Grace Chapter 3

Grace's wedding night.

Chapter 3

Grace sat in a chair at the small table and watched Jacob as he lit some wood on fire in the middle of the floor. “I noticed that you don’t have any clothes in here. Where are your things?” Grace asked him.

“They are still at my parent’s house. You and I will go get my things tomorrow and bring them here.”

“So you haven’t been living here, then?”

“No, I was waiting for you. Now we can make this our home, together.”

Some relief was felt by Grace with what he told her. At the very least, there were things that he would be bringing to make this place somewhere they could live. She was sure that she could get him to build a privy outside, so that she wouldn’t have to go all the way to the forest to do her business.

“I brought some bread from my parent’s house and a little bit of dried meat. Are you hungry?” He asked her.

“I’ll take a little bit of the bread. I have never eaten any meat. That was only for my father.”

“No meat? How have you survived?” He asked her in disbelief.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked away. He went and dug through a bag and came up with the bread, pulling off a chunk and giving it to her. It was a dark bread and tasted salty.

“I’ll get some water from the stream. I’ll be right back,” he told her.

Grace chewed the hard bread as she looked around the room. The fire light made it look kind of cozy. Her eyes fell on the bed made out of straw. A knot began to form in her stomach, as the reality of what would surely happen later, began to dance into her brain. It was a drunken dance that wobbled to and fro. It made her dizzy and sick.

Grace had grown up on a farm, she knew how mating went. It was usually fast and the female avoided it every time. Grace and her sister had talked about it some, not a lot. They heard strange noises one night and found their mother and father in the kitchen. Her mother was bent over the table, face first and her father moved behind her. Both were making weird noises and the girls ran back to their room and vowed never to talk about what they saw.

Grace’s eyes moved from the straw bed, to the table that she was sitting at. Would he be using the table or the straw bed? She looked at the dirt floor, would he push her to the dirt and mount her, like a bull mounts a cow? Would he kiss her? Would he look at her naked body? Would she have to look at his naked body?

 The sight of a naked man is a sight that her eyes had never seen. She had seen male animals, so she had an idea of what there was to see, but not a real, human man. The sound of his boots, as he walked up to the open door of the hut, stopped her thoughts, abruptly. He handed her a silver cup, full of cold, clear water. After taking a sip and finding that it tasted better than any water she had ever drank before, she let herself smile up at him.

“This is really good,” she told him.

“Ya, the water here is excellent. It’s one of the reasons that I chose this area of my family’s land to build on. I used to ride me horse around, looking for the perfect spot to live and take a wife and raise a family. This was it for me. The forest is close enough to hunt, there is fresh, delicious water to drink and bathe in. The ocean is but a little ways from here and I can catch fish there. We can smoke the meats and use them throughout the year.”

Grace began to see a soft side of him and it relieved some of her fears. Maybe the place was not nice, but together they could make it nice. Maybe he wouldn’t be mean. Maybe they would get along better than her parents did. Maybe he wouldn’t feel like he needed to punish her. She remembered what her mother had told her sister about keeping her husband satisfied.

Jacob sat cross legged on the dirt floor, next to the fire and pulled out the bread and dried meat from his bag. Then he pulled out a small blanket and laid it next to him. He patted it as he looked at Grace. She stood up from the chair and went to sit next to him on the blanket. They sat in silence as Jacob ate his dinner. Grace stared at the fire and let her imagination make shapes out of the flames.

“We have a long day tomorrow, Grace. It has been a long one today, as well. We should be getting to bed. I want to leave at daybreak.”

Standing up and holding his hand out, Jacob looked down at her with a small smile on his plump lips. She took it and he lifted her up, then led her to the straw bed. They stood together, holding hands, looking down at the bed.

“I’ll go get the other blanket from the wagon, to cover us up with. We can lay on that one there, so the straw doesn’t scratch us,” he told her, then left.

Grace pulled her dress up over her head, leaving the thin cotton slip that she wore underneath it, on. The process of undressing flowed on with the removal of her shoes, then she laid down on the lumpy straw bed. Jacob came back into the room and spread the blanket out, covering her with it. He sat down on the bed and pulled his boots off, then stood and dropped his pants, revealing a lack of undergarments. His back was to Grace and she could not help but to look at him, as he pulled his shirt up over his head.

His shoulders had a spattering of the light freckles that peppered his face and arms, but his back was an alabaster white. Her eyes traveled down his tightly muscled back to the top of his slightly plump rear end. The tops of his thighs were large, compared to the rest of his build. Broad, but thin shoulders and his muscular thighs showed promise of the dream man that Grace had envisioned as her husband.

Jacob lowered himself onto the bed and moved his body underneath the blanket that covered Grace. “Do you always sleep in your underclothes, Grace?”

“No,” she replied.

“Then you shouldn’t here.”

“I would need to change into my night gown and I’m not really sure how to do that.”

“I have just undressed in front of you. Do you not feel like you can get undressed in front of me?”

“I guess I can. If that is what you want,” Grace told him with a tremble in her voice.

Jacob turned to her and held his head up with his hand, as he looked down at her. His green eyes looked into hers and he smiled down at her. Grace looked up at him nervously. The gentle touch of his hand caressing her smooth cheek made Grace’s stomach clench.

“You’re really beautiful. Your skin is so soft,” he told her.

Grace closed her eyes, as he stroked her cheek. His hand moved to the side of her neck, flowing smoothly over it, then up to touch her hair. Hot breath came from his parted lips, then he inhaled the flowery scent that had toyed with his senses from the first moment that he had stood close to her, as the preacher said the words that made them one. 

“Undress for me, Grace,” he whispered in her ear.

Grace remembered what her mother had said about doing whatever your husband asked you to in his bed, to avoid any beatings. Starting things off with him, in a bad way was not something that she wanted to do. It could be the difference between having a pretty happy life and a pretty bad life, so she stood up and did what he asked her to.

Panties hit the floor and a lump began to form in her throat, then she pulled the cotton slip up over her head and got back underneath the blanket, quickly. Jacob lifted the blanket up a little and peeked underneath it, then took his hand, running it along her side. A chill ran through her body making her shiver. In a deliberate motion, he moved his body closer to hers.

“Cold?” He asked her.

She wasn’t cold, she was scared. “I guess,” she whispered.

“I know that you’re afraid, Grace. It’s natural to be afraid of what is about to happen. I won’t hurt you. It might hurt a little at first, but then it won’t. Some girls actually come to like it, I’ve been told.”

Grace began to shake, as she realized that there would be no getting out of this. It was going to happen. He just told her that it was. Closing her eyes, she prayed that it wouldn’t take long. It never took the animals on the farm long.

She felt him lean over her, his warm breath heated her face, then soft, plump lips touched hers. Fear of what was going to happen shook her body even harder. His hand moved to just behind her shoulder and he pushed his body up, without taking his lips off of hers. It became evident to her that he was holding himself up over her. She squeezed her eyes closed even harder and thought the words, ‘this will be over soon’ over and over in her mind. A knee was felt, pushing at her legs to open, then everything went black.

 

Grace opened her eyes to find herself in complete darkness. The fire had gone out, leaving it pitch black. A stickiness between her legs made her shudder at the thought of what she would find there, once the sun came up. Deep breathing could be heard next to her, letting her know that he was asleep. Having passed out when it started, she was unaware of how long it really took. Glad that it was over with, she let herself relax. Next time would be a little better, she told herself.

Finding herself wide awake and unable to go back to sleep, she let her mind wonder about what her life would be like. Would this be a nightly occurrence? Would she get over her fear? She would be going to meet his family in a few hours, how would they treat her? How many people are in his family? Are they nice people?

Jacob’s breathing changed and he turned over and threw his arm over her, holding her down. It felt uncomfortable and she tried to shift out from under his arm, without waking him up. A loud clap of thunder crashed and the sound of rain, falling hard on the thatch roof, rang in the air. Grace stiffened as Jacob moved closer to her.

“It’s just a storm, don’t worry, Grace. I’m here.”

“I’m okay,” she replied.

He turned over on his back and pulled her up onto his chest, then wrapped his arms around her, protectively. The sound of his heart beating filled her head, as she lay on his chest. The thumping of it, kept her from falling back to sleep. His breathing fell back into a regular rhythm as he fell right back to sleep.

*

The sound of thunder in the distance brought Grace into a state of consciousness. Somehow she had fallen back asleep. Looking over, she saw that her husband was no longer in their straw bed. Then the door opened and in he walked, dressed and carrying a pail.

“Good morning, sleepyhead. I brought ya some water to clean yourself up with. I guessed you might not be up to taking a bath in the pond with me, just yet,” he told her.

Holding the blanket to cover her and blushing fiercely, she sat up. “Thank you, that was thoughtful of ya,” she managed to choke out.

He sat the pail down, next to the bed and sat down next to her. Long fingers reached out and touched her cheek, rubbing it as he looked at her.  With his other hand he brushed her hair back, then leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Grace tensed up, thinking that he might be going to go at it again. The tension in her body made him lean back away from her, then he laughed.

“Grace, I’ll not be messing about with you this morning. You don’t have to worry ‘bout that right now. I’ll give you some privacy. Don’t take too long, I want to get going. We can eat breakfast with me parents, if we get there in time.”

Grace hurried as she washed herself, finding that she was disgusted by the mess that his attention to her had left. The dried blood was worrying to her and she hoped that nothing was permanently damaged. Dressed and hair brushed and braided, she walked out and found her husband, brushing his horse’s mane.

“I’m ready,” she told him.

A smile took over his kiss swollen lips as he turned to look at her. “You look very pretty, Grace. My brothers are going to be so jealous, they have trolls for wives.”

“I’m glad that my appearance pleases you,” she said shyly.

Walking up to her and taking her hand into his, he led her to the side of the wagon. The touch of his hands on her waist sent a flurry of butterflies through her stomach, as he lifted her up, placing her on the seat of the wagon, then he climbed up next to her. Their legs touched, Jacob’s eyes went to them, placing his hand on Grace’s knee, rubbing it gently. Grace’s butterflies flew higher in her stomach, threating to fly right out of her mouth.

Jacob’s eyes lifted nervously to hers. “You know, Grace. I’ve yet to hear you speak my name. You do remember what it is, don’t ya?”

 The butterflies slowed their beating wings as Grace saw the look in his eyes and realized that he was just as new to this as she was. “I remember it, Jacob Muldoon.”

“I like the way it sounds, coming out of your mouth, Mrs. Muldoon.” 

Author's Note

I am looking for SPAG and any ideas of how to make this chapter better