| |
They celebrated a happy Christmas together exchanging small gifts, doing chores, and packing small items slowly and methodically into the wagon, placing bags and boxes wherever they could fit them.
“This list helped,” Molly mentioned, gesturing to the mail they had gotten in Stouten when they closed the bank account under the suspicious eyes of the banker.
“But don’t you need this account, Miss Herriot?” she had been asked speculatively.
“I need the money more,” Erin told the banker, who looked at her, convinced she hadn’t gotten any money for her late crop and then changing to a more understanding and sympathetic look over her probable ineptitude. She didn’t respond, knowing what he undoubtedly thought. Erin whistled as she rode home on her wagon with their mail and the last of the money from the bank.
Erin agreed as she lifted another empty trunk they had lined with canvas and Molly began handing her things. “You really think we’ll need these?” She indicated the schoolbooks Molly had handed her to put away.
“We may need them...someday,” she answered, flushing slightly at the reminder that she was childless and would remain so until they visited an orphanage or two. There was no guarantee they would find one or even two in Melville when they visited.
“What’s it say about the weight again?” she asked as she lifted a bag sitting on the end of the wagon to pack it around the other things, cushioning them, so they wouldn’t rub. She pushed aside one of the barn cats that had made itself comfortable in the wagon.
“A family of four should have at least six hundred pounds of flour, four hundred pounds of bacon...” at this, the in-pig sow they had in the barn let out an oink as though in response. It was a coincidence, but the two women exchanged a look that showed they appreciated the humor of it. “...sixty pounds of coffee and two hundred pounds of lard. Also sacks of beans, rice, and dried fruit. They recommend we pack eggs in cornmeal, which will then be used to make corn bread.”
“Someone really thought this out,” Erin commented. They’d already packed a lot of these foodstuffs, much more than what they’d recommended. Knowing there wouldn’t be stores to purchase these things for those two thousand miles, she had over planned, and they’d use up a lot of it just to survive. She’d read somewhere not to pack more than twenty-five hundred pounds. “What else?” she murmured as she put things in better spaces, knowing it would all be moved around eventually.
“It says here that you can churn cow’s milk in buckets suspended from the bottom of the wagon.”
“I can’t imagine that working without getting a lot of dirt from the road in the butter, but maybe a barrel with rockers...hmmm,” she answered, stroking her chin as though she had an imaginary beard. “Hey! I don’t have a beard. How do we explain that to people?”
“I already thought of that. Your brother had a straight razor–”
“I’m not using that on my jaw!”
“No, we remove the blade and you use soap. Just make sure no one sees your razor, and make sure they see you using the soap.”
“Molly, you’re brilliant,” Erin exclaimed, visualizing just what she had said. She was fastidious and soaping up her jaw and using a bladeless razor should at least give the appearance of a man shaving.
“I made all that soap last fall, and we have plenty left,” she mentioned, referring to all the wood ash she had used. She looked back at the paper. “It says salt, pepper, vinegar, and molasses add seasoning to meals. The water can be found along the way.”
“You can bet there will be long distances between ponds, lakes, rivers, or even creeks,” she made the word creek sound like crick. “We’ll keep our barrels full,” she indicated the ones she had attached to the corners of the wagon, already half full of water to keep them from shrinking and then leaking. “You can bet some of that water ain’t, um, er, isn’t fit for drinking.”
Still, they planned as much as they could and were ready for the Finns to take possession. Then, the Finns didn’t show up.
“What are we going to do if something happened to them?” Molly fretted. They’d packed all her preserves carefully in boxes, cushioned so as not to break the valuable glass. Still, she expected to lose some of them.
“I don’t know. I suppose they might have heirs, or someone else will come along.” She’d written the paper to ask them to take down the ad, but she wondered if she could legally sell the farm twice. They’d already filed the sale, so technically it wasn’t her farm. They couldn’t leave; the animals left on the farm would starve.
The Finns finally showed up in mid-February, apologetic for the delay. “Moving in winter was a bad idea,” he confessed, indicating his wagon, which was on runners and had been pulled through the deepening snows by his weary horses. His wife looked quieter, if that was possible, and his children were wide-eyed as they stared at the two women.
They’d been ready for weeks, and Molly and Erin packed the last of their things up in their wagon, rolling it out of the barn, so the Finns could sleep in the barn that last night. They’d move into the farmhouse in the morning after Molly and Erin left. That night, before they slept in their own bed for the last time, Molly carefully cut Erin’s long hair. Having the last vestiges of her womanhood removed like that was a blow to Erin, but she took it in stride. She knew it was only hair. Molly carefully saved the locks. They would sell the hair if they could. She had heard wig makers were always looking for real hair. They’d check in the larger city.
“It really looks different,” Molly pointed out, seeing how much manlier Erin now looked.
Erin immediately felt the difference in weight as she turned her head to and fro.
They both bathed carefully, knowing it would be the last time they would have the privacy they needed for a long time. Erin loved watching Molly get out of the tub, her slim form in the candlelight causing Erin to have impure thoughts. She couldn’t contain herself as she helped wrap the thin towel around Molly. Erin’s hands rubbed to keep Molly warm, and she turned in her arms to wrap herself around the other woman. “Is this right?” she fretted, worried about leaving the next day? Erin nodded as she looked down at the shorter woman.
“We’ve planned it out. It’s too late to turn back now; the Finns are here and ready to take possession,” she pointed out.
“I know. It was just a momentary lapse,” Molly admitted as she leaned up to kiss Erin in the privacy of their washroom. She clasped the other woman to her damp body and held her, knowing Erin loved her as much as she loved Erin. Erin’s clean body couldn’t help responding to the warmth against her, and she began to make love to Molly.
“Ohh,” Molly sighed against her, immediately feeling the desire she had for Erin. The warmth, the nostalgia, all her thoughts caused her to respond to this woman. She hadn’t known she could have sexual thoughts for a woman but wisely realized it wasn’t just any woman...it was this one woman and only this one. She dropped the towel to start caressing Erin’s muscular body in return, feeling the difference when there was no hair at her neck to impede her hands from clutching at her.
“Mmm, Molly...” she breathed, those hands causing her to shiver, or maybe it was the fact that their towels had fallen around their feet as they touched. “I love you, Molly girl,” she whispered as she rubbed her body against the other woman.
Knowledgeable hands quickly aroused each other. They had taken the time to learn each other’s wants in the privacy of their home and now, knowing it was changing forever, they quickly aroused each other.
Erin lifted Molly’s leg, throwing it over her hip as she caressed the long leg, feeling the hairs under her work-roughened hand as they unerringly traveled to her center. The warmth there, from the bath and from Molly’s arousal, was immediately apparent on her palm.
“Erin,” Molly gasped in her arms, arching into her, holding on, so she could rub her body against the taller woman.
Erin plunged her fingers inside, first one and then adding a second as she heard the gurgling sounds of moisture in the woman. It fascinated her, watching Molly respond to her ministrations in the candlelight. It amazed her that she could cause such desires in this woman. She’d never imagined she’d ever have anyone in her life, and to find someone that not only loved her but enjoyed what she could do to her and for her had been amazing. Her best friend had become her lover, and she thanked God for her every day.
“Oh, oh, ooohhh,” Molly moaned as she tried to stay erect, the feelings inside her causing her crisis to rise alarmingly.
Erin could feel herself creaming as she thrust and plunged against Molly’s naked body, holding her erect, so she could have her way. Molly arched backwards over her strong arm. Only when the smaller woman had shuddered time and again, her body clenching at the fingers within it, did she ease up and let her come down from the high she had caused.
As Molly came erect, she was grateful for the strong arm holding her as the fingers slipped from her body with a squish. Her leg came off Erin’s hip, and she looked up with her sultry, brown eyes at her woman. Kissing her passionately, she squirmed in the arms around her as she squeezed Erin’s buttocks against her. Mons didn’t quite meet mons because of the height disparity, but Molly didn’t care as she kissed her way down Erin’s body. She stopped to lavish attention on the breasts that were usually under bindings, which hid their beauty from the world. She knew how much Erin enjoyed her attention on the two small orbs.
Erin encouraged Molly, capturing her red-brown head against her with one hand as her other kneaded the milky, white shoulder. The feel of Molly’s lips wrapped around first one and then the other nipple was intoxicating, and she could feel the wetness between her legs begin to drip down. Her knees wanted to buckle, but when Molly kneeled between her legs, shoving them farther apart with her shoulders, she found the strength to remain standing as the woman began to lap at her center. Glancing around, she grabbed the wall as she ground herself against Molly’s face as she cleaned up the creamy wetness.
Molly smiled up at her lover, sensing it wouldn’t take long. As her finger crept inside, she curled it to touch lightly at the tissue she knew was extra-sensitive right now. She was right. Erin nearly fell against her face, her legs giving out slightly before she caught herself. Knowing she could make this strong woman come undone was so powerful to Molly. She wasn’t going to tease her mercilessly, and after cleaning up the wetness with her tongue and enjoying the flavor of her lover, she began to pump her in earnest, her mouth warmly capturing the engorged clit. The combination was driving the other woman nearer to the edge.
There was no way she could remain erect when she felt what Molly was doing to her. She wanted to rip that red-brown head away and at the same time slam her pelvis against her face. She felt the blood leaving her lips and toes as it centered in the middle of her body, and then tingles began to spread throughout her erect body. Throwing her head backwards, she barely kept from roaring as she bucked and ground against Molly.
Smiling wickedly, knowing how wonderful that must feel, Molly held her breath as she ground her face against her lover’s mons, holding on tightly, her fingers plunging as she wreaked havoc and the last of the pleasure from her body. She didn’t stop until she sensed it had dissipated and then slowed before climbing back to her feet and holding the hard-breathing woman against her cooling body.
“I better warm up a little more water for us to bathe,” she stated unnecessarily, and they both shared a laugh over their lovemaking.
It was hard to sleep that last night, knowing they were leaving forever. Erin was particularly nostalgic. This was the home she had been born in, raised in, and had watched her family die in, one by one. But it was time to move on and make happier memories.
Hitching the double yoke of oxen up to the Conestoga wagon early the next morning, Erin cursed herself for trying to start this trip out in the middle of winter. She worried about the weight of everything they had packed in the large wagon. It was freezing, but she consoled herself that they would be heading south, and it was sure to get warmer there. While lifting the cages of ducks, chickens, and geese to the sides of the wagon, she got a tweak by the nasty gander for her trouble. She knew it was her idea to acquire this ornery bird, but sometimes, she wanted to wring his neck. Slapping at him only had him eyeing her as though to say, “I’ll get you later for that.” The cats in the wagon looked on and wondered at these last-minute additions to their domain, but they weren’t going anywhere. King and Queenie were excited and bouncing around. They knew they were going on a trip somewhere. Queenie was due in a couple of weeks, and Molly insisted she sit on the seat with her as they started out. Erin rode one of the farm horses she was bringing along, her herd of horses and cows behind the wagon. She laughed as the sow, which had given birth in late January, jogged to keep up with the babies Erin had suspended from a large set of slings under the wagon. Their squeals could be heard now and then as they vied for space. Erin looked critically at the wagon, time and time again, seeing the cats peak out from where they had been laying, a couple of them in cages to be sure they would come along. She followed Molly, who headed down the road, her whip cracking in the early morning air over the oxen’s backs. The Finns waved them off before turning quickly to start unpacking the things from their wagon into the house.