And at last, the sounds of laughter and music drifting in through the shutters, she stands there, with him, their first night together in their new home.
Tiny as it is, a single bedroom upstairs, a single large kitchen and living area downstairs with a tiny bathroom off the back, it is theirs.
Jenny’s first real home.
She's so lovely, standing there, lips a little parted, waiting for her handsome husband, with his wheaten hair and cornflower blue eyes. Tall…. Broad-shouldered and well-muscled from hard work….
.... and hers....
Jenny has never had anything to call her own before. Raised with nothing, arriving with nothing, living on charity for years….
But this, this moment, this man, is hers.
He looks down into her eyes. Wide-pupiled, green as young leaves, green as spring grass, set against skin as pale and fragrant as almonds and hair which billows and flows like amber fire in the slight breeze.
And in her turn, she looks up at him…. The sheen to his tanned skin, pupils pin-pointed in their azure setting.
“Are you alright, Chad?”
When he speaks, his voice is a little high. “Sure, fine. Just…. nervous.” He shifts on his feet. “You know, first time and everything.” He strokes her cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”
“You too.” She bites her lower lip, then reaches for his mouth with hers.
Their lips brush and arousal, sweet and unfamiliar, pierces her. Her breath snatches and Chad jerks back. “Sorry, didn’t mean to….” he stutters, then once more, slants his mouth to hers, this time a hand on her shoulder, pulling her a little closer.
She moves to him, her fingers slipping into his hair, the hair she wants to touch. But now, touching him, she feels the tremble under his skin.
One hand around her waist, the other slides from her shoulder, riding her contours. It glides down a slender arm, presses flat against her stomach then slips upwards to the lower curve of a breast….
…. And he freezes.
“Chad?”
voice shaky. “I can't do this. I thought I
husband. Her first friend. Brow furrowed,
sorry. I'm sorry, but I
“Chad, have I done something to upset you? Was it because I danced with everyone else? It was only
You can dance with anyone you want
“What then?”
entirely, slumps down on to the bed and sits holding his head in his hands.
wrong? Why don’t you want to….
his hand in hers. “Tell
something awful,
head, baffled. “But
you. I made you marry me and
you said you wanted to marry me.
of…. that…. It’s not you
clutches inside her, her heart beginning
it’s not a girl. It’s….
she understands. A kind of stillness falls over her. “It’s Josh isn’t
He nods.
before, miserably he says, “Do you understand what I'm
kind of shock, she is
can’t possibly be
from, sometimes they showed us movies
her fingers together.
answer is short and
“Does anyone else know?”
“I thought if I went through with the wedding, that when it came to it…. Jenny… I do love
the pain is too sharp for emotion. Dead inside, she doesn’t know how to respond. But the bitterness is beginning to flow, to
he says. “They wouldn’t understand. I wanted to do right by everyone.” Chad shudders. “What will you say? Will you tell