Lorraine quickly straddled his hips. She grabbed his cock, lined it up at her opening, and sank down on it, taking it all in before grinding her hips. Neither of them said anything as she began to ride him.
Thomas grabbed hold of her hips, pulling her down as he thrust up inside of her. Thomas didn’t last long, and once more he shot his seed, only worrying afterward that he’d done it inside of her.
Once it was over and they’d both caught their breath, Thomas said, “don’t you worry about a bairn taking hold in your belly?”
“Nay,” Lorraine told him, “I take herbs every morning to prevent that. I’ll bring no bastards into the world.”
Thomas nodded, wondering what he was supposed to do next. Should he get up and get dressed? Lorraine answered the question for him when she once more scooted down the bed and began using her tongue on his cock and balls.
For the next five months, Thomas spent one or two nights a week with Lorraine. She instructed him on how to use his mouth and fingers to make a woman happy, as she used her mouth and fingers on him. Lorraine also showed him lots of different positions for joining, and not all of them included a bed. During that time, Thomas was always truthful, making sure Lorraine knew his plans hadn’t changed, and he would wed Lorna when he returned to Doune.
Finally, six months before he would be leaving Glasgow and his marriage would be taking place, Thomas told Lorraine it was time they ended things. He felt he’d learned enough, and he thanked Lorraine for her help. Thomas was tired of feeling guilty, knowing Lorna would never approve of what he’d been doing.
Lorraine wasn’t happy to be dismissed. She knew Thomas had been honest with her from the very beginning about their relationship only being temporary, but she’d hoped to change his mind. He was handsome, and he’d turned into an amazing lover. She liked Thomas, he actually talked with her, and most of the time she enjoyed their conversations. If Lorraine could just get him to quit talking about his favorite subject, which was his betrothed, Lorna.
Lorraine was trying to come up with a plan, a way to keep Thomas for herself. Then a missive came from her sister in Edinburgh. Their father had died, and Lorraine’s sister demanded she come back home, and help settle his affairs. If Lorraine refused, then her sister would see to it that none of their father’s estate would be given to her. Lorraine left the next day.
Chapter 5. She’s Gone
Doune: The Day Lorna Left For America
Thomas worked out in the yard in front of Doune, helping do whatever chores needed to be finished. Lorna was coming today, and he wanted to be outside to greet her when she arrived. In three days, they'd be wed, and he’d have her in his bed every night for the rest of their lives.
Hearing the guards up on the wall shout that someone was coming, Thomas walked to the gate to get a glimpse of his betrothed as she approached. The carriage rolling towards Doune was a surprise. The missive he’d received from Lorna said she’d be riding her mare over with Calvin as an escort. Calvin didn’t plan to stay, but he’d be coming back with their parents on the morning of the wedding. The MacNees planned to bring Lorna’s trunks with them then.
Thomas stepped out of the way as the carriage came through the gates and stopped in the Keep yard. He walked over and opened the door, expecting to find Lorna inside.
“Thomas!” Lorraine said, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him in front of everyone. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Lorraine?” he asked, trying to push her away from him. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you,” Lorraine said, offering him her hand so he could help her down. He didn’t take it, so she exited the carriage on her own. Thomas didn’t see the hand, he was too busy staring at her abdomen, he couldn’t miss the bulge in her middle, and his stomach rolled.
“Why are you here, Lorraine?” he asked again.
“I needed to see you,” Lorraine answered. “I arrived back in Glasgow a week ago and went to see you at your home there. The maid I talked to said you’d already come back to Doune. I wanted to let you know; I’ve been keeping your son or daughter safe.”
“My son or daughter?” Thomas asked.
“Aye,” Lorraine answered, “aren’t you happy, lover?”
“Thomas,” Dylan said from behind him, “ who is this?”
“You must be Dylan,” Lorraine said, stepping away from Thomas and over to where Dylan and Ava stood. “Thomas told me so much about you. And this must be your lovely wife, Ava.”
“Aye,” Dylan said, looking away from Lorraine and glaring at Thomas.
Lorraine had been hoping for a warmer reception, not getting it, she spoke again. “I’m Lorraine Anderson. I was a special friend to Thomas in Glasgow.” She held up her hand for Dylan. Only because of the good manners his mither taught him did Dylan take it.
“Did you travel to Doune with your husband?” Ava asked quietly, looking at Lorraine’s stomach.
“I have no husband,” Lorraine said, “but I do carry Thomas’s bairn, and I was hoping he’d make a respectable woman out of me.”
“Nay,” Thomas said quickly. He had to put an end to this. Lorraine was going to ruin everything. Lorna was due to arrive at any time. How would he explain this to her? Was the bairn really his? He’d ended things with Lorraine more than seven months ago. “How do you know that’s my bairn. How many months along are you?”
“The bairn should be here in a little more than a month,” Lorraine lied and said. She wasn’t even six months along, and the father was a married man in Edinburgh.
“You’re carrying small for eight months,” Ava commented. Her mither was a healer, and Ava helped her birth many bairns. She knew what a woman looked like in her final month of pregnancy.
“Aye,” Lorraine said, “the bairn may be small, but it’s healthy. Come give me a kiss, Thomas, I missed you so.”
Thomas stood there, not knowing what to do. It was Ava who finally spoke and broke the silence. “Come with me, Lorraine. You don’t mind if I call you Lorraine do you?”
“Of course not,” Lorraine said, smiling back at Thomas, “we’ll be family soon anyway.”
Ava gave both men a look, showing her irritation, then she pasted a smile on her face and said to Lorraine, “you must be exhausted, and I’m sure you could use a place to lie down. I’ll have you taken to a room where you can rest for a while.”
“Thank you, but I rested in the carriage,” Lorraine said, then she turned back to Thomas and said, “Wouldn’t you like to come with me, Thomas? It’s been so long since we’ve been alone together.” Lorraine winked at him, and Thomas looked away.
“Nay, Lorraine,” Thomas said, “I’ll not be spending time alone with you.”
”I’m sure Ava doesn’t mind helping me then. I’ll just go and clean up a bit. I’ll be seeing you soon, my love,” Lorraine said.
Thankfully, Ava led Lorraine away before Thomas could say anything else. He wanted to grab the woman and shake the truth out of her. He didn’t believe the bairn was his but wasn’t sure how to prove it.
“Is what she said true?” Dylan asked.
“Aye,” Thomas answered, “she was my leman in Glasgow. But I haven’t seen her in more than seven months.”
“Do you think the bairn is yours?” Dylan asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” Thomas said quietly. “It’s possible. What do I do now? Lorna is due at any moment.”
“You’ve gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble, but if the bairn is yours, you know what you’ll have to do,” Dylan told him, then looked away because of the pain he saw on his brother’s face.
“Nay! I won’t marry Lorraine,” Thomas objected. “I’m marrying Lorna. I love her Dylan, and she loves me. This will break her heart. It’s breaking mine.”
“Then for your sake, Thomas, I hope you can find a way to work things out,” Dylan said, trying to be honest.
“How?” Thomas asked. “Tell me what to do.”
“I d
on’t know, brother,” Dylan answered, “but we can’t stay out here like a couple of cowards.” He slapped Thomas on the back, and the two walked into the castle together.
**********
Two days later, not long after the sun rose, Thomas rode into the yard at Castle Sween. Although he was relieved Lorna hadn’t come to Doune as planned, he needed to find out why she hadn’t arrived at Doune like expected. At first, he’d been worried, but he knew that if something happened, and Calvin hadn’t returned from escorting her, there would have been men from Castle Sween already at their gates.
He’d spent the whole ride over trying to figure out how to explain Lorraine to Lorna. The woman was making him crazy. Always hanging on his arm, trying to steal a kiss, and calling him ‘my love’ or ‘lover’.
Thomas tried to explain to Lorraine that he was getting married to Lorna in a matter of days. He was not going to change his plan. Now if he could just get Lorna to understand what happened with Lorraine. If the bairn Lorraine carried was his, he’d offer to keep it at Doune, and Lorraine could go on with her life. He was hoping Lorna would agree to raise the child as her own.
“I can’t believe you have the nerve to show your face here,” Elliot MacNee said, storming out of the castle doors with Sorcha right behind him.
“I’ve come to speak to Lorna,” Thomas said, taken by surprise by Elliot’s anger. Did they already know about Lorraine?. “Where is she? She was supposed to be at Doune two days ago.”
“She left,” Elliot said bitterly. “She heard about your other woman and bairn, and now she’s gone.”
“Gone where?” Thomas asked, his heart was beginning to pound.
“To America,” Elliot said. “I don’t know much more than that. You might as well come inside and read the missive she wrote. It was delivered yesterday afternoon.”
“I don’t understand,” Thomas said, “why would she go to America?”
“She didn’t feel she could stay and watch you with another woman,” Sorcha told him.
“But I still planned to marry her,” Thomas said, “I can explain about Lorraine. I don’t love her; I love Lorna.”
“Is the bairn yours?” Elliot asked.
“It’s possible,” Thomas answered truthfully. “But I think Lorraine is lying, and the babe is some other man’s.”
“Can you prove it?” Elliot asked.
“Nay,” Thomas answered, “I can’t.”
“Then even if there’s only a small chance the bairn might be yours, you know what you’ll have to do,” Elliot told him before taking Sorcha gently by the arm and escorting her back into the castle.
Thomas followed Elliot and Sorcha into the hall at Castle Sween. The missive Lorna had written and sent was still sitting on the table where the family ate their meals together.
“Here,” Elliot said, picking it up and thrusting it at Thomas. “This is all we know.”
Elliot took it from him and sat in the nearest chair before he started reading. It wasn’t long, and he read it out loud. His heart broke a little with each sentence.
“Dear Da and Mither,” he began, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I know you think I’ve arrived at Doune, but things didn’t go as planned. Thomas has been seeing another woman, and they have a bairn on the way. I can not bear to stay in Scotland and watch him marry and love someone else. I’ve met a very kind man named Patrick Walsh. The two of us married in Glasgow, and by the time you read this, we’ll be on a ship sailing to America. We plan to start a new life there together. I love you both so much, and I will miss you every day. Be well, and I’ll write again once we’re settled. Your loving daughter, Lorna.”
“America,” Sorcha said, fighting back tears, “that’s so far away.”
“She married?” Thomas asked, although he already knew the answer. “How could she marry someone else? I know she loves me.”
“She was hurt, Thomas, and angry,” Sorcha said.
Thomas didn’t know what else to say. He was hurt and angry too. He threw the missive back down on the table, stood, and walked out of the castle without even saying farewell. He mounted his horse in the yard and turned back towards Doune. Lorna was gone, nothing else mattered.
Two days later, he married Lorraine, but refused to share a bed with her. She’d ruined his life, and he didn’t want any woman in his bed if he couldn’t have Lorna.
**********
“Something is wrong,” Ava told Thomas as she came out of Lorraine’s bedchamber. “There’s too much blood, and I can’t get the bleeding to slow down. I’m worried about her, and the bairn.”
“She’s dying?” Thomas asked.
“Aye,” Ava said. “But there’s more going on than just the bairn not wanting to come out. She wants to speak to you, Thomas. Please, be kind.”
Thomas entered the room behind Ava. Lorraine was in the middle of another birthing pain, and even though Thomas didn’t care for her, he did feel sorry for her. He breathed a sigh of relief when the pain passed.
“Come, sit with me, Thomas,” Lorraine said weakly, “I have some things I must tell you.”
“Aye,” Thomas said, sitting next to her on the side of the bed. Lorraine grabbed his hand, and he forced himself not to pull away from her touch.
“I’m sorry,” Lorraine said, “for everything I’ve done. I’ve wronged you in so many ways.”
“Nay, don’t talk like that,” Thomas tried to object. “You only need to worry about birthing our babe now.”
“But that’s what I need to tell you,” Lorraine said. “I need to die with my conscience clear. This isn’t your bairn, Thomas.”
“But you said…,” Thomas began, but was quickly cut off as Lorraine had another birthing pain. She squeezed his hand until it passed.
“I lied,” Lorraine finally told him once she caught her breath. “The bairn’s Da is a man I met in Edinburgh, but he’s already married. I didn’t want to birth a bastard, and I knew you were a good man and would do the right thing. I thought I was far enough along and the babe would be fine.”
“Far enough along for what, Lorraine?” Ava asked.
“A healer in Edinburgh gave me some herbs. She said that when I was ready for the babe to come, I should take them, and they would start the birthing pains,” Lorraine explained.
“When did you take them?” Ava asked.
“Last night,” Lorraine said weakly. “My stomach was already so swollen. I didn’t think it would matter if the babe came a bit early.”
“When is the babe really due?” Ava asked.
“Not for another two months,” Lorraine answered. “But I had to lie to get Thomas to marry me.”
“You knew I was supposed to marry Lorna,” Thomas said, he was angry, and this time he did try to pull his hand away.
“Aye,” Lorraine said, hanging on tighter, “I knew. I met your betrothed on the road coming to Doune. Everything you told me about her was true; she’s very beautiful. I told her the babe I carried was yours.”
“You told her?” Thomas asked.
“I’m sorry, Thomas,” Lorraine said.
“You’re sorry?” Thomas asked sarcastically. “You ruined my life, and you’re sorry?”
“Aye,” Lorraine said, “please believe me. I thought you would come to love me once I had the bairn.” Another pain hit, and Thomas watched as Ava pulled the bloody clothes out from between Lorraine’s legs and replaced them with clean ones.
“I loved her, Lorraine,” Thomas said, “I told you that in Glasgow.”
“Aye,” Lorraine said. “You did. Please forgive me, Thomas.”
“Nay,” Thomas said, pulling his hand out of hers and standing. He didn’t say anything else, he just walked out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him.
Two hours later, Lorraine was dead. The bairn she finally birthed, a lad, died soon after its birth. Ava explained he’d been born much too early. They held a funeral for both the bairn and Lorraine the next day. No one from the surroundin
g clans had been notified or invited.
The next fortnight Thomas drank heavily. He couldn’t get the thought of Lorna married to someone else out of his head. He wanted to hit something. It wasn’t until he finally got into an altercation with Dylan that he sobered up, and although things would never be the same, he went on with his life.
Chapter 6. Facing The Past
Pleasantville, New York 1806
As the last hymn ended Lorna sat back down on the bench in the small church in Pleasantville where she attended Sunday services. She watched as the townspeople and those from the neighboring farms stood, and waited for their turn to walk out of the church door. She couldn’t see the door from the back pew where she sat with the children, there was a wall in the way, but she knew each person stopped and shook Reverend Banks’s hand before walking down the steps to their wagons.
“Can we go home now, Mama?” Katie asked, tired of sitting.
“Soon,” Lorna assured her. She reached into her small handbag and pulled out a cloth. Lorna unwrapped the contents and pulled out two cookies she’d baked the day before. She handed one to Katie and the other to William. “If you behave, I’ll let you have another cookie when we get home.”
“Alright, Mama,” Katie said, sitting back down and enjoying her treat. William did the same.
Lorna glanced at the line of people waiting their turn to walk outside; she was ready to go home herself . When she’d spoken to the Reverend this morning, he’d asked her to stay after the service, because he needed to speak with her about something important. Lorna wanted to tell him no, but didn’t. She hoped he wouldn’t talk outside for too long. The children wouldn’t be able to sit still much longer.
“Mrs. Walsh,” Reverend Banks said as he came back into the church. “Thank you for staying to speak with me.”
“You said it was important, Reverend,” Lorna reminded him.
“Yes,” Reverend Banks agreed, “ it is important.” Reverend Banks paused, and Lorna had a feeling she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
Reclaiming His Bride Page 5