Secrets of the Prairie (5 page)

Chapter Nine

Kate Leads, that awful Dumbdilock’s, knew how to hit me where it hurt. Perhaps she had a personal vendetta against me due to the knowledge that had I accepted her husband’s marital offer, she would not have been as successful as she was. She should have thanked me really for turning down the fat baker’s offer. If I hadn’t, she would have been just another commoner’s wife.

“Mrs. Dumbdilock’s is here with fresh bread,” Sleepy Tom told me the morning after the party.

“What, has the yeast gone extinct already? I am not paying her more for her loaves.”

“The price is the same, for now.” Tom yawned and while she walked away, told me, “She said she wants to deliver the best batch to you in person. Said it was warm, fresh…” She yawned again and disappeared from the living room.

I smacked the watering can next to my window side flowers and groaned.

“It’s too early for this,” I muttered as I took myself to the door.

When I got to the door, I sucked in the cool morning air but not because it was fresh. At my door step stood Mrs. Dumbdilock’s and with her, her eleven year old son and six year old daughter. They were holding up loaves of bread for me. I took one step back. Kate noticed my consternation. She had planned for it after all.

“Good morning, Lady Lauren.”

“Kate.”

“Good morning Lady Lauren,” her children chorused beautifully.

I could have cried at how adorable they were, instead I wanted to shove them away because of their awful mother. I’d always wanted children and it showed in my eyes. Dumbdilock’s had intended to taunt me by bringing hers. I stared blankly.

“The children are greeting you, Lauren,” she said.

“Uh, hello.” I was shaking.

“We brought you bread,” they said together.

I blinked. Had they practiced their lines? Why would such an awful person as Kate be a mother and not me? Right. It required a husband to have children.

“My little ones and I like to work together. It is the joy of being a woman, you know. Teaching them, listening to their little laughs…”

I zoned out of the conversation. I could not bear to hear her brag about children. Without thinking, I snatched the bread from the children and their mother. Dumbdilock’s was still talking when I cut into her speech.

“Have a lovely morning. Kate. Children,” I said and shut the door in their faces.

“I’m sorry,” a voice said. I jumped, startled. It was only Tom.

“It’s not your doing, love. Take this bread to the kitchen, please.”

I stiffly made my way into the living room and the floor boards echoed as I walked over the trapdoor. This made my blood curdle. I couldn’t live like this anymore.

On impulse, I left the house. I badly needed air. At 4.30 in the morning, I did not expect to run into anyone and I did not. I went out to the stable, released Spark and rode him out to the plains. The horse was well taken care of and that I owed to Jack, but I removed the kind soldier from my mind. I just wanted to be free. The thought of running away took over my mind.

I returned to the mansion later that morning. Of course, I did not run away. The mansion was my castle and though it haunted me, I felt safe there. Besides, I had nowhere else to go. And if I went elsewhere, what would Spark eat? What would I eat? The logistics simply did not support my idea of running away.

I was coming out of the stable after hooking Spark when I walked into Jack. He beamed at me. His face grew radiant at the sight of me. I wasn’t too glad to see him. I did want to kiss him but my defenses had doubled since the prior night. I wasn’t going to do anything foolish.

“Lauren.”

Jack walked to me and removed a stray hair from my face. I moved out of his reach. He followed me with a quizzical look.

“Good morning to you, Jack.”

As I passed him, I noticed that he had plucked a fresh bunch of flowers. He had hidden them from my view to surprise me. I grimaced. My defensive nature had decided that I had no business loving strangers when I had enough baggage of my own to deal with.

It was stupid of me to have kissed him at night yet I was glad I had done it when I did. My mind would have tormented me if they hadn’t tasted those strawberry lips.

Jack was utterly confused, I could tell, and I did feel sorry for him. He would just have to deal with it. And he did. 

In the hours, days, and weeks that followed, I avoided Jack and he did not go out of his way to see me. I relayed all my orders through Dennis and Tom. In fact, with time, Tom and Jack became quite familiar with each other. I did not know the nature of their relationship as I avoided Jack at all costs and when I asked Tom, she would not tell me. Dennis was clueless, as usual.

I wondered if Jack could possibly be pursuing a romantic relationship with Tom. I considered Tom a child, out of limits to the likes of Jack. Jack. I was starting to dread him. Indeed, familiarity had bred contempt but only because I could find no wrong in him.

Chapter Ten

It’d been two months and routine seemed to have befallen my household. I loved routine. I would awaken at 4 in the morning, clean up and then at 4:30, I would attend to the window side flowers in my living room. If I had ordered bread, Dumbdilock’s would show up around 5. Breakfast was always at 6.

In silence, I tended to my flowers when suddenly I sensed a figure behind me. I jerked in fright and the flowerpot crushed to the ground. Quickly, I spun only to come face to face with Jack. It was the first time I had been this close to him in a long time and that rattled my bones. Emotions that I’d buried deep surfaced much stronger. I shivered.

“I did not mean to frighten you, Lady Lauren.”

I clutched at my fluttering heart.

“No one in this household awakens earlier than me. With you around, I have to be up at 3.” He smirked. I studied his features. I couldn’t read him so I asked, “When are you leaving?”

“I work here, which implies I have no intentions to leave.”

“Vagabonds.”

“What?” He bent down to help pick up the flower pot.

“Don’t touch my flowers!” I said.

“I apologize,” he said. “I’ll see to the horses now.”

“And I’ll continue to pay you in cheese since you impose this employment upon yourself.”

“For the food and accommodation you’ve afforded me, I say you are more than fair.”

I wanted to snap back at him but words fled me. Before I could think of something to say, he was already turning to leave. I wondered what he was doing in my living room in the first place. He scanned the place as he left and then paused.

“I do not see a piano,” Jack said.

“A piano?”

“It can’t be ignored. The music playing here every night is the most serene I have ever heard. So, where is it?”

“What?”

“The piano.”

“I don’t have one.”

He scoffed. “But the music.”

“Did I put no word in that this house is haunted?” I asked testily.

An incredulous look washed over Jack’s features. He did not believe me.

“Tom didn’t mention it,” he said.

“You and Tom?” I was dying to know if there was any relationship of sorts between them.

He looked about as though searching for something, then finally said, “She’s a lovely girl.”

He did not divulge anything more. As he went out, his footsteps echoed as he walked over the trapdoor. He stopped abruptly and was bending over to uncover the rug when I snapped.

“Your duty is with horses and not the floorboards!” I shouted.

He straightened and gave me a lingering look. “Forgive me for being so explicit Lady Lauren, but it has to be said. You treat your entourage so very poorly.”

I gasped in offence and by the time I opened my mouth to respond, he was out of the room. If panic had not already washed over me, I would have pursued him for a confrontation. Instead, I hurried to the next room and grabbed a round table. I did not care if it would be an obstacle at the entrance of my living room. I just wanted to make sure that trapdoor remained and stayed shut. I did not know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. My frail body struggled with the table but finally I placed it over the trapdoor. The weight of the table would cover my secrets. Albeit, temporarily.

In my haste, I had imagined that Jack had left the house but I was wrong. Just when I collapsed my weight over the table in resignation, he touched my hand. I jumped in fright and spun so quickly I would have fallen on my back if he hadn’t held me just in time. I shook with fervor and fright. My lips quivered. It had been an eternity since a man had held me so close.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.

“You want the truth? I haven’t had a wink of sleep since I met you.” His eyes pierced into my soul.

“Why?”

“Because I know you. I know everything about you.”

“You don--” I started to say when his soft lips caressed my words to silence. “Can I? Can I kiss you?” He had the grace to ask.

I put my hands around his neck, placed my head on his broad chest and nodded subtly. I had wanted to feel the touch of a man for so long, I had wanted Jack in my bed for an eternity, and I had denied myself that pleasure for my walls were built too high.

Jack kissed my earlobe. His hot breath tingled the hairs at the back of my neck. “I will be gentle, I promise,” he said.

I didn’t want to speak lest I say the wrong words. He put his arms around my waist and lifted me, so I wrapped my legs around his torso, allowing him to kiss me all over.

“To your bed?” he asked.

“Yes. Yes.” I was overwhelmed with emotion.

Jack was an excellent navigator. He was also very skilled with his hands, I found out when he dropped me on my bed and loosed my corset. He rubbed his warm hands against my cool thighs, then ran them beneath my dress and up my torso. I was ready to tear his clothes off until he touched my breasts. My blood ran cold because the gesture took me back to my wedding night five years ago.

Duke was haunting me again. As Jack massaged my bosoms, I remembered how Duke had stripped me on our wedding night. I had been enamored by the royal blood’s charm and expected to have the most exhilarating intercourse of my life. I was a virgin after all.

Duke, with his drunk breath, had greedily kissed my neck. I was aroused and had reciprocated by touching him, only to have him slap down my hand. I was not to touch him. Then he had bared my torso, touched my breasts with a passionate grip and then suddenly, like a child no longer interested in his toy, he stopped.

That was the first and last time Duke had touched me. It gave me a fear that the next man who saw my nakedness might hold the same disdain. My body was very fair yet that was no reassurance for a man’s love as the very next day I had walked in on Duke having invigorated intercourse with a maid, in the kitchen. That day, I swore not to sleep with him. My resolution did not bother him.

Married a virgin, I was certain I would die a virgin until the day Jack saved me from the storm. Jack. I did not know whether to trust him even though in the two months I’d known him, he’d proved worthy. Yes. I would trust him. If only not to die a virgin.

I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t even noticed when Jack bared his fine body and charged it into mine. My reverie was broken into when he pierced my innocence and explored the secrets of my being. I screamed in pleasure as he pummeled himself into me. My raw emotions were finally free. Jack was still hard when he pulled out of me. I opened my eyes immediately, fearing that he’d found me distasteful. There was disappointment in his eyes.

“I can’t make love to you if you are not making love to me,” he said.

“What?” I said that just as I realized my body had been stiff the whole time.

“It’s your first time, I know. I promise not to hurt you, Lauren.”

I flushed. I felt inexperienced and imagined that he was very disappointed with my performance, or lack thereof. Abashed, I made to rise but he gently pinned me down.

“Tell me what you want.”

I wanted to cry, there were too many emotions going through me all at once.

“Tell me what you really want!” he roared.

“I WANT A CHILD!”

An unbearable second of silence followed, before Jack chuckled.

“All you had to do was ask,” he said.

Jack pressed his chest against mine and closed the gap between us. I pushed him off. My dress was too thick a wall. I threw it off and a moment later, I was skin to skin with the most marvelous man I have ever seen. He grabbed the small of my back as I opened my legs and let him into my body. At that point, blind passion took over me. Oh, why hadn’t I met Jack sooner?

My moment of bliss was interrupted by slow, doleful piano music. My muscles stiffened. The music never played at daytime. If Jack felt bewilderment from the music, he didn’t show it. He kept his focus on me even though I was clearly distressed. He smiled.

“We are not supposed to be scared of ghosts,” he said and kissed my ears as though to block out the music.

Yes, I decided. Yes, I could trust Jack.