Forever Yours (Nebraska Series Book 9)

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “We have some in the kitchen.”

  His pa headed into the house.

  Dave was glad his parents had decided to come out here. He didn’t know how much longer he could have kept his sanity if he had to keep staring out at the yard. He was sure Mary could use his mother’s help, too. Next time he saw Sally, he would be sure to thank her.

  ***

  Two weeks later, Dave breathed a sigh of relief as another day came to an end. That left him with four to six weeks to go. Then he could get back up and live his life again. While having his parents visit during the day made things more bearable, he was starting to get tired of playing cards. What he most wanted to do was get back out to the barn or fields.

  He was getting better at jumping up the steps on his good leg, but he still needed someone to carry the crutch up the stairs for him. Once he reached the top, Isaac handed him his crutch. He took it and slipped it under his arm.

  “It’s hard, isn’t it, Pa?” Isaac asked.

  “What’s hard?” Dave asked in return.

  “Patience. It’s not easy to wait, is it?”

  Surprised Isaac brought the subject up, Dave asked, “Are you talking about my leg?”

  Isaac nodded. “Remember when you said crops grew fast, and I said they didn’t?”

  At once, Dave knew where Isaac was going with this conversation. “Alright,” he relented, “it is hard to be patient when you’re waiting for something good to happen.”

  Isaac smiled in satisfaction. “I told you so.” Then he bounded down the steps and practically flew out of the house.

  Dave shook his head. Who knew an eight-year-old could remember a conversation that happened two weeks ago? Isaac not only had a good memory, but he was showing a little bit of Sally in him. Sally would do the same thing while growing up. She’d remember little details other people forgot, and then she’d bring them up to prove she’d been right.

  Dave hobbled to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. When he heard Isaac calling out to Mary, he went over to the window. He saw Isaac run into the barn. Dave waited for a while, but he couldn’t hear much of what was going on. He was sure Rachel laughed and a cow mooed.

  Out in the pasture, his three horses, Susannah, Jack, and Libby were eating grass. Dave let out a heavy sigh. Jack had always been a good horse. He couldn’t blame him for his fall. He should have known better than to take him so close to the river. But even as he reasoned this, he wished Jack had done a better job of keeping his balance. He shook his head. No. He couldn’t blame the horse.

  Jasper barked, and he turned his attention back to the barn. Isaac ran out of the barn with Jasper at his heels. The two ran for the fenced-in area Dave had erected for Jasper. His gaze went back to the henhouse that was right by the barn. He hoped Jasper’s being so close to the barn wasn’t going to upset the hens. Mary hadn’t brought in as many eggs over the past couple of days as she had been. Maybe it was due to everyone letting Jasper run around so much during the day. It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d keep Jasper away from the henhouse.

  Even with Dave’s parents coming out to help, little things were starting to get neglected around the place. But he couldn’t blame anyone. There were three children running around, and while Isaac was old enough to behave, he was still a child. From time to time, he’d slip up. Mary and his parents’ attention were divided. They couldn’t focus exclusively on the chores like he could.

  Rachel came out with a pail of milk, and, as she was walking, she turned to look behind her. She stumbled over something and fell forward. The pail fell with her, and milk went all over the grass. She sat up as if in surprise and then tried to scoop the milk back into the pail.

  Mary led Adam out of the barn and then closed the door for the night. Adam ran over to Rachel, and she pushed him away before he could walk onto the milky part of the grass. He landed on his back and let out a shrill cry as Rachel continued her pointless activity of trying to scoop the milk back into the pail.

  Dave decided he’d seen enough. He let out a frustrated sigh and hobbled over to the dresser. It was hard to stand around and watch that kind of thing. If only he’d been more careful on Jack. If only he’d walked to the river instead of taking him down there. If only he hadn’t put his hoof in the hole in the ground. If only, if only, if only…

  Four to six weeks to go. And each day was getting progressively longer than the last. He inspected his broken leg, wondering how far along he’d come in healing. Was the bone still broken? Had it had time to get back into place? Was his body taking care of itself like Joel had said it would? Since he wasn’t a doctor, he had no way of telling what progress, if any, his leg was making.

  Forcing his attention off of his leg, he pulled open the drawer and realized he had no clean nightshirts. He glanced over at the laundry pile, surprised to see that it was overflowing. He was sure Mary and his ma had discussed doing the wash today. Then he remembered that Maureen and Connie had stopped by for a visit, which meant that Mary and his mother had to spend hours talking to them.

  His pa had checked the corn for bugs and had entertained Isaac and Rachel since they had wanted to join him. Adam, meanwhile, had stayed inside with the women. And Dave had dozed off to sleep because there hadn’t been anything else to do, and he wasn’t about to spend time in the parlor while the women talked about food, clothes, and children.

  His leg couldn’t heal soon enough. Dave shut the drawer and went to the bed. He settled on it and removed everything but his underwear. He draped the pants over the iron frame at the foot of the bed. He didn’t know if he had any more clean pants in the dresser. He took another look at the laundry basket, but it was impossible to tell all of the clothes that were in there since there were so many. Well, to be safe, he’d wear the same pants tomorrow.

  After a moment, he decided to wear the same shirt and undershirt, too. He draped those over the pants and then set the crutch aside so that it was leaning against the wall by the head of the bed.

  Careful not to aggravate his bad leg, he lifted it onto the bed. He had to admit the splint did a good job of keeping it still. He shifted down the bed and then brought his other leg up beside him. Then he settled back on the bed and put his head on the pillow. All of the work he’d just done had made him break out into a sweat, so he didn’t bother pulling up the sheet or blanket. He’d do that later.

  He closed his eyes and released his breath. Another day done. Four to six weeks to go. Four weeks was twenty-eight days. Six weeks would be forty-two days. He grimaced. How he hoped it would be twenty-eight days instead of forty-two! This whole thing of doing nothing all day was wearing him out.

  He heard Isaac yell, “Don’t touch that,” followed by Adam’s shrill cry and Rachel screaming for Mary. Dave shook his head and brought the pillow up to his ears to block the ensuing fight out of his mind. He was sure the children made it a habit of spilling things, yelling, and crying on a regular basis. He just hadn’t been used to it because he was always busy. He honestly didn’t know how Mary put up with this all day long.

  Finally, things grew silent, and he relaxed. What he had to do was sleep. Sleep was the quickest way to pass the time. He folded his hands over his stomach and released his breath. When he was a child, he used to run the alphabet backwards in his mind. Usually, after he did that a couple of times, he dozed off to sleep.

  This evening, however, he wasn’t falling asleep. He shook his head. He never should have taken a nap on the porch. Now he was going to have a terrible time sleeping tonight.

  He heard Mary as she tucked the children into bed. First, she put Adam down, and then she helped Rachel and Isaac get settled for the night. He had gotten used to this process over the past two weeks. Once everything was quiet, she would go downstairs and work on her sewing. Which was fine since Dave had managed to fall asleep during this time, if not sooner, but he didn’t want to spend any more time bored in this room.

  “Mary?” he called out.

  At first, he
thought she had already gone downstairs, but then he heard her come across the hall. She opened the door. “Do you need something?”

  “I can’t sleep,” he told her. “Will you come in here and talk to me?”

  “I wondered if you were going to be able to sleep right away when I saw you dozing off in the chair after supper,” she playfully chided him. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. “You have to get over your resistance to reading books. You can’t spend the next month just watching the clouds go by.”

  “I hate reading.”

  “Well, I can tell you’re losing your enthusiasm for playing cards, too.” She started to unbutton her dress. “If you were to read the right kind of book, you’d find reading interesting. What kind of stories do you like?”

  “I don’t know. They’re all stories about other people. Why should I care what those people are doing, especially since those people don’t even exist?”

  Her eyes lit up. “You should read nonfiction. Why not read a biography about someone’s life?”

  He nearly gagged. “Again, that would be about someone I don’t even know. I have no reason to care about someone I don’t know.”

  “Alright. Then why not read about a topic? Before I came out to Nebraska, I read books on life out here. Why not read about farms, animals, or crops?”

  “I already know about that. I’m surrounded by it every day of my life.”

  She paused for a moment as she reached the last button. “Then read about something you don’t know anything about. Read about how trains work or how things are further out west.”

  “Why would I need to read any of that? I’m not going to build a train, nor am I going to live anywhere but here.”

  She groaned. “I give up. You’re impossible, Dave. When you’re confined to a chair all day, you are exasperating. Your pa has played cards, checkers, and other games with you. The kids have each spent some time with you. Your ma and I have sat down and talked to you. I don’t know what else any of us can do to keep you from being bored.”

  She removed her dress, and the remaining sunlight coming in through the window gave him a nice view of her in only her chemise and bloomers.

  “You know,” he began, “there is something we haven’t done since my injury.” He patted the spot on the bed next to him. “And I’m wide awake.”

  To his surprise, she shot him a bewildered look.

  “What?” he asked.

  “The last time we tried it, you said it hurt your leg.”

  “That was because I moved it. I should have stayed still and let you do the work.” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully at her. “Won’t it be fun to see if I can stay still the whole time?”

  “I don’t want to irritate your leg. You’re already driving all of us insane because you haven’t done anything for two weeks. I don’t know how much longer I can take this. I’m eager for you to heal.”

  “I’m eager for me to heal, too, but right now, there’s another part of me that is eager for something else.”

  Her gaze went to the proof of his arousal, and she bit her lower lip in a way that let him know she wanted to be with him, too.

  “I promise I’ll be good,” he said. “I won’t move my hips or my legs. I’ll only move my hands.” Since she seemed to be considering it, he added, “I know how to touch you in that place you like.”

  “Oh, alright.”

  A spark of excitement swept over him as she hurried to remove the rest of her clothes. She had been right to be concerned since he had ended up hurting his leg when they had tried to make love a week ago, but he wanted to be with her so badly that he was going to stay still even if it killed him.

  When she finished removing her clothes, he scanned her body. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing her without them on. Generous breasts, a pleasant figure, and a dark patch of curls that hid her most secret place. What was there not to like? She was a work of art. He couldn’t imagine being attracted to anyone else.

  She eased into the bed and settled against him, her warm and curvy body feeling like heaven. He brought her into his arms so he could kiss her, and she brought her hand up to his jaw and leaned closer to him in order to deepen their kiss. Sparks shot straight through his body at the promise of things to come. There was no doubt that she had missed being intimate with him, just as he had missed being intimate with her.

  With a moan, he traced her lower lip with his tongue. She accepted him into her mouth, and soon, they were kissing in earnest. Unable to stop himself, he cupped one of her breasts with his hand. He liked everything about her, but he had to admit he especially enjoyed the fact that her breast was so large that he couldn’t cup all of it in the palm of his hand. He used his thumb to trace the ridge of her nipple. Then, feeling a bit playful, he used his thumb and finger to lightly squeeze the pink bud in the center.

  She let out a groan and sat up.

  “I didn’t move my leg,” he protested.

  “That’s not why I’m getting up. I like taking my time with you, but I don’t have the patience for it tonight.” She glanced at his underwear. “Why didn’t you take that off before you got into the bed?”

  He glanced at his drawers. “To be honest, I wasn’t thinking of doing this when I got ready for bed. But,” he hurried to add, “there’s an easy solution to this.” Using his good leg to lift his hips, he was able to pull the underwear down far enough so that it wasn’t going to hinder her from getting on top of him. He settled back onto the bed. “There. Nothing’s in our way now.”

  She giggled and kissed him. “I can’t recall a time I ever saw you move so fast.”

  “Well, I happen to be motivated.” He gestured for her to get on top of him.

  She obeyed, and she slid her body along his erection. He was surprised to note that the area between her legs was already wet. He had no idea she’d missed their time together as much as he had.

  “Have you been thinking of me recently?” he asked, his tone playful.

  “It’s been weeks since we were able to do this,” she replied. “And the last time didn’t work out.” She leaned forward and kissed him, letting her tongue caress his for a few seconds. Then she moved against him again and said, “I’ve been aching for you.”

  “I’ll make sure to soothe that ache tonight.”

  Then, to prove he meant it, he let his hand go to the sensitive nub between her legs and started to rub it in the circular motions that he knew would bring her the greatest amount of pleasure.

  She let out a contented sigh and lifted her hips to give him better access to her. “Oh, Dave, that feels good.”

  It felt good to him, too. He enjoyed giving her pleasure. He liked knowing he was doing his part to satisfy her when they were in bed. The act didn’t feel complete until both of them reached the heights lovemaking offered them. So he proceeded to caress her. He was willing to take his time, but by the way she gasped and stiffened, he realized he’d brought her to completion quickly this evening. The poor woman. She never once offered a word of complaint, but seriously, if he had known she needed to get her release this badly, he would have slid his hand up her dress and given it to her during the day when they had a moment alone.

  When she relaxed, he said, “If you ever need me to satisfy you and we’re not in bed, I’ll be happy to do so.” He placed his hands on her hips and lightly squeezed them. “Just come to me when the kids are playing.”

  She shook her head but smiled. “There’s never a moment during the day where one of the kids doesn’t need something. I have to wait until they’re all in bed.”

  “Really?”

  She chuckled and kissed him. “Really.”

  “Then why don’t you just nudge me during the night and tell me to satisfy you?”

  “That wouldn’t have been fair to you. I know you’ve missed this as much as I have.”

  “Well, it’s my fault that I broke my leg. It’s only right I suffer.”

  “I don’t
like to watch you suffer, Dave.”

  She took his erection in her hand and stroked it, an action which only made him harder than he was before, and that was something he didn’t think possible. She took him inside her, and all at once he forgot what they’d been talking about. All he could do was feel her exquisite flesh as it wrapped around him.

  “Don’t move,” she reminded him.

  What? Oh, right. He had to stay still. “I’ll stay still,” he promised.

  She began rocking her hips, and he voiced his appreciation. He closed his eyes and focused on letting her do all the moving. It wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it’d be, but he was determined to be good. He needed to be good if he wanted to finally release the pent-up sexual energy that was humming through his entire body. It felt good. So very good. There was no way he wanted this to end, especially not when he was so close to the brink of release. He gripped the sheet underneath him and let out a cry. Then he felt the familiar tension shatter as he reached the peak. His seed filled her, and wave after wave of pleasure crashed into him. It was so very wonderful. He didn’t want the moment to end, but all too soon, he felt himself softly coming back down to earth.

  He opened his eyes and smiled at Mary. “That was better than I remembered.”

  “It’s always good with you,” she whispered then leaned forward to kiss him.

  “I stayed still this time.”

  “Yes, I noticed. And I’m glad you did.”

  “You know what that means?”

  “That you have control over your body?”

  “Yep, and it means we can do this again.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “We can even do it tonight a second time.” Then, before she could respond, he spent considerable time kissing and caressing her until they were ready to make love again.

  Chapter Six

  Dave scrubbed the shirt along the washboard. Never in a million years did he think he would wash clothes after he got married, but he had finally broken down and volunteered for the task since he had to do something to alleviate the boredom that had become a significant part of his days.