A/N: So we have come to the end of the angst but we still have a bit to go. Nothing depressing only tying up the loose ends in a pretty bow. Thanks to all who review and read. Especially those who review to give me support and suggestions.
Chapter Twenty-six
Finding Their Way
Pricilla awoke to feel severe prickling all along the backside of her body. Erik had fallen asleep with his arm draped across her and his leg nesting in-between her own. The hay that had felt soft earlier now only felt irritating and very scratchy. She hated to wake Erik as he looked quite content at the moment. She smiled when she imagined a little boy with Erik's features nestled in her arms.
Perhaps they might be blessed again with a child. Erik had been quite domineering as well as potent the. Making love twice in such close succession she felt not something most men were capable of accomplishing. Perhaps Erik had a lot of years of going without to make up for.
"Erik? Erik my love it is time for us to return to reality." Reality was the furthest thing from what Pricilla wanted just now. Erik had taken her to heights few were ever able to reach. If she had loved the man before now she positively adored him. Once he had gottne the hang of what made her blood boil he had set her afire.
Erik began to stir. His hand that had been resting at her waist moved to cup her breast possessively. Leaning across her he captured the peak of her other breast within his mouth. Pricilla wanted this but could it be possible?
"Erik you can't possibly…" Erik moved to press his arousal against her thigh. It would seem he indeed could.
"I want to Erik but this hay has become quit…oh Erik," Pricilla squealed the last words. Erik had suddenly rolled to his back carrying Pricilla with him. She now lay comfortably atop him. He had a rather pleased smile which she felt certain would be twinkling in his eyes if he had opened them.
Cupping her backside in his hands Erik commanded playfully, "Pleasure me woman." He squeezed just enough to let her know he made the demand in jest. Blushing furiously Pricilla bit her lip wondering if she dared do something so…so wicked and so decadent.
The light of the siren lit behind Pricilla's normally shy countenance bringing a wickedly tempting smile to her lips. She let this new confident part of her take over. Straddling Erik's firm hips Pricilla let out a sultry laugh when Erik's eyes popped open at her bold move. As she moved to accommodate his arousal Pricilla found she liked how Erik's eyes grew hot with desire for her as she moved slowly setting a teasing rhythm.
Erik's passion clouded mind vaguely wondered where his shy wife had gone. This new Delilah setting fires wherever she touched he liked very much. How could a man not feel intoxicated by her while she in turn made him feel ten feet tall? He had been pleased by her response to everything he had done to her.
With his hands on her hips Erik urged Pricilla into a faster rhythm. She teasingly held back until her own needs demanded she bring them to the culmination of passion. Erik had dropped his guard enough to plead openly with Pricilla. The whispered words of encouragement did much for Pricilla's pride as Pricilla's pleas had done for Erik.
Sweat streaked down Pricilla's back and in-between her breasts. Erik's final groan as he thrust upward then released his seed into Pricilla's womanhood was all she needed to reach her own climatic end. She wilted in a boneless heap lying heavily upon Erik's chest.
When the afterglow of lovemaking began to fade reality set in. Pricilla now felt quite sticky. The scent of their passion permeated the air. She imagined her hair might resemble that of a scarecrow as she picked bits of hay out of her hair. The books all spoke of the romance and passion but nowhere did she recall reading anything about the less than pleasant aftermath once the fires were douced.
Comparing Erik's manly look to her own bedraggled state Pricilla considered this just another of life's unfair differences between men and women. She looked like a vagabond or worse while Erik looked like some virile lord of the manner. It really wasn't fair.
Erik taking notice of her down turned lips asked worriedly, "What has your mouth angled in such a discontented frown?" He hoped it had nothing to do with his performance. She had seemed to be…well he had not heard any complaints among all those shouts and cries of passion.
"I know it's silly but I just had the thought that women, me in this instance, do not fare well making love in the hay. You come away looking more attractive while I look like some vagrant who spent the night in the stables."
Only momentarily had Erik been distracted by her claim that he looked more attractive than before. Pricilla bless her, stroked his manly pride without meaning to. This Erik felt certain only solidified as further proof she saw the man and not the monster he sometimes still thought himself to be, especially when he must look into a mirror closely at his own mangled face.
Tipping her down bent head up to face him Erik said huskily, "Pricilla your dishevelment only makes me want you more as I know that it was our passion that brought this alluring look about. You could never look anything but what you are, a woman of beauty both on the outside and more importantly on the inside.
I count myself among the luckiest men in the world to have won your favor. It is I who needs to worry whether or not I please you. You shame me with your generosity in loving me, a man not worthy to touch one hair on your head.
Being the utterly selfish man I am I will naturally accept whatever you will give me and be grateful for it. Do not ever think yourself anything other than the wonderful woman you are. The miracle in all of this is that without benefit of any explanation you still welcomed me to share one of the most intimate acts between two people."
Erik felt that with this new closeness between them it would be the right time to reveal all of his past that she had not read about in his journal. He had written about most of his life but not all. The worst years he had left out.
"You deserve to know everything about me and you shall. I do think that we should dress first and make ourselves as presentable as we can just in case we have a visitor. Then I shall gladly answer any questions you may have to ask of me. I will also tell you of my life from my earliest memories until today. Not all will be pleasant and I will not be telling it to gain your sympathy or favor. Things are what they are. My past has made me the man I am today for better or worse.
I cannot go back and change anything I have done only try to use it as a guide of what I must work on to change within me. Now let us dress and then the journey into my past can commence."
Pricilla debated whether or not she wanted to listen to Erik's history as much of it would entail years at the opera house and Christine. Pricilla had only just come to accept that Erik could possibly love her. She did not want some ghost from Erik's past to intrude once more.
Knowing everything must be laid out to be discussed and examined, Pricilla fortified herself with the knowledge that Erik loved her now and not that…that little diva who had broken the man Erik had been.
She would listen with an open mind. Perhaps it was not the distant past she should be worried about anyway. Erik's recent misjudgments troubled her more. If he confessed some misstep Pricilla did not know if she could bear to hear it after just having worked her way to forgiving Erik for leaving her in pursuit of that damned diva woman. Pricilla had nearly inserted devil woman in her mind instead of diva woman. She did not like this catty side of her but could do nothing to stem the flow of resentment from forming distasteful pictures in her mind. As if the ghost of Erik's little angel had not been enough to compete with Olivia Patterson had to make a play for Erik. This woman Pricilla considered a more viable threat as she lived far too close in Pricilla's estimation.
Once they had returned everything to where it should be they removed any stray pieces of hay that still clung to them. All the picking and touching nearly distracted them from the purpose of the moment. A few gut wrenching kisses later, Erik forced himself to move further away from Pricilla. If he could touch her they would never leave the stable or discuss what needed to be discussed.
It was well into the late afternoon before their stomachs growling brought them away from every moment of Erik's unfortunate beginnings, through the opera house years, then all the time he had spent in the last two years here in America until this moment where he and Pricilla now sat.
Erik had not been able to resist throwing herself into Erik's arms kissing him randomly all over his face when he had swore on his honor he had not given in to that woman Olivia. The truth in his eyes convinced her more than his words. He had looked back at her steadily without so much as a twitch of an eyelid as he gave his solemn vow of fidelity.
It had not been easy revealing every wrong he had ever committed. He had been tempted many times to lie to Pricilla but felt she would know he lied and that would be worse than having her know all of his dark past.
At the end exhaustion and hunger drove them from their place of intimacy. Pricilla kissed Erik tenderly at the end of his painful revelations. She had been overjoyed to know Erik had not given in to any attraction he felt for Olivia. She felt guilty to have driven him to react out of spite to her coldness as well as her unwillingness to listen to any explanation he may have given. If only they both had thought things through all of this could have been avoided.
They made a pact not to ever leave any thorn to fester in a wound. They'd pluck it out before the poison could spread and infect their happy life. Holding hands while leaning into one another they reluctantly left their temporary sanctuary. They would never be able to look at the stable in the same light again. Those around them would shake their heads at the silly smile and dreamy eyed look that would come to Pricilla and Erik whenever they went to the stables or even had it brought into a conversation.
All everyone knew for sure was that the couple had changed that day becoming more demonstrative with their affections, at times embarrassingly so. For a man who would not show any affection among others now Erik openly caught Pricilla around the waist at various times of the day to kiss her with unchecked passion. Handholding became the norm for the couple.
Only Nick knew what had brought about this change and he would never speak of it to anyone other than his own brother. The two kept their secret until the day they died.