Francis turned and ran down the tree line. Delia looked up at Don and then hugged him around his large midsection.
“I’m sorry I was late for dinner.”
The big man hugged her back for just a moment. Then he released her to be scolded by Deb.
“You missed dinner!” she hissed. “And, you’re filthy! Get your butt in the bathroom right this moment. You won't be done tonight until you’re clean, the bathroom is clean, and the laundry is done. Everyone’s laundry!”
“Yes, Aunt Deb,” Delia murmured and shuffled dutifully to the bathroom. She had gotten off light and she knew it. Her own mother would have whipped her. Delia stripped off her probably ruined clothing and left it on the floor while she waited for the bathtub to fill. Her arms, legs, hands and feet were dark with dirt while her torso was pearly white. She laughed to herself at the silliness of how she looked.
Before the bath had finished filling she lowered herself down into the tub and let her head lean back while the hot water surrounded her. As she lay there, she thought about Francis and having a boyfriend and other normal things like that. She did not know if she would ever be able to have a normal life anymore. Delia scolded herself silently for letting her emotions get out of control that day. She resolved to keep them in check, because what was the point of all those unnecessary feeling anyway, they just made her feel worse. Her family was gone and now she was hearing strange sounds that warned her about danger. That was something she could definitely never tell another soul. She was about as abnormal as she could figure.
Still, she had liked the feeling of holding Francis’s hand on the way home. That might not be so bad. She didn’t see how any harm could come of it, and perhaps having a boyfriend could benefit her in some way.
Chapter Five
FOUR YEARS LATER
“Jonathan, I’ve told you on more than one occasion, I’m with another boy. Francis, the butcher’s son, I believe you know him.”
Jonathan smirked at her. They were standing outside the small grocery store/ice cream shop downtown. The town of Grattan consisted of the grocery, Kip’s Bar and Grill, the First Presbyterian Church and the Troll Bridge. There weren’t actually trolls under the bridge, as the old timers liked to tell the young ones, but it made for a funny story. In fact, the entire town celebrated the trolls with a bridge walk every year.
Jonathan’s parents owned the grocery store, and Delia supposed he felt like he was a young man of some importance in town. He had a handsome face with a strong jawline, and like Delia he had blonde hair, only his was combed in a very pretty wave atop his head. His skin was smooth and clean and he did smell very nice. He was small, though. He didn’t have the muscles of a farmhand, and his palms were soft and delicate like a man who had never had to endure real labor. Not like Francis. Still, Jonathan felt like he was very smooth.
“Francis, huh?” Jonathan leaned his slender body back against the side of the grocery in a confident way that Delia presumed drove most of the girls wild.
“Jonathan, why do you even bother?” Delia asked with a sigh. “Even if I were not taken, you are too old for me. I am still in school, for goodness sake.”
“Only by two years, Dee. You’ll be eighteen before you know it. Besides,” he added slyly, “that means I can teach you some things. Unlike that farm boy you’ve got now.”
Delia sighed. She really did not know why Jonathan had the hots for her like this. She wasn’t exactly one of the pretty girls. In fact, her tall stature made her look more awkward than anything. “Really, Jonathan, calling me Dee is a little too familiar. I am going to leave now.”
Before Delia could move, Jonathan had swung his body around in front of her and blocked her path. “Come on, Dee, I’ll show you how to do the good stuff.” As he spoke to her in that lascivious way, he ran his arm up the side of hers, which she promptly slapped away with the hand that was not holding the grocery sack.
Delia felt anger rear up in her belly but she calmly willed it back down. Be still, don’t ever show them how you feel. That had become her mantra for the last few years. No matter what happened, no matter what came her way, she always tucked the emotions back inside, to be dealt with privately or forgotten. Quietly, as if reciting a prayer, she spoke once more. “You had better knock it off, Jonathan. My Uncle Don won’t like-”
“Your uncle isn’t here.”
“But I am.” The gravelly voice came from behind Jonathan and to the side. Francis had come up on the grocery store by way of the small path that ran behind it. “You’d best back away from my girl.”
Delia slipped away from Jonathan, knowing what was to come. She was surprised it took Francis this long to meet her here; he normally did not let her out of his sight for long.
“Or what, farm boy? What are you going to do about-”
He never got to finish his snide little sentence because Francis’s giant meaty fist slammed into his jaw with a very loud crack.
Or perhaps the crack Delia heard was from his head slamming into the wood siding of the grocery store. Either way, Jonathan went down without a word. His tall body flopped into an uneven pile on the front deck of the store.
Francis rubbed his fist with his other hand and looked at Delia. His eyes were burning with intensity, and, she thought, satisfaction as well. “You knew I was coming.”
“Indeed I did.”
It was now Francis’s turn to smirk. His eyes were still alight with dangerous emotion. He needs to learn to contain that, she thought disapprovingly.
Unfortunately for Francis, the owner who was Jonathan’s father had heard the commotion and was now stepping out onto the front porch with a pistol in his hand.
“I was just defending Delia, sir. Jonathan was making unwanted advances and had it coming.”
“You just put your hands up son. The sheriff will be here shortly.”
Francis sighed and Delia shook her head. She reached her hand up to pat Francis along his stubbly face. That was her boy, all fiery passion and flames. He was nothing but a soft and cuddly mess when he was alone with her, but he became fierce in the outside world. She sometimes worried he might actually combust without her there to calm him.
Despite his mannish features and large physique, Francis was a boy of only sixteen. If he had been older, the punishment would have been far worse. As it was, Francis spent five nights in jail for breaking the grocer’s son’s jaw. Delia knew that the punishment went far beyond that, though. Francis had been beaten senseless at home. When she was allowed to see him again his eye had been blackened and he walked as if his ribs were bruised.
“I had it coming,” was all he said.
His old man took no shit from anyone and was still a good deal larger than Francis. All Delia could do was shake her head. Some would think he was quite daring, defending her honor, but to Delia it just seemed like a waste of energy. All those emotions, all that frustration, and here he was, bruised up and looked down upon. Nothing would change Jonathan being a piece of dirt, and now it would be tougher for Francis to find a job because he will have been to jail and the folks around town didn't like to hire criminals.
Chapter Six
TWO YEARS LATER
When the Red Cross announced that they were in desperate need of nurses to join the Army Corps of Nurses, Delia knew that was her ticket out of the country. For eighteen long years she had toiled at the farm. She learned much from her parents before they passed away, then even more from Uncle Don and Aunt Deb.
Delia had become an accomplished cook, able to prepare a family meal quickly and with little help. There were no household chores that she hadn’t mastered; though some of them she preferred not to do…scrubbing the tub with lye to remove the stains left there by filthy children was something she would not miss. She also worked with Uncle Don in his clinic for about an hour a day after school. Don was a veterinarian, and in the middle of farm country there was always an emergency that needed tending to. While the work was sometimes a little off-
putting (she found out that vets had to deal with an awful lot of feces), overall she got a good feeling from being able to help the animals.
Her favorite to assist with, though very messy, was when a horse was giving birth. The farmers always asked Don to come out when the mares were giving birth, just in case there were complications, and Delia was able to accompany him several times. She was fascinated by the way new life could just fall into the world, quite literally. The years had been tough, but good to her.
Delia knew in her heart, though, that she needed something more, something better than what this vast farm country had to offer. She wanted to be successful and respectable. She needed a plan to take care of herself because she knew no one else could do it. The Red Cross offered to train young women to join the Army Corps of Nurses, where she would then travel, probably overseas to help with the war effort there. The training would be invaluable, and she knew that with her experiences working with Don, she could pick it up right away. Helping humans could not be that much different from animals, could it?
“I don’t really want you to leave.”
“You’re leaving as well, Francis, it won’t be any different.”
“Yes, but I liked the idea of you waiting for me here.” His eyes looked sad and pouty, a stark contrast to his very tough exterior.
“You know that I need to get out of here just as badly as you do. There is no future here, we agreed on that, didn’t we?”
“We did, but I will miss you so much,” Delia brushed her hands over his new uniform. Francis had decided to enlist in the army, and he looked very handsome.
“You know that I will miss you, too.” She gave him a smile. “And when the war has ended, I will have a great career and it will be easy for you to find a job in the city. Everyone loves the soldiers.”
“Except the Germans, I suppose.”
“Yes, I suppose not the Germans. Well, let’s take this jacket off for now and go for our walk.”
Delia and Francis were alone in her bedroom, with the door open, of course. She ran her hands down the front of his crisp new army jacket, unbuttoning it as she did so. It took some effort to get it off his broad shoulders but she did, and then laid the jacket carefully on her bed. Lilly was in school now and the house was empty, except for Deb milling about downstairs.
Francis’s eyes held a particular twinkle that Delia recognized as a sign that he wanted to kiss. She leaned against him and planted a single soft kiss on his lips. Her lips brushed against the rough skin of his cheek as she did so. His big arms clamped about her waist as he went in for a second kiss, but Delia held him back.
“Wait for me on the porch. I‘ll be right out.”
Francis sighed with a bit of disappointment, then did as she had instructed. When she heard him bang open the back door she lifted her dress up to her waist and hooked her thumbs into her underwear. She slipped them down off her legs and stepped out. She tucked the underwear under her pillow and strode down the stairs. The extra air between her legs made her feel a little mischievous.
Once they were outside, Delia took Francis’s hand and led them on their walk. Normally, Francis and Delia would both be working at their homes right now, but since they were leaving for the city tomorrow, and since they were adults, they could choose to abscond when they wanted to, for the most part.
“How much training do you have left for the paratrooper program?”
“Two weeks. The hardest is behind me and now we are focusing on technique. I am actually being selected for another unit as well. It’s a special unit they call Rangers.”
Delia nodded absently. “What do you think was the hardest part of the training?” Delia asked, and smiled as a light breeze blew up her dress. The warm wind felt very nice against her bare bottom.
“The physical training was grueling and seemingly endless. The running did in most of the weaker trainees. Miles and miles of it every day. You and I always ran everywhere, though, so I was more prepared than most. It was still difficult.”
“Do you think that you’ll be frightened? When you go to war, I mean?”
Francis thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know yet. It is all just training right now. There isn't any real danger, I guess you could say. They’ sending us off to some island for additional training next, but they won’t say where it is or what the training will consist of.”
Delia led Francis to their tree, a gnarled old thing that had stood for years among the wheat fields. She stopped when they reached the base of it. Delia looked up and smiled. This was where she met Francis. It was a high point during a very troubling period of her life.
“I’m going to climb it,” she told Francis matter-of-factly. “Come up after me?”
“Really?”
“Yes, really, otherwise I would not have said it!”
Francis shrugged as if to say whatever. Delia knew he was worried and distracted by his impending deployment to the war. She intended to distract him further.
Delia hauled herself up into the tree using her strong arms, and then clawed her bare toes against the bark. She climbed up several limbs and looked down. She smiled at her successful plan. Francis was once again beneath her, looking up her dress, only this time, there was a lot more to see.
Delia rotated up in the tree and moved her feet apart so they were on separate branches. This spread her legs wider, so that Francis could get a good look at her naked bottom, cloaked in soft blonde hair.
”You’re – you’re,” he stammered a little.
“I know! I don't have any underwear on!” Delia closed her legs and climbed back down. The tree was on a small oasis of grass in a sea of wheat fields. Aside from a few birds, they were utterly alone. Delia pulled Francis to her and kissed him on the lips. She had been planning this moment all day. She was nervous, so before she had time to back down she spat the words out of her mouth.
“I think that we should have sex now.”
“Wh-what?” he sputtered. Francis’s mouth was agape. His handsome, normally fiercely composed face was blown back in shock.
“Francis, you are leaving tomorrow and so am I. We both may be in harm’s way and I want to make sure that we have a chance to do this in case something happens to one of us.” It was all true, but she had her own motives as well. She had reached the limit of what she could do to stimulate herself, and was eager to see what else could be done.
Francis was dumfounded, so Delia backed up a couple of steps. After taking one more nervous breath, she pulled her dress all the way off, the fabric sliding easily over her soft white skin. His eyes widened to take in her naked body. She was thin and strong from years of yard work. She knew her body must look desirable to him. Delia scrunched up her dress then laid herself on the ground with the dress under her head as a pillow.
“Come on, now.” Delia was lying flat on her back, beckoning him. She spread her legs out wide for Francis. That was all it took. He frantically undid the fasteners of his pants and yanked them off. Then he stumbled to his knees and practically dove on top of her. Delia thought that if it were not for instinct, he might have had trouble figuring out what to do.
“I didn’t know how many parts it would have,” he explained as he looked at her. His face was like that of a little boy who had seen a naughty picture for the first time, not the hard man in front of her. She shushed him then and pulled him on top of her. She had seen mating so many times in animals, sometimes close up, that she had a very good knowledge of how this was supposed to work.
There was a little kissing and a lot of grunting from Francis as he tried to direct his body to do what he wanted in the midst of his excitement. He moved inside her with jerky motions at first. It only took a few minutes for him to get the hang of it, and his strong arms pulled her tightly to him and he ravaged her deeply. Delia felt that the sex was awkward and a little painful, but there was pleasure, too. She pulled her legs up and wrapped them around Francis as he thrust, allowing him deeper penetration.
Francis, on the other hand, was in ecstasy. She had to physically push him out using her thighs and the strong muscles within her sex.
“Not inside me!” she scolded, pushing against his rippled abdominal muscles with her strong arms. She insisted he not finish inside of her, as she most definitely was not ready to have a baby. He climaxed hard, with his face reddened and his breathing ragged. Delia lay still for just a moment. The fuzzy patch between her legs was warm and sensitive and she brushed her hand over it playfully, enjoying the heightened sensations. Then she donned her dress once more and waited for Francis to collect himself.
It took a few minutes, but Francis got himself together. He took Delia in his arms, held her tightly, then kissed her hard. Delia returned the kiss and pushed him away a little.
“That was nice, wasn’t it?” she asked.
“Oh yes, that was fantastic!” he excitedly replied. He was still breathing hard, but his eyes were warm and full of desperate affection.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Dee, I have something I want to ask you.”
“What is it? We should probably head home soon.” Adult or not, Delia was not to be late for dinner, especially as this would be her last dinner with her family for a long time.
Francis was fishing around in his pocket then pulled out a tiny black box. He knelt down in front of Delia.
Uh-oh
“Dee, I love you. Do you love me?”
Delia blinked once before she responded. “I do, Francis, you know that. What are you doing? Come on now.”
“Then I want you to be my wife.” He opened the little black box and revealed a thin gold band. “It was my mother’s.” He looked up at her with earnest longing.
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