Snareville II: Circles (28 page)

Elizabeth showed all the fire to the world, but the soft side of her came out when they were together. He thought about asking her to go with when they left, but doubted she would. He also didn’t think it would be a good thing to have the two of them together armed. It couldn’t end well.

Denise climbed into bed with him around ten that night. She had jet black hair and green eyes. Her tats weren’t as extensive as the others, but they were there. An hour later she collected her rifle and slipped away to her own home.

Henry woke up at three, according to his watch. He pulled the pistol from the side table and rolled to the side of the bed, muzzle pointed at the doorframe. Elizabeth stepped into view. She looked at the empty bed, paused and located him. She stepped into the room as he lowered the gun. She reached up, unbuttoned her dress, pulled the bonnet from her hair. With a shrug, the dress fell to the floor. A toss of her head and her golden hair fell to her waist.

“Machen Liebe zu mir,” She said as she stepped into the room.

“What?”

“Machen Liebe zu mir,” She whispered. She stroked the back of his neck with her fingers. “Make love to me. Pretend I am your wife.” She looked into his eyes. “Machen Liebe zu mir.”

He pulled her close and kissed her. He lifted her as she buried her face in his chest and placed her gently on the bed. This time, she was there when he woke up. She slept, tucked under his arm. Her soft scent rose up in the slightly chill morning. For the next six nights, the last girl would leave and she would slip into the house to join him. They would make love in the morning light, or when the feeling took them. She would cook breakfast for him, change and wash the sheets, along with his clothes if they needed it and bustle out of the house for the day.

On the last day they would spend time with the girls, Henry returned to his house to clean up. He had helped put up hay that morning and smelled as bad as the horses who pulled the wagon. He heard someone inside and thinking it was Elizabeth, called to her. It was about time for lunch and they had been eating together since the first night.

“It is only me, Henry,” a different voice said from the kitchen. “I thought you would be low on food, with all the people who have been in here of late. Your women will be using this home as their own after you leave. I stopped to refill the larder.” Harriet stepped into the room.

“Oh, yeah,” Henry said, his brows knit in puzzlement. “We were getting a little low on stuff. Elizabeth said she would restock what we needed.”

“She and most of the other girls have gone out on patrol. The community needed a few things from town and she felt they had not been out enough this week to ensure we were not about to be visited again.”

“Oh, wondered why I hadn’t seen them around much today,” Henry said with a nervous smile.

“I have made lunch for you.” Harriet returned the nervous smile. She looked at him, but glanced away when their eyes met. “I hope you do not mind cold sandwiches and ice tea.”

“That’s fine.” He sat as Harriet laid lunch on the table.

“You do not mind if I dine with you?”

“Not at all.” He indicated a chair across the table.

Harriet sat in the chair. She asked a silent blessing of her food, then ate in silence. It was something Henry had to get used to. His own family was boisterous and loud at meal time. They discussed everything over a meal, from politics to who was dating.

“It will be good to see the home used again,” Harriet said. “It has been empty far too long.”

He agreed. Again they sat in silence.

“My birthday was last month, I think.” A shaky chuckle followed as Harriet took a forkful of potato salad. “It is hard to tell without an accurate calendar. I am thirty seven.” She looked up at him, then quickly looked away.

Henry took a swallow of the iced tea, looked at her for a long moment. He reached across the table, took her free hand. She started to pull away, but stopped herself and closed her fingers around his. She glanced up, gave him a little smile.

“It has been long since I have felt the touch of a man.”

“Harriet…”

“William got sick three years ago and was sent to the pit. Our second daughter, Christina, was not right. You English would call it autism, I think. After her, we decided to be careful with our lovemaking. We had not many times for seventeen years after that. Christina is in her grave these three years too.”

Henry tightened her fingers in his. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you? We Dutch are good at keeping thing to ourselves. Elizabeth is the first to ever talk of anything that troubles us. We knew for generations the problems that were befalling us. She is right. We need the outside blood.”

Henry stood, made his way around the table. Harriet met him halfway. He took both her hands in his.

“A woman knows her body, Henry Hawk. I am fertile. Take me as you have the others.”

He kissed her gently. She was hesitant at first, shy. She had never had anyone besides her husband. As the kiss lingered, she opened up. Relaxed in his arms. Soon they were locked in a deep kiss. He reached up, undid her hair. The honey blond locks, shot through with strands of pure white, tumbled to her hips.

She pulled away briefly. “Come. I have turned a bed down for us.”

She took his hand, led the way to a room at the opposite end of the hall from the one he shared with Elizabeth and the others. The room was bright, well lit with the curtains drawn back. Crisp white sheets turned down at a corner. She stepped partway into the room. He closed the door behind him. For a long moment, she stood, looking out the window into the small settlement.

He couldn’t guess at her feelings. He was of mixed emotions about the whole thing. She shrugged her hair to the side and gathered it into her hand at the back of her head. He stepped forward and undid the top button of her dress. He placed a small kiss at the top of her spine.

“The world has changed so much,” Harriet said. “It scares me badly at times.”

He undid another button, gave her another kiss. “I agree,” he said. “The places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen. Sometimes it scares me so bad, I want to crawl into a cave and never come out.”

“But we have to go on. To try.” She wiggled as he undid a third button, kissed her between the shoulders.

“You sound like my boss, Danny.” He opened another button, slipped his hands inside her dress as she shivered. Goosebumps rose up on her flesh as he slid his hands up to her breasts. A thumb roamed over her nipple and it stood up for the attention.

“He sounds like a wise man,” she said, her voice breathy.

“He is,” he said as he kissed her neck. “That’s why we’re out here. He wants to know what’s going on.” He pushed the dress forward and she shrugged out of it as it fell to the floor.

“Oh. I’m glad he sent you.” She stepped out of the dress. She wore nothing underneath. Henry ran the palm of his hand over her flat belly, down further. At the corner of her bush, was tattooed the same trinity as was on his arm. He smiled at her.

“If this had not happened, I would have not shown it to anyone.” She pulled off her shoes, stepped forward to pull the shirt from his body.

Time for talk passed as they fell into bed together. She welcomed him with the fervor of a neglected wife. He had slept with more than one of those in his other life. The life before the world changed. He had been a bit of a dog and had picked up what others neglected. In this case, she was lonely. For years, it was simply a matter of fulfilling her duty as a wife. This. This was years of need. Years of wanting more from a relationship than her husband finishing his needs and rolling over to sleep because he had been plowing all day. And something new. Pleasure.

Her first orgasm added to the claw marks on his back as she called out her climax for the first time in years. He joined her part way through with an explosion of his own. Soft kisses followed as they caught their breath. She tried to gather herself to slide out from under him and he rolled her over on top. Her eyes widened in surpriseas she tried to pull away, but he clamped his hands on her rear and pulled her back down. Her eyes rolled back into her head as he started to grind his hips.

Time warped. Nothing existed beyond the bed. They could have been flying over the fields. Could have been in a different time completely and they wouldn’t have known. They climaxed together, no doubt to be heard outside and down the street if anyone cared to listen. She collapsed onto his moist chest, gasping. Covers had been flung away and the cool early summer air washed across their bodies. They lay, still joined as their hearts came down from the race they were in.

“So that is what it is supposed to be like,” she whispered.

He kissed her forehead, tangled his fingers in her hair. “Yes. If we do it right.”

“Then we must have done it correctly, as I have never experienced anything as this before.”

He ran his fingers down her back, through her hair as they lay together. Soon, both slept.

Chapter 37

Elizabeth shouldered the door open. Blood ran down her side and dripped onto the floor. Her skirt was soaked in crimson. She noticed two places set at the table as she and Mary guided Gertrude toward it.

“Henry!” she shouted. “Henry, where are you, we need you.”

Mary scooped up the dishes. They landed in the sink with a crash. Gertrude lay flat on the table. Blood foamed from a small hole at the top of her right breast. Every time she coughed, strings of blood ran from her mouth. She groaned, eyes rolled back into her head as she placed her hand over the hole. Emily sat in one of the wooden chairs, a bullet through her thigh. Elizabeth squeezed Gertrude’s shoulder and dashed onto the stairs.

At the landing, she shouted for Henry again, turned to the left toward their bedroom, then heard the door to the right swing open. Henry stepped out, shirtless, as he buttoned his pants. He saw Elizabeth covered in blood and started to her.

She ran to him, flung her arms around him.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Elizabeth, are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I am fine. We need your help. We have people shot.” She started to step into the room. He tried to stop her. Her mother pulled on her dress as she entered. “Mother? Henry? What…?”

“We will talk later,” Harriet whispered. “I am not too old to be a mother yet. I have the needs of a woman. I wanted to have a child too.”

Elizabeth looked first at one, then the other. Henry tried to say something, couldn’t find words.

“Who has been shot?” Harriet asked as she buttoned her dress.

“Gertrude and Emily. We need help.”

Henry pulled his shirt on over the smeared blood as it dried on his chest. “You’re okay? You’re not shot, are you?”

“No, the blood is Gert’s.”

“Harriet, get her washed, get her a shirt. One of mine will work.” Henry shoved his feet into his boots. “When you do that, come around and tell me what happened.”

He dashed downstairs. The women followed, went to the back room to clean up. Three of the girls were sent to round up his team and send them to him. Jinks needed to bring her jump box. One of the girls dashed into the kitchen to put water on the boil. Harriet and Elizabeth brought warm water and soap from the back, along with washcloths.

Henry stood next to Gertrude. Blood ran from her chest, across the table and onto the floor. She lay, hand clamped to her breast. She was pale, the freckles across her face stood out the more for it. Cool sweat covered her skin.

“She’s getting shocky. I need blankets,” Henry barked.

Harriet sat down the bowl of water. Henry lifted Gertrude’s hand. Blood bubbled from the wound. Lung shot. Elizabeth paled. Henry lathered the washcloth and started to wash the wound. Harriet returned and they wrapped Gertrude everywhere except where she was wounded. Elizabeth took her cousin’s hand as the girl started to shiver.

“Tell me what happened,” he said.

“We ran into a patrol of scavengers out of Louisville. We have seen them and fought them before. Always before we had the advantage. They know we are here somewhere and send parties out to look for us on occasion. This time they were on the gravel road five miles east.”

Henry moved to Emily. Bright red blood coursed down her thigh. It dripped to the floor from her knee. Henry yanked her skirt off. The girl looked him in the eye.

“Hank’s dead.” She said.

“Hank?” Henry asked

“Her horse,” Harriet answered.

“They shot him,” Emily said. She was beginning to pale as well. A shiver ran through her body as Harriet threw a blanket around her shoulders. Henry moved her hand to wash the wound. “They shot him,” she said again.

“What else?” Henry asked. “They just opened up on you?”

“We rounded a bend in the road,” Elizabeth explained, “and we ran directly into one another. I recognized them. They recognized us. We have to keep them away from our people, so we charged.”

“How are they moving? Walking? Driving? What?”

“Some vehicles like yours. Others are pickup trucks with guns and steel on them.”

“God. Now you know how the Polish cavalry got wiped out in World War Two. How many?”

“I do not know.” Elizabeth stroked Gertrude’s forehead, whispered something in German.

“Elizabeth. Focus on what your man asks of you. How many vehicles?” Harriet snapped.

She looked up. Gathered herself. “I apologize. Gertrude and I have been together since the cradle. There were between fifteen and twenty vehicles on the road. We had to fall back. Anna Yoder is dead. She took a bullet to her face and her chest.”

“Shit,” Henry muttered.

Jinks crashed through the door first, followed by Mart and Cody.

“We’ve got trouble coming down,” Henry said. “Jinks, she’s bleeding bad. Femoral artery from the looks. We need to get it stopped.”

Jinks set her box on the floor. They pulled a coffee table from the front room, laid Emily on it. She cleaned the wound, gave the girl a shot for the pain. Soon Emily was muttering and crying about her horse, but not in pain. From the box, Jinks pulled a bag of wound clot Tom had supplied from the Arsenal. She dumped a liberal amount of the bag into the bullet hole and wrapped it in a bandage. The powder went to work. The bleeding stopped in seconds. They tucked blankets around her and started an I.V. bag of fluids.