Claimed on the Frontier (20 page)

I smiled though I still sniffled. “Yes, sir. I don’t want to admit it’s true, but I do feel much better.” I enjoyed the warmth of his arms about me. “Do you think when we’ve been married for dozens of years or decades, you’ll still whip me? Will I still be naughty then?”

“I think our maple will be towerin’ to heaven, our children growin’ like weeds around us, my own hair gray at the temples and laugh lines about your eyes, and I’ll still be takin’ you across my knee, girl.”

I giggled into his dampened shirt. “I think it a likely prediction.”

We stayed that way for a moment before he spoke again. “Now tell me why it is you’re wound up tighter than a jack-in-the-box.”

I sighed. “I’m not sure what everyone expects of me, Aaron. I want our home to look pretty.” I chose my words carefully. I didn’t want him to feel bad. But our house was smaller, and less furnished than the others’. I did think it quite lovely and I enjoyed coming home every time. My heart swelled just walking to our cabin and seeing it sit upon the hill, flanked by maple and pine trees. I’d never had much of anything to call my own. The hand-sewn curtains at the windows were cozy, and I had several little touches about the house, a few little decorative pieces of needlework, and my latest afghan brightened up our sitting area, folded neatly atop the back of the rocking chair. I kept it neat as a pin, and even the pretty jars of preserves lined up on the shelf in our pantry gleamed.

But it was simple.

“I’m doing my best to ensure we have good food,” I said. I’d been baking delicious morsels and putting them up for when our guests came that evening. The main meal would come the next day at ma’s, but I still had a large jar filled with cookies, and popcorn ready to pop, when everyone arrived.

“Look how lovely it all looks,” Aaron murmured, waving a hand at the mantel I’d decorated simply with pinecones, holly, and red winter berries.

Geraldine had a tree. They were a new tradition, then, and not as common for the settlers to have, but a small Christmas tree sat in the church, and she’d insisted on having one of her own, a small pine cut down and standing up in the corner of her sitting room. She’d decorated it with strings of popcorn and bits of colored yarn tied into bows, paper stars, and ribbon.

When I’d mentioned it to Aaron, he’d frowned. “Now, Pearl. There’s no need for you to be pinin’ after what Geraldine has or doesn’t have. Yes, she has a tree in her home. But what use is a tree that will drop its needles and die, and take up space? It’s foolishness, bringin’ a tree inside.”

I sighed. He was right.

Aaron kissed my forehead.

“Now, if you’re a good little girl, you just may wake up to a little treat in your stockin’ from Santa Claus.”

I tucked a smile down as I kept my head on his chest. I liked when he talked to me about being a good girl.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

His voice dropped as he whispered in my ear.

“And you do know naughty little girls get switches in their stockings, don’t you?”

“Oh, what a horrible tradition! They don’t!”

He chuckled out loud. “It’s the God’s honest truth, darlin’. But I think I’ve kept you in line enough you don’t need fear a switch
this
year. Though there’s still time.”

Releasing me, we both stood, and to my surprise, he busied himself helping me tidy up the cabin. It was woman’s work, and he rarely did much beyond set the dishes on the table for a meal. Now he was bustling around the room, moving things about even. I looked at him curiously, not quite sure what had gotten into him, but I had things to attend to. The folks would be here any minute.

“They’ll be comin’ soon’,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me in quickly to embrace me. “I’m proud as a peacock to have a home like this for them to come to, and a pretty little wife to greet them with a smile. Makes me feel fit to burstin’.”

His praise made my heart swell. Suddenly, everything seemed just fine. Our home was big enough and cozy enough. The fire licked at the flames in the hearth, and it was snug and warm. The berries and greens on the mantel were simple but added a splash of color. I’d laid out the food I’d prepared on plates atop my hand-knit doilies, and Aaron had arranged our chairs so that they were all by the fire.

“Now, darlin’, you go get ready while I finish up out here.” He spun me around and sent me to our room with a little pat on my backside. I scurried, still feeling the bite of his quirt. He’d hung the quirt on a little peg by the door so he could grab it when he went riding again, but I wondered if the placement there wasn’t intentional. I felt shy as I went to our room to straighten out my hair and dress. I smoothed a hand over my sore bottom. I didn’t know if I’d ever truly understand why I could hate being punished, but feel so much calmer after he punished me. I knew that being subject to Aaron’s discipline made me feel loved, in a way I never had. And I’d almost begun to stop questioning why it made me feel so shy and aroused to have him overpower me.

I adored him. I daydreamed about him coming home to me when he wasn’t there. When he sat by the fire, reading, if I wasn’t on his lap reading along with him, I was discreetly stealing glances at him. His strong, stern jaw, covered by his bristly beard. His broad shoulders and muscled arms. I would imagine myself stretched across his hard thighs, or watch his hands flip the pages of the paper and imagine them doing all sorts of wanton things to my body. As I straightened my dress, I pressed my thighs together. The memory of the whipping he’d given me sent waves of desire through me. I smoothed a hand over my skirts, over my most sensitive parts, wishing he would come and bed me. I removed my dress, and as I did, I wondered. What would it be like…

Quickly, so as not to be caught, I moved one hand under my skirts, down over my undergarments, and felt the pulse of need rise with the touch. I felt so primed for Aaron. Feeling like a naughty girl stealing cookies from the cookie jar, I dipped a finger between my legs. I was slick, and it felt quite nice stroking myself the way Aaron did.

The door to our room burst open then, and I about came out of my skin. My cheeks flamed with heat, and I quickly righted my skirts. Aaron looked at me strangely. Then a slow, wicked smile spread across his face as he crossed the room to me.

“Is my girl needy tonight?” he asked. “Do you see fit to pleasure yourself?”

I couldn’t look at him. I closed my eyes tight, feeling the heat about my cheeks and neck as he prowled closer. He hoisted me upon the bed and laid me on my back.

“Pretty little girl needs her womanly needs tended to?” he teased.

“Oh, Aaron,” I said in a whisper. “I… I’ve
never
… it’s just that, after the quirt, and the way you are with me, I feel like I’m just about to come out of my skin.”

He lifted the one skirt that remained on me, spreading my legs on the bed and pulling down my undergarments.

“Aaron!” I hissed. “The others will be here any minute.”

He grinned as he fell to his knees in front of me.

“I don’t think you’ll need more’n a minute,” he whispered. His hands went to my legs, hoisting them up and spreading them, as his mouth dropped between my legs. He wasted no time. His tongue sought my most tender places and stroked, firmly, lazily lapping at my folds, and the feeling was magnificent. I was so ready for him. His hands grasped at my breasts, kneading my hardened nipples as he licked over and over again.

I didn’t care that his family was coming. I didn’t care that I was moaning out loud, my head back on the bed and my eyes squeezed tightly. As he sucked and licked, kneading my breasts and bringing me closer and closer, I thought of him holding his quirt, ordering me over his knee, and whipping me, until I toppled over the edge in a delicious torrent of ecstasy.

He chuckled wickedly as he got to his feet.

“Pretty little girl likes her lickin’s,” he teased.

“Oh, Aaron!” I hissed, busily readying myself, dressing to prepare for our guests.

Aaron left me to right myself, and just in the nick of time. I heard a knock at the cabin door. I quickly braided my hair and tidied myself up. I straightened out the quilt on our bed lest anyone get any ideas as to what exactly we were doing in there before they arrived. I heard Aaron’s voice just outside the door.

“Pearl, you stay there a minute ‘til I fetch you.”

I frowned. What on earth was he playing at? I had to welcome our guests in. But I sat obediently on the edge of my bed just the same. After being taken across his knee and whipped, then brought to ecstasy on the edge of our bed, I was feeling quite obedient.

A few minutes later, he opened the door. “Come on out, Pearl.”

The others were all bustling around and laughing, but a hush fell in the room when I walked in. There, in the middle of room, right by our table, stood a coal black, brand-new stove. I gasped, covering my hand with my mouth. “However did you… oh, my!” The others laughed as I tiptoed around the stove, taking in every detail. “Oh, it’s
beautiful
.”

Even Geraldine smiled at me as I marveled at my new stove. Aaron wrapped an arm about my shoulders. “Your gift from all of us,” he said. “Matthew’s been doin’ odd jobs around town, earnin’ a nickel here and there. Ma sold her knitted mufflers to the general store to stock, Samuel pitched in his furs, and Geraldine contributed her egg money.” I knew it was more than that, and that Aaron had likely sold some of our livestock, putting away the money for weeks or months so he could make such a purchase. Then acquiring it in town, and transporting it… I was flabbergasted.

“It’s perfect,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

“You cookin’ our Christmas dinner now?” Phillip teased. His eyes twinkled like his brother’s. Geraldine did seem so much more pleasant when he was around. She wasn’t even scowling. She actually smiled at me and gave a curt little nod. I forgave her and decided at least for now, we’d have a bit of a sisterly truce.

“Sure thing, Phillip. Why don’t you go on out now and fetch us a goose, and I’ll get right on that.”

They all laughed at that, but then it was time for the festivities. I brought out the food, and ma regaled us with tales of the boys in their youth. Samuel led us in singing carols by the fire, and I rested my head on my husband’s shoulder, listening to his deep baritone. I’d never felt happier in my life.

I did not know how quickly things could change.

* * *

Christmas morning began like any other day. The sun was shining and the snow melting. We were having an unusually warm day and it would make our trip to ma’s much easier than if the snow had begun to fall. When we arrived at ma’s, the fire was roaring in the hearth. Matthew was busily playing with a carved wooden yo-yo in the corner and Samuel was admiring a new pipe. Ma was busy at the stove and I marveled at the delicious food she’d prepared. Pies and cakes, cookies and breads were all neatly tucked away on the shelves. A ham roasted in the stove and yams were browning in the fire, little bubbles on the edge of their rust-colored skin bubbling and bursting in the flames. It smelled delicious in the cozy cabin, like sugar and spice, mingling with the pungent scent of pine from the boughs on the mantel.

Aaron removed my coat and coverings as I righted myself, tucking the packages of the gifts we’d brought up against my bosom. But as Aaron and I joined Matthew and Samuel by the fire, the door behind us burst open, followed by Phillip and a stricken-looking Geraldine. Her eyes were wide and frightened and we all started, Aaron stiffening beside me. In his arms, Phillip held a little girl, her head on his shoulder. She was unconscious.

“Hannah!” Matthew shouted, as ma bustled them into the home and shut the door.

Phillip’s voice was thick with emotion as he helped them in.

“Move the chairs and get your quilts, Matthew, be quick about it,” Geraldine ordered Matthew as ma opened the door to her bedroom and ordered them to bring Hannah inside to her bed. I stood to the side, taking it all in, waiting for the first instruction. Hannah’s eyes were closed, her lip swollen and dried blood on her nose. Her hair was askew and her dress ripped. She wore a coat that was far too small for her, and her little hands were bright red from cold. Geraldine pushed the girl’s hair out of her face tenderly, her own face pinched with sympathy and fear.

“She came to us as we were leaving,” Phillip said, standing, facing Aaron and Samuel. “The girl could barely stand on her own two feet. Had run all the way from her house, quick as she could, lame leg and all. Says her pa took the drink last night and came home in a rage this morning. She ran to get us, because he laid into her ma and she couldn’t stop him. Says he left her ma good as dead and she needed help. But the girl could barely talk herself and passed out on my shoulder as we came. We need to get to the woman now.”

Aaron was already putting his coat on as ma tended to little Hannah.

“She’s breathing,” she murmured. “Poor girl’s passed out from fright, or cold, or pain. Get her something to eat and drink, Geraldine.” Geraldine raced from the room.

Matthew’s fists were clenched by his sides. “I’m coming with you,” he said, stark determination in his eyes. Aaron skewered him with a look.

“You’ll stay here and help tend to Hannah. We’re not taking you to where danger lies.”

Matthew’s eyes were furious. “You can’t stop me,” he said. I marveled at his bravery. His eyes sparkled with determination. I knew he feared Aaron, and I knew it took every ounce of strength he had to face him so. I held my breath, afraid of Aaron’s anger at Matthew’s outright defiance. But his voice gentled as he took a step to Matthew, placing his hand on his shoulder.

“We ride quicker with three than four,” he said. “And I’ve no doubt you could flatten Hannah’s pa right now, and serve justice like a man, but we can’t leave the womenfolk here without a man to watch over them while we’re gone, now, can we?”

Matthew’s eyes went from Aaron, to Hannah, to mine. I nodded to him. He cast his eyes down.

“Yes, sir,” he said.

And then they were gone. I scurried over to where ma knelt in front of Hannah, removing her scant coverings and holding Hannah’s ice-cold hands in hers.