The Journey Home

by K'Anne Meinel

  She cleaned up the kitchen in anticipation of the children coming home. She gave instructions to one of the men to get one of the women to work in the screen house on the honey that had been gathered and to have another one of the men to gather the rest of the honey. She took pains to make sure they left enough to feed the broods in the hives so that Cass would have no cause for complaint. She explained that Cass had had an accident and wouldn’t be overseeing that part and she would appreciate it if he would make sure this part of the harvest was taken care of.

  Stephanie sent the children out to play when Summer woke from her nap and the boys returned from school. She warned them to stay away from the front of the house. The boys began swinging on the tire swing Cass had installed in the backyard. She checked on Cass who seemed feverish. She left her to sleep and wondered if she should call the doctor.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Cass woke up groggily and looked around the familiar bedroom. That was when it hit her! She was in her bedroom that she had slept in after her mother’s death and for a time with Stephanie until she left for the war and never since. She looked around wondering how she had gotten there and then tried to get up. Pain shot through her left hand and arm and she gasped from it only to find she was too weak to get up. She looked down at it in consternation and realized the bandage she had put on it wasn’t the one she was now wearing. What the heck was going on?

  She tried getting up again but she was simply too weak. She looked over at the side table and saw a glass of water. She tried to reach it but her left hand was simply too weak and she knocked it to the floor shattering the glass and making a racket.

  She soon heard footsteps on the stairs rapidly going up them and a run down the hallway before Stephanie appeared. “Oh, you’re awake!” she said delighted and then looked at the mess on the floor. “Uh oh, I’ll get something to clean that up.”

  Cass tried to say something but her throat was just too dry. She wondered if she had been ill. She felt her forehead with her right hand and she didn’t feel feverish. She wondered how long she had been here and how she had gotten here.

  Stephanie returned with a dustpan and sweeper as well as a towel. She carefully picked up the larger pieces putting them in the dustpan and then laid down the towel to soak up the water. She folded the towel carefully because of the small shards of glass in it and then quickly swept up in a large area the pieces she could off the carpet. The carpet was old and needed to be taken outdoors to be beaten anyway after all the years in the bedroom. She got all the pieces she could possibly see and tsked over the wet spot on the carpet but it was only water and would soon dry.

  Cass watched her sleepily from the bed. She finally gestured when she saw that Stephanie was finished with her task.

  Stephanie looked up at her and at her signal said, “Yes, I know you’re thirsty, I’ll get you a cup when I take this down.” She quickly turned to take her things with her and missed Cass trying to grab her arm and ask how she had gotten up there.

  Cass looked around once more and wondered how in the world she had gotten up here. The room hadn’t changed; all that was missing were the pictures of herself that she had given Stephanie years ago. Other than that, nothing had changed, her parents or grandparents bedroom set was still in the room. The pictures! She had cut herself on the glass. She held up her arm to look at her wrist and could only do so briefly she was that weak. By the time Stephanie came back with water, this time in a cup, she decided someone else had bandaged her arm.

  “Here, let me help you up so you can drink this,” Stephanie offered as she went to prop up Cass with pillows.

  The cool delicious taste of their well water was welcome to her parched throat. She felt like it was an effort to drink it but at least she got some inside her. She could feel it all the way down her throat to her belly. Just that act alone exhausted her though and she soon fell back against the pillows. Looking up at Stephanie who waited patiently to see if she wanted more she croaked, “What…”

  “You want to know what happened?” Stephanie asked as she put down the cup on the table next to the bed.

  Cass nodded weakly feeling very tired already.

  “Well you silly, you cut yourself,” she indicated the bandage on her arm.

  Cass nodded as she glanced down at the unfamiliar wrap and then looked up expectantly at Stephanie who looked worried, deep circles were etched under her eyes. She looked as though she hadn’t had sleep in a while. Were the twins keeping her up at night?

  “Then an infection set in. The doctor said with the bee stings, the infections, and the shock to your system it’s no wonder you’ve been seriously ill. I got you upstairs somehow that first night. You were delirious and sweaty and I got you into the tub to wash you down. But you soon sweated through your nightgown and the sheets. By the time the doctor got here your temperature was so high that he wasn’t certain his medicines would do anything to help you.” She stopped for a moment as a sob threatened to choke her. “All we could do was keep giving you water and his medicines and hope for the best. He thought the beehives and the powdered dust of their leavings may have been on you when you cut your wrist and the infections set in immediately. Perhaps you inhaled some of the dust.”

  Cass lay there listening and watching Stephanie talk; she couldn’t help but admire that despite the fatigue that Stephanie really looked very pretty. Having had five children hadn’t changed her body all that much from what she could tell. Her breasts looked full but that was probably because she was still breast feeding. She quickly averted her thoughts before they went into the forbidden and dozed off before she could complete that thought.

  When next Cass woke again it was early morning. She turned to find Stephanie asleep on the bed beside her. She looked at her in consternation not sure it was proper to have her there but realized she was still dressed and sleeping on top of the covers. She glanced around the room and to her surprise her pictures in their frames with no glass were now on the dresser once again. That meant Stephanie had gone through the box for them. She looked down at her arm and raising it she realized she was much stronger today than she had been the last time she awoke.

  She heard the twins making noise in the girl’s room and thought she heard Margie get up to care for them. She heard the breathing coming from Stephanie change as the noise awakened her and watched as her eyelids fluttered. Swallowing she said, “Good Morning,” quietly and with only a hint of the roughness of a dry throat.

  “Good Morning,” Stephanie answered in as sleepy a voice.

  “How long have I been here?” she asked swallowing again trying to get the saliva working in her mouth.

  “A few days,” she answered and then raised up to listen for the children. Determining that Margie had it in hand she lay down once again tucking her hand under her head so she could watch Cass, something she had done a lot the past few days. She had taken full advantage of the time she had taken care of Cass. From washing her in the bathtub to getting her into this bed. The bed they had shared so long ago.

  “I must have been pretty sick,” she croaked.

  Stephanie nodded; it had been scary to see the fever get so high. She had changed her clothes several times and wiped her down constantly. “Can I get you a cup of water?”

  Before Cass could say yes or no Stephanie was up and going around the bed for the cup on the table beside the bed. She filled it from a pitcher and then helped Stephanie sit up so she could drink it down.

  “Gawd, I’m hungry, I swear I can smell chicken cooking,” Cass said she lay back down.

  “I fed you chicken broth to keep your strength up. I’ll get you some of the soup,” Stephanie said with a smile.

  Being the one taken care of as opposed to the one usually doing all the nursing was a new experience for Cass. She found she didn’t like it and was a bit cranky. When the doctor came to visit she asked him when she could get up.

  “Well, you’ve been pretty sick there. When Mrs. Scheimer called I w
as surprised. I haven’t seen a fever like that in a long time. When you do it, you do it well don’t you?” he teased and raised his bushy eyebrows up and down as Cass grinned. “What did you get into to cause such a fever?” he asked.

  “I have no idea. I remember being hot working with the bees, getting a few stings,” she indicated her arm. “Then when I was going through that box I got that cut,” she looked down at the previously bandaged cut the doctor had revealed. It was healing nicely it appeared. “That sure bled out a lot.”

  “It did more than bleed, whatever you were hatching before that and the blood loss sure socked it to you, I thought more than once we were going to lose you but Mrs. Scheimer refused to give up on you. She kept you cool with water and some ice from the well house. Why she wore herself ragged taking care of you. Then when the fever broke I was so relieved.”

  Cass didn’t doubt him. She was so weak from whatever her body had gone through she had trouble getting up. Stephanie and the doctor helped her to the bathroom to use the toilet and Stephanie helped wash her down. Cass wasn’t sure but she lingered a little too long on her body as they used a washcloth on it, she decided it was just her imagination. Washed and with a clean nightgown she was ready to return. The doctor and Stephanie helped her back to the bedroom which now had clean sheets on it once again. This weakness though concerned her.

  “Don’t worry about it, Stephanie will feed you up and you’ll get better in no time. Just take it easy. When’s the last time you were ill?” he reassured her when she asked.

  “I don’t even remember,” she admitted.

  The doctor was right. Stephanie was very attentive and brought her food frequently. From cut up oranges or apples, to full on meals, insisting she eat every drop of her soups, stews, and other meals.

  “Are you trying to fatten me up?” Cass teased her when she saw how often and how much Stephanie tried to feed her.

  “You could use some fattening, you are far too thin,” Stephanie observed.

  They slept in the same bed at night, each of them keeping to the edge of the bed so they didn’t ‘disturb’ the other. That didn’t stop their thoughts though as Cass got better and stronger. They woke up one morning and found themselves wrapped around each other. Cass woke a few moments before Stephanie and woke her as she tried to unwrap her limbs from around the woman.

  “No, don’t,” Stephanie murmured trying to prevent her.

  “It will only complicate things,” Cass responded but was too weak to fight and her body was betraying her. It had been too long since she had been touched by another woman, especially this one.

  “I don’t care, I want you,” she confessed and snuggled in closer. The warmth of Cass, the familiarity, she smelled of the bath she had taken the previous night and she wanted to kiss her as soon as she had awoken. She had wanted to kiss her for a long time. Now she didn’t hesitate but began kissing into Cass’s neck.

  The feel of Stephanie’s lips on her neck was Cass’s undoing. Especially when she hit one particular spot. “Ummmmm,” she groaned arching her neck to provide more access. “We shouldn’t,” she murmured in a half-hearted attempt at protesting.

  “Probably not,” Stephanie agreed but that didn’t stop her hands from roaming, touching the familiar curves that she had lusted after just washing this woman. The curves she hadn’t been allowed to touch for so long.

  Stephanie didn’t stop and Cass thought she was too ‘weak’ to stop her. Actually Cass could have gotten up if she had really wanted to stop her but she didn’t really want to. Her hands almost of their own volition began to caress Stephanie in return. Slowly she raised the nightgown and the first touch on her bare skin had them both hissing in appreciation. It was warm, it was alive, and it felt oh so nice. Despite being wrapped around each other they surged closer. Cass began to move against her almost immediately with her body, she couldn’t seem to help herself. It had been too long and while she sensed this would be quick, she couldn’t stop. She swiftly whipped Stephanie’s nightgown to the ground as Stephanie just as quickly pulled hers off her body. Cass leaned down immediately to capture Stephanie’s lips with her own, sucking and licking at her lips, encouraging her tongue to fight with her own in a fencing match.

  Stephanie had dreamed too long for this moment. Watching Cass sleep the last few days, hearing her murmur out in her fever she wanted to wipe the memory of whoever ‘Annette’ was from her mind. Cass was hers and no one was going to take her from her, not now, not ever. She aggressively rolled them until Cass was on top of her and she held her body against her tightly as she wrapped her legs around her.

  “Mmmm,” Cass murmured her appreciation as she ground upwards so that the junction of their legs met. With Stephanie’s spread wide and her legs holding on it was easy to grind together at that point.

  “Huuuuuh,” Stephanie inhaled at the contact as she kissed her deeply, passionately, and wildly. Her fingers reaching out and memorizing the body she had craved and not appreciated in years. She left Cass’s mouth to kiss her way down her neck and chest and touch the nipples that were erect against her. She took one of the rosy tips in her mouth and began to lave attention on it with the combination of her lips and tongue. Cass arched against her appreciatively as her arms wrapped around her torso to hold her there, her fingers delved into her hair clutching her close and encouraging her.

  As Stephanie inched down she could feel the wetness against her belly and knew that Cass’s arousal was as high as her own. She rolled again to put Cass beneath her and began kissing down her stomach. The scent was driving her insane, she wanted, she needed this so badly. Her fingers didn’t hesitate to explore between Cass’s legs. She plunged one and then another finger inside of her lover.

  Cass hissed at the sensation. It had been so long and even touching herself and imagining this was not nearly enough for her. She encouraged Stephanie by arching into her fingers and then gasped when her lover’s mouth met the tiny kernel of flesh that was so firmly erect, the center of her pleasure. She reached down and again plunged her fingers into Stephanie’s hair as she ground up and into her face. The fingers delving deep had her falling back to the bed, going totally limp as Stephanie hit a spot inside of her.

  Firmly in control Stephanie continued to plunge and lick and suck at her, tasting the familiar musk that was so uniquely Cass. Her gasps and little muffled cries excited her. She had dreamt of this. She had imagined it. She had remembered it and the reality was so much better. After Cass was gone she had thought of so many things, so many scenarios, so many missed opportunities that she wanted to act them out right now all at once. She could sense though that Cass was near and she smiled into her as Cass began to thrash and buck against her in her first orgasm. She glanced up her lover’s body and was pleased to see her already hard nipples get harder in her arousal.

  Cass came, and she came hard. The wait had been worth it and her body needed, rather craved the release. She didn’t hold back except to remember to scream into the pillow she turned into so the children wouldn’t hear them. She ground out every moment of pleasure that her body had been given by Stephanie and then fell back for a moment to get her breath back. For someone who had been ill for a few days she felt fantastic.

  Stephanie crawled up Cass’s body. It was sweaty again but this time not in fever but rather in a beautiful passionate way. As she settled in next to Cass their arms came around each other as Cass’s breath returned to normal. “Are you okay?” Stephanie asked concerned that with her illness she might have overdone it.

  Cass looked down on her and leaned in for a kiss, tasting herself on her lover’s wet lips. “I’m fantastic,” she returned and began to kiss her deeper and harder as she roused Stephanie’s passions. Remembering the toy she had downstairs she wondered if they could try it but knowing it would lead to questions she decided to wait and made love to Stephanie as sweetly as she dared. Knowing the children would be up at any moment they hurried a bit but Stephanie didn’t feel cheated,
instead she felt like she was finally coming home, that Cass had made her feel beautiful, and wanted, and needed, but most of all, loved.

  They lay there afterwards for a while staring at the ceiling and each lost in their own thoughts.

  “We better get up,” Cass finally broke the silence.

  “Yes, the children will be awake,” Stephanie answered and got up to gather their nightgowns, handing Cass her own.

  “We need to talk,” Cass said before Stephanie could leave to check on the children.

  Stephanie looked back at her as she put on her housecoat. She smiled wryly. Those words sound so ominous. “I know.” She went to check on the children.

  Cass waiting in bed until she heard the boys and Summer as well as Stephanie in the bathroom and then Margie and the twins go downstairs. She slowly got up amazed at how good she did feel today. Most, but not all, of the weakness she had felt was gone from her limbs. Her bandage was still in place from the cut but she could move her hand without pain so she knew it was well on the way to healing. She went to the bathroom to take a bath and wash her hair taking the bandage off and examining the stitches. She decided to let the air get to it after the bath as she dried herself off with a towel. She slipped into clean underwear having difficulty with her bra with the damaged wrist but she managed to get dressed. Trousers and a thin shirt that smelled of the soap that Stephanie made and with socks on she made her way downstairs to share breakfast with the boys before they went off to school.

  “Aunt Cass! You’re awake!” they greeted her and then proceeded to tell her how sick she had been. Thrashing and calling out in delirium. “Mama said you didn’t know we were even there,” they told her.

  Cass smiled faintly and wondered what she had called out.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  She found out later when she and Stephanie had their ‘talk.’

  “Who is this Annette you called out for? Is it the same ‘friend’ you wrote me about?” Stephanie asked jealously.