After they became engaged out by the lake, William and Julia returned to the house where they decided to make a quick dinner. They also agreed that William would not stay in a hotel, but rather would stay in her father's room while Julia slept in her own room upstairs for the night. They would return home together tomorrow after her father's funeral and tell their friends about their engagement. As they ate they discussed what married life might be like. After dinner, they sat together on the couch and shared what they were each looking most forward to after being wed. They both agreed that consummating their marriage was top on the list. But there were little things too, like watching Julia brush out her hair and watching William shave. Another thing they each longed for was to wake up right next to each other in the morning – each hoping to watch the other one sleeping for awhile.
They kissed softly, and at times passionately, on the couch for quite some time. When their desires threatened to become too strong to resist, they separated and started to plan the rest of the night. Julia pointed out that they could sleep together and no one would ever need to know. They could just make sure that her bed upstairs and his bed in her father's room both looked like they had been slept in for the housekeeper in the morning. She could tell that William still wanted to hold off until they were actually married, and she was willing to do so. However, she argued that they both wanted to wake up together, and so why not just sleep together in William's bed? Then they could wake up together in the morning. Although William was a bit unsure of the wisdom of this plan, his desire overruled his fears, and he agreed. Julia went upstairs to get into her nightgown and to make her bed look like she had slept in it. William went into his room to change into his pajamas.
Julia lightly knocked on the bedroom door before she opened it and came in. William rushed to stand in front of her just inside of the door. Taking a deep breath to slow himself down and without speaking, he played with her hair. It was resting over her shoulders. He moved it back and forth between his fingers before he slid his fingers under her hair to touch her neck while his thumbs rested just below her mouth – which he was looking at hungrily. They kissed, slow but deep. When the kiss broke, Julia moved past William towards the bed, but he pulled her back to him, stepped in front of her again, and kissed her once more. Although this kiss was even more lovely than the first, she found herself wondering if he was not stalling. She pulled away from the kiss, and looked him in the eye while holding his head in her hands, "William Murdoch, are you trying to keep us from going to the bed?" He dodged her eyes for a moment, but she turned his head back to her and they stood staring at each other for a moment. She saw worry in his eyes, and she felt a growing warmth just below her heart – she loved this man so. "William, are you afraid that if we get into that bed over there together that you – I mean we – will lose control over our passions and end up making love?" He nodded his head up and down slowly, never losing eye contact with her as he did so. "Well truthfully William, I don't think that would be so bad. After all, we are going to be married soon, and no one needs to ever know anyway. But, if it does happen, you need to know that we would still need to use protection. Do you have any?"
William looked over at his bag and said, "Yes I have some in my bag, but why would we need it – aren't you … sterile?" he said as he looked back into her eyes.
Julia knew that this explanation would take longer than she wanted to spend right now, and more importantly, it would break the mood. She took in a deep breath and said, "William, I promise to give you the biological explanation later, but for now just know that I can get pregnant, but I would likely lose the baby, and even if I didn't, neither myself nor the baby would survive childbirth." She looked for confusion, or even worse – disappointment- in his eyes, but she did not see it.
"So we will always need to use protection then?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," she said. She watched him turn this over in his mind, with each flip it sank in deeper, and it seemed to settle.
William looked over at the bed, "So we can get into bed with the plan to fall asleep next to each other and wake up together in the morning, and if we end up deciding to make love, then I will go get the prophylactic in my bag to be safe…" his voice trailed off at the end seeking reassurance from her that he had it right.
Julia ducked her head down and over just a little to make sure she held his eye, "Yes, we can call it Plan B."
With that, Julia walked over to one side of the bed, William to the other. The lamp was on William's side of the bed and he turned it off. Both under the same covers with their backs to each other, but space between them, they set off with the plan to fall asleep. William's mind drifted to what he had seen Julia was wearing – a white nightgown. It revealed much of her neck right down to the top of her breasts. "Oh my God, of course – no corset!" he thought as his mind rapidly ran away with the thought. "Under the thin white cloth of that nightgown there is her skin, her shape, her supple warmth," he thought as he felt himself becoming aroused. He imagined himself sliding over to her and reaching his hand across her waist and up to cup her breast through the cloth – more aroused. Then he allowed himself to imagine reaching down and sliding his hand under the bottom of the nightgown and then up her thigh, hip, waist, ribs, - even more aroused, and then – "Oh" he thought as he imagined cupping the breast itself. Did his voice actually make a sound out loud when he had that thought? He was not sure – but he was sure that the burning growth between his legs was becoming a little bit more than he could handle. He imagined pinching her nipple and massaging her breast and pushing himself against her back, and her turning to him, and kissing him passionately. With that thought his body rose, twitched, reacted.
He said, "Julia, it is very hard lying here next to you and not touching you."
She rolled over and drew her thigh up over him, clearly catching his aroused state as she did so. Then she took his masculine swelling, which had slid out through the slit in his pajamas, in her hand and she said, "I see that you mean that in more ways than one." She slid her cupped hand slowly up and down over him, noticing how thick and warm he was.
"Julia, that's not helping," he said as he tried to catch some eye contact with her in the moonlit room.
"That depends on what you're trying to do," she said as she shifted her weight and slid her left thigh over his crotch to straddle him like a horse.
William was thoroughly surprised and said with a twinge of warning in his voice, "Julia …"
Julia slowly and rhythmically moved her hips behind where her hands grasped and stroked his aroused swelling. Then she let go of him and slid her hands up his chest as she started to lie down on top of him to reach his mouth for a kiss.
Gravity spun around - suddenly - she was under him. She could feel his breath – hot, fast, strong - on her neck. She felt her own arousal grow and then flip over and over within her. Her body twitched and rose up to him. She heard herself moan. The sound urged both of them on. He kissed her so hard and so urgently. His tongue reached deep into her and she knew they both were imagining another part of their bodies doing the same. He shifted his weight and she felt him start to pull at her underwear. She had never felt a desire this strong in her life and she heard herself call out his name, "William." Again her body surged upward into him. "William" she said desperately again. He lowered himself, starting to line himself up with her and she thought "Oh, my God he's going to come inside of me." The anticipation was enormous. Her mind rushed ahead, imagining him coming into her. Somewhere from the back of her mind she had a thought, "I can get pregnant." "William, wait. Please William, wait," she thought, and like she was trying to awaken from a dream she pushed herself to say it out loud. Finally, she heard herself say it to him, "William, William, wait. Please wait." But she felt him press between her thighs, and she knew penetration was imminent. She had to stop him. How? Her desperate voice whispered in his ear, "Plan B William, remember Plan B."
A second later, she felt his weight drop slowly onto her. The pace slowed, although both of them still breathed rapidly together, and they lie still together for a moment. As William turned to sit up on the edge of the bed he said, "Yes, I'll go get it."
He turned on the lamp and went over to his bag. He returned, sat on the edge of the bed, and put the prophylactic on. They were both much calmer now, and Julia said, "You know, we have both regained our composure quite a bit now, but my God, I have never felt anything like that before in my life. I have never wanted anything more than I wanted you inside of me just now, - not anything, ever."
William still faced away from her, but he nodded his head and she knew he had felt the same way.
"William," she said as he turned to look at her, "We could still wait until we are married. I could just go upstairs to sleep in my own bed. What do you think?"
"I guess I would prefer it that way Julia. I think we can wait – we've waited this long."
Julia added, "And now we know that our marriage will have a passionate love life - something to really look forward to." She paused, "We will have to get married as soon as possible."
"Agreed," he said.
Julia got up and just before she left the room she turned to him and said, "I'm sorry dear," as she stared over his shoulder at his prophylactic encased, somewhat softened, swelling, "You will have to take care of that on your own … for tonight."
"For tonight," he said as they both remembered the many years ago when he had said a similar thing while they were under the influence of absinthe.
Julia returned to her bed, but she already knew she would sneak back in to sleep next to William later when she expected him to have finally fallen asleep. She wanted to wake up next to him. She was madly in love – it felt great! A few hours later she did just that. She heard his breathing and knew he was asleep. She was too rather quickly.
He awoke and opened his eyes and felt the warmth growing in the pit of his stomach a moment before he was completely conscious of why. Lying next to him in the orange light of sunrise was Julia. She was on her back asleep. She must have been too warm because she had flung the covers to the bottom of the bed, and she slept with the thin white cloth of her nightgown slowly rising and falling as she breathed. He felt himself becoming aroused, but he felt so much more in control now. He remembered that he had learned another way to make love – a way that would come in very handy right about now. He moved himself over to place his body touching hers. Julia woke up in response to the movement, opened her eyes, and looked sleepily at him, "Good morning," she said. She had barely finished her statement when she felt his erection next to her thigh. Her eyes told the story as she thought, "On no, we have the same problem all over again."
He saw her concern and with a confident, sly little smile he said, "Julia, I forgot last night, I forgot about Plan C."
"Plan C?" she asked.
"You'll like it. I'll show you," he said as he took in a deep breath, shifted his weight onto has left elbow and softly but firmly placed his slowly roaming fingers exactly where he had been looking – on her right cheek just under her ear. Then she heard him take a breath as he lowered himself down to kiss that exact spot. The kiss was soft, slow, and then she felt his tongue too. She was amazed as she already felt her passions rising. She was worried that there wasn't going to be much different about Plan C.
William lifted away from her and shifted his eyes to rest on the left side of her neck. Then his fingers, then his mouth, then his tongue again.
"Lovely," she thought. "I think I see the pattern."
Next, up to her left ear – licking flicks and some sucking. She heard herself moan.
He said in a soft voice, just above a whisper, "I love you Julia."
That growing warmth inside of her flipped over again and she felt her body raise up to him. He looked directly at her mouth, fingers touched, then kissed. Just like the night before, his tongue inside her made her long for a similar thing in a lower part of her body. She felt like she was going to lose control – but he seemed in charge. He lifted away from the kiss, and turned his gaze to her right breast. She felt him cup her breast right over the cloth of her nightgown, and as he started to massage it, she heard her own voice with a shocked and somewhat scolding tone say, "William!"
He lifted his eyes off of her breast to look her in the eye, and as he softly pinched her nipple between his thumb and fingers he asked, "Do you find it pleasurable?"
Fearing he would stop if she were not honest, she replied, with a whisper and a slight pout, "Yes."
His eyes turned back to her breast and as he moved to kiss the cloth clinging to her breast, she felt herself surge with anticipation. "He's going to make love to me right through my clothing," she thought. They both felt her breast and its nipple grow under the attention. The nightgown was slowly dampening as William's mouth, tongue and hands lapped and slid over it. William placed his attentions on her hip bones, and then her inner thighs, all the while never touching her skin directly.
When he settled his focus between her legs, he seemed to know exactly how to move his mouth to cause her to grow with excitement, and then he followed her rhythm to press against her until she felt her insides seem to open and gush a warm melting feeling throughout her. She continued to slowly pump a few more times to get every last drop out of the feeling before she lay still.
William lifted himself up to give her a firm kiss on her lips.
She rolled him over onto his back and started the same game on him - looking at his mouth, touching his mouth, kissing his mouth. She moved to his chest, adding a little bite.
When it became obvious that she was going to move to his penis next, he stopped her and said, "I don't think you'll like it Julia."
"William, accept your fate. We have a relationship based on the idea of equality – and that means you get pleasure too." She covered his penis with the sheet and firmly gripped it with her cupped hands which she moved up and down before she placed her mouth over the top. Quickly William's own natural motion took over and she felt great pleasure in helping him experience that same opening and melting feeling she had had earlier.
She moved to lay her head on his chest and told him that she really did like Plan C.
At her father's funeral, Julia cried for her loss. She wished Ruby had been there. She was very glad that William was. Mrs. Hill told her that she and her father had read all the news and transcripts from the trial, and so they knew about how William and she were in love. She noticed the ring on Julia's finger and said that Julia's father would have been very happy for her.
On the carriage ride home, Julia questioned William about how he had learned to so expertly execute Plan C. She knew he could not have learned such lovemaking from discussions with men. No, he had to learn this from actually doing it – with a woman - but who?
She guessed and he responded. Enid Jones (she had been married and was probably experienced)? No. Anna Fulford (she was the type to try new things). No. She knew it couldn't be Liza.
"Is it someone I know," she asked.
"You've met her," he said, seeming to enjoy the game, but he also seemed a bit uncomfortable.
Was it because he was afraid she'd be jealous? Would she be? Even she wasn't completely sure.
William said, "I'm afraid that you will think badly of me when I tell you who it was."
She felt the wheels in her head turning. Who had she met from his past that it would cause him embarrassment for her to know he had been intimate with - mind you, without ever actually directly touching her (Plan C).
Then a memory flashed through her mind. They were in the morgue and she was teasing him about his relationship with a madam. She had joked about him meeting her at a church function. It was her – Ettie! She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized that this very teasing might further add to his discomfort now. She had even been embarrassed by her own pre-judgmental attitude at the time. "It was Ettie?" she said.
William nodded and explained that he had become enamored with her, and she with him, but she wanted to make sure that he did not get any diseases and that she did not get pregnant, so she had taught him what they were now calling "Plan C." "She was a very good teacher," he added.
"Yes, she was," said Julia, "Yes she was."
The conversation switched to the use of prophylactics. William told her that he had found himself wondering why she had insisted on using protection that night of the picnic so many years ago if she knew she was sterile. He waited for her to explain.
She explained that the abortion had left scarring of her cervix. As a result, she would still ovulate and could get pregnant. However, the damaged cervix might cause her to lose the baby before it could reach full gestation. Although this was bad, it wasn't really the worst part. Because of the scar tissue on the cervix, even if she carried the baby to term, when she went into labor she would not be able to become dilated sufficiently for the baby to fit through the cervix to be born. She, and possibly the baby, would likely die in childbirth. It seemed that their lovemaking future would involve Plan B and Plan C. (Interestingly, unbeknownst to the couple, in 1881 a German gynecologist, Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer, invented the transverse cesarean section procedure which lowered blood loss and greatly increased survivability of the mother, and in 1882 Max Sanger introduced the idea of suturing the uterus, improving things further. Ultimately, if Julia could carry a fetus to term, then a C-section could likely result in her and their child surviving. Dr. Isaac Tash could have told them this, if only they had asked).