In the Lord's Embrace (2 page)

It
w
as good a plan as any. “All right, then, west it is. But we’ll need to wait until the winter passes. Heading out west in this rickety contraption with already
exhausted horses
and limited funds for provisions
would be suicidal. We should find a place to
settle, at least until
spring.”

“Are you sure we’ll
be safe?” she anxiously asked. He
reminded her that the
newspapers had confirmed their hopes; both
were assumed de
ad. It would be unlikely they
would be recognized this far from Boston. “All right, then.
Let’s find a place to stay.
”

Four
months passed in the blink
of eye.  August and Maeve
had come to a small town some twenty miles south of Chicago
a few days after the
decision to wait out the winter had
been made. For a modest fee, they
had rented out a furnished flat
. Maeve
had
written to Patty
, asking i
f they
might take a temporary stay with them. The
horses and cart were sold, as they
chose
to keep a hold of what funds were available
for later
.

With a
secure, though be it temporary
home, August
to
ok advantage of the comforts the transient settling afforded by sending Augusta
to school, and tutoring
on further subjects privately
.

“How an education in these so-called schools here in America wi
ll ever suffice is beyond me,” he grumbled to Maeve one night after the poppet
had fallen asleep.

“With you as a father, she’ll be worthy of a Harva
rd degree before she’s ten,” Maeve assured
as she dried the dinner dishes. “
Do you know she was able to read and write by her fifth birthday? And I wouldn’t put it past… her… to…”

Maeve
’s voi
ce trailed off as she took in
August’s pained
expression. No, he had not known that. He had not been with Augusta
when
she turned five, or even four.
He
had been denied.

“Did I know…?”
Gnash
ing his teeth, he
arose and kicked the chair. August refused to take out his frustration on
Maeve, and yet, an outlet was needed
.

Thou
gh frightened, she rushed to his
side, her apologies
preceding
her.

“August
, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up the… I
just… If I could undo it, August
, I swear I would.”

Her hands wound around his a
rms, an attempt to keep his attention locked to her
. August
met her pleading
stare with a huff, and found him
self instantly entranced by the nearness of her lips.
How quickly passions of rage could be alleviated by passions of the flesh.

Despi
te their
reunio
n and the joy it had brought
to be ag
ain in each other’s company, he and Maeve
foun
d the physical expression of that
love no
longer as easy to come by as
once
it had been. When lived they
together in England, a simple
accidental brush of her hand
against his
could
escalate in mere minutes to
naked bo
dies writhing, be it in their bed or in the pantry. Now, August
could ba
rely more
than kiss her, and Maeve
would seize
against his lips
.  She repeatedly assured him
it was not because she did not want to make love, but simply that she couldn
’t yet take comfort
, weighed
down by the guilt for all her
short-sighted actions.

August
gave her the time she needed
. It did not, however, dampen his desire. Each night he lay
beside her sleeping f
orm, yearning to touch her,
but
always holding
back. On occasion in her slumber
, she would roll over to hold him
, her leg unconsciously hitching over the manifestation of
his longing
.
Still, he withheld, but each night his hunger grew
.

August reminded himself, this was the surrender. He would give him
self complete
ly
to her, in whatever way she desired
, even if it was merely this
.

But at this moment, feeling so
powerless,
he needed to taste her. August’s
hands flew to her
shoulders as he closed the distance and pressed his lips hard to hers.  The shift in focus left Maeve bewildered
, but
after a few
moments of
his mouth
moving
over hers, August
felt her
ease
, her lips gently
working back under
his, mirroring of his
yearning
. Pleased with the reception, his
hands gently circled around, attempting to u
nbutton her blouse and make accessible
that which had been denied
for too long.

“August, stop.
” Maeve
pulled away
, her tone breathy and wanton.

August grimaced despite lecturing himself to heed her wishes. “Maeve
, please. I want you so badly. It’
s been
months
, darling
. Why can’t we… Why can’t we get over this?”

Her
body turned completely from his. “It needs to be real, August
. I need it to be complete.”

She walk
ed away as August
sat perplexed at
what he
had
but
still had not given her.

“Do you suppose the moon
ever gets lonely?” Augusta asked
as they
sat outsid
e on an unseasonably warm
night
early in April
.

Winter withdrew, but only from the air. And each day, August feared the cold that would not leave.

H
aving receiv
ed an encouraging letter from Patty and Patrick
to come set up house
near them in Oregon, Maeve and August
had decide
d it was time to move along
.
But tonight- there was just some sort of buzz in the air that had drawn them together atop the roof.
S
tars shone
above like diamonds, and yet their
daughter’s beauty put them all the shame.

“The mo
on doesn’t feel anything,
Goosie
,” the ever-pragmatic August
returned. “It’s a big ball of rock.”

Maeve, however,
clicked her tongue. “Now, August
, don’t lie to the girl.
Haven’t I ever told you about the moon,
Goosie
? It once felt forlorn
. You see, the moon looks only
to Earth, and so he felt alone, always with the same view in sight.
But one day,
Earth said to the moon, ‘How lucky I am
to have you
.’ The moon didn’t understand, and asked, ‘Where else would I go? There is only you and me.’ Earth laughed and answered, ‘Behind you there are thousands of stars,
each of them winks at me something scandalous, but none of them is
so
precious to me as you
. You bring light to my darkness, and never leave my side.’ And aft
er that, the moon wasn’t lonely
, because he realized that
,
even though it was just he and Earth, it was where he needed to
be.
With all the heavens to his back, his life revolved around her, and she was all he needed.
Have you ever noticed,
Goos
ie
, how the shape of the moon changes through the month?”

Augusta
gave a little nod as she stretched and yawned. She would be asleep soon.

“That’s the moon laughing, Poppet,”
Maeve
continued.
“Whe
n you see but a part, that’s it
s smile.
And when you see half, that’s his grin.
And when you see the whole moon…”

“…that’s his kiss.” Augusta smiled and
sighed as her eyes fluttered close.

August starred at Maeve
in disbelief, wrapped up entirely in he
r tale just as much as the child. It was then he understood what was holding her back. At least, he hoped
it was as he believed
. August picked up Augusta’s sleeping form and carried her inside
, setting her silently into her bed and kissing her foreh
ead. As he closed the door behind, he saw Maeve
coming in to t
he sitting room,
Goosie
’s
coat over her arm.

“Maeve
, do you have an
y thing you must do tomorrow?” he
c
asually asked, trying to keep his
grin in check.

She looked at him
confusedly.
“Of co
urse not, August.
Y
ou know as much. Why?”

Leaning
against the frame of the door, August
played coy. “I was just thinking, perha
ps we would be
married
tomorrow
?”

Maeve
’s head whipped up, a smile across her face that would make even the moon
seem
small.

“Married?”  She repeated the wor
d as though it was
of a foreign tongue.
“Tomorrow?”

August crossed
the room to where she stayed
,
unmoving. “Yes, married.
Tomorrow.
Why should we wait anymore? Wh
y have we waited at all?
Unless…
you’ve changed your mind?”

“By heavens, August, no!”

“No, you don’t want to marry me, or no, you haven’t changed your mind?”

Her face reddened and she sputtered.
“Yes, no!
I mean…”
The fold of fabric over her arm dropped to the flo
or as she flung herself at him, practically boxing his ears
.
“Oh, August
!
Let’s!
Yes, yes!”

Struggling to keep upright against a clinging Maeve, August circled his
arms around her, picking her up off t
he floor and spinning her about. When he sat her down again, he
was
greeted
by her lips pressin
g to his
.

Her kiss dissolved
into a smile under his own. August
felt the w
aves of the triumph wash over him.  In its ebb, he
c
ould not help but to grin as he opened his eyes to find Maeve’s cinnamon gaze eyeing him
… curiously.

Her mouth ret
urned
with a tender, slow kiss, in the echo of which her li
ps pulled ever so gently on his. Maeve’s heavy-lidded eyes traced to his
mouth before returning to their labor again.  This occasion gave way to her t
ongue running delicately over August’s
bottom lip.