by Hunt, Brenda
He tried and managed to stand but he was weaving all over. “Abby stand up next to him so he has something to hold on to,” instructed Dulcey as she tried to remove his greatcoat. Finally, with all three of them working on it, Dulcey was able to get it off. He sat down immediately. She could tell he was exhausted. She hung his coat on the peg near the door to dry.
She looked him over and decided to start with his boots next. He would be able to sit down while she did that. “Let’s try his boots next, Abby. I think it’s going to take both of us to get them off.”
Abby nodded. Between the two of them and much struggling with very little help from Nate, they were able to finally get his boots off. Abby sat on the floor, looked up and giggled. Dulcey smiled. With Abby’s help, she helped him remove his jacket and cravat until he was down to his shirt and pants. His shirt appeared to be dry but his pants were soaked and definitely needed to come off. His pants proved to be even more of a problem that his boots, but finally Dulcey was able to get them off along with his stockings.
Those long hard legs of his filled his underpants much to her discomfort. His shirt was open showing a chiseled chest with a light covering of soft light brown hair. With him in his shirt and under pants and Abby’s help, she was able to walk him the few feet to her bed. He collapsed, barely aware that he was even being helped.
For a moment, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down on top of him. She felt as if a bolt of lightning had shot straight through her. Her whole body felt alive with the strangest sensations. As quickly as he had grabbed her, he let her go.
Dulcey rose quickly. Abby started laughing. “Uncle Nate made you fall down.”
“Yes, darling he did,” she replied trying desperately to make sense of all these new feelings she had just experienced. It was just the storm and the off balance feelings she had been experiencing all day, she told herself.
Dulcey pulled one of the quilts up and tucked it in around him. She felt his forehead. It was hot to her touch. He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm sending sensations like liquid fire cascading through her body again. “Ah, my lady, come join me.”
Dulcey removed her hand from his grip and gently tucked it back under the covers. “You need some rest, sir.” She watched him close is eyes with a smile on his face. Dulcey shook her head.
“Uncle Nate is funny.”
Dulcey smiled and nodded. “Your uncle is sick, my darling. We’re going to have to take care of him. Do you think you can help me with that?”
Abby nodded, suddenly being very serious. “Is Uncle Nate going to die?” she asked.
Dulcey could see the fear in her face.
“Not, if I can help it. I need you to sit by him while I mix up some special medicine for him and after that, we shall see about eating.”
Abby sat down beside her uncle and watched intently, as Dulcey went to the cupboard on the far wall. Dulcey took out several vials, looked at them, then carefully measured each ingredient until she was satisfied she had what she wanted. She brought the cup to the bedside. With Abby’s help, she raised his head and got him to drink the medicine. Abby watched everything Dulcey did with wide eyed wonder.
“Are you a witch?” asked Abby, a little uncertain. “Miss Franny read a story about a witch who made special potions.”
Dulcey smiled tolerantly. She had heard her grandmother called that many times. She smiled and knelt down beside Abby. “Can you keep a secret?”
Abby nodded very seriously and watched the cup Dulcey held in her hands. “I know a fairy and she showed me how to make these medicines so I could help people.”
Abby eyes grew big and round, as she looked at Dulcey.
“A fairy? Fairies are good.” She replied in childlike innocence.
“Yes, and she is a very special fairy.” Dulcey knew most people believed fairies to be good and witches to be bad. Grammy had taught her that fact, as well. People would better tolerate a fairy than a witch.
“Can I meet her? Will you become a fairy, too?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think so. I just do the medicine part to help people get better and I think this should help him get better,” said Dulcey trying to reassure Abby. “How about you, little one? How are you feeling?” as she felt Abby’s forehead and neck area. It was cool to her touch, much to her relief.
“Good.”
Dulcey nodded. “All right, let’s see what we can have for supper. We have roasted partridge and rabbit stew. How about we have a little of each?” asked Dulcey, as she set about fixing their bowls. It was simple fair but good and filled their belly. After supper, Dulcey went through the back door to the lean-to and checked on the animals. They appeared to be doing fine. There was an old horse blanket from when Grammy owned a donkey. She placed it across the horse’s withers.
Moments later, she was back inside. Abby was sitting in the rocker keeping careful watch of her uncle.
Dulcey pulled out the bottom trundle bed, pulled the mattress out and placed it on the floor near the hearth. She and Abby would sleep on it. “This is where we will sleep. We will let your uncle have the bed.”
Dulcey sat in the rocker and Abby crawled in her lap. Dulcey wrapped the quilt around them. “How about you and I get to know each other? You live with your Uncle Nate?”
“Un hunh. Momma and Papa died. He was Uncle Nate brother. I live with Uncle Nate and Grandmother.”
“And where is that.?”
“Uncle Nate wanted us to spend Christmas here. I wanted to play in the snow.”
Dulcey smiled. “I think you got your snow.”
“Is it still snowing Dulcey?”
“Yes, and I think it will all night. But we are safe here, so don’t you worry about that.” Trying to get her mind off the storm, Dulcey asked, “I thought heard your uncle call you by a special name.’’
“Un hunh. Uncle Nate calls me Poppet.”
“May I call you Poppet?”
“Un hunh.”
Dulcey nodded. “Where are you staying?” She was afraid she knew the answer. Uncle Nate’s clothes were much too nice not to be of elite gentry or nobility. She had her suspicions.
“A big house.”
“Did you hear them call it Brandanlyn Manor?” She was afraid to ask, but knew she had to. Afraid that Uncle Nate was the new Baron or at least related to him.
“Un hunh. Grandmother did not want to come but Uncle Nate said she had to.”
“Well, one good thing we are not very far from the manor house. So once it stops snowing, you and Uncle Nate will be home quickly. How about we get ready for bed?”
Dulcey half listened as Abby chatted away as she changed into a nightdress. Abby wore one of Dulcey’s winter wool chemises. She banked the fire to make certain it would last through the night. She checked on her patient. He was resting quietly. Dulcey blew out the candle on the table and lay down on the pallet on the floor next to Abby. She pulled Abby close and covered them both with a quilt.
“How about I tell you a story, Abby?”
“Yes, please. Tell me about the fairy that showed you how to make the potions, medicines.”
Dulcey sighed and began telling her story about a beautiful fairy that lived in the woods. She only came out when the moon was full and danced in the moonlight. Dulcey elaborated on her story, making it up as she went along. It wasn’t long before Dulcey heard the soft even breathing of Abby sleeping.
Dulcey stared up at the ceiling watching the shadows and the flames do an intricate dance. She sighed and turned to her side, snuggled Abby close to her. It wouldn’t do her any good to worry. It was out of her hands. It had always been out of her hands. She knew outside forces were at work. The future was hazy, like the moors on a misty morning. It was hard to tell what was real. Until the mist receded, Dulcey felt she must tread very carefully, until the future was revealed to her. She had never felt like this before. It was a disconcerted feeling she had never experienced before. It left her unsettled.
Chapter 2
“A gentleman is someone who
DOES NOT what he wants to do,
But what he SHOULD do.”
Haruki Murakami
Dulcey woke with a start and for a brief moment wondered why she was asleep on the floor. It only took her a moment to remember. She heard a mumbling coming for her bed. It had to be what had awakened her. Dulcey eased herself from Abby’s side and softly approached her bed. Abby’s Uncle Nate was mumbling. Dulcey laid her hand on his brow. It was hot. She went to the medicine cupboard and mixed another dose of her medicine. This time she added something else for his fever.
She sat at his bedside. For a moment, she was at a loss as to what to call him. Was he the new baron? Was he Lord Beckham or was he Mr. Beckham? She sighed.
“Nate,” she said softly. He didn’t respond. “Nathaniel?” she waited a moment. “Nathaniel, please, I need you to take this. Please, wake up for a moment.”
She waited and then suddenly his eyes opened. She raised his head enough for him to take the medicine she had for him. She sat for a moment staring at the handsome face lying there in her bed. His nose was a little on the long side but it fit his angular face, the square jaw that gave the hint of stubbornness. His brown hair, he wore long and had a tendency to curl at the nape. She had seen his bright blue eyes earlier. Looking at Abby and then at Uncle Nate, she could see the family resemblance. She sat there studying him. Was he the force that was disturbing her balance?
Suddenly, he grabbed her and pulled her down on top of him holding her tight as he kissed her. She tasted the
medicine on his lips but something else as well. She tasted him and he tasted good. He turned till she lay under him. One of his hands immediately went to her breast massaging it till his fingers found her nipple and teased it till it hardened. He trailed kisses down her neck.
Dulcey felt like she was on fire. Her body arched into him with almost a will of its own. She could feel the entire length of him, the hard muscles of his chest, the legs that held her pinned down under him. She could feel his manhood enlarged against her thigh. Her body was alive and tingling in places she did not know existed.
“Oh, my sweetness,” he whispered in her ear.
Just as suddenly, he collapsed on top of her and unquestionably passed out once again. He was heavy on her now, but the feelings he had stirred within her were not so easily dismissed. With difficulty, squirming, feeling more of his body against her, she removed herself from his embrace. He murmured when she finally managed to remove herself out from under him.
She stood at a safe distance watching him again, trying desperately to get control of her chaotic heartbeat and breathing but most of all her chaotic thoughts, no, feelings. What had just happened?
Dulcey sat down in the rocker and stared at her bed and the man in it. This was a definite shift in her world as she knew it. She was at a lost at how to deal with it. She could blame it all on the storm and the fact Abby’s uncle was delirious. It had to be the storm. No, this was best forgotten. She was almost assured Nathaniel Beckham would not remember it in the morning due to his fever. She just hoped she would not remember it but she knew that was an impossible feat. How was she to forget that aching need he had brought from her in just that short period of time? Aching need for what, she knew not. But it was there. Her body still tingled, especially her breast where he
had touched her so.
With a deep sigh of resignation, Dulcey laid down at Abby’s side again. The child snuggled closer, but sleep would not come to Dulcey. Were these the feelings Mary talked about when she talked about her gentlemen callers? She knew about the physical act but she had not realized these strange intense feeling were a part of it as well. What was that feeling deep within her that ached for more? Maybe when she next talked to Mary she would ask her. Maybe Mary could explain it to her.
She must have fallen asleep, because she awakened to Abby sitting up.
“Good morning, Dulcey.”
“Good morning, Poppet,” replied Dulcey as she rose from their bed on the floor. She immediately went to the fire added more peat and banked it till it roared back to life, quickly dispelling the chill that had crept in from the outside. She put a pitcher of water on the hearth to heat. “Give me a moment to check on the animals and then I will come back and we will fix breakfast.” She slipped her light green wool dress over her head. It was her warmest.
Dulcey checked on the animals. It was cold in the lean to but the animals were doing fine. Quickly, she milked Sally and checked Chickie and Lizzie for their eggs. She couldn’t remember ever having done her chores with the animals as quickly as she did. Back in the cottage, Dulcey smiled at Abby sitting in the rocker wrapped in the quilt.
“Let me get our porridge cooking, while I get you washed up. If you want you can stay in my woolens for I don’t think we will be going out today.”
“Is it still snowing?” asked Abby with a frown.
“I’m afraid so, not as much as yesterday. We will just have to stay here where we are warm until it stops.”
Abby nodded in understanding, but Dulcey wondered how much did she truly understand.
The weather outside still warranted they stay inside. The wind had died down but an occasional gust could still be felt and heard. The snow was not falling as hard as yesterday but it was still lightly falling.
“I thought after breakfast we could work on the Christmas decorations. I have some red ribbon we can use to tie our greenery and we can decide where we want to put it,” suggested Dulcey knowing she needed to keep Abby occupied. Christmas was still three days away. If the weather continued, they would still be here at Christmas.
Dulcey approached her bed warily remembering what had happened during the night. She laid her hand on his brow. She was glad to find it cool to her touch. His breathing was even and not labored as though he was sleeping.
“Is Uncle Nate getting better?” asked Abby. Dulcey could see the worry frown on her face.
“I think so. He doesn’t have a fever this morning so I think he’s on the mend. We will just have to wait and see. I suggest we eat our breakfast and get our decorations done.”
Abby nodded, sat down and watched as Dulcey prepared breakfast. Abby kept up a steady stream of conversation. Dulcey answered her questions, many were about the decorations they were about to put up around her small home.
For several years now she had not been here at her home for Christmas. She had helped Lord James at Brandanlyn. Lord James always insisted she spent time there until after twelfth night the very least. So much had changed in her life the past couple of years since Grammy’s death. And now, since Lord James’s death last August, it was even more so.
Sometimes, she felt adrift on a sea of uncertainty. Even her dreams and premonitions were muddled, not giving her directions as they had in the past. She felt vulnerable to outside influences, influences she did not truly trust nor understand.
After breakfast, Dulcey with Abby’s help began tying her green boughs with the red ribbon she had used year after year. She had collected holly and ivy, several long branches of evergreen and of course several sprigs of mistletoe. Together they put them on the window sills. Dulcey stood up on the chair and placed two of the larger boughs atop the door frame. Of course, Abby had some definite opinions on how it should look. Dulcey smiled but she did everything Abby instructed. She sighed with yearning. She would love to have a child of her own but she knew that was impossible. Grammy had told her so time and time again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathaniel woke to the sounds of voices. He immediately recognized Abby. For a moment, he was confused as to why he was lying in this bed, this strange bed. Memories came flooding back, the fear of having Abby lost in the snow, of looking and not being able to find her. That fear had clutched his heart the likes he had never known. He remembered riding through the snow, snow that had become blinding and a temperature that had been dropping dangerously low. His fear for Abby had been int
ense, knowing there was no way she could survive the snow storm. He remembered finding a cottage at least he thought he had. Only things after that had become very blurred and confusing.
Nathaniel opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a cottage, a one room cottage. Abby was chatting with a young woman. They were discussing where to hang the mistletoe. The young woman turned and Nathaniel found himself gazing at what he would have considered a wood fairy. Her face had that pixie look of big beautiful eyes, small little nose, pink rosebud mouth, and her long hair of curls, the color of dark honey hung in a braid all the way down her back to just above her buttocks. Her dress of soft green was outdated and hugged her hips. He watched as she walked across the room, her hips swaying gently.
A memory surfaced or was it a dream that this fairy waif had laid beside him, no under him. He shook his head, no it had to be a dream, but the feeling was so strong. The memory of that soft body under him felt so real. He could feel himself responding. Careful, he told himself. It was but a dream.
He raised himself on his arms.
Abby noticed immediately and ran to his bedside. “Uncle Nate, you’re awake.”
Nate smiled at Abby, glad to see she was indeed fine. He looked past her head and found himself looking in the brightest green eyes that belonged to his fairy waif. He watched the blush that stained her full checks and wondered why.
“Well Poppet, it seems I have found you.”
Abby looked down and bit her bottom lip. “I am sorry, Uncle Nate. I chased the bunny and I got lost. But Dulcey found me.”
Nathaniel sighed but with Abby safe, he was not about to bicker or chastise her. She was safe and that was the most important thing. Looking over Abby’s head he mouthed, “Thank you.”
Dulcey smiled softly and nodded. She could see how much he was concerned about Abby’s welfare but she could not get the memory of him kissing her and pulling her under him out of her mind. She turned away from him afraid he could read her mind and remember what had happened in the dark of the night.