I do not own any American Gothic characters, this is a work of fan fiction. This story is a continuation of my previous stories and follows on from River Of Dreams.
It was a cool fresh Spring morning in Trinity South Carolina. A thick mist engulfed the Town like a blanket, covering the freshly bloomed flowers with a soft wet residue and this brought on a dampness to the air. Gail Buck stood peering out of the large open window of her bedroom, with her arms crossed over her chest to provide necessary warmth. As she took in the early morning atmosphere, she compared the eerie setting before her to something she would expect to read in a Stephen King novel and shook her head at the strangeness of her hometown.
It had been a peculiar few weeks since she had found out that she was pregnant and although she had managed to muddle along with her mandatory daily tasks, she had been disorientated and lacked her usual ability to navigate through her busy schedule. Gail found that she was unable to multitask like she used to and her professional duties were suffering, due to her lack of concentration.
After weeks of researching the limited information available regarding the Buck family tree and visiting the family graveyard at the edge of the property, she had been unable to locate any evidence to suggest that a female Buck had ever existed apart from the ones married into the family name. That bizarre discovery coupled with the hostile presence she sensed around the property resulted in her current course of action, which was to disregard the whole situation and attempt to carry on as usual. She had decided that if she ignored what was happening, the matter would cease to impact her life currently and she could regroup when she had more time to focus on figuring out what it all meant.
Lucas had been his usual confident, charming self and had attempted to engage her about her current predicament; however, she had made it clear to him that she did not want to discuss the matter and any further attempt to engage her would meet with dire consequences. She sensed that he was not impressed with her refusal to acknowledge her current state, but he heeded her wishes anyway and did not push the matter.
Gail glanced over her shoulder at her husband, as he lay sleeping peacefully on their large bed and felt a wave of revulsion come over her. She knew he would claim that they were in this together and he would never hurt the child growing inside of her; however, he was a Buck and the thought of there being no female children in this bloodline kept repeating in her mind, causing her concern and doubt in his apparent supportive nature towards her. Although she would like to believe she could trust her husband, he had been raised by the sadist Malcolm and his continuous lack of respect for women did not fill her with confidence about his loyalty in this matter.
Lucas stirred in the bed when he reached his hand out from beneath the silk covers and felt the cold empty space beside him. He turned onto his back and surveyed the bedroom, concerned with his wife's unexpected lack of presence at this early hour. When he located her by the window in her short nightdress, he let out a relieved sigh and signalled for her to return to him. 'You'll catch your death of cold there love' he advised tiredly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, in an attempt to clear the haziness of his vision.
Gail continued to regard him with abhorrence for a moment, then forced a sweet smile when his vision cleared and obediently returned to their bed. 'God forbid I require some fresh air to wake up my senses' she said pleasantly and allowed him to wrap his arms around her, careful not to show her true feelings.
Lucas sensed a hint of resentment within her; however, he had respected her wishes not to discuss her current state and he assumed that the tension he sensed radiating off of her was linked to her condition. 'I can think of a better way to wake you up Darlin'' he teased seductively, choosing to disregard her resentment and pulled her closer to him.
Gail felt the hostility brewing inside of her and felt a sudden urge to lash out; however, when Lucas' hand trailed across her stomach tenderly, her demeanour softened and she leaned back into him. 'I haven't got time for this, I really should get up and see to the children' she advised unconvincingly.
Lucas ran his lips over her neck softly and nipped at her ear playfully. 'You need to see to yourself before you focus on anyone else love' he whispered, then reached beneath her nightdress and stroked her sweet spot teasingly.
Gail's dark feelings towards him washed away instantly as he caressed her and all that was remaining was her desire for him. She welcomed his warmness and reached behind her to pull his lips to hers, craving their undeniable connection.
Lucas kissed her passionately, savouring the taste of her in his mouth and gently parted her legs. 'We're in this together Gail, can't you feel it?' he whispered reassuringly, then gently pushed his hard manhood inside of her and let out a loud satisfied moan.
Gail closed her eyes at the comment she had predicted he would make and let out a small laugh. She squeezed his hand that was caressing her stomach, feigning her unwavering trust in him; however, she was careful to keep her guard intact and continued to hide her true feelings from him, as he took her softly.
Caleb drummed his fingers impatiently on the small table in the kitchen, as he sat waiting for his father or Gail to come down. He had heard movement from their bedroom when he had gotten up; however, it had been close to an hour since then and neither of them had left the bedroom. Caleb was beginning to get agitated, he was due at School in fifteen minutes and if neither of them drove him, he would get a scolding from Miss Coombs for being late.
He waited for a few more minutes to see if there was any movement, before glancing at the clock in frustration and getting up to grab his School bag. He rushed to the front door and went to fetch his bicycle; however, he remembered that he had been banned from riding by Gail, due to his broken arm and let out an exasperated sigh. He did not understand why he was unable to ride as his arm was almost fully healed, but he did not dare go against Gail's orders and just exited the house on foot moodily.
Caleb rushed towards the bus stop suspecting he had already missed the School bus, he waited for a few minutes and let out a long sigh when his suspicion was confirmed. He gave one last glance towards his home, hoping to see Gail stood at the door ready to drive him; however, when the large black door remained unmoved, he turned in the direction of his School and began walking.
As he strolled down the long quiet streets, he pondered over the happenings of the past few weeks. The atmosphere at home had been strange, even by his standards and he suspected his parents were hiding something from him. Gail had drummed it into him previously that he was always to tell the truth; therefore, when he was alone with her he had opted to ask her outright if everything was alright and test whether she would be honest with him. Gail had just smiled sweetly at him, caressed his cheek and kissed his forehead. When he tried to repeat the question she placed her finger softly on his lips, then shushed him as though they shared a secret that he was unaware of and went on with her tasks.
The thought of Gail brushing him off in this way made him smile and although the atmosphere appeared off recently, she had been caring for him more and more like a mother should. Gail had freed up a lot of her time for him, much to the disapproval of her Editor Mark and their relationship continued to grow stronger.
Due to his broken arm, Caleb had been unable to play after School like he usually would and Gail had taken it upon herself to entertain him. He was thoroughly enjoying the time he spent with her and when they were playing a board game together the other night, he had been laughing so hard that he accidentally let slip how he had started to regard her of late. Caleb had blushed instantly with embarrassment at the slip of his tongue; however, Gail just smiled her sweet smile that he had become accustomed to and stroked his arm reassuringly, before taking her turn.
Caleb loved how she could dissolve his embarrassment and worry with a single smile and supposed he could forgive her for choosing to have a lie in today. He was a teenager now after all and he did not require her to accompany him to School like a child; however, he would have appreciated some warning as he was well and truly late, and Miss Coombs was going to have his hide.
'Come on slowpoke, jump on. We ain't got all day!' Rose ordered cheerfully, as she pulled her breaks to bring her bicycle to a halt next to her friend.
Caleb smiled at the sight of his pretty friend; however, he shook his head and remembered Gail's orders. 'I ain't gettin' on that thing, you'll break my other arm!' he joked.
Rose narrowed her eyes at him, then let out a long sigh. 'Alright then, walk and be even more late. I'm sure Miss Coombs will reward you with a cookie' she said sarcastically, then laughed when he pulled his tongue out at her and started to climb onto her bicycle.
'If Gail sees me on this thing...' he started cautiously.
'She'll have to tell herself off for not drivin' you to School, now shut up and let me concentrate on not crashin'' Rose ordered, not used to the extra weight as she rode.
Caleb laughed and held on tight, he supposed Gail would not be able to scold him if she caught him as technically he was a passenger and not in fact riding; therefore, he sat back and enjoyed the closeness with his friend.
Gail lay in bed comfortably and stared up at the ceiling, pondering over her life while Lucas showered. She had heard the front door close when Caleb left for School and had intended to get up to take him; however, Lucas made it clear that he was not finished with her and used his strength to overpower her when she attempted to leave the bed. She supposed she should have protested more, maybe even scolded Lucas for disregarding the needs of his eldest son, but she was drained and did not have the strength to put up a good argument. Her energy was beginning to deplete more quickly these days and she was finding it harder to fight him.
Caleb had been concerned for her lately, a sad fact when he had a broken arm and she was supposed to be taking care of him. He had questioned her regarding how she was, clearly sensing there was something going on and rather than being a hypocrite and lying, she had chosen to brush off the question with affection and just did not answer. She had taught Caleb the importance of telling the truth, it would not have been right for her to lie to him and she was not ready to disclose her condition to anybody else just yet.
Caleb was a good caring boy, he seemed to be embracing family life strongly recently and had even called her Mom a few nights ago. She was unsure of how she felt about that, especially with her current predicament; however, she supposed it was normal for a child to feel such things when they finally had a stable family environment and rather than allowing him to feel ashamed for his slip of the tongue, she had smiled warmly at him to indicate that his feelings were nothing to be embarrassed about.
Gail had chosen not to inform Lucas of the slip, knowing full well that he would not be able to hide his smugness at how their family was coming together just as he had previously predicted it would. She could not bear the thought of the superiority that it would bring out of him and she was happy that Caleb had kept the incident to himself, acting normal around his father so not to arouse suspicion.
She smiled when she thought about how clever Caleb was and how far he had come since she had returned to Trinity, it was not a small feat considering who the head of the family was and Caleb was doing well not to be controlled by the darkness she knew was inside of him. Her husband had also been very inactive in that area of late and apart from the incident a few weeks earlier with Merlyn, she had not heard any whispers of unusual or unexpected accidents. Lucas had been far too nice for her liking recently, ever the loyal family man and it made her even more suspicious of his true intentions.
As if sensing her thoughts, Lucas entered the bedroom with beads of water from the shower still visible on his skin and a towel around his waist covering his manhood, holding two mugs of coffee in his hands. 'My true intentions huh?' Lucas smiled knowingly, then placed a soft kiss on her lips and passed her a mug when she sat up in the bed.
'How very nice of you husband' she said flatly, not hiding her suspicion and took the mug obediently.
Lucas laughed and shook his head. 'It's just a coffee for my tired wife, who clearly didn't sleep well last night...No hidden motives here love' he reassured her, then sat beside her and stroked her back gently.
'You're right, what was I thinking? Why would Lucas Buck ever have a hidden agenda?' she asked sarcastically and took a sip of the coffee, ignoring how hot the liquid was when it trailed down her throat.
'You can't judge when you'd have happily used your body to gain access to my personal details, prior to our official unity that is. If I recall correctly, you did delve deep into my property after using our closeness to your advantage, so you ain't no Saint in that regard love' he responded defensively, still stroking her back.
'If I recall correctly I'd already already given myself over to you on a number of occasions by that point, so thanks for your vote of confidence in my integrity husband' she snapped, unimpressed at his comment.
Lucas inhaled deeply and stroked her cheek softly. 'I'm not the one who has a problem with trust here Gail. Are we gonna hash this out already so we can just move on?' he asked, trailing his fingers down her bare arm slowly and smiling when she bit her lip to stifle a low moan.
Gail stared deep into his eyes, then let out a long sigh and shook her head. 'There's nothing to hash out soulmate and you're late for work' she advised sweetly, placing a soft kiss on his cheek and manoeuvring around him to exit the bed.
Lucas watched intently as she headed to Luke's crib and picked up their son when he reached for her excitedly. 'I'm Lucas Buck love, there ain't no time stamp I need to follow...Maybe I'll stay here all day with you and Luke, I'm sure we can find somethin' to do to entertain ourselves' he suggested mischievously, then stared at her seductively and untied the towel around his waist to reveal his hard manhood.
Gail ensured Luke's attention was over her shoulder while she faced her husband, then licked her lips teasingly and inhaled deeply. 'Alas, I wouldn't be a very responsible mother if I allowed my son to be banished to his crib all day, while his parents selfishly satisfied themselves' she stated in mock scorn.
Lucas let out an exasperated sigh and covered himself up, before rising from his seated position on the bed and approaching her. 'I suppose you're right, for a change' he teased and smiled when Luke reached for him affectionately. 'Besides, I wanna be present to back my horse when the Mayoral debate starts later'
Gail's glanced at him confused, then her eyes opened wide when the comment sank in and she cursed herself for being oblivious to what day it was.
Lucas smiled smugly at her reaction, knowing how preoccupied his wife had been recently and bounced Luke slightly to entertain him. Her current state had made her disorientated and unable to focus on anything other than their family, making it easier for him to push his candidate for Mayor to the forefront above hers and he knew that she would not take well to his current advantage. 'Forget somethin' important Darlin'?' he asked, feigning innocence.
Gail felt herself becoming angry at his smug demeanour and wanted to tear him apart; however, she would not give him the satisfaction of causing her to lose control and took a deep breath to calm her emotions. 'Not at all, it's all good. Enjoy the quality time with your son and I'll see you later when I'm backing my horse soulmate' she smiled calmly, then grabbed some clothes before he had a time to protest and left them alone while she attended to her neglected duties.
-To be continued-