"My mother seems to have requested enough food to feed us for a week. Do you think she had plans of us not coming home today, perhaps?"
Alessandra laughed with him, also looking down at the many types of food in front of them.
"Well, I am quite hungry, truth be known. These strawberries, in particular, look delicious," she said, holding one up. "Were they grown here?"
He beamed at being able to respond so positively to her.
"Yes, all of this was grown or made here. We are quite self-sufficient on the estate, which we are very lucky for," he responded, picking up a small piece of cheese and popping it in his mouth as he watched Alessandra devour the strawberry she had been holding.
They ate in silence for a while, just looking out over the view while both thinking their own individual thoughts.
"Alessandra, do you still want to marry me? If there is any reason why you do not, please do tell me," Edward said softly, surprising her.
She looked at him but he had his head down, seeming to purposely not look at her directly as he asked the question. She sat silently and waited for him to look up, which he finally did, having not heard any response from her.
"I very much want to marry you, Edward. Why would I not?" she asked, wondering why he was asking this question when they had been getting on so well in recent days.
"I know I am not handsome like other men…" he started, for the first time sounding flustered in her presence.
Alessandra placed her hand on his and brought it to her lips, as he had done to her, not too long before.
"Edward, I do not want to marry anyone because of what they look like or don't look like. I want to marry a good man who I truly believe will work with me to create a good, happy marriage like my parents have. And I see how your parents are with each other, and I believe that you have had the same good example that I have, of how a husband and wife can be toward each other - kind, generous and loving," she said and he nodded at her argument.
"My parents have always seemed very happy together, to me," he replied. "I have always hoped I could find someone who I could have the same thing with, but of course marriage is more about transactions than anything else, so I would accept anyone my parents felt was right for their purposes."
He was silent as they both considered what he had just said.
"But although my parents have found you, Alessandra, having you here has shown me that I know I can love you, regardless of their wishes. It isn't just to please my parents, that I am eager for us to wed," he said, looking more intently at her now, and feeling a longing for her again that he had never felt before.
She looked at him just as intently, like she could see right into his soul through his eyes.
"I am eager for that also, Edward," she said, and they looked deeply at each other.
"May I kiss you?" he asked, embarrassed but not so much so that he would not ask.
"Yes," she replied, nervous but excited at the prospect of receiving her very first kiss.
Edward looked at her, also aware that he had never kissed anyone before, and not knowing how it worked, but just knowing inside of him that it was something he needed to do.
Slowly they both moved forward toward each other and tentatively placed their lips together, taking time to move their lips against each other's, and exploring how it felt in reality, after reading and thinking about such an action.
They sat like that for a long time, not touching in any other way, except for their lips lightly caressing. Edward could feel reaction elsewhere too - another new feeling he had not experienced before this moment, and he was embarrassed by it, but hoped it would not show through his clothing. He had woken like that from time to time - hard - but it had never happened during daylight hours and in the presence of anyone else.
Alessandra relished the feeling of his lips on hers, and equally felt other parts of her body responding to their shared kisses. She wasn't even sure if she was meant to be allowing him to kiss her, given that they were not yet husband and wife, but the feelings it was invoking in her were exquisite, and she did not want them to stop.
Edward, feeling his embarrassment heighten, pulled away from her slowly and looked at her, before moving his eyes down to the food again.
"Perhaps we should eat," he said simply, and she laughed at his effort to relax the moment, resulting in him smiling and laughing softly also.
* * * * *
That evening, after their journey to and from the hill summit, it was evident to all parents that something had changed between their children, and the parents broached the subject of the wedding, at the evening meal table.
"Should we perhaps set a date, if everyone here is agreeable to this marriage?" Edward's father asked, throwing surprise at all gathered around the table with his unexpected candour.
Alessandra and Edward looked at each other in surprise, each of them hoping inside that the date would be sooner rather than later.
Everyone was quiet, not sure who should speak and who should not, so Edward's father continued.
"Alessandra, are there any particular considerations you wish to have noted for your wedding day?" he asked her, making her blush furiously with the attention such a question brought upon her, but she looked at Edward and saw him silently prompting her.
"Only that my parents are here, Sir. And that if my brother wishes to attend, he can," she replied quietly.
"You have no other wishes for the wedding ceremony itself? No luxury chariot to bring you to your husband to be? No groups of friends from your home to attend?" he asked, playfully, and she relaxed in seeing he was open to whatever she asked for.
"No, I need only my family."
With that, Edward's father turned to Alessandra's parents and they talked among themselves of possible dates that suited their own needs, and it was decided.
"Two weeks from today then," Alessandra and Edward heard his father say, and they both turned to him, feeling excited inside. "We shall host it here in our chapel, and I shall leave it up to you to invite whoever you wish to attend," he continued, addressing Alessandra's parents, who nodded in return.
* * * * *
After the evening meal they all made their way to the drawing room again, as felt like a well established routine now, with Alessandra and Edward at their one end of the room and their parents at the other.
"Are you absolutely sure? It isn't too late if you have any reservations," Edward asked Alessandra again, and she took his hand and held it as she smiled at him.
"I am sure. Are you sure you wish to marry me?" she counter asked him, wondering if his questioning was in some way an indication of him not wanting to marry.
He looked at her, particularly her lips, the memory of which instilled in him another yearning of longing for kissing her again.
"My only regret is that we have to wait two whole weeks," he said quietly, almost as if not realising he was saying it out loud, and she giggled quietly at him, bringing him to blush in realisation that he had indeed voiced his thoughts.
He shyly looked at her and she saw before her this man who would soon become her husband, and felt herself blush at that thought also. Aware she was still holding his hand, she looked down at the two hands intertwining, and found her fingers lightly moving over and around his. They said nothing, and the only way they were touching was through their joined hands, but once again such beautiful feelings occurred inside Edward and Alessandra both. They sat like that for a long time, mesmerised by just two hands getting to know one another so intimately.
From a distance Alessandra's mother watched them quietly, seeing the looks on their faces and remembering to herself how that felt - the getting to know one another physically stage. It had been so long since her and her husband had been intimate in any way, not for any reason other than it seemed to have just fallen away from them, but when she turned away from the young couple and focused on the conversation at hand once again, she caught her husband's eye and knew that he knew w
hat she was thinking about, and then he was thinking about the same thing.
Chapter Fifteen
Over the following two weeks Alessandra felt like she was in a whirlwind, being asked so many questions by so many people. While the household took care of the physical aspects of the wedding, for Alessandra it meant being fitted for a wedding dress, and she found herself quite overwhelmed by it all.
During this time she and Edward escaped when they could to head up to the summit. The weather would soon be bitterly cold, so they embraced the freedom they presently had to escape outdoors.
Two days before the wedding, they sat up on the summit again, noting the change in the landscape already as real winter was definitely due to set in.
"Are you nervous about being married?" Edward asked her, looking at her face as she looked out over the land.
She considered the question and turned to face him.
"There are aspects of it that make me nervous," she said demurely, casting her eyes from his for a moment.
He watched her look away and then bring her eyes back to his, before he leaned in and kissed her. Over these two weeks they had become quite accustomed to kissing, and he indulged in it again now, loving the feeling of the softness of her lips. Always the result was the same for him, embarrassingly, but he had come to realise that when he grew hard, she had no awareness of it, so it no longer worried him so much, and he always made sure that he had relaxed again before they stood up to return home. He knew the mechanics of mating - he couldn't have missed it, growing up on an estate like his with so many farm stock - and did know that the core of it was the same with humans. But it was more this - the kissing - that he found himself yearning for more of.
He pulled away, knowing they would have to head back to the house soon and wanting to be relaxed before they did.
"It won't be long and we will have winter upon us. When that strikes, we are often snowed in here for weeks," he said as he watched her face recover from her emotions that seemed to strike when they kissed. "Will you be comfortable with that, do you think?"
She refocused on him and his question, and took time to answer, while nodding.
"I think so. Will I have to learn how to run the estate also? I know your mother has her responsibilities, but I don't know if I am expected to step up and learn them also, of if I am to leave them to her still," she said, thinking out loud.
He looked surprised.
"I don't know, to be honest. I will ask her, if you like."
She nodded at him. "Yes please, Edward. I would not like to cause any offence to your mother by doing something I shouldn't, or not doing something I should."
He looked at her, appreciating the ease of the relationship building between his wife to be, and his mother. He had never had many friends but he was certainly aware that these particular relationships did not always go smoothly at all.
"You must guide me, Edward, as this is all new to me. Please don't ever assume that I will just know what I am supposed to be doing."
"You have my promise. And you must promise me that you will tell me if I do anything to make you unhappy, for I have never been a husband so it will be a learning curve for me also."
They both then sat silent until the cold reached a point where it was time to leave.
* * * * *
That evening Edward sat with her and held her hand again.
"I will be leaving soon to go and stay with my aunt and uncle in Bath, and I won't see you again until our wedding day," he said, with a slight emotional tinge to his voice.
"I look forward to then," she said quietly, and when he looked into her eyes he could see she had the same look that she had when they kissed, and he felt himself fuelled in desire again so quickly turned the conversation away to mundane topics so he could relax before having to leave.
* * * * *
"Edward, it is time," his father said, eager to get on the road to escort his son to Bath, where he himself would see the brother he did not often see anymore.
"Yes, Father," Edward responded before lifting Alessandra's hands to his lips, bidding her farewell and walking out.
After he left, Alessandra's mother came and sat next to her.
"Alessandra, you do still want to get married, don't you?" she asked, surprising her daughter.
"Yes, of course Mother! I regard Edward very highly, and I look forward to being his wife."
Her mother looked relieved, like she had been worrying intensely that perhaps her daughter was moving forward in this plan to satisfy her parents, even though she did know from the way they had been acting towards each other that they did like each other.
Edward's mother and Alessandra's father joined them then, and between them they moved the conversation on to neutral topics to help each other feel relaxed about everything.
Chapter Sixteen
Two days later, Alessandra sat in her room with people all around her, fussing over her hair and her gown, getting everything looking perfect. Inside herself, though, all she could think about was seeing Edward again, and how this very night she would sleep beside him as his wife.
Before leaving to go to the chapel, her mother requested everyone leave so she could have some time alone with her daughter.
"Are you worried about tonight?" she asked quietly.
Alessandra shook her head.
"No Mother, I know it is my duty to bear children."
Her mother looked embarrassed and like she was trying to formulate the right words in her head, before speaking.
"The … act … it is something that I know many women do not enjoy and do only for their husband's pleasure or to conceive child, but Alessandra, it can be pleasurable also. There is no shame in enjoying what you will share with your husband, and if it isn't pleasurable, don't keep quiet about it - talk to him and work together in that part of your marriage," she said, looking extremely flustered in herself. "Many would disagree with me telling you this, but I have had too many friends who have talked about it as though it was the most disagreeable thing in the world, and yet I know that it does not have to be that way. I won't say anything more about it as it is making you and I both uncomfortable. Edward will be good to you, I know he will."
Alessandra hugged her mother and enjoyed what she knew might be the last time she would see her for a long while after today.
"Mother, you have chosen well for me and I thank you for not pressuring me, but I am happy."
* * * * *
Two hours later Edward and Alessandra stood at the alter in the small chapel, both eager to get through the ceremony so they could at last be pronounced husband and wife.
Finally it was all over and they were walking out of the chapel with dried rose petals being thrown over them by the bucketful, making them both laugh in their happiness.
With the chapel being on the estate land, it was a short walk back to the house, Edward and Alessandra walking side by side while holding hands.
Alessandra looked at her husband and felt desire and need to spend time with him alone, away from the crowd, but it would be hours before that could happen, she knew.
Edward felt the same inside of him. Even holding her hand was enough to make him feel somewhat excited at the prospect of the two of them being alone and in the private confines of what would be their marriage bed. Desperate to not let those thoughts keep taking over his mind, due to what the thoughts did to his body, he had to keep talking to people about anything but his wife and upcoming marriage night.
* * * * *
After much feasting and festivity, finally the time came when the young couple would leave everyone else and be together alone.
Alessandra was taken to a new room, away from what had been her room since she had arrived in the manor house, where Margaret helped her to undress from her gown and get into a night dress. She had become a regular support and help to Alessandra in previous weeks, and, despite their age difference, the closest thing she regarded as a friend.
Now, she stood behind Alessandra and brushed out her long hair, while Alessandra let her mind wander to the night ahead. Margaret could sense everything and so remained quiet, finally helping Alessandra into the large bed in the room, saying goodnight, and leaving the new bride alone.
Alessandra sat up in the bed with the covers pulled up over her chest, not sure what she should do, if anything.
In another room, across the hall, Edward was similarly prepared and put into a night shirt, before being led into the marital room and the door shut behind him silently. He felt vulnerable in only a night shirt, and when he laid his eyes on Alessandra, he could see she was just as apprehensive.
He climbed into the bed and lay down beside her, facing her as she moved downward and was lying, facing him also. They did not touch, lying apart and just looked at each other.
"My wife," Edward finally said, taking in what she looked out with her hair out.
She smiled at him meekly.
"My husband."
He smiled at her and they both thought of ways to remedy the discomfort they felt.
"You are so beautiful," he said, reaching his hand out to touch her cheek and hair.
She felt an overwhelming surge of emotion and leaned in slowly to kiss him on the lips, just as they had already done so many times. They didn't move for anything more, just enjoying this kissing still as they lay facing each other but not touching any other part of their bodies.
Edward felt that part of him grow, and understood that it was necessary for the conception of a child, but still cursed his body for reacting so harshly when he wanted to take things slowly and find his way as they both felt comfortable with.
Kissing him more and more, Alessandra felt a strong longing to be closer to him, and moved forward so that she could put her arms around him and hold him while they kissed. As the gap closed between them, she felt it, rigid and hard against her stomach.
Alessandra Page 5