Warning: This is rated M. There will be incest.
Note: I know that ages and timelines will be different from cannon, but after much debating, I've decided to just make this my own.
Disclaimer: I do not own Crimson Peak.
CHAPTER ONE: PAMELA UPTON
"Shh…" He ran his hand down my body and rubbed his member against my back. "You don't want anyone to hear, do you?"
I shook my head and buried my face into the pillow as he slid in. He brought me over the edge again and again, until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. I felt him lay down behind me, cupping me with his much longer frame.
"I love you, darling. Dream of me."
The next morning when I woke up, he was already gone. I sighed. Why couldn't we be like the couples in the novels? Why did we have to hide? We owed the world no explanations. They never did us any good, anyway.
They had tried to take us away from here – split us apart, but they couldn't keep us away forever. As soon as I was done my schooling, I headed back here. What I found, however, was something that made me angry and frustrated.
"Who is she?" I demanded, pointing to the woman who was clinging to his arm. I could see mother's beautiful wedding ring on her finger, but that couldn't be right.
Lucille placed her hand on my shoulder. "Sister dear, that is our newest member of the family."
"What…?" I breathed, looking at him for confirmation, but he averted his eyes away from me. "What do you mean?"
The dark haired woman smiled at me. "I'm Pamela Up – I mean… I guess I'm Pamela Sharpe, now, aren't I?" she giggled. "I'm married to your brother. I really hope that we'll get along."
I didn't know how to reply. Thomas was married? Why hadn't anyone sent a note to me? Why hadn't he told me? I had barely received anything from them while I was away and the moment I came back, this was what greeted me.
I couldn't listen to them, anymore. I ran up the stairs and entered my room, or at least, I thought it was my room. It had been my room. "What is this?! Have you all replaced me already?!"
All of them had followed me up and were watching me scream at them. "Have you all forgotten me already?!" With shaking hands, I covered my mouth to try to stop the sobs from escaping. This wasn't the welcome I expected.
"Oh, Amelia, your room was the only one habitable. All the other ones needed work," Lucille told me as if what she was saying was supposed to somehow comfort me.
"And…? Where am I going to stay, now? In the attic?"
"Well, it's not that bad up there. You – "
I shook my head. "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Why did I ever want to come back here? All this chaos… This broken house… My home… My room… My… It's all gone. I don't even belong here, anymore."
Leaving my possessions in the hall, I walked back down and out into the snowy land. The cold immediately penetrated through my dress. I had left my coat somewhere inside. I couldn't even remember when I took it off.
"Amelia!" I heard him call out towards me, but I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't even want to see him. I kept going, running as fast as I could, while the snow went up nearly to my knee. "Amelia!" His voice drew further and further away.
I ran until I couldn't see the mansion, anymore, and huddled beneath a tree, shivering. It was unbelievably cold, but I couldn't go back. I was just going to have to make my way down the mountain when the snow let up. It wasn't as if I hadn't made friends while I was away. Surely, one of them would help me.
Even if they didn't, I knew I couldn't be here. In the time I was away, my childhood had disappeared. It was as if they had erased my entire existence from their lives – replaced by this stranger who had stolen everything from me.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Hadn't I been enough? Was it because I was weak? I couldn't do anything when they beat us. Lucille and Thomas were always the protectors. They tried their best to shield me from our parents. Perhaps that was why. They were tired of taking care of me. They thought I was still the child who couldn't make her own decisions, but I wasn't.
I had learned to defend myself. I had learned to brush off all the cruel words. I had to because there hadn't been anyone doing it for me when I was sent away.
It wasn't until night did the snow finally stop. I tried to rub the blood back into my limbs and began to stagger down the mountain, but each step threatened to send me tumbling down. My knees buckled and I had to catch myself before I fell. It was so cold, but I had to keep going. I couldn't give up. Giving up meant being that child, again, and I wasn't going to allow that to happen.
Suddenly, I was on the soft snow, staring at the top of the white fluff, wondering why it had all gone so terribly wrong. Maybe it was better this way. I was never meant to live. I had been the extra child – the accident. Our parents had only ever wanted a son. This would just mean that I was restoring the balance. All would be right, again…
My eyes fluttered close and I knew no more.
…
Thomas was still getting used to having a wife, this stranger in their home. He truly thought that Lucille would've wanted to keep it as just the two of them. Unfortunately, she suddenly had an idea and when she did, she couldn't let it go. It bloomed and blossomed and suddenly, he found himself bound to a woman he had no emotional attachments to.
She was a beautiful woman, that was certain, but her long, dark luscious locks were not the ones he craved to see. Pamela was not a woman he could love and it wasn't fair for either of them to continue on with this pretense.
No matter how Lucille tried to reassure him that it wasn't permanent, he couldn't keep the dread at bay. He should've listened to his own instinct because when he found her standing at the door, he felt his heart stop.
She was just as beautiful as he remembered, older and taller, but still small compared to him. He just knew that if he took her into his arms, she'd fit perfectly there. He wanted so desperately to just throw everything to the side and kiss those pink lips as they were meant to be kissed.
Instead, he stood back like a coward and allowed Lucille to speak for them. When she looked over to him, he couldn't even deny any of it. He couldn't even look her in the eye and confess to what he had done.
"Do you think she'll ever like me, Thomas?" Pamela had asked him.
He didn't know and at that moment, he didn't care because she had just raced out the door, into the freezing cold.
"Amelia!" he called out, gently pulling Pamela's hand from his arm. "Amelia!"
By the time he was outside, she was already lost in the snow, but he couldn't let her stay out there. It was dangerous. She was going to get sick or worse…
He searched desperately for her, but it was no use. The snow made it almost impossible to see past his feet. Eventually, Lucille came out, pulling him back into the house before the snow could blow him off the cliff. "She's still out there!"
"I know, brother, but you won't find her in this weather," she mildly told him.
He was brought back in, shivering and on the verge of collapsing. He could only imagine what she was going through, still out there – alone and in only a slip of a dress. Why had he listened to Lucille? He could've had her in his arms the moment she returned. Instead, he was about to lose her forever.
"Thomas! Thomas!" Pamela embraced him, but he was too numb to feel anything. Perhaps if he stayed out there for a little longer, his emotions could be deadened as well. "Don't scare me like that!" She kissed his cold cheek and led him up the stairs.
As she brought him to Amelia's redecorated room, he had the urge to turn back around. They had, indeed, taken her memories and desecrated them. It looked nothing like how it did before.
His hand brushed the sheets. No, these were still the same. He had defiled her here.
"T-Thomas…?" Her tiny form sat up on the large bed, staring at him as he stood at her doorway. "What are you doing here? Papa doesn't like us wandering around at night. You'll get in trouble."
He looked down, playing with his hands, before walking in and closing the door softly behind him. "I know, but…"
"Is something wrong? I-If you had a nightmare… You can stay here." She lifted up her covers. It was something he did whenever she came by, looking as if the monsters were about to jump out at any time and take her away.
He shook his head. "L-Luci showed me something and I wanted to show you. She said this is what people do when they love each other and I love you, 'Melia."
He made his way over to the bed and slipped in. His heart was pounding against his chest as he turned to face her. She did the same, staring at him curiously. Would she like it? Would she hate it? If Lucille said this is what people in love did, then it should be fine, right?
As he laid there, trying to make up his mind, she scooted over and snuggled against him, just as she always did whenever they were in bed together, but somehow, it was different. Something changed. The innocent contact no longer felt innocent.
A breath of air escaped him before he rolled them until he was on top of her. "Tell me if I'm hurting you, alright?
She nodded. "I know you won't hurt me."
Unlike Lucille, she didn't have the same curves. In fact, her body figure didn't differ too much from his, but he knew enough that her body would fill out when she grew older.
He showed her everything that their older sister had taught him, that night. And from then on, they continued on in secret. Until one day, Lucille killed their mother. It had been so liberating at first, but the morning after, her body was found and they were all separated.
When he returned from their aunt's, it was many years later – an adult. He was finally an adult and he was allowed to make his own decisions, or so he thought. It wasn't long before their finances became a real burden that left them with a house of holes and critters. He had wanted to leave this place and all its horrible memories behind, all the beatings and bloodstained walls, but Lucille didn't want to go.
He tried to continue on their father's work, but he wasn't as talented as James William Sharpe. That man had been right all along. Thomas was delicate and physically weak, so he tried to tone up his body, build enough muscles to work on the large machineries that had long since stopped functioning. When that didn't work, he started making smaller models. They were almost like toys, but he hoped that it could showcase what the machines could do and perhaps, he'd be able to reel in people who would lend them money to restore their family into their former glory.
Unfortunately, that never led him anywhere, so Lucille came up with an idea. An idea that led him to where he was, now.
"Have you warmed up?" Lucille set down a tray of hot tea on the table and watched with dark eyes as Pamela continued to run her hand up and down his arms in an attempt to rub away the cold.
"I'm fine. Amelia, she's still out there. We have to get her indoors and – "
"Shh…" Lucille sat by his other side and pulled her into his arms, taking him from Pamela. "I found her myself, while you were recovering. She's staying in my room. Don't worry about her. Rest…"
Thomas wanted to see her for himself, but he knew that Lucille wouldn't allow it, so he tried to lay down on the familiar bed with an unfamiliar woman who laid her head on his chest. "I'm glad she's alright, Thomas. I'd love to properly meet her, tomorrow."
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine a different body against him. It was difficult. She was still but a child when they had been together. Although their feelings may have been real, it was going to be vastly different. In her dress, he could see how well she filled it. He wanted to run his hand down her body and spill his essence inside her. He wanted to hear her cry and scream his name. He wanted to hold her as they finally fell asleep together.
Instead, he waited until Pamela had been claimed by the sandman before making his way to Lucille's room. He had hoped to see her, but she wasn't there. Lucille was sitting in front of the mirror, brushing her hair in her night slip.
"Where is she?" he asked her.
She looked at him through the mirror. "Thomas, what are you doing still up?"
"Where is she, Lucille? You said she was here!" Had she lied to him? Was she still out there in the dark?
"Did you want me to help you get to sleep? You need your rest," she continued on as if she hadn't heard him.
"WHERE IS SHE?!" he demanded, storming over and turned her to look him in the eyes. "Is she still out there? Did you leave our sister in the cold, at night, in the middle of a snow storm?! I… I need to go back out there…"
"Oh, Thomas…" She placed her hand on his cheek and pulled him into a kiss. "Tomorrow. We will find her, tomorrow. It will do none of us any good if you get lost out there. Come, if you cannot fall asleep with your wife, then perhaps I can help you." She began to unbutton his shirt. Her long fingers lingering on his chest.
He allowed her to pull him into bed and lose him in the sensation of her warm body. It was not the same, but at that moment, it was enough.
He woke up bright and early the next morning. Lucille was still sleeping when he slipped away and dressed warmly for the chilly weather. The snow had finally stopped, leaving behind its thick white blanket. Taking one step out, his leg sunk deep until only his knees were visible.
"Amelia?!" he called out. "Amelia!"
He looked around him, but all he could see was white. He walked along the path he had had known by heart since he was a child. Her name never left his lips for long as he scared away the morning animals.
After a while, he rested by the tall tree, wishing that he had bundled up a little more. The cold was already making his hands numb and his teeth were chattering uncontrollably, but he couldn't give up. He had to find her. There was no way that she could've gotten very far. Even now, he had difficulty getting anywhere. He should never have allowed Lucille to seduce him into bed. By now, she could be… She could be…
He didn't want to think about it. He had to keep searching.
Pushing himself away from the frozen bark, he stumbled forward, calling out her name, until his throat was hoarse and he was beginning to lose hope. "Amelia…" He coughed, dropping to his knees. His hand brushed against the snow where he found it more compacted.
He took in a shaky gasp. "Oh, no… Amelia… Amelia!" He brushed away the snow around him and crawled along his only clue until his knees hit a solid form.
He cleared the area in front of him until he unburied her motionless form. She was dead. His beautiful sister was dead. "Amelia… I'm so sorry. I should've been there for you." He pressed his cold lips against her colder ones and small puffs of air made him jump back.
She was still alive!
He immediately scooped her up into his arms and ran as quickly as his stiff legs could go back into the mansion. "I'll get you warmed up. You'll be fine." He put her into his own room and started the fire. He quickly shed away all of her drenched clothing and bundled her up in his bed.
"Lucille! Lucille!" he shouted out the hall for his older sister.
She walked out of her room with a startled look on her face. "What on earth is the matter with you, Thomas?"
He stormed up to her face and hissed, "I found her, Lucille. You may not care about our little sister anymore, but I do. I know you killed mother and father. I know why you did, but Amelia? She hasn't done anything wrong."
"I'm sorry, Thomas. I just wanted you to take care of yourself. If you went out at night, you'd have gotten lost and what if you died? Where would I be, then?" She cupped his face to pull him into a kiss, but he turned away from her.
It had always been about her. He wasn't going to allow her selfishness to bring harm to Amelia. Had she already forgotten what their little sister meant to them?
He went down to the kitchen to fetch the tea himself, careful not to touch Lucille's special brew. Waiting for the water to boil took forever. He ended up going back upstairs to check on Amelia.
She hadn't moved an inch and he could tell that her breathing was shallow. He didn't know how to help her. By the time they fetch the doctor, she could be gone. He needed her warm.
He quickly went back downstairs for the tea, ignoring Lucille who was trying to talk to him and Pamela who gave him a concerned look. His sister must've filled her in on what had happened, but neither made any moves to help him. That was for the best.
Locking the door behind him, he stripped out of his clothes and slid into bed. Body heat was supposed to be the best. He wrapped himself around her, trying to suppress the shivers of her frozen flesh against his. She was so very cold.
…
I woke up, feeling sluggish and heavy. My eyes refused to open, but the sensation of the warm body pressed against me gave me the motivation I needed to turn around.
"Amelia?" His velvety voice caressed me. His long fingers ran through my hair.
This body felt so unfamiliar… Had it really been so long since we were last together? Seven years… Were we… strangers, now? It felt as if I didn't know anything about him anymore. He had a wife! He got married…
My heart raced in my chest and I finally found the strength to push away from him. My eyes snapped open to see his alarmed face and his outstretched hand still lingering where I had once been nestled in his embrace.
"Are you alright?" he asked me.
I shook my head.
"Are you hurting anywhere? Do you want some tea to warm up? I can get Luc – "
"No! No… I don't want… I mean…" My heart was hurting, but there was nothing anyone can do about that and I couldn't tell him how I felt because he wasn't mine anymore. Someone else had his heart…
He dropped his hand. "Tell me what I can do for you, Amelia. You nearly died. I… I thought I lost you…"
I looked away, burying my face into the covers. Suddenly, I felt like that young child, again, unsure of anything. What if I did the wrong thing? What if I drove him even further away? I couldn't lose him… He was the only thing keeping me going, while I was in boarding school. The knowledge that one day, I was finally going to be home, but… Now that I was here, home didn't feel like home. I was a stranger in a familiar, but not identical, place.
A sob escaped me. Why did it have to go so wrong? I never asked for much in life. I didn't care if we had money or even if my parents loved me. All I wanted was him. All I wanted was to know that there was a small place somewhere that I felt safe. Where had it all gone?
"Don't cry," he breathed. "Come here. Let me help you." When I didn't move, he moved over and gathered me back into his arms, stroking my hair and whispering his comforting words into my ears.
"H-How…?" I asked him. "This can't be fixed…"
"Tell me what's wrong and I'll do everything I can do make it right," he pressed on, tilting my chin to look at him. He leaned down and kissed away the tears. "Tell me, Amelia."
I sniffed. "This, Thomas. All of this is what's wrong."
"Do you find me repulsive, now?" he whispered.
How could he even think that? My body was thrumming with desire with him being so close and so, very naked against me. Why was he playing with my feelings like this? It was cruel. "That's not why, at all. Don't you understand? You're married. You have a wife. We… I-I…" I still love you.
He moved his lips along my face and settled just a breadth's length away from my lips. "None of that matters, Amelia. I love you as much as the day we both made love for the first time. I love you as much as the day we were separated and all I could do was hold your night slip close to me to convince myself that one day, we'd be together again. None of that has changed. I'm still so terribly in love with you." He pressed his lips against mine and I finally noticed the throbbing member pushing against my thighs. "How can you ever think that I could ever stop loving you? It's simply impossible."
"I… I l-love you, too." The tears came back, but for a different reason.
It was relief.
I had thought my world had shattered all around me, but it seemed as if I was merely displaced and Thomas found me, just as he had always done.
"Oh, darling…" He kissed me, again, running his hand down my body. "Are you still cold?"
"Just a little," I replied, shivering, but it was mainly from his feather-light touches that sent tingles all over my body.
He nudged open my thighs. "Then allow me to warm you up." His cock jerked against me. "God… I love you so much." He pushed in, causing me to yelp. It had been seven years since we had last been together. It felt like the first time, again, stretching me so impossibly wide and he was so big, now.
"Thomas!" I cried out when he fully sheathed himself inside me, bumping into my cervix.
"Shh… Keep quiet, or the others will hear," he murmured, swallowing the rest of my cries, as he pulled up nearly all the way and slammed back in.
Our bodies moved together in an old dance that had matured over time.
He groaned, falling on top of me, kissing my shoulder. "Promise me that even with Pamela here, you won't hide yourself from me and you won't run away, again. I thought I had lost you. I thought you were dead."
"As long as you promise that you'll always love me."
"Always."
The days after, we'd make in love in secret. Thomas didn't even want Lucille to know and I wasn't opposed to that. She had been rather cold to me after my return. My other sister had been my protector before, but now… She reminded me of mother. The way she'd stare at me made the tiny hairs on my body stand on end and I could always feel them on me.
Her animosity confounded me. I wanted my sister back, but all she wanted to do was play on her piano. Whenever I tried to talk to her, she'd make an excuse to leave the room. What had I ever done to her?
Pamela, however, had been so welcoming – so kind. It was impossible to hate her and what we did behind her back made it so much more difficult. The guilt was always at the pit of my stomach whenever she smiled at me, whenever she shared her stories with me, whenever she told me of a future she wanted for her new family…
How did Thomas do it? I knew that he went to bed with her every night, but he'd always ended up back in his room where I resided in.
"Amelia…" he whispered along my skin, his member gliding in and out of me. "Don't ever leave me."
"Never," I promised, bringing him up for a kiss.
The next morning, there was a loud argument outside the door. It had been so early that it had even woken up Thomas who clung on to me tightly before quickly getting dressed. "Stay here. I'll see what's going on."
He ran his hand through his hair several times to make himself presentable and slid out the door, closing it quietly behind him.
"What is going on, ladies?" I heard him ask.
I quietly slipped out of bed and picked up the dress from the floor. Pressing my ears tightly against the door, I could hear them more clearly.
"Your sister is mad!" Pamela shouted. "She tried to kill me! She tried to push me down the stairs!"
"I did no such thing," Lucille calmly stated. "I was in my room when she took a tumble. When I heard her cry, I came out to investigate and saw her on the stairs, crying out in pain. I tried to help her, brother, but she kept sprouting that I was trying to kill her."
I opened the door to a sliver to peek out.
"She's lying! I know someone pushed me!" Pamela looked at Thomas for help, but he looked indecisively between the two.
"Let's stop this argument and sit down, have something to eat. It's early. I don't know what exactly occurred, but I do not want any misunderstandings between us," he finally said, watching both women huff. "Allow me to retrieve my coat and I will be right there."
I quickly closed the door before anyone looked over my way.
When Thomas re-entered the room, I could see how stressed he was. I placed my hand on his face and pulled him into a kiss. "It'll be alright. Do you want me to go with you? I know that Lucille's been rather… irritated as of late."
He groaned, pressing his lips back down upon mine. "I don't know. I just want to get back into bed with you and wish that this is all just a horrible nightmare."
I chuckled. "No such luck, but we'll get through this nightmare together, as we always have."
"As we always have."
By the time we were both in the kitchen, I could feel the thick tension in the air only continuing to thicken as Lucille didn't even spare us a glance. Pamela, on the other hand, were desperately trying to hide the fact that she was crying, but her eyes were bloodshot.
I sat down beside her, placing my hand on hers. She turned to me with a watery smile, appreciating the support.
"Come, sit, sister," Thomas beckoned to the seat beside him, across from his wife. "Let us speak what is on our mind and hope that we will be able to resolve this. I want my sister and my wife to get along."
With a sigh, Lucille took the pot off the heat and primly slid in, placing her hand on top of the old wooden table. "Pamela, I apologise if you thought I had anything to do with your accident, this morning, but as I mentioned before, I was still in my room when it happened."
The other woman looked so small as she looked down, shaking her head. It was clear that she didn't believe a word Lucille said, but she had no more fight in her. "That is fine. I'm tired. I wish to retire back into my room."
"You may." Lucille narrowed her eyes.
Pamela shuffled away, her sniffs still audible as she scurried up the stairs.
"What has happened to you, Lucille?" I quietly asked her. "Why are you being like this? I come back and I feel as if you're not the same person, anymore. I feel as if I've lost my sister."
"Perhaps you have," she hissed. "You don't know what I had to go through to protect you when you were a weak, little child, and when I was taken away, I had to suffer throw those doctors thinking that I was mad!" Her hand shot out to grip my wrist tightly. "All I had ever done was try to protect you and you repay me by stealing him away from me!"
"Lucille!" Thomas exclaimed. "Let her go. You're hurting her."
I could only stare at the fury in my sister's eyes. I had never seen her so angry at me before, even after all those beatings. Perhaps, she had always hated me, but her duty as older sister made her feel obliged to protect me back then.
"Before you came back, he was mine! Even with a wife. He was MINE!" She finally let go, storming away, leaving the two of us in silence.
I knew that Thomas and Lucille had been intimate before. It was where Thomas learned everything. I also knew that as comfort, we'd fall into each other's arms to try to forget about everything. Since my own feelings for Thomas lingered, I knew hers had, too. I just didn't know that she thought I was stealing him, somehow. I had no problem with sharing him with her, it was the wife that had caught me by surprise.
"Your wrist… It's bruising. I'll go get a hot compress and – "
"No," I stopped him. "Stay." She had done so much for me. Could I not do this one little thing for her?
I looked at him, staring back at me with concern, but Thomas wasn't one little thing. He was neither little nor a thing. He was my world. I was willing to share her with him, but I was never going to be able to let him go. "I just want my family back…" I whispered, finally feeling my own tears fall.
He got up and held me from behind. "As do I, Amelia. As do I…"
…
The days passed like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. My relationship with Lucille had not improved, at all, but Pamela and I found an understanding. She told me how she thought no one would ever marry her because of her disposition. I didn't understand what she meant, until she hiked up the skirt of her dress and shyly showed me the scars on her legs.
She told me of how she had gotten into a carriage accident when she was a young girl and the doctor had tried their best to fix her, but over the years, her condition was deteriorating. Her legs always pained her and walking up and down the stairs were always a problem.
It seemed that Thomas already knew of her problems before he married her and I began to suspect that there was a reason why he had gone along with it. Pamela Upton came from a wealthy family. They were helping Thomas with getting parts for his machines.
I wanted to believe that he wouldn't have married for money, but the evidence was so clear that I found it hard difficult to deny it.
Seeing my expression, Pamela voiced my worries. She knew of my siblings' intentions and were well aware that she was only good for the coins that her family sent, but she was content. Her family's reputation was saved when Thomas had asked for her hand in marriage. She didn't have to live as a spinster, ridiculed by the other ladies.
I couldn't imagine how she had felt, feeling so undesirable. My family had been the only ones that mattered to me. Their opinions were the only ones that could ever affect. Even all the teasing in boarding school was just a time in my life that I could pretend was merely a very long story that I had immersed myself in and I was now done with that chapter. I just had to get through this one as well, where my sister was replaced by a dragon.
But the times grew harder when Pamela collapsed, one day. She had been walking with me to the library when she legs collapsed beneath her. Cries of pain echoed through the entire house. I ran through the house in search of Thomas and found him outside, tinkering with his machine, again.
"Thomas! Thomas!" My panic-stricken voice immediately alerted him that was something was terribly wrong. "It's Pamela! She's in pain. I don't know what to do. I think she might need a doctor!"
Indeed, one look at her and Thomas had gone into town to fetch Dr. Chamberlain. The doctor had inspected her for a good hour before informing them that she was best to stay off her legs from now on. They were going to be of no more use to her.
Thomas forlornly handed him several coins before storming away, leaving Pamela to rest. I quickly followed him and wrapped my arms around him after he fell heavily on to the armchair in our room.
"I'm sorry, Thomas." It was going to be difficult for them. With an invalid in the house, I knew that it would only further irritate Lucille.
"Perhaps if she had not been cooped up in this wretched house…" he whispered. "Perhaps if she had proper care, none of this would've happened."
I stroked his face. "It's not your fault. She's told me of how happy she was to be here – to be married to a great man like you."
"I'm not a great man, Amelia. I'm not even a good man. I'm a con artist, slowly bleeding her family dry, trying to revive this broken place." He looked down at his hands. "Are we fated to just rot here?"
"Can't we leave?" I asked him. "We can sell this property. I'm sure someone would love to purchase it and we can go somewhere – anywhere. We don't need such a big house. I wouldn't mind something smaller with less rooms to clean and…" I shuddered at the thought of all the moths and larvae that were always plaguing the house.
"I would love to, but Lucille doesn't want to go and I can't leave her here by herself." His words rang true. No matter how poorly she treated us, we owed her our lives.
I held his hands in mine. "Then we'll figure something out. In the mean time, maybe you can make something for Pamela? I really don't want her to be caged in her room."
"Yes, I shall do that." With his mood lightened just slightly, I gave him a kiss and got off his lap as he made his way down to his workshop.
He had spent several days there, barely eating or sleeping, but when he came back out, he had a wooden chair in front of him. It was crudely made, but it had wheels on the sides and two handles at the back.
"Sit down," he told me.
I gave him an incredulous look before complying. As he began to push, I found myself unsure of where to put my feet as they slightly dragged the dusty floor. When I told him of the issue, he muttered a curse under his breath and wheeled the chair – and me – back into his workshop.
Scrap pieces of wood was everywhere. The entire room was covered with sawdust and I could see a small tower of plates tucked in a corner. "Oh, Thomas. You have to get out of here. Take a break. I can't bear to see you like this."
"I'll be fine. I'm almost done. I just need to add one more piece of wood near the bottom. Give me the rest of the evening and I will see you in bed, tonight," he promised me. "I know I've been neglecting you as of late, but I promise… I promise that I love you and I am trying my hardest."
"I know…" I whispered, kissing his lips.
Thomas was always trying so hard. Even when he was just a child, he had done everything he could to get involved in the clay business, but it was never enough for father. He wasn't muscular like James Sharpe had been. We had all taken on mother's lithe frame, but mother never cared for us. She didn't love father and us, being his spawns, she didn't love us, either.
We drew comfort in each other because that was the only way we knew to stay sane, but sometimes, it felt as if I had stolen him away from Lucille. I knew that she had had him first and we tried to keep things equal between us.
"Brother, Lucille is watching," I whispered, brushing his hair back.
He groaned, turning slightly to see that their older sister was by the doorway with a tray of tea in her hands, a small smile on her face.
"Have you two started without me?" There was a coldness in her eyes that dropped the temperature in the room.
We knew that she liked to be in control of the situation. Usually, the two of us would only make love together when we knew that we wouldn't be caught by her or our parents, but we had gotten careless. We had gotten carried away. Our desires had overridden all rational thoughts.
She sat the tray down and crawled into bed.
"Have you fallen asleep already, my love?"
I opened my eyes, seeing Thomas hovering above me. His coat was gone and his white shirt was partially unbuttoned. I ran my hand across his pale, toned flesh. "I love you, Thomas."
He groaned, leaning down to catch my lips. "I love you, too." His hands worked quickly to shed me of my night slip before throwing the rest of his clothes to the side. "My sweet Amelia…"
I wrapped my legs around him, grinding our bodies together.
…
"Thomas!" He kissed her pale neck and trailed down to the valley of her breasts, stroking and squeezing the mounds in his hands. Her soft moans drove him absolutely mad.
Looking at her, he brought a stiff nipple into his mouth and sucked. He loved pleasuring her, watching her face as she responded so beautifully to him. She was a temptress. She was his sin. No one else could ever make him feel this way, not Pamela and not even Lucille.
"You must be quiet," he groaned. "You wouldn't want anyone to hear, would you?"
She clamped her lips shut, shaking her heads and looking up at him with her big, round eyes.
He stroked himself until he was fully hard before guiding himself into her tight hole. Every inch was a struggle. By the time he reached the end of her tunnel, he nearly spilled inside her. "Amelia…"
"More," she moaned as he began to slam himself inside her.
Her cries fuelled him to go faster. He needed this. After everything that happened in his life, he needed her to be his one saving grace – his beautiful angel to bring him off this miserable planet and into her heavenly embrace.
After they both climaxed together, he rolled them over, bringing her to lay on his chest as they breathed heavily, recovering from the burst of pleasure that had been so all consuming.
The next morning, he had presented the moveable chair to Pamela who gave him the widest smile he had ever seen. He only wished that he could've returned it. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could do more for you."
She shook her head. "You've done everything you could. It is not your fault that this has happened. Don't blame yourself. Never blame yourself."
Her kindness made him wish that he could've been faithful to her. He wished that he could've loved her as a husband should love his wife, but he didn't. All he could do was care for her as well as he could. He'd wheel her around the house and outside for fresh air. He made sure she was warm and comfortable, but it never seemed to be enough.
Since losing her ability to walk, she had been depressed. Her smile became forced and she spoke less and less. No matter how she tried to pretend that everything was alright, he knew otherwise. He just didn't know how to fix it, just as he didn't know how to fix this house and the machine… No matter what he did, nothing was right.
As seasons passed, she grew sicker and sicker. Her health deteriorated quickly, until even the chair could not convince her to leave her room, anymore. He'd sit there in her room, several hours of day, keeping her company.
Most of the time, Amelia would be with him. He knew that his relationship with her had grown no further than being close friends, so it came to no surprise to him that Pamela enjoyed her presence as much as his.
"It's going to be alright, Pamela," Amelia whispered, clutching the other woman's cold hands. "You'll get better and then, when the snow is gone, we'll go on a trip to town."
"I'd like that," she replied, her eyes already fluttering closed from exhaustion.
Once they left the room, Thomas slide down the wall. "What am I going to do?" Thomas whispered, holding his head with his hands.
Lucille had already called Dr. Chamberlain several times to check up on her condition, but even the good doctor didn't know what was wrong with her. They suspected that since she lost her ability to freely travel, she had lost her spirit to live.
If only they could help her with that. He felt as if he had already tried everything, nothing gave Pamela her smiles back.
Amelia sighed. "Make her as happy as you can. That is all you can do."
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles, leaving them on his lips as he spoke. "Thank you, Amelia."
Pamela never made it through the winter.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
As usual, this was intended to be a one-shot, but since just this first part is over seven thousand words, I had decided to put it up into several parts. My aim is to have a chapter for every wife Thomas has had.
Please, leave a review if you'd like to see more of this.