Chapter 11
Logan took in the windswept landscape, feeling a thrill of excitement. He and Lorelei had just climbed out of their car, Rod exiting a little more slowly, and they shaded their eyes from the bright sun to look at the little cabin, set amidst tall, waving grasses, with huge trees in the distance. Logan felt a grin split his face as he wrapped an arm around Lorelei - he loved having the chance to live so close to nature, with so much openness and yet so much privacy. The wind whistled in their ears, drowning out the rushing sound of water in a nearby creek.
Rod could sense his appreciation, and gestured to the domicile. "Home sweet home," he intoned. "C'mon inside so that I can show you around." He chuckled to himself, and once he'd pushed open the door Lorelei and Logan got his little joke: the cabin was one cozy, square room. On the wall opposite the front door was a woodstove with chimney pipe extending through the ceiling, a counter next to it neatly organized with several knives and utensils and supporting a big grey stoneware cistern. A few cabinets completed the "kitchen," and to the right was a small table and two chairs. Finally, on the left side of the door, a sturdy-looking double bedframe displayed an empty mattress and two pillows.
"The well is out back," Rod informed them. "It's a pump-takes some muscle to get it going, but that shouldn't be a problem." He looked Logan's broad shoulders. "And the necessary right over there," he pointed.
"Necessary?" asked Lorelei.
"Outhouse," Logan murmured to her. "Is that going to be a problem, Baby?"
She shrugged. "Not as long as there's regular toilet paper."
Rod chuckled again. "No fancy indoor plumbing, here. You fill the cistern every other day or so with water for drinking and cooking."
"But where do you bathe?" Lorelei asked, her brow furrowed as she took in the tiny cabin's lack of a bathroom.
Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, Rod responded, "River," the clear water looking entirely frigid, even from far away.
Lorelei looked at Logan with raised eyebrows, getting goosebumps just from looking at the flowing creek. He hugged her, laughing, and kissed the top of her head. "I'll enclose you a little outdoor shower, Lor, so you can use warm water."
"There's no phone or electricity, either," Rod added, "so I generally use these solar lanterns, although during the summer nights it stays light so late you don't need them. There's a little gas heater in one of the cabinets in case of emergencies, but the woodstove is the easiest way to heat the place when it's cold. So . . . what do you think?"
Logan looked at Lorelei, hopeful that the primitive attributes of the cabin had not scared her off. She smiled, looking satisfied. "Let's move in right now."
00000000000000000000
Tanya looked up when her front door creaked, smiling when she saw her older brother coming in. "Hey, Teddy Bear," she greeted him, using her childhood nickname for him, a reference to the ursine qualities of his feral nature.
"Hi - heyyy, little guy!" Deek dropped to his knees to accept a hug from his nephew, who began immediately tugging his uncle down to climb onto his back and play 'Bear Cub.'
"Deek, you want lunch?" asked Tanya, heading into the kitchen.
"Nah, I can't stay too long. So . . . I saw you talking to that new female last night. Lorelei."
Tanya pursed her lips. "Yeah," she said, staring at her brother, who was suddenly too absorbed in the toddler to catch her eye.
"She's pretty great."
Tanya snorted. "Sure, if you like 'em sweet. I felt like I was coming down off of a sugar high from her mutation."
Deek gave a little smile at this, looking thoughtful. "Yep. Listen, I was wondering if you could be nice to her. Get to know her, since she's new and all."
Tanya put her hands on her hips. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, Dietrich. It's hopeless with her. She's wild about her mate, anyone can see that. And he's huge - I love you, but you couldn't challenge him."
He nodded, a knowing look on his face. "All the same . . . she could probably use a friend. Someone to talk to. Give support if she needs it. That kind of thing."
Tanya scented him, her eyes full of surprise at the tendrils of manipulation wafting off of him. "Deek," she started, her voice quieter. "You're not- you're not thinking of doing something stupid, are you? I know you want young of your own, but you can't be so impatient that you'd kill-"
"Gotta go," Deek interrupted, tousling the little boy's hair. "I'll see you two later." He was out the door in an instant, Tanya watching him leave with a pit in her stomach.
00000000000000000000
Ten Weeks Later
Logan was pretty sure there wasn't anything more perfect than lying in bed post-coital with his naked wife, her dewy skin smelling of sex and him, in a tiny cabin with no nearby neighbors. He ran his hand over her stomach, which was now just slightly rounded from their growing child, and kissed her temple, sighing with happiness.
"You want breakfast, Baby?" she asked him. "I have to go eat." Her appetite had come on, all of a sudden, in the last few days - it was as if she couldn't get full.
"I'll get it for you," he insisted, displacing her from his chest to jump out of bed and grab his jeans. Sufficiently clothed, he darted out the front door to grab a few pieces of firewood from the pile just outside. Lorelei remained curled up in the sheets, watching the play of muscles and tendons beneath the skin of her husband's bare upper body as he swept over to the woodstove, lit a fire, and put a cast-iron pan on the stovetop to heat up.
"Whew!" he said, rubbing each bare foot in turn on the backs of his calves. "The ground is cold. We'll probably start seeing freezing nights soon, maybe by the end of October. I'm going to have to split some more wood, so that it has time to dry before we need it."
"Mmm," Lorelei was practically purring, stretching her arms and legs in the warm spot on the bed he'd recently vacated, eyes closed. He admired her for a moment, but then, with a glimmer in his eye, he crept over to the side of the bed, his silent footsteps catlike as he reached for the end of the sheet. Jerking it off of her suddenly, he lunged and put his cold hands on her ribs, directly underneath her breasts.
Laughing at the high-pitched yelp she made, he rolled onto his back next to her as she grabbed a pillow to beat him with. He captured both of her wrists with one hand and used the other arm to yank her against him, kissing her breathless, before he gently bit her bottom lip and leapt away.
After they demolished a panful of scrambled eggs, Logan pumped water for the kitchen cistern, filling an extra pot that Lorelei put on the stove to heat dishwashing water. He looked through the toolbox that he'd borrowed from Jim, locating the hatchet and checking its sharpness before heading outside to chop firewood.
For the past couple months, he spent most of his days absorbed in repair work on the cabin: patching the roof, applying weatherstripping to the windows and doors, and insulating the ancient walls in preparation for winter's chill. He loved exerting his strength on such fulfilling tasks, watching these physical accomplishments mount into a comfortable life for him and Lorelei, and he found the solitude of labor to be relaxing and meditative.
They'd both settled nicely into the peaceful community of the Island. Kathy made regular appearances at the cabin, always seeming to bring along some little treat for Lorelei's burgeoning appetite, like homemade bread or a bar of dark chocolate. Logan was stopping in at their hardware store every other day, it seemed, for supplies for Rod's renovations, and between these trips and Kathy's visits, the newlyweds heard about all the goings-on in town.
The small city and proximity of the businesses meant that they ran into Deek frequently, too. After their awkward meeting at the Grange, Deek was polite, but kept his distance, always nodding and waving at them cordially when he saw them around, but not engaging them in conversation.
Blaze was a regular fixture at the bar next to the hardware store, his red eyes and stoic demeanor fading into the background of their occasional brief interactions with Deek, but Hypno was never around. Thus, true to Deek's word, Hypno didn't bother Lorelei, and was so absent from the bar and the Grange that they might have thought he left the Island, save for the presence of his car next to Deek's in the parking area, now and then.
Making a few appearances at the Grange, Logan and Lorelei had the chance to meet Dan, the B&B proprietor who played his guitar for everyone most Fridays, and Amy, the doula and schoolteacher, plus an assortment of other kind residents, both human and mutant alike. Lorelei tried hard to swallow her shyness, because the close-knit society of the Island meant that everyone knew everyone else's business, including her budding pregnancy.
Since these people all knew how rare it was to have a full-mutant child, Lorelei was doted upon and admired as a goddess, and at the social scene of the Grange, everyone wanted an opportunity to ask her how she was feeling, or whether she had a guess about boy or girl. Sitting flush against Logan, whose impassive countenance was a helpful deterrent for some of their nosy neighbors, Lorelei would quietly respond to all the well-wishes amidst her blushes, until she telegraphed to Logan that she'd had enough attention and wanted to leave.
Just when they felt like they were fitting in with the rest of the population, Bill and Linda returned from their travels, greeting Logan and Lorelei like long-lost kin and assuring them how thrilled they were that the two were living on the Island. Bill and Linda's arrival for the winter was a big deal, as if they were minor celebrities, so their companionship with Logan and Lorelei made the two young lovers even more accepted as part of the crowd.
The weeks slipped by into a beautiful Indian summer, with the leaves changing to the brilliant fiery hues of fall, and the days gradually growing shorter and colder, as Logan had observed with his freezing fingers on Lorelei's torso. He spent the better part of that day swinging his hatchet, chopping and splitting logs to stack and cover in preparation for the winter months ahead. The afternoon was sunny and cool, but after working for several hours he stripped off his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat out of his eyes and off his neck, tossing it aside to chug water and return to his task.
Lorelei leaned in the doorway, holding a bowl of late plums that she'd picked from the wild, overgrown tree to one side of their gravelly driveway. She bit into the purple skin of one, catching its juice with her tongue before it could run down her wrist, and chewed the sweet flesh. She made an incoherent sound around her bite, catching Logan's attention to offer him one of the fruits, and he held up his hands so she could toss him one.
"Thanks," he replied, popping the whole thing into his mouth at once, juice running down his chin that he wiped at with the back of his hand.
"Logan, I've been wondering," she said hesitantly. "Should I get a job?"
"No," Logan answered immediately, his eyes on his swing of the hatchet. "I like you right where you are: barefoot and pregnant and giving me food."
She threw a plum pit at him in retaliation, even though this observation of her was accurate - she was barefoot, and stood there wearing one of Logan's t-shirts and nothing else.
He sunk the blade of the hatchet deep into the log before him and turned to her, serious this time. "What are you thinking about, Baby?"
"I was thinking about money," she admitted. "I just know we're trying to keep as much of our savings intact as we can, for when we are ready to leave and build our own cabin. But . . . " she dragged out, "I don't fit into most of my clothes now." She pressed the fabric of his shirt to her front to illustrate this, outlining the small swell of her belly below her lush breasts. He felt his heart pound at the sight of her beauty, but told himself to focus on what she was saying.
"Love, of course you should go get more clothes if you need them. Is that why you're wearing my shirt today? I thought you were just being cute."
"Yeah, my stretchy pants are wet," Lorelei pointed to their clothesline, where a single pair of black yoga pants jostled for space with shirts and socks, drying in the sun.
"Lor, it's smart to think about our savings," said Logan, walking closer to her. "We want to be able to take care of the little one," he added, rubbing the front of her shirt. "But if we're leaving in a few months after the baby's here, that limits your work options, and I just don't think you need to. Let me take care of you - that's what husbands do, right?"
"Yes." She leaned forward from her perch on the step above him, and kissed his sweaty forehead. "I just want to feel like I'm contributing."
"Hey," he said, to get her attention. He hooked both of his hands around the backs of her bare thighs, his dusty, grimy skin at odds with her pale silkiness. "You give me a lot." He bent his head and kissed her stomach, squeezing her legs with his hands at the same time. "A lot."
00000000000000000000
Splitting wood was backbreaking work, even for someone strong with a healing factor, and by the end of the day Logan was spent. He staggered into the cabin, kicking off his boots, and grabbed four pieces of bread to shove in his mouth in lieu of dinner, collapsing on their bed face-down in just his jeans.
"Poor baby," Lorelei sympathized. "Want me to rub your back?"
"Unngh," grunted Logan, which she took to mean yes. She knelt beside him on the bed, running her fingers through his hair and scratching his scalp, which made him sigh with contentment. Putting her hands on his back, she circled her fists, digging in to the tight spots with her knuckles. She leaned into her palms, compressing and stretching him to relieve the aching knots.
"You're stronger than you look," mumbled Logan, moaning appreciatively about his massage. She gripped the back of his neck, pushing her thumbs into the tender muscles at the base of his skull. Continuing her ministrations from her perch on the bed, legs tucked up underneath her, she realized after awhile that Logan had fallen asleep, so exhausted that his mouth was hanging open and he was drooling a little.
Applying one extra little pat on his bottom, she carefully got up from the bed and opened the front door, closing it behind her quietly and stepping outside to admire the last few minutes of the fall sunset, stunning colors which painted the sky in pink, purple, gold, and silver.
"Siren."
She jumped, hearing a voice behind her, and whirled around to see Deek standing there. She put her hand to her chest, which reminded her that she was only wearing a t-shirt that barely covered her ass, and her hands flew to the hem of the shirt, tugging it downward.
He gave her a friendly smile, and before she could speak he said, "Um, hi, Lorelei."
"What are you doing here?"
Deek looked a little taken aback by her bluntness, but kept his grin intact. "Just looking at the sunset, the same as you."
She eyed him warily, and said, "I should go inside to Logan."
He laughed a little, joking, "What is this, 1891? Are you not allowed to talk to people without your husband there?" He took a step closer - he could smell a hint of her delectable scent, and it made him want more.
She took a step back, and he stopped, seeing how guarded she was.
"Your name is pretty," he commented. "You know it's German . . . like mine."
She nodded once. "Good night." She turned and whisked up the front step, slipping through the door and bolting it shut. She breathed out slowly, giving a little shiver, then went over to the bed, lying down next to Logan and snuggling into his warm side. He rolled over, wrapping an arm around her in his sleep, and she moved her head next to his.
Just before she drifted off, it occurred to her that their driveway leading to the road was at the front of the house. Deek had come from behind the house.
Why was he watching us? her subconscious inquired.
