Chapter 25 Night of bliss
It was well dark when we set off as newlyweds. We had dined with the Griffins , like it was at breakfast, my dear husband at the head of the table and I at his right; he had made it a goal to toast everyone at the table, especially his mother-in-law.
We then opened our gifts, everyone had received exactly what they wanted. Lady Griffin got her sea foam green sofa, Katrina a fan, Milord a new pocket watch, my mother received fine Chinese silk, Mrs. Stone a new spoon and Gideon and I… received each other.
Before departing I gave Katrina a pin from my hair sense it was normally customary for the wedding party to rip apart the bride's gown for luck.
With all this done, my captain and I mounted Susanne (whom the Griffins had lent to us) and set off for our honeymoon. I sat sidesaddle in front of my husband so that he might hold onto me under the starless sky. There was a light breeze in the air, very cool, very still. The full moon reflected off the road as if it were a giant candle, so bright that we could see its craters.
"Remarkable!" stated my husband halting Susanne to gaze upon it. "I have never seen Luna so bright!"
"Nor I!" I added with a smile. My husband then put his lips very close to my ear. "Behold my love, my gift to thee, reach out thy hand and take the moon for tonight I am a god whom may give it to thee!"
Playfully I reached out my hand as to obey him, as if taking the moon in my palm. I lowered my hand and turned my face to meet his eyes and smiled. With a click of his tongue Susanne started again.
"Are we going to the inn?" I asked.
"Nay." He replied. "We art going to my New Bedford cottage…near our lake."
I was stunned.
"I purchased it after that first picnic that was when my hopes of our union began."
My heart boomed with this information; I never knew how strong his hope was to marry me back then.
"I stayed at the inn because if we did not marry, I could not bare to settle into a house that was meant for us, a house that would never be a home to me unless ye were in it."
My happiness nearly overflowed. "So it is our home." I stated hoping that he would not see the tears in my eyes.
"Aye, aye my bride… it is our home. it is partly furnished now, but thou may change it as ye please. "
When we reached our home he lifted me from Susanne and I slid down the length of his resilient body as he set me down; chills running through both of us, I looked into his eyes that were filled with unbinding love, affection and undeniable lust. "Belle…" he whispered with the breeze, lips so dangerously close to mine, as we stood chest to chest. The trees rustling the only noise in an otherwise silent night.
"We… we best go in." I blushed,
My husband unlocked our home and I stepped inside. With childlike amazement I spun slowly, mouth agape in awe of the largeness and beauty of my new home. when I faced my awaiting husband watching me from the door, I held my arms opened to him and he rushed into them and instantly found my lips, kissing them again and again as our arms encircled each other. We broke apart only to breathe.
"Oh Prometheus how didst thou make such a sweet thing as these lips …" he kissed me again. "Nay, it was not Prometheus but Aphrodite who made these lips." He kissed my cheek. "and this cheek.." and then my forehead. "and this brow."
"Oh ye Gods, ye crooked players, you can make beautiful things to make this hellish earth seem a heaven, and oh what a heaven, for now I stand before my girl-wife!"
I then went to one of the lamps and light it to a dim glow. I blushed profusely and rang my hands and cleared my throat. "I… have a gift for you as well… my husband."
He raised an eyebrow. "Aye?"
"Well…technically it is from Katrina…that is to say….she gave it to me to…to give to you."
I sat him down in a wooden armchair and sat one of the foot stools before him, I viewed my own silhouette cast on the wall as I slowly placed my foot upon the stool. With timid eyes cast downward, gradually I lifted the skirt of my wedding dress just above the little red garter, never ceasing to blush and never mustering up the courage to meet his burning gaze. The soft fabric of the dress tickled my thigh where I held the gathered dress. Suddenly my husband was upon one knee before me wordless. He lent forward and my eyes fluttered shut as I I felt the warmth of his lips gingerly caress the front of my bare thigh just above the garter followed by his strong fingertips upon the back of my leg. My body trembled with a marvelous, sweet ache that I never had dreamed existed... the feel of his hands... with parted lips and breathy gasps he tugged the garter unhurriedly down my leg. When it was off I opened my eyes again finally able to breathe, I let the skirt fall again. My husband studied my face, had been studying my face the entire time. –little did I know that he was as breathless in that moment as I, incased by a throbbing ache even more intense than my own.
He at last stood and tucked the garter in his pocket. He stared into my eyes almost daring not to touch me again so that he may keep his control. Finally he found timid words. "Might we go upstairs?..." he quietly requested, I nodded as I took his outstretched hand he led me up stairs.
Opening the door to the bedroom he swept me off my feet and carried me over the threshold, our foreheads almost touching.
He set me back on my feet. "I…must turn off the light downstairs…" he said.
My husband left me to stand before the full-length mirror. I reached back to unhook my choker but halted to fully see myself in the mirror and see the bed waiting behind me. What was I about to do? It had passed by my mind occasionally what man and wife do behind closed doors, but never before had I truly examined it in full. In the mirror I caught glimpse of the bed again and shuttered. It frightened me to the point of being deadly still and withdrawing from removing any article of clothing. Never before had a mattress intimidated me so.
I wished I had paid more attention to Katrina and not tuned her out. She had been with plenty of men….sailors even.
What if I did not please my husband? What if I fainted or cried out, would he think me weak? My husband was in my situation once too was he not? Surely he was nervous then also. Surely he would understand.
So lost in my thoughts I only became conscious again when a strong arm wrapped around my waist and a tender kiss was placed upon my neck. "Come to bed, my sweet love." He beckoned. "Come Belle, come to thy husband."
I pulled away gently and turned to him, a full blush on my face. "Forgive me." I muttered. "I have never really done this before. You see, until last night, I had never even kissed a man."
My husband then took both my hands, stroking my knuckles with his thumbs; with a soft understanding in his eyes, it was in this look I know that he, as with everything was going to be captain and leader over this night. He took backwards steps until we reached the bed. One by one he unpinned my hair until it was fully down. And then with fingers so warm, so gently my husband tugged at the delicate laces of my dress before it pooled at my feet, leaving me only in my corset, peddie coat and gloves. My body trembled as he sat himself on the bed, his eyes traveled over my half naked body with a hungry passion, that weakened my knees, the fire in the grate cracking as he took my hand. "Precious little fingers." He hummed before bringing each of my fingers to his lips and kissing each tip before removing the glove, his kisses sent terrific thrills piercing through my body. "Touch me, Belle." He whispered in a husky voice. I brought my hand up to his cheek and craned my neck to meet his lips in a kiss, his hands roamed my body and skillful lips left my mouth and traveled in burning kisses to my chin, neck and shoulders, gently flipping me onto the bed as he found my lips again
We kissed each other again and again, lips colliding with desperate hunger and flaming passion begot and harbored since the first meeting of our hands, his arms wrapped around me and mine around him, my heart raced and my body responded to his every touch with such wondrous, unimaginable sensations as he led me deeper and deeper into a bliss I had never before experienced.
