A Summer in Salem Chapter 3

A Story by RayLynn

Chapter 3

When I return to our bedroom, Samuel is waiting for me. He is sitting in a chair beside the window.

“I did not realize you were still awake. I assumed you would have gotten in bed by now.” I say.

“I was waiting for you. I cannot go to bed on my wedding night without my bride.”

I swallow hard and laugh nervously.

“I suppose I best change out of my wedding dress now.” I walk over to the dresser placed on my side of the bed and begin taking out a nightgown to wear to bed. I am about to undress when I realize Samuel is still sitting in his chair.

“Could you close your eyes for a moment?” I ask sheepishly.

“Of course.” Samuel turns away from me and shields his eyes with both hands. “Is this better?”

“Yes. It will only take a moment for me to change.” I reach my hands behind my back and begin to unbutton my dress. The bottom half is easy to do, as my hands can reach that far, but the top half is nearly impossible. When I got dressed this morning, Cara had buttoned the dress for me. Now, I cannot get it off by myself.

I glance over at Samuel and see that he is still looking away as I had asked him to.

“Samuel, could you please help me with my dress?”

“I thought you did not want me to see you yet.”

“I do not. I just cannot unbutton it alone. My arms are not long enough.”

“Are you sure you want me to do it?”

“Yes!” I snap, exasperated. “I cannot wear a wedding gown to bed!”

He laughs softly and rises from his chair. “You don’t need to be so short with me. I was just trying to respect you and your body. I know you are not fond of me and I do not wish to force myself upon you when you are not willing to accept. Turn around.”

I turn obediently and cross my arms. “If you weren’t behaving so mulish, I would not have to be so cross. Tis no fault but your own.”

His fingers make their way down my back, releasing each button one by one. “You are the most fierce woman I have ever encountered.”

“Then you have not spent enough time with the right kind of woman.”

He unclips the last button and the shoulders of my dress begin to fall down my arms. I keep my hands clutched over my chest so the dress does not slip any further down. I turn to face him.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“I’m here to help you for a lifetime, Susanna. It is my duty to you now that you are my wife.” Samuel smiles down at me and I see a certain warmth spread across his face. Something inside me feels this same warmth and I smile back at him.

“I should, um,” momentarily, I lose the thought from my mind and I have to concentrate on what I am trying to say. I stare into Samuel’s brown eyes and feel my mind slip further and further away.

“You should what?”

I shake my head slightly and look down to the floor. “I should put on my nightgown now.”

“Must I close my eyes again?”

“If you wish to live until the morning, yes.”

Samuel laughs behind me as I walk back to my dresser. I glance back at him and see that he is still staring at me. “Tis’ no jest, Samuel. I am serious. Close your eyes.”

“As you wish.” He lifts his hands over his face again.

Quickly, I drop my wedding dress to the floor and reach for my nightgown. I pull it over my head and adjust it before grabbing the dress off the floor.

“I am changed now. You may open your eyes.” I sit at the vanity, a simple wooden desk with a piece of glass nailed to the wall. I fold up my wedding dress and set it beside me. Then I begin unpinning my hair, letting my long caramel colored hair fall across my shoulders.

“You are beautiful.” Samuel sits on the edge of the bed behind me and I see his reflection in the glass.

“Thank you.” I run my hands through my hair, checking for more pins.

“Here. You missed one.” Samuel stands behind me and gently pulls a pin from my hair. His hands linger on my shoulders and something inside me seems to stir. I busy myself with tucking all my hair pins into their container and putting them away in the proper drawer.

“It’s late. We should sleep.”

Samuel takes a breath. “I suppose we should.”

I rise from my chair and brush past him to put my dress away in the trunk that once belonged to my parents. Inside it are clothes and dishes and supplies that have been passed down to brides in my family for generations since we first came to the New World.

After closing the trunk, I crawl into bed and pull the wool blanket up past my shoulders. Samuel blows out the candles and gets in bed beside me.

This is the first time I have ever shared a bed with someone besides my younger sister. The feel of a man’s body beside me is much different than Cara’s fragile frame.

I begin to wonder what his hands would feel like if they were to touch and caress my body. I think of how it would feel if he were to undress me and lay me down upon the bed. How it would feel if he were to reach down between my legs.

“Susanna?”

I snap out of my day dreaming. “Yes?”

“May I kiss you goodnight?”

I swallow hard and roll onto my back, looking up at him. “I suppose you could.”

He leans over me and kisses me gently at first and then more passionately. I have never been kissed before. Once, when I was 12 years old, Thomas James gave me a quick peck on the lips before I ran away from him. I prayed to God for four days straight to pardon my sin and not let me go to Hell for kissing a boy before I was married. Tonight though, there will be no praying.

Samuel lifts himself off me. He is breathing hard and he has a certain look in his eye that I have never seen in a man before. He reaches for the bottom of my nightgown and I help him lift it off my body. It feels so strange to be completely bare in front of a man. I find myself drawing my legs together and folding my arms, as if to shield my body from his eyes and his hands.

He lifts his shirt over his head and leans down to kiss me again. “You are so beautiful.”

I run my hands down his back and softly kiss just below his ear. “Make love to me Samuel.”

As if not needing a second invitation, Samuel quickly strips out of his pants and sits between my legs on the bed. He presses into me slowly and I feel him sliding deeper and deeper into me. At last, his full length is inside and he begins to rock forward and back in a steady motion. I move with him and feel sudden swells of pleasure as he presses deep inside me.

Time passes ever so slowly as I make love to my husband for the first time. After what feels like an eternity, I feel Samuel pulse hard inside me before collapsing beside me on the bed. He rolls and lays one arm across my body. I fall asleep listening to his even breathing, holding onto the idea that my new life has already begun.