And at last, the sounds of laughter and music drifting in through the shutters, she stands there, with him, their first night together in their new home.
Tiny as it is, a single bedroom upstairs, a single large kitchen and living area downstairs with a tiny bathroom off the back, it is theirs.
Jenny’s first real home.
She's so lovely, standing there, lips a little parted, waiting for her handsome husband, with his wheaten hair and cornflower blue eyes. Tall…. Broad-shouldered and well-muscled from hard work….
.... and hers....
Jenny has never had anything to call her own before. Raised with nothing, arriving with nothing, living on charity for years….
But this, this moment, this man, is hers.
He looks down into her eyes. Wide-pupiled, green as young leaves, green as spring grass, set against skin as pale and fragrant as almonds and hair which billows and flows like amber fire in the slight breeze.
And in her turn, she looks up at him…. The sheen to his tanned skin, pupils pin-pointed in their azure setting.
“Are you alright, Chad?”
When he speaks, his voice is a little high. “Sure, fine. Just…. nervous.” He shifts on his feet. “You know, first time and everything.” He strokes her cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”
“You too.” She bites her lower lip, then reaches for his mouth with hers.
Their lips brush and arousal, sweet and unfamiliar, pierces her. Her breath snatches and Chad jerks back. “Sorry, didn’t mean to….” he stutters, then once more, slants his mouth to hers, this time a hand on her shoulder, pulling her a little closer.
She moves to him, her fingers slipping into his hair, the hair she wants to touch. But now, touching him, she feels the tremble under his skin.
One hand around her waist, the other slides from her shoulder, riding her contours. It glides down a slender arm, presses flat against her stomach then slips upwards to the lower curve of a breast….
…. And he freezes.
“Chad?”
his voice shaky. “I can't do this. I
Her first
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but
now, still trying to understand, “Chad, have I done something to upset you?
not the dancing Jenny. You can dance with anyone you want to.
“What then?”
the bed and
don’t you want to…. touch me?
next to him, takes his
something awful,
shakes her head, baffled.
you
Chad, you said
of…. that…. It’s not you I’m thinking about it
in love with someone else?” Something clutches inside her, her heart beginning to pound. “Who then? I never see you with
a girl. It’s…. Oh,
finally, she understands. A kind of stillness falls over her. “It’s
He nods.
seconds before, miserably he says,
of shock, she is quite calm. This
possibly
the home where I came from, sometimes they showed us movies of....” She baulks at
fingers together.
answer is short and curt.
“Does anyone else know?”
thought if I went through with the wedding, that when it came to it…. Jenny… I do love
like that.” Her voice is flat. Just now, the pain is too sharp for emotion. Dead inside, she doesn’t know how to respond. But the bitterness is beginning to
understand. I wanted to do right by everyone.” Chad shudders. “What will you