“I want to see if Uncle Tommy might take us home,” she said. “It’s not so cold and we could be there in two hours or a bit more. Harry could recover at home and we could get out of the way here. Would you, Uncle Tommy?”
Surprise slackened his jaw and dropped it open. “I reckon I could,” he said after a long pause. “If that’s what you want, Maude, I suppose I might.”
Maude sought Harry with a glance. His smile above George’s curly head revealed his answer but he confirmed it with a nod. “I’d like to go home.”
“Granny?” Maude asked, seeking both the old woman’s wisdom and approval.
“I’ll miss you and I hate to see you go,” she replied. “But it’s where your family belongs, out on the farm.”
One consideration mattered above all others. “Do you think it’s too much for Harry? I don’t want him to relapse.”
The woman cocked her head as she pondered the question. “I think he can do it. You’d best make up a place for him to lay in the wagon bed and keep him covered, but Harry’ll do fine. He’ll still need plenty of rest and he can’t take over chores yet but I say he’d stand the journey all right. He ain’t been outside yet but long as he don’t take a chill, he’ll do.”
“I’d keep doing chores anyway,” Uncle Tommy said. “One of these days I might get down in the back and he can return the favor.”
Harry handed George into Granny’s keeping. “Then let’s do it. Maudie, you sure about this?”
“I am.” His grin beamed brighter than the sunshine streaming through the window. “So am I.”
An hour later, they’d packed up everything they needed. Granny spent the time with George, singing to him and cuddling him close. “We’ll bring him back to see you, you know,” Harry told his grandmother.
“You’d better or I’ll come back to the farm,” she responded. “This little fellow makes me feel young.”
“Come back anytime you want,” Maude told her. “We’ll always have a place for you, Granny.”
After a hasty noon meal of soup and cornbread, they set out in Uncle Tommy’s wagon. George rode perched on the seat beside the man but Maude rode in the back beside Harry. He sprawled on an old mattress tick Granny had Fred drag out of a shed and kept cozy beneath a pile of covers. He wore his coat and a hat too. When Maude checked his hands and found them warm, she relaxed to enjoy the trip to the farm.
When they reached the yard, Maude sat up and so did Harry, eager for a glimpse of the place. When Uncle Tommy rolled the wagon to a stop, he helped them both climb down. Although Harry wobbled a little bit, he smiled and put an arm around Maude. He began to hum and she recognized the tune as “Down In The Valley.” Maude wondered if he’d know she sang it on the fateful night when his life hung in the balance, and she began to sing with the melody. She didn’t stop until she reached the last line and sang it out proud, “Angels in heaven know I love you.”
“It’s true,” she told him, content in the shelter of his arm with her son at her feet. “I do love you.”
“Oh, Maudie, I never doubted it for a moment,” Harry answered. “Woman, I love you too.”
Epilogue
Two weeks later…
After sharing a big pot of Maude’s chicken and dumplings for supper, the three drowsed somnolent and sated before the hearth. George fell asleep first and after a few minutes, with no hurry, Maude stirred. “Do you want me to take him up to bed?” she asked.
Harry, comfortable with his sock feet thrust toward the warmth of the fire, shook his head. “Naw, I’ll do it.” She almost protested but he’d all but recovered from the Spanish influenza. He’d been doing a few of the lighter chores over the past few days and Maude resisted the urge to coddle him.
Neither mentioned it aloud, but Maude wasn’t ready to retire. Desire prickled her skin and teased every pore of it. She wanted Harry to make love to her. So far, since Christmas night, he hadn’t. Jail interrupted their intimacy and Maude waited as he recuperated. But it’d been two months since she’d felt his hands caress her body, and she needed him. She longed to feel his cock inside her. “Are you comin’ back down?” she asked.
“Yeah, honey, I won’t be a minute.”
True to his word, Harry returned almost before Maude had time to gather her thoughts and stand up. She met him at the foot of the stairs and he opened his arms wide to wrap around her. “May I have this dance?” he asked. Caught unaware, she nodded and he began to hum “The Blue Danube Waltz.” He moved with easy grace, faltering only once or twice with his bad knee, and she followed his lead. They twirled about the room, the music he made as beautiful to her as any band, the humble room as lovely as any ballroom. As they danced, her desire increased, and when he halted, Harry put his mouth down on hers and kissed her.
A heat as intense as fever smote her mouth and the powerful urge, old as time, consumed Maude. His kisses sent ripples of pleasure through her body and her hands touched his skin. She unbuttoned his shirt and ran them over his chest, slowing to fondle his nipples between her fingers. The sounds he made thrilled her. She’d waited so long and apparently Harry had too.
“Maudie, I’ve wanted this,” he breathed in her ear. “In jail I thought about this and dreamed about it. I planned to make love to you on our wedding night but I got sick and couldn’t.”
“Are you sure you feel good enough?” she said, although Maude thought he felt very good indeed.
“Oh, yeah.” His voice whispered like the wind through her hair and into her soul.
His kisses strayed from her lips down to her throat, to the soft hollow and lower to her breasts. Harry’s mouth traveled the length of her belly, and he knelt to kiss her on each thigh. By then Maude’d managed to shuck away her dress. Her fingers stroked his skin and caught in his hair. He stood and stripped away his garments, then he kissed her, tongue deep into her mouth. Her body turned soft, as pliant as a summer green plant, and when he laid her down on the old couch, Maude opened her legs wide. He penetrated into her, plunged his cock all the way into her box. She tightened the inner walls around him and they rode together with one rhythm. Pleasure spread as they worked together, straining and gaining the ultimate. By the time they came in a wild tide of magic and delight, Harry filled all Maude’s senses and they were one, physically, emotionally, and in spirit.
They curled together before the fire, naked as newborns, and the soft light played across their skin with subtle beauty. Outside, the wind moved through the bare branches and rattled them against the old house. Maude delighted in the contentment and knew, despite all the trouble they’d weathered, she’d be happy with this man here for the rest of her days. His eyes locked with Maude’s and she sensed they were in accord. As the wind sighed and rose, Harry traced the curve of her face with one finger and whispered the lines from the old folk song, “Down In The Valley”:
“Down in the valley, valley so low, hear the wind blow, love, hear the wind blow.”
She did, and it made music all its own. The melody put a song into her heart, one she knew well and for always. Their valley might be low but their spirits soared high with life, in love.
The End
Evernight Publishing ®
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Valley So Low Page 19
