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IT WAS HARD TO SEE where she was going, the tears were coming so fast and thick. Laura burst into the house while she could still hear the wagon wheels creaking; Joe remained outside, his rifle at the ready, watching Hetty and the Jurgens go. He’ll be there for a while yet, she thought. He’ll want to make sure that they’re really gone. I have time to pack.
She hurried down the hall to the guest room where, until last night, she had been staying. She hadn’t even had time to move her things to her husband’s room, and now she never would. Can’t think about that now, she told herself. It was too painful to consider everything that she had lost, and it would only slow her down.
She took out her traveling bag and quickly started to throw her things inside. I’ve got to get out of here. The last time Joe had looked at her, she had seen love in his eyes. She wanted to keep that as her last memory of her husband; if she saw the disgust, the pain which was surely there now, it would eat at her forever. She was leaving before that happened.
Laura went through the wardrobe quickly, pulling out only a few items. She hadn’t even had a chance to wear most of her new clothes, and she would have to leave most of them behind anyway. She simply threw what she could into the bag without bursting it, and turned to go.
She sucked in a quick breath, startled by seeing somebody in the doorway. Dan was there, looking at her with wide, scared eyes and tear-stained cheeks. “Are the bad people gone?” His voice quavered, reminding Laura that while in some ways he was already a young man, in other ways he was still a little boy.
“Oh, Dan,” she murmured, and pulled him close for a hug. My poor boy. I almost forgot about you. The only mercy was that he had been inside the house and hadn’t heard what Hetty had to say. “Yes, they’re gone,” she said. “You did real good calling your dad. He scared them away and they won’t be back.”
He reached out and trailed his fingers over the side of her bag. “What’s that for? Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes, I am. I have to leave.”
“Where are you going? When are you coming back?”
Having to answer him tore her heart in two. “I don’t know where I’m going,” she said. “But I won’t be coming back.”
It looked like he was about to cry. “I don’t want you to go,” he said. “You belong to my family now.”
Laura’s own eyes welled up, and she brushed the tears from her eyes before she spoke. “I’ll always be happy that you let me into your family, honey,” she said, squeezing his shoulder firmly. “But a while ago I did some bad things, and I can’t stay. Your dad won’t like it, I’m sure. And when other people find out, it could make trouble for the two of you. That’s something I don’t want to happen.”
“But maybe they won’t find out.”
“No, I’m pretty sure they will,” Laura said, remembering the sadistic grin on Hetty’s face as she had explained things to Joe. Lincoln was full of people who hadn’t heard about Laura’s old job yet, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t last long.
“Can’t you just say you’re sorry? That’s what I did when I broke Dad’s penknife.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “There are some things so bad, you can’t expect people to forgive them. Goodbye, Dan.” She gave him another quick hug, then moved past him to the hall, ignoring his cries for her to stop, and pulling free of his hands grasping at her. She hurried to the kitchen and glanced out the window.
Joe was still there, watching Hetty’s receding wagon. His lip was curled with disgust, though not necessarily for Hetty and her henchmen. Or not necessarily just for them.
She had left the door open when she’d come in, so she was able to silently go out and over to the paddock. It had been some time since she’d ridden a horse, but growing up on her aunt’s farm had left her with a few skills that she would never forget.
I’ve got to be fast now, she thought. If she went straight north, she’d run into Hetty and the Jurgens from behind. If she went south, she’d run into pretty much nothing until Kansas. I’ll cut across the Wilson farm and catch the next trail into Lincoln, she thought. If I hurry I can still meet the ten o’clock stagecoach and then I’ll be out of their lives for good.
She mounted the pony and got going as quickly as she could, but things didn’t quite work out like she planned. Laura had barely left the property when she heard Dan yelling after her, no doubt upset that she’d taken his pony. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Joe on horseback, simply watching her for a moment, and then he gave his mount the spurs.
Lord, help me, she thought, kicking her heels into the pony’s sides. There was only so much she could do, however. There she was, clutching her bag with one hand and the reins with another, atop a pony that didn’t quite trust her, trying to outride a man who spent half his life in the saddle. Joe probably could have caught her running by himself, let alone on his horse.
She could hear the hooves drumming behind her, and she stopped kicking. It was useless. He’s probably coming for the horse, she thought, already imagining her long walk back to Lincoln. If I’m lucky, that’s all he wants.
“Laura, stop!” His voice was like a whip across her back as he approached. Joe’s horse cut shortly in front of them and the pony halted with a startled neigh.
She wrenched her boots free from the ill-fitting stirrups and got down. “I wasn’t going to keep the pony,” she said, staring at the ground but holding out the reins for Joe to take. “I was planning to tell them at the ticket office that it was yours.”
“The ticket office? What office?”
“For the stagecoach,” she said. “I’m leaving. I’m not going to bring any more shame to your house, Joe.” Her throat had begun to burn, and her eyes were stinging as fresh tears swelled, but she went on. “I never wanted to hurt you or Dan. I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“It’s not for me to forgive,” he said. Then he swung one leg over the saddle and got down from his horse. “All of the stuff that woman said, all that stuff you didn’t tell me about—”
“How could I? You heard what I did,” she said. “How could I admit that to a man who...to a man who I loved?”
He stepped closer, and she held out the reins for him, still avoiding his gaze. It would cut her like a razor if she were to see the pain she had caused him.
“And how do you think I could say goodbye to a woman I love?” he asked.
“Maybe once you did, but not now,” she said. “How could you love me knowing what I’ve done?”
He took her cheeks gently between his hands and lifted her face, forcing her to finally look at him. It was hard to say what made her cry harder: the fact that he was seeing her as she truly was, knowing everything about her past; or the fact that his eyes were filled with the same gentle warmth that she had seen in him so many times before. There was no hint of anger and not a shade of pain.
“I was going to say, all that stuff she said must have been about a different woman,” he said. “The woman I have here now is caring, loving...a beautiful woman, inside and out. I should know. She’s my wife, and God willing, she’s going to stay.” He stepped even closer, slipped his arms around her, and kissed her.
Laura was bawling now, and she clutched at him like he was her rock in a stormy sea. “You’ll still have me?” she cried. “You don’t want me to go?”
“I asked you before to be my wife,” he said, wiping her cheeks and kissing away the tears. “Now I’m asking you to stay.”
His arms were strong around her, and she felt like he would be able to protect her from anything that the world could throw at them.
“I love you,” he said.
She felt her heart tremble. “That’s the first time you said that,” she said. “In fact, nobody’s ever said that to me before.”
He kissed her again. “From now on, you’re going to hear it every day,” he said. “I love you, Laura. Always and forever.”
She buried her face in his shoulder, as if feeding from his warmth and his strength. “And I love you,” she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear.
Almost before she knew it, he had scooped her up in his arms and she found herself being carried across the field.
She laughed, in spite of the rough turn the morning had taken. “Joe, you can set me down,” she said. “I know I’m not the lightest girl around. You don’t have to carry me all the way home.”
“You’re as light as a feather to me,” he said. “And anyway, I’m not taking you home.”
She didn’t have the chance to ask where they were going; almost at that moment she found herself dropped lightly onto the nearest haystack. Joe slipped out of his suspenders and began unbuttoning his shirt.
“What, right here? Are you sure?”
He grinned. “What was that you said before? Out here is as good a place as any?”
“You’ve got that right,” she said, hurrying out of her dress and kneeling before her husband just as his trousers fell to the ground. He stepped out of his pants and kicked them aside, leaving only the thin fabric of his drawers separating her from his swelling cock.
Laura grasped him hard, feeling him pulse in her fist, then quickly pulled down his drawers, freeing his thickening rod. She felt a wave of heat flow through her. She never would have guessed that one day she would grow to miss a man’s penis, but here she was. It was good to see it again. She leaned closer and slipped her tongue out, running it over the head and pulling a now-familiar gasp out of Joe.
Laura smiled to herself, then opened her mouth wide and let him slide in entirely. She went slowly at first, letting him feel the pressure of her lips around him and the soft brush of her tongue along his shaft. It was a thrilling sensation to have him grow even harder in her mouth, and she slowly drew her head back, slurping up her saliva as she went, until he slipped out and she grabbed him hard.
His cock was spit-slickened now and she easily pumped him, growing wet herself as she watched his rod slide through her fist.
She glanced up. He had his eyes closed tightly and his jaw was clenched; his breath almost hissed through his gritted teeth as she pumped her fist around his cock. His entire body had stiffened, as if he were fighting his impulses and just trying to hold on. It was sexy as hell, and she leaned forward to take him back into her mouth.
Joe dropped his hands to the back of her head, weaving his fingers into her hair. She tried to relax her throat as he gently pulled her head closer, urging her to take him deeper and deeper. She let him push inside her mouth until she could almost feel the head of his cock brushing the back of her throat, and she dropped one hand to tenderly squeeze his balls.
“Damn, Laura,” he said as she slowly drew her head back, letting him slip out, and she kissed the tip.
“You like it when I do that?” she said, again flicking out her tongue to brush against him.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
She took him into her mouth again and kept her eyes locked on his as she let his cock glide in and out, his skin glistening with her saliva. Laura grasped him hard, sliding over him as she sucked, and his hand dropped down again to caress the back of her head.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured.
She let him slip out. “Am I your girl?” As she looked up at him, she flicked her tongue out again, teasing the head of his cock.
“You sure are,” he said.
She stared up at him then, spit dribbling down from the corner of her mouth, his enraged cock only inches from her face, and her pussy already sopping wet. She had rarely known what she wanted as clearly as she did at just that moment. “Fuck me, Joe,” she murmured. “Hold me down. Make me yours. Only yours.”
She barely had time to lie back on the hay before her husband had entered her, and his first thrust took her breath away. After the nightmare of working for Hetty, she had convinced herself that she would never find true passion in her life. Joe convinced her that she was wrong. His mouth was everywhere, kissing her face, her breasts, her neck, and as he ground himself against her, she reached down to pull him even tighter to her, urging him to fill her flesh with his.
“Joe, no man’s ever fucked me like this,” she gasped. Thrills ran through her body and her nipples became as pert as raspberries, waiting for his mouth. She cupped her breasts for him, offering her flesh, and when he took a nipple between his lips he sucked so hard that it almost hurt.
“Don’t stop, honey,” she whispered. “Keep going, just like this.” She reached down to between her legs and began to finger herself; tickling the sweet pearl of her clitoris was just enough to drive her over the edge.
Laura cried out as she came, her entire body trembling and shaking. Even out there in the field, under the blinding summer sun, the true light and heat seemed to come from inside of her. She screamed through clenched teeth as his cock slid into her again and again, each thrust filling her with new pleasure. Everything else disappeared from her mind, and her only purpose was to take her husband’s cock. Time faded away, and she would have given anything for that moment to truly endure, to spend an eternity with Joe inside her, flooding her with passion.
By the time Joe finally finished and moved to her side, Laura felt more alive than she ever had before. She could almost hear the blood rushing in her veins. She soaked up the warmth of the sun on her breasts and the warmth of his seed pooling within her. The air was sweet with the scent of honeysuckle and faraway rain. She was filled with a peace she’d never experienced before.
They remained like that for a long while, simply holding each other there in the fields while the sun and the wind embraced them as well. The worst had come to pass, and like a summer storm, it had done just that: it passed. For the first time since she had escaped from Omaha, Laura truly felt like the clouds had parted, revealing a bright future ahead.
She slipped her hand into Joe’s and took a deep, cleansing breath as they got dressed and started back for the ranch. It was time to go home.
~ the end ~