Chapter 46: One Secret Freely Given

Jack walked with his arm around Mary's waist. The dirt road changed to soft grass under their feet as the passed through the gated entrance to Jack's farm. Off to the west, there was a brilliant sunset, one of the most colorful they could ever remember seeing.

Jack looked over at his somewhat barren farmland, the harvest being complete. Yesterday, the first day that he had been feeling well enough to work, Jack went out to try and save what was left of the crop before it had all rotted away or was eaten by animals. He had been puzzled at first, because not only was there far less crops on the vine than he remembered, but of the crops that were still there, not a single one was overripe or rotting. It took him a little bit to figure out, but he finally realized that Mary had tended to the farm during his incapacitation, shipping the ripest crops before they went bad.

Most people didn't know the true Mary. She was so much deeper than they believed. Despite her shyness and tendency to bury herself in the world of books, she was so much more. Mary lived a double life of sorts. For she also had a somewhat tomboyish interest in the outside world that she tried very hard to hide. She loved nature, from the plants and animals all the way down to insects. It often seemed hard to believe that little Mary enjoyed going hiking in the mountains with her father to gather herbs and roots.

Jack stopped outside his home and pulled Mary close to him, "Thank you Mary."

"Uh, you are welcome? What did I do?"

With one hand, he turned and gestured across his farmland, "For helping to save the harvest. It really means a lot to me."

"Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was fun and..." she faded off.

"You found that it was fun getting your hands dirty? Working in the dirt? It is awfully fun isn't it? I can't really blame you." Jack smiled smugly.

Mary blushed something awful. As Jack suspected, she was horribly embarrassed about anyone knowing about her less than feminine outdoor fun, "Well, I guess. Sort of." Her face was turning redder and redder.

"Sell, I guess that's something else we have in common, because I think it's fun too." He paused, considering something, "Do you want to go inside our home, my lovely wife, or would you rather stay outside pretending that you don't like it outside?"

She chuckled, "Since you put it that way."

"Alright, you asked for it!" Jack reached around her and swept Mary off her feet and up into his arms. She squealed with childlike delight as Jack carried her through his front door ceremoniously. He gently sat Mary down on her feet and closed the door behind him.

"So, my handsome husband, thus begins the first night of our new life together."

Jack smiled and they embraced each other. "My one and only love, my beautiful wife, let it be a wonderful life."

They kissed long and passionately as they made their way over to the bed. Mary's hands were around Jack's neck, and his were below the small of her back, running in little circles. Jack found the clasp on Mary's wedding dress and undid it.

As soon as he did that, panic rushed into Mary. Quickly she broke of the kiss and moved her hands to hold up her dress, somewhat needlessly. The modest wedding dress, with it's full covering shoulders and long sleeves wouldn't fall off nearly that easily. Jack looked at her quizzically. Mary didn't want her to see her body, not yet, not without saying something first, "Jack, wait a second."

"What is the matter? Was I moving to fast? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I mean it's my first time and..." Jack flushed at what he had accidentally blurted out in his nervous rush.

"No, Jack, it's not that." She hesitated and looked away from his face, "What if... Would you still love me if I wasn't what you were expecting? If I was uglier than I am?"

"What do you mean Mary? You are beautiful, but I'd love you even if you weren't."

Mary disliked it when Jack lied to her. She knew that she wasn't beautiful. Then again, it was hard to compare her anger at the lie to the joy of hearing those words spoken about her. She could easily forgive the lie for the sake of joy, "How could I know that for certain?"

"Let me ask you a question. Would you love me, even if I may have made some mistakes in the past that you don't know about. If I did some horribly stupid things?"

Mary couldn't possibly think of anything that would destroy her love for Jack, "Of course I'd still love you. I'll love you forever, no matter what."

Jack marveled at her faith in him, but he knew that faith was ill founded. If Mary ever found out the things he had done, well, he just couldn't let that happen. Maybe they could leave town together and then everything would be all better. She would never have to find out. He could start a new life, founded on their love. That was a plan he would have to look into soon. "Well Mary, that is how I feel about you. I will always love you, and no scar," he gently stroked her scarring cheek, "will make you any less beautiful to me."

"Thank you Jack," She carefully stopped holding up her dress, satisfied with those words. She took off Jack's tuxedo jacket and tossed it to one side. With another kiss, she started unbuttoning his shirt. Jack pulled his arms loose and threw away the shirt too. Mary let her self be taken in by his warm muscular body. She laid down on the bed with him, and rested her head on his firm yet smooth chest. How she wished that her skin was as smooth, not covered in horrific scars. Mary began crying, her tears running down Jack's chest, into the crevices between his muscles and making their way down off his body.

He didn't ask, knowing that Mary would tell him what was wrong when she was ready to. He just held her body close to his, and lightly ran his hands across her hair. When she finally looked up at him, Jack just smiled and spoke a few soft words, "Better now? You can always cry on me. I don't mind."

Why was she doing this to him? She knew that she was hurting Jack doing this. He was trying to put on a happy face, but Mary knew that her actions were causing him pain in their delay. She couldn't hold on to the fake dream anymore, she had to let Jack know.

Mary sat up over him. She pulled her hands up to the neck of her dress and began to pull it off of her shoulders, "Please don't hate me Jack. This is what I've been hiding from you." She slide her arms out of the sleeves and let the dress drop down to her waist.

The scars cut across her body in every direction. They varied in every way a scar could. In one place, it looked like her skin had been completely ripped off in a large patch, and had grown back somewhat darker and tighter than the rest of her skin. Through one breast, there was one of the largest scars, a massive cut which should have by all reason split it into two. Down her arms to just below the elbows, every inch of her bared upper body was covered in brutal scar tissue.

Mary looked away from Jack's stunned face, "This is why even during the hottest days of summer, I always wear long sleeve shirts, with high cut necklines. I wear them to hide these. My lower body is covered in them too. I truly am ugly. I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore."

Jack reached his hands up towards her. Mary closed her eyes, fully expecting Jack to push her away in disgust. Instead, he put her arms around her and drew her body near his. She heard weeping. Jack was crying as he cradled her naked body close to him, gently rocking her back and forth, his hands feeling the rough scars on her back that he had yet to see, "How could you think I would hate you? I love you. I wouldn't hate you because of this. It hurts me because of the pain I know you had to endure. I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you. I should have stopped it. I didn't know Anna was doing this to you."

Mary lay with Jack for a long time like that, overjoyed at the love he had for her, and yet still so sad. She took comfort in his strength, and had almost fallen asleep in his arms when a thought came to her. "Jack?"

As sweetly as he could Jack whispered to her, "What?"

"Please don't do something rash towards my mother. I know she's done some wicked things, but she's still my mother."

He nodded his head slowly, and it was only minutes before they had fallen asleep still embracing each other.