THE IMPERIAL ENGINEER

by Judith B. Glad

  "Six-thirty or so. You don't need to get up, though. I've been making my own breakfast for a long time."

  "Of course I'll get up with you. It's my duty."

  "Duty? To get up just because I do? That's a crazy idea."

  "And I suppose you'd lie abed if I were the one to get up and go off to work?" For some reason, the thought infuriated her.

  "Sure, if I was sleepy. What's wrong with that?"

  "Oh, never mind. You wouldn't understand!"

  Chapter Twenty-five

  ...marriage is a friendship of the sexes so profound, so comprehensive, that it includes the whole being... Its love is founded on respect, and increases self-respect at the very moment of merging self in another. Its love is mutual, equally giving and receiving at every instant of its action. There is neither dependence nor independence, but inter-dependence. Years cannot weaken its bonds, distance cannot sunder them. It is a love which vanquishes the grave, and transfigures death itself into life.

  Woman's Wrongs--A Counter-Irritant - Gail Hamilton, 1868

  ~~~

  Lulu could have sworn she heard his temper snap. "Exactly what is it I'm supposed to understand?" he demanded, stepping away from her.

  She turned, reaching for him, but he was halfway across the parlor. At the door to the kitchen, he turned and looked back at her. "No," he said, as she took a step toward him. "You stay there. I can't think when I'm close to you."

  Since she had the very same problem, Lulu didn't protest. She pulled the bedroom door closed and leaned against it. "If we're going to work together, it has to encompass our whole lives. Right now you're in the position of supporting me, but it's possible I might someday have to be the breadwinner. If that happens, I'd expect you to take over the housekeeping and cooking. That's as much my job as working for Mr. Eagleton is yours. So to me, seeing you off for your day's work with a good, substantial breakfast is part of my job."

  "I'd never let you support me!"

  "Don't be too sure. What if you were injured? Mrs. Duniway's husband injured his back and she supported him for some time. I understand he did most of the household chores while she did."

  His very stance showed his resistance to the concept. "It won't happen, so you don't need to worry about supporting me. And I don't need you to get up and cook my breakfast."

  "Oh, for heaven's sake, Tony! I don't care about cooking your breakfast. I'm talking about the principle here, not a specific instance. We're more than husband and wife. We're partners. Or we should be."

  All of the ideas she had put to paper this afternoon coalesced into certainty. "Whether or not I vowed to obey you, I owe you respect and honor, as you do me. We must cooperate in all things, must choose common goals and work toward them, before we do anything else. If we fail to take that first step, we will spend our entire lives reaching for something we will never attain, and we will, in all likelihood, make ourselves and our families miserable in the process."

  "You sound like you're making a speech," he said, his tone almost turning the words into an insult. "Anyhow, I don't know why we're arguing about this. I thought we agreed that our goal was to make a good home for our child."

  "Do you see that as our only goal?"

  "I reckon if we do that, everything else will work out. I'll make a decent living for us, Lulu, and it's up to you to make a comfortable home. As long as you do that, I don't care if you keep on with your suffrage work, but I won't want you gallivanting all over the country after the baby's here."

  His words made sense, until she looked under the surface. "You're saying my work for women's rights will make a nice little hobby, as long as it doesn't interfere with being a wife and mother? Is that it?"

  "Don't put words in my mouth. Your work is important, I don't deny. But surely you don't expect me to approve of you traveling when you have a child to care for?"

  Lulu had already given much thought to what she owed her daughter. She knew her mother would welcome a granddaughter at any time, for as long as Lulu chose to leave her. She doubted she would do so. Having grown up in the midst of a close, loving family, with a mother and father always there, Lulu had already made up her mind to give her daughter the same sort of secure home.

  Being told she had no choice, however, raised her hackles. "I will decide when and if I will travel, Tony, and I need not ask your permission to do so. It's plain to see your chauvinistic ideas haven't changed appreciably in the past ten years. Now, was there something else you wished to discuss?"

  "You are the most stubborn, contentious, argumentative female I've ever met! Is this how we're going to spend the rest of our lives?"

  She could give in or she could fight. Either way, she'd lose, Lulu realized. Although it went against the grain, she decided to follow her father's advice. "Sometimes all fightin' gets you is a whuppin'. Best you look like you're doing what you're told. That way you can pick the times you want to stand up on your hind legs and get your own way."

  "No, Tony, it's not." Sinking into the shabby old wing chair, she folded her hands in her lap and forced herself to speak in a moderate tone. "This isn't the sort of disagreement we need to resolve now. Let's talk about our immediate plans. You said you intended to stay here in Hailey until you had the telephone business operating smoothly, Are you planning to go elsewhere then?"

  He regarded her suspiciously for a moment, before he seated himself on the sofa. "When I was in Denver, I talked to the fellows at the telephone exchange in Boise. They'd like me to work for them. But they don't expect to have a place for me before early summer."

  "How marvelous! Would you be doing the same sort of work you're doing here?" She couldn't help think how much more she could do for the suffrage cause if she were closer to the men who would shape Idaho's state constitution.

  "I doubt I'd be cutting hay or roofing sheds. But yes, I'd be designing and installing telephone systems, wherever there's a market for one in the Territory."

  "Have you accepted the position?"

  "No. It wasn't a firm offer. And..." He hesitated. "And I wasn't sure I wanted to leave Hailey."

  "Oh." Crossing her fingers, she said, "I hope you'll give it serious consideration. I'm sure they won't hold the position open forever."

  "You wouldn't mind? I thought you and Mrs. Teller--"

  "Imajean is no longer actively working for the suffrage organization. I believe someone in Lewiston has stepped in."

  Having tacitly agreed to leave more personal issues for later resolution, they spent the next hour discussing practical considerations. Lulu was relieved to learn that Tony, for all his ridiculous prejudices and old-fashioned notions, was perfectly willing to have her handle their budget. She had been afraid he would give her an allowance and expect her to account for every expenditure. So many husbands did.

  She was waiting for him in bed when he came in after checking on the horse. "I see what you mean," he said, as he tossed his shirt across the top of the screen. "We need to figure out a better way to arrange this room. As it is, you're apt to bark your shins good if you get up in the dark."

  "I already stubbed my toe against the corner of the wardrobe. Tomorrow I'll get Mr. Lee and Ru Nan to help me move things around."

  His britches followed his shirt. Quickly he divested himself of his Union suit and slipped into bed naked as the day he was born. "No," he said, "you won't. Let them do the moving. You supervise."

  Before she could argue, his mouth descended onto hers. After that, she forgot about moving furniture.

  Tony left the lamp burning. This afternoon he had resisted the temptation to undress Lulu completely, but tonight there was no need to restrain himself. They were alone, and there was no telephone to interrupt them. As he explored the textures and flavors of her mouth, his fingers found the row of tiny pearl buttons at the front of her flannel gown. When he had them open, he kissed the pulse under her ear, worked his way down the side of her throat until he found the hollow at its base.

  Her hands clen
ched around his shoulders, fingernails digging into his skin with small, sharp pains. He could feel his own heart pounding, his breath quickening, as he kissed his way into the valley between her breasts.

  When he could go no farther, he worked his way back, delighting in the scent of her, the taste of her, the incomparable satin of her skin. Again he covered her open mouth, delved into the moist depths, all but lost himself in passionate delight as she writhed and moaned under him.

  Her legs tangled with his, skin against skin. She arched, but he retreated, knowing it was too soon. Raising himself on one elbow, he looked down at her.

  She lay beneath him, eyes wide, lips parted. "I should have left the nightgown off," she whispered. "I didn't think--"

  "I'd rather take it off myself," he told her, as he let his hand drift lightly across the richness of her breast, pausing an instant to tease her nipple until it rose firm and proud into the cup of his palm.

  She cried out, arching her back. "Tony?"

  His hand found the swell of her belly, a sweet roundness so unlike her slender waist had been. He spread his fingers, wishing his son could know how much he was wanted. "Ummm?"

  "You're torturing me!"

  "I know." He laughed, joy such as he had seldom known suffusing him, filling his heart until he felt it could burst with happiness. Lulu was his. His wife. Forever.

  Catching hold of her nightgown, he pulled it up, slowly, watching as the sleek, creamy skin of her thighs became visible. "Hard to believe you and Micah are sister and brother," he said, comparing the warm ivory shade of her skin to the rich gold of his own. The curls that hid her feminine treasure were as thick and unruly as those on her head, and only a shade darker, more like weathered copper than rich bronze.

  "Mamma says--" She gasped as his finger dipped deeper and found the sensitive bud.

  "Later," he murmured, intent on his exploration. He learned her body, as he'd always dreamed of doing, learned the places where she was most sensitive to his touch, the places that made her gasp with pleasure, or moan with need. He learned that when he nipped at her ankle, she giggled, but when he laved the delicate flesh at the back of her knee, she cried out with impatience.

  When he drew the gown from her body at last, he sat back on his haunches and gazed at her. She would have concealed herself with her hands, but he said, "No. Let me look. I've imagined you like this so often, for so long." Eyes wide, locked on his, she let her arms fall to the bed alongside her body.

  He gazed his fill, seeing in the woman a memory of the child she'd been. They had swum together, naked and innocent, until her breasts budded and she turned from a playmate into a mystery. From one summer to the next, everything had changed between them. He had mourned that change, but now he gloried in it. "Oh, God, Lulu, I've waited so long."

  Once more Lulu saw in his face the boy she remembered. Her best friend, who had often known her thoughts almost as well as she herself. They had dreamed together, planned together for a bright future filled with grand adventures, exciting exploits, celebrated triumphs. She would change the world into a place where no one was enslaved, while he built soaring, beautiful structures that would last as long as time itself.

  She quickly pushed the pain of disappointment and failure deep, deep inside her soul. They were for the darkest of nights, when she was alone. Now was for loving. For sharing.

  Tony's gently erotic touches turned into something more intense, more urgent. Her body responded without prompting, and a surge of breathless desire burned through her, stronger, more insistent than anything she had ever experienced before. She was aflame, and only his mouth, his hands, his body could quench the flame.

  Quench? Nay. He fed the flame, as he caressed and kneaded her breasts, as he breathed warmth into her most private places, as he dipped his tongue into her, suckled her, carried her over into a place of pure sensation, where nothing mattered except the feverish imperative to soar higher and higher. To touch the sun.

  No sooner had she found the shattered, scattered pieces of her soul, than he was pushing her higher again. "No! I want you with me," she cried, as she clutched his shoulders, wrapped her legs around his lean hips. His strong shaft prodded her, found slick moisture, and slipped into her, filling an emptiness that seemed to have always awaited this moment. She arched against him, wanting to take all of him.

  He was damp with sweat, his muscles tight with tension. She licked his chest, tasted salt and desire. He trembled, even as she did, and she knew this was true passion, the elemental need that drew man and woman together despite all obstacles. As it had drawn her to him, when her mind had warned her away. She cried out as he moved, as he withdrew, then drove deeply again. He moved slowly, teasing her, inflaming her.

  "No! I want..." She fought him when he withdrew again, bucked against him. And felt his control shatter. Once, twice, he drove into her, and she met each thrust with her own, demanding, insisting.

  Thrice, and together they crested. Clung together. Sated. Exhausted.

  Secure in his arms, Lulu drifted until he moved. She gave him up reluctantly, but he only rolled far enough to reach the lamp, turning the wick down until the flame flickered out. He returned to her then, taking her into his arms and tucking the covers about them both. "Sleep," he said softly. "It's late."

  Lulu snuggled against him. As she drifted off, she wondered if she was being foolish in her willingness to set their personal differences aside for the time being. Would they soon become complacent and forget how far apart their beliefs and convictions were? Would their fragile truce be shattered as soon as one of them spoke carelessly or acted thoughtlessly?

  * * * *

  Mr. Lee and his son arrived about ten the next morning, bringing Xi Xin with them. They had, Ru Nan told her in his broken English, gone first to the Eagleton ranch--"Boss boss place"--to care for the stock. Lulu put them to work arranging the furniture first, lending a hand when she could. She was amused when Ru Nan informed her she was not to lift anything heavier than a lamp. Tony must have spoken to them this morning. After three tries, they got the bedroom arranged so one could get to either side of the bed without endangering toes and shins.

  After dinner, Lulu sat at the kitchen table with pad and pencil. "We must make a shopping list," she told Mr. Lee. "Since you will be cooking, you must tell me what you need."

  He looked at Xi Xin, eyebrows raised. The girl spoke at some length. He replied, at even greater length.

  "He say you tell him what you want to eat, he will buy. To fill pantry, you must buy flour, salt, sugar, coffee, tea, corn meal, rice..." She spoke slowly enough for Lulu to write each item down, stopping often to prompt Mr. Lee.

  The list grew long. At last Xi Xin said, "He asks do you want him to make soap?"

  "I don't think so," Lulu said, remembering the harsh lye soap she had hated as a child. "We will continue to take our soiled clothing--and yours--to your uncle's laundry. And we shall purchase what soap we need for personal hygiene and dishwashing."

  Shortly after one o'clock, she and Ru Nan set off for town, armed with a shopping list fully three times as long as anything Lulu might have conceived. They left an order with the butcher first, then went on to the grocer.

  Lulu was browsing the shelves, tempted by the wide variety of canned goods--imagine spiced peaches in a can!--when she looked up to see a large, well-dressed woman approaching her. After a moment's blankness, she remembered who the woman was, but not her name. "Good afternoon," she said reluctantly. Someone who had threatened her with bodily harm was not apt to become her friend.

  "I understand you have hired Chinese servants," the banker's wife said, without responding to her greeting. "Obviously you are not aware of prevalent opinion in this town."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "It is understandable, since you are clearly unused to the ways of our western society. We are not anonymous in small towns as you were in the Eastern cities, Mrs. Dewitt. Your husband should have informed you. I am amazed, in
fact, that he did not."

  Although she knew perfectly well she should do her best to avoid riling the woman, Lulu yielded to temptation. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Mrs...?" She deliberately let the sentence trail off, as if she were unaware of the woman's importance in Hailey.

  "I am Mrs. Axminster. We do not tolerate the Chinese in this town, Mrs. Dewitt. They have been ordered to depart from the area. Right-thinking citizens no longer employ them, and those who do will find their own welcome rescinded in short order."

  Reaching for a can of the spiced peaches, Lulu pretended to find the label fascinating. After a calculated pause, she said, "And are you charged with making certain no one is allowed to disagree with the right-thinking residents of Hailey, Mrs. Axwister? Do you perhaps keep a list?" With the last sentence, she looked furtively to the left and right.

  "Axminster. Mrs. J. Mortimer Axminster. You are pert, Mrs. Dewitt. You would be advised to listen to those of us who are older and wiser than you. And to mind your manners." She raised her chin higher and stared down her short, pudgy nose at Lulu. "Your husband is employed by one of Hailey's leading citizens. What you do could have an effect on how long he is thus employed."

  Lulu had never reacted well to intimidation. She turned to face Mrs. Axminster directly. "I follow my conscience, ma'am, and do not bow to local opinion. My servants are taxpaying residents of this town and this county, and as such are entitled to be free to choose their place of residence. As long as they work for me, they will remain in Hailey."

  She gave the older woman a small bow and turned her back. As she strode toward the front of the store, she wondered how much damage she'd done Tony and Mr. Eagleton by speaking her mind.

  They would simply have to live with the consequences, no matter what they were. Some principles could not be compromised, no matter the economic incentive.

  She finished collecting the groceries on her list and went to the counter to give the grocer her order for flour and cornmeal. Mrs. Axminster was just leaving, and cast a vindictive look back over her shoulder.