Beth's parents. He didn't buy into the notion that Beth's parents were her natural parents and they had abandoned Emily. He could also see there was something odd about Beth's background. What was a girl with an excellent education, and very good quality clothes, doing in a teaching post
out West? Even if her parents had died and lost all their money, families like that always had connections, and there must have been better opportunities than this teaching job. He was also unconvinced about Arthur. There was something not right about that story and he could tell Emily knew something she wasn't telling him. Charles made his decision and wrote a letter, under his lawyer's letterhead, to the orphanage that had 'provided' Emily. He was going to find out something about all that. He went across the road and put the letter in the mail. While he was out he had another thought and back in his office he did some research in a gazetteer and found the local newspaper from the town where Beth had sent her application. He then wrote a letter, using his newspaper letterhead, to that newspaper's editor requesting some back copies. He said nothing to anyone about what he had done.

  ---oOo---

  Isaac Franklin Jones was deep in conversation with Rankin Blake. "We can't let this get out, Blake. It will do our reputations no good. Your men can search New York for Elizabeth but do it discreetly. There can be no question of anything getting out around here."

  "You think I want it known that my bride-to-be has run off? No, we keep this secret for the time being at least. However, wider afield is not such a problem. You believe that Arthur and Elizabeth both going at the same time is coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences. He's gone with her. She may have gotten on that train on her own but that doesn't mean he wasn't on it too. Boys can get on a train without anyone noticing. I will send my men to New York but that could be a ruse. They might have gone out West with some silly notions about how exciting it will be. I'm going to put some notices out to law enforcement in the West... just a few to test the waters. I'm going to claim that Elizabeth has kidnapped Arthur. We might get lucky.

  Mr. Jones was unhappy about it but argue though he might Rankin Blake was immovable. The man was furious that his bride-to-be and son had defied him. He had every intention of giving both a serious whipping when he got them back.