When last we met Laudine and Thane, their fates had changed dramatically. We are going to step a step back to help set up this chapter as it has been two weeks since my last post of Providence. If you are not caught up, go back, don't proceed! Go catch up on the weekly reads!
Chapter 17 (Continued)
Regardless of the lovely
brief ceremony, the heavens could hold back no longer. The rain came tumbling down.
The pair did not think the
act cruel. They were hardly interrupted by the rain. For a moment longer they
continued to kiss and hold each other tenderly, but the unhappy grunts from the
horse stimulated them into sense. Standing in a silver winter’s rain would
hardly end with anything good.
The pair quickly mounted
the steed. Thane held Laudine close as they galloped through the trees of
Homewood, bound for the house of the beekeeper. The rain poured upon the
travelers, but the reverend and the school teacher hardly noticed. The horse
noticed, and he was not pleased to be drenched even though his passengers were
dull to the fact that they were nearly soaked through. The discomfort of the
horse only proved to make the steed go faster.
The travelers reached the
yellow house in no time. Thane and Laudine worked together to quickly unsaddle
and set the horse to right in his little house beside the beekeepers home
before they hastened inside.
The house was dark. The sun
behind the mass of clouds had set almost an hour ago. The school teacher
quickly lit a couple of candles while the reverend fussed over building a fire.
They were both freezing from the wet, but they were too focused on their chores
to remove any of their soaked attire.
Neither uttered a word from
their lips turned purple by the cold. Even when Ms. Grace joined the kneeling reverend
by the hearth that was finally glowing neither had words to speak. Their
primary focus was to bring life back to their limbs tingling from the cruel
winter weather.
Laudine was shivering from
the lack of warmth. She kept her arms tucked tight to her chest as she stood
like a pole beside the fire. She could hardly feel any of the warmth due to her
wet clothes, but she was simply too chilled for her reason to tell her to take
anything off.
Thane managed to remove his
jacket, which he hung on the side of the mantle to dry the second he approached
the hearth. Much to his delight, his underclothes were kept dry from his heavy
outer coat. Only his shoes and the knees of his pants were wet. When he stood
to say something to Ms. Grace, the gentleman could not find words from the sad
sight of her trembling body. The poor dear was too frozen to fix or to do
anything about the situation. Thane was shaking himself, but before he took any
steps to help his own situation, he addressed Ms. Grace’s needs.
“Here, Laudine,” Thane
directed the shivering woman’s attention to himself. Her teeth were chattering
too much for her to say anything, but she moved her trembling hands down from
beneath her chin to her heart so that she could be helped. The reverend pulled
the drawstrings of her coat from the near choking lock it had around her neck.
The thing was so heavy from the rain. He was surprised Laudine was not gagging
from the rope, but then something else caught Thane’s eye. It was the other
drawstrings that had been just below the first. This thin rope belonged to Ms.
Grace’s dress that was also wet.
The reverend let the cloak
fall to the floor in the small puddle of combined runoff from their bodies as
he looked from the remaining knot to her eyes. She had been waiting for him to
look to her.
Not a word passed between
them. Everything that needed to be said was expressed from the glow in her dark
eyes.
Thane took a step closer to
Laudine. Their bodies were firmly pressing against each other. The orange light
from the fire danced across their faces as they stood like statues for a second
more. The gentleman held his breath as he gently touched his fingers warmed
from the fire to Laudine’s neck.
Her ability to breathe
normally seized from the touch.
His fingers slid their way
to the second rope. He pulled the strings. The reverend swallowed hard as he
then proceeded to push his fingers underneath the wet material that lay upon
her upper chest and shoulders. He guided the material back so that her
shoulders were completely exposed. Thane arched his back to fill the distance
of his height to her shortness. His lips softly kissed the knave of her neck.
Laudine’s heart was racing
and her knees nearly collapsed from the sensation.
Thane took a deep breath
and then the pair of complete innocence happily explored the glorious new
sensualities of kisses and soft caresses across the skin on their face. And
yet, amidst the passions, the distraction of thoughts sprouted into Ms. Grace’s
mind. She thought of Hewie’s countless comments about that word that made them
all blush; she thought of and held tightly to the thrill and the anxiety
running wild in her blood, for she was in a romantic relationship at last! However,
her rational mind, which she cursed after the fact, strayed to the two of her
students whom she presently felt to be betraying.
Thane had only two things
on his mind: ‘is this really happening?’
And ‘can I let this happen?’
He was so focused on the
glorious experience of loving and being loved that he hardly heard Ms. Grace
call his name. When she said his name a second time, he ceased his course of
kissing her neck.
“Thane,” she repeated with
a smile. She so enjoyed saying his
name!
The reverend looked at her
with hopeful eyes. He could not even dare to imagine what she was about to say.
Before his heart even had the opportunity to panic, Laudine pursed her lips to
the side and she pressed two fingers to the reverend’s lips. Now the good man’s
expression changed to concern. While he had no intention of breaking their
unmarried vows of virtue, he worried that he was pressing too much. This was
wrong and he suddenly felt consumed by guilt for being so forward. Even though
there was nothing crude in his desire to be with the woman he loved, he could
not help to feel wretched.
She sighed and kept her
hands pressed upon his lips. Laudine held her breath as she stared at the
triangle of Thane’s exposed chest, which she had helped to expose. Her fingers
had been far more daring and bold than his. “My dear, how can we? I mean, what hypocrites
would we be?”
Laudine had clearly thought
the next steps through in much greater detail than Thane. A part of him had
wanted to prove to her his love, he was a man after all, but he was also a good
hearted gentleman. He made a sound half way between a chuckle and a sigh, but
he was unable to speak.
The gentlewoman lightly
scratched her index finger against the beige cloth of his shirt as she said,
“Aside from our elevated expectancy for morality with our positions in
Providence,” she swallowed hard and shivered because she was still cold and
damp. “Think of Ms. Davis and of Mr. Thomas. Think back to that day when they
used my bed.” She paused to subdue
her lingering bitterness for that situation. “Think of what we said to them.
Yes, there is love between us and yes we are rational, consenting adults, but…”
Thane thoroughly
understood. He was only a few minutes away from giving her a similar talk about
morality. Thane inhaled deeply then said, “I am going to marry you, Laudine.”
He smiled then added, “And while I do agree with you that we must stay true to
our moral posts, if you did conceive tonight and I married you tomorrow, who
would know the difference?” While saying it, Thane realized that though
intended to be a joke, he was quite serious about wanting to marry her tomorrow
before anything else could try to take her away.
Laudine gave him a mock
expression of disapproval, for she certainly heard the sting of sincerity in
his voice. However, she was resolute in this decision. She wanted to wait. She
wanted it to be proper, like the real gentle ladies of society. Just because
nothing was going to stop her from marrying the reverend it did not grant her
and him certain benefits or exceptions. In fact, in a town like Providence, it
gave them less. Realizing this truth, she sighed and pushed herself away from
him gently. She knew that her lips were blue from the cold, which was presently
on the top of her list of matters to address. “Stay here. I’ll be right back,”
Laudine firmly instructed. She kept her eyes on Thane as long as she could
until she disappeared down the hall, leaving a trail of water running from her
dress behind.
Thane knew that what was
denied was a vice and a sin, but he felt torn. Exhausted from the day, the
reverend dropped his body onto the couch. He kicked off his soaked shoes and
pulled off his wet stalking. He threw himself into the padded backing of his
sofa, spread eagle. ‘What just happened?
And what’ll happen next?’ Clearly, she would no longer be comfortable
staying in his home until they were affirmatively a unified couple through
marriage, so what next?
And what did transpire
certainly was not what Reverend Tamrin anticipated.
Laudine reemerged from the
hall a short time later warmly adorned in a fresh outfit - the nightgown and
his robe. Clutched in her arms was the thick blanket that had been atop of her
bed. Thane was so bewildered by what was happening that he could not even bring
his body to respond to gentlemanly stand when she entered the room. However,
Laudine preferred it this way; it made the execution of her plan that much
easier. She cleared her throat then sweetly asked, “Good sir, if you don’t
mind, may I join you?”
Again, the reverend
chuckled, and with a nod of his head, he said in a state of wonder, “Of
course.”
The reverend was expecting
the teacher to place herself on the other side of the couch. Instead, she
tucked her legs beneath her as she sat, tucking herself directly against him.
The poor man again dove into a state of confusion, but with a couple of words,
she set his heart to ease; “Because we will not be…bedding each other tonight,” a red flare grew in her cheeks, “I
thought, how wrong could it be for us to sleep by each other’s side upon your
couch? I mean, we aren’t really violating
any rules, right? We are merely…couching.” She arranged the blanket over the
pair of them and once she was settled tightly beside him. Thane gladly wrapped
his arms around her.
Kissing her temple, the
reverend said, “I don’t think we’re breaking
rules,” it made him smile to think on what Lin had said earlier, “It’s more
like bending them.”
~*~*~
Ah, my dear faithful readers, what will happen next? We've almost come now to the end of this story (not to mention we've finally reached the end of chapter 17). So, to see the exciting conclusion of Providence, tune in next week!
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