The Lighthouse Keepers Wife. Private to southernscion and Alana_

[Alana_]

Melissa stood on the old weather worn docks, staring out into the blackened night blanketed sea..
Tomorrow morning four men were to row her out of the bay, across the open stretch of water, to the small and isolated Trinity Island.. Five days ago, she'd taken the horse drawn coach from her families home town, and left it all behind. Her Father couldn't believe that his eldest daughter would abandon her duties and shame the family by refusing the proposals of the finest of gentlemen Boston had to offer.....to accept the offer of marriage from a stranger..Her sisters had tried to implement common sense on Melissa, but she was tired of being told what to wear..how to look..who to speak to.......and who to wed. She had always been stubborn..A silently, beautiful, often solemn creature....Which on reflection explained why at 26 she was , -until 12.15 the day before-, still unmarried.. Today..she was his wife.

It was a cold place...Melissa drew her heavy cloak around her tighter, the fabric thick..but not a sufficient barrier to the coastal winds that whipped around her body, on the barren docks...Pagan Harbor, somewhat suited its derelict name perfectly. If it was ever full of boats and ships, Melissa wasn't to know, never having been there before....But right now, its skeletal creaking moorings were empty, with only small row boats dotting the shadows of the harbor, floating like battered ghosts on inky waters.
This..was to be the nearest 'town' to where she was destined....His letter of introduction was folded and tucked into the inner pocket of her cloak, detailing her trip, and the preparations he'd made to ensure her safety....and date and time of their proxied wedding ...His words had been simple...Similar to the printed paragraph on the back page of her Fathers morning paper..

There was no flourish in his language..No grandeur..no declarations that could be misconstrued as promises of greater things.....It had been the words of an honest man, seeking a wife, to share his humble home, on a island, where they were be each others soul company for the majority of the summer months, and all of the winter ones.....
They would , in time, be friends he'd hoped...That had struck Melissa as being charming in its simplicity...
No one had ever called on her , with friendship inclusive of their desires...Combining family names, yes..and to receive her dowry yes.. Business arrangements from one wealthy family to the other...A dowry that was now denied her by her embittered Father...She was above the age of needing his consent, so on Melissa announcing her plans, she was denied the generous sum that might have attracted a wealthy husband...
Was He expecting her to arrive with it?...She assumed perhaps not...Or rather she hoped..It had not been discussed, so she concluded, being a man living a life of solitude, the company of a wife was dowry enough..She had a desire to change her life...and be less her Fathers daughter, and more Melissa...
Now...she was of her own making,.. Melissa, The Lighthouse Keepers Wife.

She wore no wedding band...And didn't know if she would...She didn't know if he would wish her to, or saw the need...
It was after all hardly a conventional beginning to a marriage born of two strangers individual needs..He for a wife's company and she for a life she might create with him, and call her own...A life that maybe joyous in time, and full of blessings...Or a life full of the emptiness of loneliness if they didn't find that friendship that had been hoped for in ink. Turning, Melissa walked back to the small tavern, with its creaking hinged sign proclaiming that there were rooms available...One of those rooms lay her possessions , packed in two trunks, and one large carpet bag..She had taken with her what she had the right to call her own..Her sewing machine, clothing, and books that fed her mind with the mental pictures of what a marriage born of friendship might be like, and single wedding gift...From her Fathers housekeeper...A set of crisp linen sheets for a marriage bed.
Looking behind her , as she stood on the threshold of the Inn, Melissa stared into the salty flavored darkness, and prayed silently that she had done right in giving herself hope..Hope based on the 'friendship' desired for and the marriage offered by a stranger.

~

The journey around Long Sound was hard...She wasn't used to the sea, nor the hopping buoyancy of the large row boat that carried her and its wiry crew, to Trinity..Her trunks and bag were fastened soundly to the center, and she was seated to the front looking out to sea, with the oars men on their planked seating, their backs to her, pulling as they puffed on their pipes, barking comments to one another in the sea green language that Melissa didn't understand fully...
Something about a squall...and how the seagulls seemed to fly low today....There were words too that she was sure were fowl curses, but she offered no comment, remaining silent, through out the stomach turning 'voyage'...
Her silken black hair was wild, caught in the breezes that snapped and wove its way beneath the hood of her cloak..Her cheeks pale against the embroidered collar of her solemn black gown , complimenting the dark navy black of her traveling cloak...In her hand she carried a little flask of , of all things sherry, that the Inn keeper had pressed into her hand..He'd told her kindly that it would help keep the chill form her bones while out on the sea, and wished her good luck, then bid her to give the Lighthouse keeper his best.

That kindness had come after a sleepless night, whereby Melissa had almost convinced herself that she had made a mistake...Stubbornly, she'd retracted such notions , advising herself that she had chosen this new beginning herself. And that if she were to regret it, it would be only after working hard...trying to do what her Father had said she couldn't, before giving up. She was no lady now..She was a woman on her way to her home. A home where her husband waited, and that by evening, she would have cooked for, and with Gods will, not feel fear or apprehension towards..She did not expect there be more than , perhaps , silences that they'd grow used to...Sparse words perhaps shared, until they grew comfortable together...There were no expectations of a romantic interlude that would introduce them to what married life might hold them.
No..Married life was to start instantly, with no courtship, no flirtations...no coy glances...She was a wife now....And as the boat bobbed, Melissa caught the first glance of the tall white painted tower, that stood proud, and heroic , with its small cottage growing out of its side...on an island that look as if time had forgotten it...Rustic. Wild..Surprisingly beautiful...With a cliff face that was startling considering the size of the small plot, that spouted up out of the ocean....

She didn't smile often...She didn't now...Melissa just watched..Her eyes drawing hungrily over the little landscape in the rippling waters, and her pupils flared, as she saw the tiny dock ..It was there one minute, lost the next, as the waves dipped and bowed, pulling and pushing the boat closer and closer...The oars men pulled gallantly, bringing her closer until she saw ..him, through the billowing strands of her hair whipping across her pale cheeks, as the boat bumped the wooden piling supporting the bleached dock, and Melissa caught the first glimpse of the man she would call 'husband'.

[southernscion]

Enoch Castle had been a lighthouse keeper for as long as he could remember. As a preteen he apprenticed in a whirl wind tour of lighthouses up and down the coast of Lake Michigan and then the northeast coast line. He learned his craft at the hands of old veterans, some of whom loved their craft, some of which hated it. Most were competent and taught him much. He learned the most from those who hated the job, or were incompetent.

It taught him two fundamental things: He loved what he did, and what not to do to the magnificent structures left to his care.

At twenty one Enoch received his first light house. It was a small quiet light house along the Maine coastline. For years Enoch babied the light house back into shape until it was in the best shape of all of the lighthouses in that sector of the coastline.

In recognition, Enoch was transferred to the lighthouse on Trinity Island, where the weather was slightly warmer, though the storms seemed to be more frequent and stronger. When he arrived the light house was a run down derelict which was less than fifty years old. Clearly the previous two light keepers either were apathetic to the building or were incompetent. Enoch would have bet a heavy dose of both; if he were the betting type of man.

During the inspection of the site, Enoch found one of the prism crystals had been cracked, and the other three were so dirty that they had to be stopping light and not focusing it. The windows were just as dingy and unkempt. The oil well had a hole that had to be patched and the wick for the lamp was frayed, aged and brittle.

Paint was peeling off of the wood all around the light house and water and salt had begun to take its toll on the structure. Enoch had spent the entire spring and summer the previous year peeling off the old paint, doing the structural repairs and then painting it white. While painting the light house he had drawn out a spiral that he had planned to paint this summer and had not done yet, events of the fall and winter caused him to delay slightly.

Nearing the end of his fourth year at this light house and having turned it around, Enoch was running out of jobs to do, and books to read. The fall had been long and winter was nearly insufferable.

*~*~*~*~*~*

While in Maine, Enoch met a preacher while buying supplies. The preacher, Nathaniel, stayed with Enoch for the better part of a season, and introduced Enoch to Jesus Christ. It turned out that Nathaniel was a missionary who worked the coast and brought the word to coastal workers, fishers, lighthouse keepers and mariners. It took most of the season for Nathaniel to convince Enoch, but once convinced, Enoch threw himself into to ensure that he would not wither.

*~*~*~*~*~*

And for the first time in his adult life Enoch found him self lonely. Days spent praying and contemplating his situation, led to a small still voice that led him to place an advertisement in the Boston Globe. He was sure that the Lord was leading his steps and hand in the process and with the calm certainty that few posses, Enoch began the process of meeting and marrying Melissa all by mail.

There were several letters that were written in response to his advertisement and Enoch prayed over each over the stack of letters and reached out and pulled one out and opened it knowing that it was the one to open. The rest of the letters he bundled up and placed them into a locker in the lighthouse, intending to send them back unopened with an explanation after his wedding.

Enoch didn’t know much about Melissa or her past and didn’t figure that it mattered much. Her letter in response to his was cordial and well written. Her penmanship was neat and feminine and though later he convinced himself that he was imaging it, he thought the letter smelled lightly of some flower or another. Though it was unnecessary, Enoch had read and re-read it so many times that he had it memorized.

The preparations were done and they were manifold. Enoch had built a bed for her and once built agonized over how close or how far to place it from his own bed. He finally settled on putting a low lying table between the two beds, and placing the beds a foot away from the table. Close but with distance to help them both with any jitters they may have. Or so Enoch hoped.

He had a bath tub brought in with the last oil shipment for her. He placed it near the stove so that the hot water would not have to be carried far. He had installed a drain that went would drain the water to the cliff of the island and then out to sea. After the installation, Enoch drew and heated water and bathed, and while climbing in, he discovered a fatal error. There would be no privacy for Melissa. A series of eyehooks in the rafters and blankets that had reinforced buttonholes from which to hang them took care of the issue.

At long last it was the day his wife, Mrs. Castle, would arrive. Enoch bathed himself and shaved that morning. His hands shaking so much that he feared for his own life, the nicks and cuts were so numerous on his neck that one might mistakenly think that Enoch tried unsuccessfully to kill himself.

It took more will power than he had to not stand on the dock waiting for her all day. So Enoch read and prayed over 1st Corinthians, Chapter Seven and Ephesians Chapter Five. After his heart and hands calmed, Enoch knew that it was time to go to the dock.

Walking to the cliff face and then down the stairs, Enoch saw the row boat bobbing like an apple in the waves. The height and frequency of the waves drew his eyes skyward and he saw on the horizon the beginnings of a squall. Sniffing the air and looking for the seagulls which were absent, Enoch thought the squall would be a bad one.

Enoch stood on the pier with his hands in his pockets, sea spray clinging to his black beard which he had trimmed along his jaw line as was the fashion, or so the innkeeper told him last month. Enoch’s cobalt blue eyes sharply worked back and forth between the row boat that seemed to make oh so little progress toward him and the squall line that was rapidly catching them.

Suddenly the boat was close and Enoch could not believe his eyes. The woman in the boat was easily the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Her black hair whipped around her head like a halo. Enoch though her brown eyes locked onto him but could not be sure. He was sure, though that her lips, full and pouty, were a small part of her beauty, were stunning nonetheless.

Two trunks and a carpet bag were handed up and then she came up the ladder. Peace, born only of grace, filled Enoch as he said, “Mrs. Castle, welcome home.”

[Alana_]

He was younger than she had expected.....The dark wool of his fishermans coat, complimented the hidden strength of his shoulders, and concealed beneath it a full bodied form of a man that worked hard..
His face was weather tanned, with a neat trimmed beard, that oddly enough, Melissa liked instantly..There was something fitting in a how it enhanced the strength of his persona...But he was younger...Much younger..

Why had she thought he was older..much older than her 26 years...He didn't look much older, perhaps but a few years..And there was a maturity in his stance that comforted her with its confidence...Suddenly, all the plans that had been bubbling in her mind , began to change, or curl differently...

He was not what she'd expected....but at the same time he was. He hadn't deceived her..he'd not hidden from her a thing...He had just been humble..And that humility had aged his words, and that Enoch Castle would innocently surprise his new bride.

Two heavy ropes secured the boat to the pier, and her possessions were one at a time unloaded . Was it her place to inquire for the safety of the boatmen when the threatened squall ?...But her question was answered as Melissa rose from her seat, feeling the boat move with discomforting ease beneath her betraying feet, as one of the boatmen informed her of their need to make hast, and 'beat the waves'...
Wives were waiting, and while the squall was but a small bother to the men, they knew nevertheless their women would fret, until they were home...

She gave them quiet thanks, and bid they offer more of her best wishes to the Inn keeper, her flask half empty, the sherry warming her stomach...
Looking up then towards the where her trunks stood stacked, Melissa took a long silent breath..Her husband was waiting just feet above her on the dock..There was no going back now...In just minutes, it would be just the two of them..

“Mrs. Castle, welcome home.”

Mrs Castle. She wasn't yet accustomed to her new sir name, but.....it sat will with her...
She climbed the four small rungs of the ladder up towards him, the hood of her cloak pulling free completely from her head, as Melissa straightened to stand in front of him....

He was almost forbiddingly taller than her ..She felt both diminutive and safe...This was not a man that inspired fear in her..He was a man that invited the patience of friendship in his marriage and home, before the growth of a bond that might, faiths willing, bring them closer..

Brushing her hair from her face, the wind rising, the sea darkening, as the sky grew a heavy gray and the boat once again danced on the frothing ripple of the waves...It actually was a magnificent display of strength that nature could impress on both the ocean and the sky , how much control it had over everything....

When she spoke, the wind gathered her words, and clasped them, and somehow it felt that the entire little island might have heard Melissa's quietly spoken reply to her husband as the wind carried them..

Thank you Mr.Castle.

His face intrigued her...It wasn't a beautiful face, but it was a roughly chiseled handsome one...She felt a flicker of a rare smile on her lips, as she spotted the little cuts above and below the line of his beard...His eyes were dark fathomless pools, that were, without having to think, magnificent...They added soul to the story in his face...A face that told of his life, of the man behind it...A blunt blade, or nervous hand...It was a good face...

And again, Melissa is drawn to the differences in this man, and the simple humble words of the advertisement, that didn't do justice to the Lighthouse keeper standing before her..

My trunks? Might we take them inside?..I have a gift for you....

A book...About lighthouses. I tried reading it to prepare, but I'm afraid I'll have to beg a little patience.

[southernscion]

Enoch stood a moment, breathlessly as the wind caressed the delicate, beautiful woman in front of him. Part of him appraised her clothing and instantly knew that she had come from a life of luxury unlike she would ever have as his wife.

The wool cloth of her cloak was fine and had satin lining. Her clothes were delicate, much like her appearance and finely made. The salt and humidity would have their way with her clothes soon, but Enoch decided, then and there, that he would with every fiber of his being, do what he could to prevent the rugged conditions taking their toll on her.

"My trunks? Might we take them inside?..I have a gift for you....

"A book...About lighthouses. I tried reading it to prepare, but I'm afraid I'll have to beg a little patience." she said.

A smile creased his face, which was an unfamiliar sensation, as he said, "Of course."

Slinging her carpet bag over his neck and shoulder, Enoch hefted up one of the trunks, saying, "This way please."

He led Melissa to the stairs that led to the island. They walked side by side, Enoch taking furtive glances toward his bride, in silence. Arriving at the house, Enoch opened the door allowing Melissa to step inside first and said, "Welcome to our home. Please make yourself comfortable while I fetch the rest of your gear."

Placing the trunk and carpet bag at the foot of the bed he had made for her, Enoch left to get the other two trunks and the sewing machine.

As he left, Enoch wasn't sure that it was possible having just met his new wife, but he was sure that part of his heart stayed behind with her.

[Alana_]

The house was built with stout thick walls...Weather smooth, but snow white from its whitewash... The spire of the light house sprung from one gable, looming its protective shadow over the smaller cottage below it..
Melissa had come, aware that there would be no luxuries here...She was fully prepared mentally for the change that would come in her life..

She had always been a little 'odd' according to her younger sisters, often mingling with the down stairs staff in the dark hours for a game of cards, and learning little snippets of how the house was run.
Perhaps those conversations would come to her aid now in this new home..a home she would be expected to tend to, as her husband performed his duties.

Her husband..He opened the door in to his humble home...Their home...
It was larger inside that she'd have assumed from the outside...One huge large floor area, that consisted of everything, from larder, to kitchen to .....the beds..Deep inside, she was perhaps secretly relieved to see the two beds..
She looked away, not drawing attention to her interest in the sleeping arrangement, but Melissa silently thanked her husband for his kindness in not making demands of her...It was a very decent part of his character that she felt admirable..

"Welcome to our home. Please make yourself comfortable while I fetch the rest of your gear."

She gave him her attention, and nodded, watching him leave her things by the foot of one of the beds...On Enoch's departure, Melissa went to her carpet bag, and unfastened it..Inside, wrapped in brown paper, and tied with a thin leather thong, was the gift for Enoch...She left it on his bed, and unfastened the clasp on her throat, allowing the cloak to slip from her shoulders...Laying it on the simple, but newly hewn hardwood foot board of her bed, Melissa then studied her surroundings...

It was simple, but it was also very much someones home...Enoch was an avid reader....His collection of books impressed her..His work left him in solitude for long periods, and she admired very much , the well thumbed pages, that helped fill his mind..
She knew little of the man that was to be her sole companion....She know little of the man that would be, God willing her companion for life, where ever he would chose them to live..For she hadn't taken her marriage vows lightly..She was Enoch Castle's wife..

The fire was crackling in the hearth, and Melissa went closer to it, dropping to her knees , holding her hands to the heat for while..She'd been chilled to the bone, and needed its heat...Beside it, in an alcove, she leaned forward, and tugged aside the bottom corner of a blanket, that acted as part of a curtain, and there behind was a bath tub...She actually smiled...Had it been brought for her benefit?...She didn't flatter herself with thinking so, but....it was still a little something she'd not expected..

There were thousands of questions in her head...But she and Enoch had now a life time to ask, and answer them...Would he be a man that would take unbridge to a wifes questions...
Some men discouraged a woman's right to a will of her own..She hoped he would grant her a little time to be more than his wife...that he might allow her to be even more than a friend..Maybe they might in time find a way to be parnters, to where each respected and explored the minds and will of the other...She hoped so...

For already, she liked this man that only spoke when he had something to say, ..had a well tended home, and loved his books. There was an element of calm about him..He was a fine handsome man, who bore no fuss, and no airs..His letter had said little, but plenty..He wanted the simple things...A wife..a friend..a home, with no expectations for more than a body would need..

It was a good start.
..

[southernscion]

Enoch stood with his back to the door for a moment and replayed the sound of Melissa’s voice in his mind, the smell of her perfume and oddly the relief that played across her face as she saw the two beds. Opening his eyes, Enoch focused them unbidden on the clouds rolling in from the southwest.

With unhurried steps Enoch went down to the dock and began moving the trunks toward the light house. The first trunk he carried to the steps up and then back to the second trunk which he carried to the top of the steps and onto the island proper. The first trunk was then carried up and to the light house door. After returning to the second trunk, Enoch noticed clouds moving in from the northeast.

Turning his head around and seeing the original clouds Enoch then could smell the bitter cold that was coming with them. His steps still measured but now faster, Enoch carried the trunk inside and then pulled the other trunk in.

Glimpsing Melissa huddled in front of the fire, Enoch paused a moment and watched her. Turning toward his bed, Enoch pulled the quilt off of it and wrapped it around her shoulders. The movement of air coyly wafted the scent of her perfume to his nostrils, and for a brief moment he allowed his fingers to trail gently through the ends of her silky hair.

His eyes shifting onto her elfin face, Enoch said, “Stay here and try to get warm. I’ll bring more wood in after I get the light lit. The storm will be here soon, and it’s going to be a bad one.”

Heading to the back of the living space, Enoch slid a section of the pantry out and stepped into a short hallway that led to the lighthouse’s tower. Quickly, Enoch primed the pump to the lamp and then climbed the stairs to the light room. Standing at the top of the light house, Enoch watched the ocean a minute as the first drops of rain pelted against the glass. Lighting the wick after checking the lenses, Enoch began the climb down once he was satisfied that the flame held and would shine through the night.

Bringing in some more wood, Enoch placed a couple of pieces on the fire and looked at his bride and asked in his gentle voice, “Would you like to go up and see the storm from the light room after a cup of tea to warm you up?”

[Alana_]

Her husband moved with ease, almost quietly for a man that wasn't slight...Melissa found she liked watching him..He took in her trunks, and left again for firewood, after wrapping around a quilt from his bed....And he seemed to linger there a little after speaking to her, she feeling his fingers touch lightly the windblown strands of nightdark hair..And Melissa had looked up at him, and saw a depth in his eyes that spoke eons about the man.

He didn't stir within her a mood of discomfort or ill ease as would befall a stranger...or indeed a husband one doesn't know.
Rather he had a calm means about him, that instilled calm...She wasn't a woman that gave into moments of panic, doubt, or emotional turmoil..Her own nature was one where she followed her instincts..,listened to that inner voice and had faith in her choices....; and she was at peace with the choices she'd made concerning Enoch Castle.

He was more..More than she'd imagined..More than she'd expected..More male, more handsome, more engaging, more ......everything...

He gave her a sense of inner hope already, that they'd be alright. Already in the brief moments she's been here, Melissa feels....part of something. Something that was very new, unnamed, without familiarity, but also without strangeness, or discomfort...Already, she could find within her a hope that they'll be more than alright....He complimented her well..A man that had few words, but when spoken, they were....profoundly his.
Not the words used before him, not wasted conversations to break a silence......And it was a grand silence..It was one that belonged inside the cottage that was now her home...With Enoch Castle.

“Would you like to go up and see the storm from the light room after a cup of tea to warm you up?”

She turned enough to face Enoch, as he looked at her....The wind howled outside, licking on the window panes greedily..The chimney puffed a spew of wood scented smoke, until the flames licked on the dry logs, and the bark spat its response to the heat..
The fire light served to enhance her husbands profile...The flames with their golden red, touched on the black brown shades in his hair, and lent to the shadows that defined the structure of Enoch's face.. Silence carried with it a weight of things that in time might need voicing...Like why she'd not expected a man such as this....That such a man would have the need to place an advertisement for a wife, for surely he would not be short of their attention on the mainland.....

He surpassed those that called on her at her fathers house, and had imprinted himself on her being, through the wisdom of a chosen handful of words.

I would love both Mr. Castle, thank you..

Her voice was above a whisper, and Melissa didn't fight to restore distance between them both after she had moved to face him earlier...
He was after all her husband..And as she felt the warmth fill her body beneath his quilt, Melissa for that moment didnt want him to move..to stir..to make distance between them..
So she slipped on pale, slender fingered hand out from beneath the quilt, and patted the folds of the rug on the floor beside where she sat ..Her eyes focused on the black darkness that shadowed his, and his wife invited Enoch Castle with a whisper to.

Sit with me awhile.........Just a while. I like the silence with you husband.

[southernscion]

Enoch had started to turn to get water to start the tea when he saw her slender hand snake out from under the quilt to pat the space next to her. His surprise at the small move on her part was heightened when his body stirred slightly at the word "husband."

It was at that very moment, when his new bride invited him into her space with the word husband, that it really set in that yes, he was indeed married, and more over she was extraordinary and extraordinarily beautiful. For the first time that he could remember, Enoch felt a stirring in his loins.

It wasn't a full blown hard on, but it was enough to shake him, so he sat.

Enoch settled onto the space an inch beyond where Melissa's hand rested, facing her. He sat cross legged and lifted her small nearly dainty hand into his massive paw and watched her hand disappear into his.

Gently turning her hand over into his, he traced random patterns into the palm and fingers of her hand and marveled at the softness of her skin. "So soft," he whispered, and then realized he said it, and a blush crept up his face from under his beard.

[Alana_]

She can only draw comparisons with the men whose courtships, her father wished her to agree to , and to their hands..Hands that never knew an hard days work. Hands that were as soft as hers, without the distinction of Enochs calluses on his palms, or the toughened finger tips, that spoke of his hard work..

Clean hands but hands that were endeared with the evidence of labor....She liked his hands...Hers felt warm on his palm, and Melissa watched as fingers moved with one another, with touches that both shared, in exploring a first touch..

"So soft,"

Her lips parted to speak, but nothing of value was worth saying..Yes her hands were soft, never used to doing more than sewing and writing letters...Hands that rarely saw work in the kitchen of her parents house, but for the recent attempts in the small hours with Cook, as Melissa learned the basics from her, before leaving to join her husband.

A faint smile flickered, and one single dimple appeared for a moment on her left cheek, to vanish again in the solemn but beautiful perfection of her face...And nodded, her voice quiet, as she promised.

I'll try to keep them as such for you.

She knew, her life with the Lighthouse Keeper, would introduce her to chores that would be unkind to skin that never knew hardship...but she would try.

She moved closer, and tilted her head a little to look into his face....They were close enough that Melissa could feel his breath warm her cheek..She raised her hand from Enochs hand, to brush back of her fingers gently along the short hair of his trimmed beard..Her voice was just above a whisper, her husbands name breath from her lips with velvet ease..

I thought you to be much older Enoch Castle.

Her fingers followed the curve of his jaw, and paused on his chin..Her eyes drifted from Enoch's eyes, to his mouth, and slowly, Melissa lowered her hand, and appeared to sigh on what was probably the most intimate moment of her life.

I have much to learn about being a wife........But I will work hard, ..and I pray I can make you happy...and please you.

The fire spat again, and log shifted, the embers collapsing, sending a shard of sparks up the chimney....Innocent Melissa may be, with it comes to matters of intimacy, but her nature is not shy, nor reserved...Only a brief time here, the surprise in finding herself wed to a man that was more than she had expected, has stirred in her a untouched and untested dimension of her personality....Part of her would wish to be more experienced, to know what to do , what to say, without cause to thread cautiously;.. but part of her,.. the part that feels the color rising from her neck to her cheeks, tells her, she has more to give this man just as she is.

The sound of the wind roaring suddenly outside, curling around the great tower of the lighthouse, startled Melissa enough that she looked up at the roof of the cottage, and listen...Slowly, she closed her eyes, embracing the sounds of storms that were the cause of her husbands duties, and her presence as his wife, and opens her eyes to look into the depths of his, dropping the quilt from her shoulders, and again, the moment demands she whisper slowly, naturally sultry, ..

Perhaps, we should go up now......

I can wait...for tea.

I should like to watch with you,.. to share my first storm here with you.

[southernscion]

For a moment Enoch thought, hoped even, that Melissa was going to kiss him. His brief disappointment was quickly replaced with a deep seated joy that surprised him as she trailed her finger across his jaw. Enoch's eyes closed a slight moan catching in his chest that sounded more like a purr than anything else as he turned his face into her hand.

Enoch nodded somewhat reluctantly as Melissa said, "Perhaps, we should go up now......I can wait...for tea.

"I should like to watch with you,.. to share my first storm here with you."

Standing Enoch offered his massive paw to Melissa, watching her hand disappear in his as he helped her onto her feet. Grabbing her cloak and the quilt, Enoch placed them both across her shoulders, her hair brushed across his knuckles with a light silken touch as he said, "It will be cold up there, wear these." His hand tingled where her hair had touched him.

As they mounted the stairs the lighthouse groaned and creaked like an old man's joints, under the assault of the wind and rain. Up and up they climbed, the sway of the building noticeable as they entered the light room. Standing aside, Enoch made room for Melissa in the small cold room and then stood close behind her as they looked out the windows.

Rain and snow pelted the windows leaving streaks that were highlighted as the bright light made its assiduous path through the room and out the windows. Every few seconds the light passed over the two of them casting their shadows across the sea and island. The room was cold enough that vapor emitted from their nostrils and mouths as they breathed.

Enoch reached up and adjusted the quilt on Melissa's shoulders and left them. His hands cupping her shoulders gently as he closed his eyes and relaxed in the moment and smelled her fragrant scent.

An incredible charge ran through Enoch's body through the contact with her bony, slight shoulders. He could feel her strength and her vulnerability through his slight touch. Enoch had never had been as close to anyone as he was right now with Melissa.

Not wanting to spoil the moment, but knowing her would need to know the answer to move forward with her, Enoch asked in a soft voice, "Why me? Why did you marry me and not one of the others, that surely your father introduced you to?"

[Alana_]

The chill in the tower was enough to fog their breaths...Melissa had never been inside such a place before, and found the spiraling climb up the narrow curling wroth iron steps testing as the wind seemed to puff through the stout walls...Even the white washed plaster was freezing...The hand rail too was icy cold, with only her left hand warm in Enochs as she followed carefully behind him...It would be something she'd have to get accustomed to, .. .climbing the tower in such winds.

In the light room, she paused briefly, to stare in admiration for the one single light, reflected on in the mirrored shade, sending its protective beacon across the blackened surging waters...The walk way that curved around the light allowing for maintenance, was a narrow circular path around the light fixture, and Enoch made room for her...
Melissa stood in front of her husband, and for a moment,- until her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the reflection of the light behind her on the clean windows,- she could see nothing through the darkening windows..

When her vision cleared, what was growing in front of her, was the wildest, most powerful display of strength that she'd ever seen in her life.. The little island seemed tiny..The light house and its symbol for safety, felt minuscule as the waves dove, and plunged into one another, and the nights sky hurled itself in a swirl of blackened navy sky into the horizon....She wondered then for the boat men.Had they made it safely..Had they won the race against the water that was chasing them home. She prayed so.

The touch of his hands on her shoulders brought Melissa back to Enoch Castle.
The weight of his hands, felt like a safe embrace. Enoch didn't move away after correcting the wraps on her shoulders, and Melissa didn't move either....
Unspoken, there was a little union happening..And she wasn't opposed to it. Their time was so short , but there was a natural ease to simply being with him..

Words didn't appear to enhance them, ..rather just the feeling in the air....the essence of divine tension...the bliss in skin that tingled beneath a husbands touch..
She half turned her head , and saw Enoch's fingers on the soft folds of fabric that warmed her, not letting go of her, and Melissa experienced pride in receiving the Lighthouse Keepers comfort.

"Why me? Why did you marry me and not one of the others, that surely your father introduced you to?"

Enoch's breath warmed her cheek...His words were so soft, so gentle. and Melissa closed her eyes, absorbing the moment and their physical closeness...Had he a notion too that she was profoundly affected by him , from the first time she'd seen him?
Melissa didn't know..Enoch Castle asked a question that Melissa could answer honestly, with out having to think.

You wanted nothing from me..only me..a friend...a wife.........a lover.

Her tone was tender, and Melissa slowly, almost resenting that in moving, she would disturb his hands on her, but she needed to see him more...The sky was a magnificent display of blacks and grays behind her..The first crack of thunder had Melissa stiffen when it was accompanied with lightening....
On turning, Enoch was so close, ...so very close, that his wife could see the curl of his lashes, and varying shades of color in his eyes..

Melissa raised her left hand, ..and paused, only because she wished that her touch be more eloquent, more profound, ....more sure, before her hand rested on his chest..Her lips were slow to form her question, as Enoch's wife blinked languidly, the storm a contradicting compliment on the inner quiet of the lighthouse, and lips were watched with darkening eyes, and fingers curled on the fabric of a warm Lighthouse keepers jacket.

Why did you choose me.........Enoch Castle.?

[southernscion]

The storm outside hammered away at the lighthouse. Wind and rain, with the occasional flake of snow slammed against the windows, melted slowly and then slid down the pane. Standing before Melissa in the calm of the lighthouses, interior, Enoch’s heart hammered away in his chest, the storm in his heart reflecting perfectly the storm without.

Enoch stood there looking at his new bride as she asked “Why did you choose me.........Enoch Castle?” Melissa’s hand curled into the fabric of Enoch’s jacket just over his heart, which was hammering faster than he had ever known. Nodding, Enoch reached into the pea coat and pulled out a stack of letters, all from the same set of stationary and choose the top one, putting the stack back into his pocket.

Holding the letter out so that she could take it, Enoch said, “I didn’t.”

The letter had been read and reread so very many times that the creased were now crisp and sharp to the point of fraying. Enoch had long ago memorized the letter and studied her handwriting to the point that he could probably do a reasonable job of forging it. Each flourish of her script could be found in her wind tossed hair, the richness and depth of thought in her eyes.

“When I placed the ad, I received more than twenty responses. I stacked the letters up and prayed over them for a while. I wanted my Lord to guide my hand. So as I prayed I shuffled the stack. Over and over, I did it, for a little more than a day.”

Enoch’s blue eyes held her brown with what felt like a fairy like touch to him. “When I felt that I was ready, I shuffled the stack one more time and then took your letter out of the stack.”

The windows of the light house rattled ominously and Enoch feeling an excruciating pang, slowly pulled his eyes from hers to look at the sky and the windows. It was a brief break and then he found himself exulting in them again. Quietly he said, “Yours was the only letter I opened, the rest are down stairs, and if you want to add anything to my explanatory letter you may, then I will mail them back to the ladies that sent them.”

Taking her hand that was still holding onto his jacket into his bear paw of a hand, Enoch held it gently and in a move of timid boldness, lowered his head and placed a warm, wet kiss on the middle knuckle of her forefinger. His heart was fluttering in his throat as he blushed at what he had done, and murmured, “I am sorry, if I offend.”

[Alana_]

His reply, while in fact, was not what Melissa would have thought to hear, somehow makes perfect sense, the more he explains...There was a logic in this man, that having faith complimented. That his decision was guided by prayer, only served to enhance her opinion of her husband as a strong humble man with honor...

Her letter, creased, well read, and folded over and over, surprised her..Taking it from his offered hand, Melissa looked at its folds and then to him...As to his admission he'd not read any of the others, he surprised her again.... And Melissa was touched , by his offer to allow her add an addendum to his letters to those others that answered him. To woman, that would never know the Lighthouse Keeper, as she would...as she was already beginning to..

His letters, she felt she should leave to Enoch to deal with, but, she would , and did, wish the ladies well....that they might find such a surprise, as she'd found in her husband.

When he took her hand in his from his chest, Melissa felt her breathing grow still...The wind howled ferociously, and the night sky light up with the strips of lightening. When he bowed his head, her heart thumped so loudly, she feared he might hear it..
Enoch's temple was a breath from her lips, and she could smell the musk of his scent, and her natural responses sent a quiver through out her entire body...
How could a man move her so soon? How could he effect her so easily, so quickly?

Melissa's eyes fluttered closed as Enoch kissed the back of one single finger..Just one...In an act that was for her, far more sensual, revealing than anything he might have said or done..
She was moved to inhale , and trace the tip of her tongue over her dry lips , and found herself focusing on her hand enclosed in his...

“I am sorry, if I offend.”

Offend?...He couldn't offend her if he tried to..It wasn't in Enoch Castle to offend with intent. Not this man that was steadily engaging his bride with every quiet word, and every moment where a touch given was a moment treasured.

Melissa uncurled her kissed forefinger, and touched his jaw with the side. With her other hand, she pressed her letter back into his pocket...It was his ...Her letter to him.., and she wished for him to keep it ....
Her finger stroked his jaw slowly again, as she tried to find the right answer...the words too let him know, kissing her was not cause to be sorry for....So with an element of daring, she touched his bottom lip with the tip of her finger, and whispered to him , her lips slow, emphasizing her words...

I am your wife......You have the right to kiss your wife , ......
husband.

[southernscion]

It was perhaps the most natural reaction a man could have. His lips had not yet recovered from the molten heat he felt from kissing the knuckle of her finger when she placed her fingertip on his lower lip.

Enoch’s long dormant cock awoke and roared back to life. His pea coat hid a portion of his length that now lay hard against his inner thigh. What the coat did not hide, the shadows cast by the bright light masked his excited state.

But the bright beam of light that washed over his face highlighted the blush that rose on his face. No cardinal was quite the same brightness of Enoch’s face. So hot and flush did he feel that Enoch was sure that he was emitting a bright light on his own.

He barely heard Melissa say "I am your wife......You have the right to kiss your wife , ......
husband." Instead he heard the roaring din of his heart and nodded meekly. And his free hand reached up and cupped a lock of hair, gently rubbing it between his thumb and middle finger.

Enoch suddenly noticed that they were touching each other in ways he had never imagined before. Her hands on his chest and face one of his hand covering hers, his hand running gently through her hair. He knew his face had to turn even redder than it was previously.

Enoch’s mouth opened as to say something and closed again, incapable of forming words. The hand that was in Melissa’s hair turned and cupped her face, and in truth nearly the whole side of her head, as the skin of the palm of his hand nestled up against her cheek and jaw, a long shuddering sigh escaped him, as though he had been holding his breath since birth.

“I” he stammered, “I….I….uh…I…”

[Alana_]

If there was a state more gratifying than tension, Melissa had never known it..Her body was tightly wound, with her breathing coming in small shaking breaths, as her lungs fought with her racing heart for air...She was starved of breath, but it a blessed hunger...A hunger that awoke in her a part of her femininity that had never known the anxious loveliness in fretful passion. She hadn't a clue what to do..She gotten to this age in her life, innocent of body, but womanly knowledgeable of the needs that had had lain unrequited for her adult life..Kisses had been known with men that had tempted her, but never won....Touches had never gone past being held in restrained passionless embraces...Enoch had won her with words on paper....She had come to share his hopes and dreams, and he hadn't proven her instincts wrong.....He had surpassed them.

Fingers captured a wave of her hair, and Melissa watched her husbands own struggle with his own awakenings...Had he lovers in the past? It made no difference to her, but she could not imagine such a fine man never knowing a womans desire before her...Lips were warm on the breath of the other...She could taste the heat of his breath, and see the color rise over his shirt color, and creep to flood his cheeks...It pleased her that he be stirred too, and Melissa with the slightest of movements tilted her head a little from side to side, inviting his lips, inviting her husbands kisses.......It was something she'd never have done with any other, but Enoch Castle..In her, he inspired a seductress in her to greet her desire fearlessly....Even if her hands trembled, she was not afraid....She was terrified, ...but adored the conundrum of emotions that spilled over within her.

Her eyes closed as Enoch cupped her cheek...It was a touch that in itself almost broke her heart with a precious agony, that fed her bravery..What ever was happening between them, she knew then she was not alone in the almost strangling grip of mutual need...It was a need that was unspoken....it was a need that perhaps came too soon for them......But it was a need nevertheless, shared by a wife and husband.

“I........I….I….uh…I…”

Kiss me.

It was whispered against his lips, as Melissa drew his bottom lip tenderly between hers, and felt the warmth of it fill her mouth....She was shaking, and was holding her husbands coat in both an effort to find support, and be close to him...Her lips slowly parted, she tentatively testing his mouth with kisses , until she sighed, and just gave over to the pleasure of kissing a man that made honor and dignity sensual....

Whether he knew it or not, he had a wife that had not expected desire to bring them together....She had not expected to be looked on, as more than a companion......in the beginning at least..She had hoped to be a wife in every sense of the word....Hoped for want, hoped for passion...hoped to be his friend as he'd wanted..
His wife, had found for him , an attraction that was fathomless and unexplained......Her back stiffened as she shivered again..Not with cold, not with a chill...Rather she was tempted, and heated by ...him.
Melissa did not move..Did not create space between them in modesty. Rather she actively pressed closer to her husband, and coveted the warmth filtering from his flesh through the layers of his clothing to the conforming lines of her body.... She felt the weight of his arousal pressing against her abdomen, and impending surge of pride Melissa felt in herself in being wanted.

It was but for one boom behind her that pulled Melissa back from Enoch.. Dragged her back, blinking, her expression glazed, and breathlessly blushing, eyes dusky, lips pouting their resentment in leaving his...The storm had reached its peek, in a fiery objection to being ignored by the pair of them..It hailed them for attention, not caring to give them a moment to explore that beginning of a sweet enduring passion..It demanded their attention with glazing flashes of lightening, and Melissa looked back at Enoch Castle, and dragged her bottom lip between her teeth , as she focused briefly on his lips, then spoke, her voice husky..

It's getting worse....your storm......

If I distract you, I can go downstairs.

[southernscion]

Enoch felt the universe shudder as his wife took his bottom lip into her mouth and then pressed her self against him. His arms instinctively wrapped around her waist and held her. As her tongue slid into his mouth and caressed his, Enoch’s cock quivered and pulsed; his balls ached in an unfamiliar way. Tentatively Enoch slid his tongue against Melissa’s and his knees weakened. Warmth flooded his body as unfamiliar emotions wracked through him.

As Melissa molded herself against him, Enoch knew there was no way to hide his hardness from her and unexpectedly Melissa pressed against it and then held herself against the turgid stiffness trapped between their bodies. Her soft warm abdomen pressed his cock against his own flesh and as she breathed in and out, gently pressed against him and in his heightened state, each breath coaxed him further and further into a sensuous state that confused and excited him.

The storm’s fury and the accompanying thunder jolted Melissa out of Enoch’s arms, her body leaving a void of cold that shocked him, and momentarily at least he forgot about his hardness. In the roaring silence caused by her absence, Enoch didn’t hear much of what Melissa said, but heard the huskiness in her voice as his brain registered, “downstairs.”

Nodding, Enoch took Melissa’s dainty hand in his and led the way downstairs, saying, “I should start the water so we can have tea.” When they arrived, Enoch took the teapot down and filled it with water, hanging it from a hook over the fire in the fireplace. He then took the tin that held the tea and placed it and two cups on the table.

Uncomfortably aware that he was still rock hard, Enoch took his coat off and tried to hide his agitated state. Much to his horror and embarrassment, Enoch saw a dime sized dark wet spot in his pants. Hoping that Melissa didn’t see it yet, Enoch sat quickly down, rubbing the head against the fabric of his pants, eliciting an involuntary low moan from him.

Burying his head in his hands, as much to hide the fear and confusion as to hide his red face, Enoch whispered, “I am sorry Melissa. I never thought any of this would or could happen.”

A shudder tore through his wide shoulders as he whispered so softly that if it weren’t between gusts of wind, Melissa would never have heard it, “I don’t know what came over me. Or what I should do.”

[Alana_]

He came down with her...Leading the way, with Melissa following, her hand back in his...She'd not expected Enoch to accompany her, but she couldn't deny, every minute spent in his company , was a minute she counted as a blessing...

It was funny, how she'd come to feel accustomed to her husband so quickly...Even if they knew little of the other, she knew enough that this man, was a man that had captured his wife's attention at first glance..

The kitchen seems to tingle with awkward tension...Melissa unhappily watches Enoch perform the errand of boiling water for the tea.....She doesn't look away from his discomfort in how his arousal is evident, but she doesn't find pleasure in his want for her this time..Not when it brings him not pleasure....What had happened in the tower was a moment where something in her had ruptured through her normal solemn persona, and it had come between she and Enoch.......She had wanted her husband...

She had known the effect of arousal, and was watching now as it appeared to bring shame to Enoch Castle. This saddened her so much more than anything..He'd not deserved this angst on her first night in his home...nor on any night.....She was not a woman that wished to hurt anyone...she was not a woman that wasted energy on dwelling on angers and regrets...and she would not regret those moments that had almost exploded between them, on the little narrow path around the light..

“I am sorry Melissa. I never thought any of this would or could happen.”

No E.............

but he continued, and Melissa dropped her cloak where she stood with the rug in a pile on the floor...Gathering her skirts she moved with a grace that was born to her, and not learned, and stood by the table her heart hurting that she had implemented his pain..

“I don’t know what came over me. Or what I should do.”

His wife moved to his side, and lowered to her knees, tilting her head that Enoch might look at her...Melissa rested one hand over his, the other gathering her skirt closer, before resting her hand on his shoulder...Not a woman that has ever been used to displaying emotion, he has introduced her to an influx of feelings in the first hours of their married life together....And Melissa's whisper was just for him...Words that were honest...Words that tell tell him, he was not alone in his confusion, nor desire..

My husband moved me to want to kiss him....Am I not allowed to?.....My husband stirred me to know desire for him....Am I not allowed that too Enoch?.....

Would you have preferred I come , and hide from you behind fear and the loneliness of an empty future? And for us to spend the early days praying fruitlessly for what we are lucky to have now already?

Moving her hand from his hand, to tenderly brush her fingers across his cheek, Melissa promised him also, something that meant a great deal to her at that point..

Enoch.......I'm not ashamed for wanting my husband.................
And I promise I will never be.....

Am I such a wretch husband, that you would know shame wanting to touch who you're wed to?

[southernscion]

Enoch listened to Melissa’s discourse in mounting shock and horror. It never occurred to him that his own turmoil would be seen as any sort of condemnation. In what would be the longest string of sentences in his life, Enoch, cupped each side of Melissa’s face with his hands and said, “Mrs. Castle, you are allowed to kiss me when you desire, where you desire and how. I find your kisses, uh, powerful. They move me in ways I have never been moved. In ways I did not know that I could be moved.

“Please understand that until you got out of the boat, you were an old warty woman, who was sagging her way to one last adventure. I was not expecting the best looking woman in Boston to arrive. And then as I get to know you, it turns out you are beautiful as well.”

Enoch cleared his throat and looked up for a second and then looked back into her eyes. “So the one thing I wasn’t ready for was desire. And desire is….Desire is not something I have ever felt before.” Waving a hand vaguely toward his genitals, “Nor was I ready for its, uh, um, effects.”

Knowing the pain he had caused her, Enoch’s eyes reflected his own pain, and guilt and said, “If there be a wretch in this house, it is I and not you.” Enoch lowered his head until it rested on Melissa’s head and whispered, “Our heavenly father has been more than good to me by bringing you to me. I should not doubt,.”

[Alana_]

Mellisa learned the distinction between the touch of a man, and the touch of a husband...How even at a time where they both were in need of calming woes, his touch could still bring with it a tender longing....A longing that in time, she suspected, would roar....Demand, rejoice and deviate from shy touches to wanton.

She learned of how the look from deep set eyes enhanced words spoken by Enoch, as he added his gentle salve to the worries of his wife...He made her smile...Her lips twitching on the choice description of the bride he'd expected, with Melissa resting her cheek into the palm of one hand, her cheeks crimson at her husbands compliment..

Hearing him , seeing how this man expressed honestly, as she had, that the woman that presented herself as his bride, had also brought with her a sudden wave of feelings that hadn't been explored nor expected....He satisfied her angst that such feelings were not just hers...but his also..and welcome.

“If there be a wretch in this house, it is I and not you.....Our heavenly father has been more than good to me by bringing you to me. I should not doubt,.”

His whispers in themselves thundered with firm assurance.. His whispers sent a bubble of heat up Melissa's spine, and she nodded wordlessly, choosing to remain silent..Her want was disclosed, as too was the matter of his...Of the responses shared in their bodies, and the plethora of emotions that followed. In the quiet of their closeness, she spoke nothing of what they were to do..of how to move on...because Melissa just absorbed another moment with Enoch Castle; whereby she learned that a husband was indeed the source of a wifes calm...

Their desires would be answered....Soon, she found herself hoping..Soon;...but she would be patient.....Her eyes still closed, Melissa moved just enough, to allow her rub the tip of her nose against his almost familiarly ..Her forehead pressed against his, and she pouted a small kiss on his lips, before she then whispered..

You make me ache inside.........You make me feel.

She kissed him then,..Soft pecks...embellished with lingering little whispered kisses...Enoch Castle inspired in her, attributes of sultriness, that had been dormant, and never found before. It was a beautiful hurt to rise slowly, and move from him. Her hand trailing over his shoulders..She said nothing , but as his wife, Melissa choose to ready the tea, using the dried leaves Enoch had left by their mugs.
Allowing it to draw for a few minutes, she buttered thick cuts of what could only be, home made bread, that her husband in his solitude had mastered..There was ham covered beneath a clean, damp cloth to keep it cool and fresh, and Melissa cut generous sliches for his plate, before she went to her duffel bag..It contained amongst her treasures, a round tin of her fathers housekeepers cookies..

My fathers housekeeper.

She placed the open tin close to where Enoch sat, her explanation simple and not expanded on..Melissa then poured their tea, moving with no haste, elegant and economic in her bodies movements.... There was a wild spirit in her, despite the solemn habits that stole her smile from her lovely face..

Serving Enoch his supper, her hand brushing his arm, Melissa paused briefly to just touch the back of his hand....She liked now that she could, without fear that she was imposing on him...
She sat then with a hot mug of tea.....Further away from him than when she'd knelled, but not as not to avoid him. Rather it was to watch, to view, to glance at this man that brokered himself a companionable wife, but found himself instead husband to a woman who wanted to be his wife.. A true wife..

The lamplight in the cottage was dim, with the open fire dancing delicious shadows across the simple interior while the storm roared outside.. Melissa held the mug in her two hands, before she took a sip...Leaving the hot cup down, she reached into the tin, choose a biscuit..Round, crumbling, sweet, and crunchy..Holding it between her fingers, Melissa placed it on the side of his plate;..just a little gesture from her to Enoch...She'd not wanted to eat..Her stomach, even with the Landlords sherry, was weak after the boat trip.

She needed to unpack..And suddenly the weight of the day, and the days before flooded her..Blinking slowly, her words softly spoken. Her body was tireder than her spirit, but her spirit would have loved to entice her skin to tingle, and her flesh to warm just a little longer, but tiredness simple came in the lull of a new passion found, and the excitement that came with it..

I'm tired.

And she looked across the room..To where their beds lay side by side parted by a small table. Suddenly the relief of earlier, was no relief now...
Enoch's wife rose, moved around to his side , and Melissa lowered to her knees again her hands resting on the firm muscle of one of his powerful thighs.

I'll go to bed now.....and leave you with your thoughts......
What ever path you chose for us to follow, I'll walk with you..Good night my husband.

[southernscion]

Melissa’s hands on his thighs caused a torrent of heat and lust to course through Enoch’s veins, his blood flooding into his already turgid member. The ache between his legs both painful and sensuous, left him confused, but very much eager for her continued touch.

Enoch looked into his wife’s eyes as he leaned over and placed a warm, light kiss on her forehead and said, “No, Melissa. What ever course we travel we will decide together; for it is written ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an helpmate for him.’ As that implies, we are partners.”

Enoch stood and held a hand out to Melissa and helped her up, “Thank you for dinner. And tea. I have work to do and leave the house to you.” Kissing her again, a brief peck, lips slightly parted, Enoch put on his coat and went back up the lighthouse.

Arriving at the light room, Enoch looked at the windows and saw they had begun to ice over. Tsking himself, and berating himself momentarily, Enoch grabbed the ice scraper and opened the door to the walk way.

The wind tore at his coat and pant legs as he began scraping the ice away from the windows. The cold air a welcome relief to the heat he was generating from his contact with Melissa. Buffeted by the winds, Enoch thought about his new wife, the taste of her lips, the heat of her body, nut mostly her composure.

She carried herself well, and Enoch knew that no better woman would have been such a good fit here at his light house with him. Enoch knew his short comings as a lover and his complete lack of experience and hoped that he would learn how to please her physically, after he learned to do so emotionally and intellectually.

An hour later Enoch had the windows cleaned and the storm still raged. Normally he would go downstairs and have a hot cup of tea but he fretted that he would wake her with his intrusion.

So he stayed in the light room and two more times that night he went out and cleaned the windows as the storm raged. His coat and pants cold, wet, and semi-frozen, Enoch went down the stairs a couple of hours before dawn and let himself into the house portion of the building.

Stoking the fire quietly, Enoch placed a couple more pieces of wood on it and warmed his hands. Taking his coat off Enoch hung it and then picked up Melissa’s cloak off of the floor and hung it on the brass hook next to his wooden peg.

The light from the fire brightened the room just enough for Enoch to see Melissa while she slept. Transfixed, Enoch stood there for minutes in awe that she was there, and that she was really married to him.

Enoch snorted and thought, or married to me by someone else’s vow. Making a note to talk to her about that whole situation later, Enoch started a pot of tea and started mixing a batch of biscuits for them to have for breakfast. Letting the biscuit mix rise, he then went outside and pulled some bacon from the island’s cellar and brought it in and dropped it into a frying pan.

Tea ready, Enoch sat at the table watching Melissa sleep, waiting to fire up the stove after she woke up.

[Alana_]

The night had been a night where the wind howled, and the rain had beat against the small windows..She had lay listening to the gushes of air swirling in the chimney, voicing its disapproval from the heavens to all that offended it..Or ..as Melissa drifted to sleep, she fancied, that perhaps it hadn't been disapproval at all...Perhaps, it was rejoicing.....It soothed her to think that as sleep took her away, and Melissa slept through the billowing blows the Lighthouse took, with her husband doing his duties.

She hadn't expected to sleep so long..Not on the first morning there...Stirring, Melissa turned onto her side, and yawned, tugging her sheet to her chin, tucking one hand beneath her cheek..It took her a moment to focus, and realize where she was........She was facing her husbands empty bed.

Slowly, Melissa pushed her hand beneath her, and sat up on her hip, just taking a second to wipe the sleepy glaze from her face, before she truly looked at the uncreased bed across from hers.
She felt guilty then.........Enoch had worked through out the entire night, while she'd slept...He'd not even napped, or if he had, it certainly hadn't been in the comfort of his bed...
She, as his wife, should have woken, spent some time with him, and at least rose early enough to cook him a good breakfast.

And she stood, and turned to do just that...In the shadows in the kitchen, sitting at the table, was her husband..
Melissa paused..she was wearing only her night gown, and she wasn't used to been seen in it..not by a man...It covered her entirely, but....it did little to conceal the outline of her body beneath its simple white cotton fabric...But Enoch Castle was her husband...A husband that she'd discovered she'd wanted. and wanted her....and it had been a beautiful revelation the night before.........Melissa knew on seeing him then, that it wasn't something that had changed,...or been a moment of madness, ...a moment that would be regretted.
And she almost didnt smile...almost....but she did...faintly, sleepily..She reached for a quilt off the end of the bed, draping it over her shoulders, and slowly, she walked over to where he sat..And stood in front of him, slipping one hand to his cheek..

Her fingers traced his jaw lightly.....slowly...featherlight touches, that outlined his forehead, until her index finger dipped down his brow, to the tip of his nose...Melissa then leaned down, and kissed his forehead, down to his nose, then placed a tender kiss on his lips, and whispered to him..

You should have woke me husband.

She moved in closer to him, standing by his thigh, cupping his face in her hands, she looking down at him..Melissa rested her forehead against his, and just took a little moment to acclimatize to being a wife, in the morning, with a day of finding her new life with a man she barely knew, but 'knew' instinctively.

I was so tired.......I barely heard a thing..Forgive me.

Nudging a little bit, Enochs wife sat on his lap, but didn't remove her hands from his face as she leaned back a little to study his face...Her thumbs caressed his cheeks, until she allowed the quilt slip from one shoulder, and she freed her arm entirely from its fold..
Melissa then kissed Enoch again, just briefly, finding the new balance between them most beneficial...Not being afraid to kiss him, to slip her arms around his shoulders was something that was past pleasurable.....His kisses were dressed in temptation and sin, and provoked within her feelings that in the early morning, were probably more sweet than the night before.....There was indeed temptation to seduce ..to invite, to ply Enoch with kisses and arousing delicate touches...It would have been a precious moment to invite him to cross the room and wile away some time beneath the crisp sheets of ....................................

Her cheeks burned..Melissa's hands trembled...her entire body did..Another time perhaps, when they past the debates of when it was right ,...when they were ready...to make this marriage complete.. .
Taking the length of time Enoch had been awake, she stood with a sighed breaking of her kiss, to allow him the choice to move if he wished, and she again whispered to him, as she rubbed the tip of his nose with hers.

I'll finish breakfast...Why dont you lay down a while?

I'll find what I need and call you when it's ready.

[southernscion]

Enoch skin melted and burned under Melissa’s touch. The feel of her tight buttocks and slender legs on his lap re-ignited all of the feelings it took an all night storm to quash. When the quilt fell from Melissa’s shoulder, she may as well have been naked, for Enoch had never seen anything quite so erotic in his life.

Until her arm wrapped itself around his neck, his cock quivered along the underside of her thighs, and the painful pressure in his balls was instantly back as his universe exploded when her lips caressed his, her thigh separated from his cock by his pants and her nearly gossamer night shirt. The gentle momentary kiss ran a lava like flow from his mouth straight to his cock and Enoch moaned into her mouth slightly, expressing the deep hunger building inside him.

He almost didn’t see Melissa’s blush and his world was the better for seeing it. A warmth that had nothing to do with the hunger he already felt but whetted it momentarily and then increased it, much like dropping a dry piece of hickory on a roaring fire.

Forehead to forehead, nose to nose, Enoch heard, Melissa say, “I'll finish breakfast...Why dont you lay down a while? I'll find what I need and call you when it's ready.”

Enoch wrapped his arms around Melissa, feeling her skin through the impossibly thin night shirt, and pulled her closer. He gasped as her legs slid the inch or two along his length, tantalizing him, torturing him. His lips hungrily, but somehow gently sought out hers, and once finding them, pressed against her for a moment, his tongue instinctively brushed against her lower, and then upper lip. “No. If it is within my power, I will not squander one day of our life together. Not by sleeping it away certainly.”

Hooking her knees with one arm, Enoch easily stood up and placed his dainty wife on the chair that he had been sitting on. He stood a moment, caressing her face tenderly, his eyes apparently memorizing each pore of her skin. Leaning over, Enoch kissed the tip of her nose, nibbling on it lightly, a moan escaping him. “I’ll cook breakfast. Here on our island we share.”

Walking over to the stove, Enoch placed wood into the barrel and lit it. Coaxing the fire to life, he asked, “Would you like for me to heat a bath for you while we wait for the stove to heat up to temperature?”

Enoch felt a blush race up his face and was sure that Melissa could see the redness through his skull as he realized what he had asked, and its implications.

[Alana_]

“I’ll cook breakfast. Here on our island we share.”

She had not expected the burst of passion in her husband ...Or perhaps she had...She surly sought it..Feeling the weight of his shaft against her thigh, of how his hands felt, through fabric that was an erotic barrier.. only served to ignite her own want more for him.
It served to wet her appetite, and as long as she would live, Melissa would never forget the feeling of knowing she was truly wanted...Her loins ached he held her to him ....Her thighs felt tight, as their muscles contracted, needing the space of parting, and weight of cradling his body against her...
All images, instincts yet to be practiced, but yet Melissa knew them..Knew the pain of pleasure denied, and the heat that it brought about. .She was in tortured dalliance, where the luridness of lust, dueled with the emotional perfection of blessed confusion and precious desire.

Her lips clung to his , her mouth full of his taste, as Enoch sat her down, and slowly disengaged from her.. ...She tried to vocalize an objection to his wanting to cook for her, but he'd left her with lips that were not wising to utter words...not wishing to speak, but in passion.

It was unfair, she believed to be so spoiled, when she should spoil him....She was new to their life yes, but she was never the less, here...as Enoch Castles wife, and she had done little to tend her husband as of yet.......But she watched him..

Her eyes feasted with hunger on his back, as he moved around the area lighting the stove, his shoulders strong, his back broad....
Melissa sat with her hand on her throat, finger tips caressing, torturing soft skin that wanted more than her touches..
He was an elegant giant of a man...Moving with ease, in comfort with his surroundings..Harmonizing with every fiber, shadow, furnishing, ....even the flickers of new sunlight peeping through the wet window panes only enhance a man that was to her, already beautiful..

Her skin felt .....irritated..
It craved...It stung and felt uncomfortable beneath her night gown...Running her hand beneath her hair, Melissa let the quilt fall from her entirely to bunch behind her on the chair.

“Would you like for me to heat a bath for you while we wait for the stove to heat up to temperature?”

If he blushed, she burned up....Licking her lips, Melissa rose slowly from the chair...The room wasn't overly warm yet, but she was on fire. Her bare feet cool against the scrubbed wooden floor, Melissa moved behind Enoch, and slipped her arms around his waist...It was the most normal thing in the world to kiss between his shoulders, her voice husky...shameless in its portrayal of a woman that wanted.

Yes.........but only if you stay.

She brushed her cheek on his back, before Enoch's wife moved in front of him, her hands gliding upwards, over the surface of his chest..With out her boots, she was two inches smaller in her bare feet..Enoch towered over her, in a looming sensual manner that inspired a feeling of being protected...

Melissa rose up on tip toes, dragging her bottom lip over his bristling chin to his mouth, and kissed him with a none concealed desire...He tasted of all that stirred her...Of all that banished in her a modest need for self control. In his presence,..in his company Melissa Castle, was a wife that longed for her husband..

And her touches, her kisses;...the instinctive provocation of her body , searching for those places to rock against.., places that provoked her groaned breaths;..were all hopeful of knowing Enochs longing for her. For him to know the moist warmth of nestling his turgid want deep within her as he made her his.

Passion rocked her whisper against his mouth...Want fed the emotional plea of a body fraught with tension that was so tight it was almost lovely...Her eyes darkened..she tempted him beguilingly, knowing that he was a man that could only respond to his heart if his conscience would free him too..And yet his wife coaxed , cajoled, and bared her pride in words that were both shockingly intimate, but none the less hers for him.

Please Enoch.......Join me....Be with me..

[southernscion]

Enoch worried that he asked too much their infantile relationship. His worry was unfounded as he learned when his wife’s arms wrapped around his waist and she pressed her cheek to his back. The feel of her breasts pressed against his back, her nipples standing firm through the gossamer gown, sent a tingle through his whole body. He heard nothing as the blood roared in his ears like the ocean surf as Melissa kissed him in the middle of the back, between and just below his shoulder blades.

As she rotated around him to stand in front of him, Enoch thought the sensation may just kill him. And briefly, for the scantest of moments, he wondered what the feel of her naked body against his would be like. The thought interrupted as her lips found his, her starvation for him expressed in the force applied.

Then in a blur of activity Melissa touched, stroked, poked, squeezed, and caressed Enoch all over his body all at one time as her mouth closed on his, whispering, ”Please Enoch....Join me..Be with me..”

A soulful groan rattled in his chest and reverberated through Melissa’s as his hands found her ass cheeks, and he pulled her tight against his body. The feel of her ass in his hands was maddening, each of his hands almost completely covered her cheek, his thumbs trailing into the crack of her ass.

His tongue forced its way into her mouth, an all consuming heat radiated from his body, as his tongue dueled hers, neither wishing for a victor. Her breasts crushed between their chests, her nipples so hard that they surely poked holes through his shirt.

Somehow breaking the kiss, Enoch looked down into Melissa’s brown eyes, and whatever heart he had kept to himself fled to her, and would never be his again. “My heart,” he whispered with a kiss, “my, flesh,” he whispered grinding his cock into her, “my mind,” he delivered with a light feathery kiss, all scream yes. That I should throw you onto one of the beds and make you mine.”

Dropping to his knees, Enoch turned his head slightly and rested his head against her breasts, his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tight, whispered, “But there is a small part of my, deep in my soul that says wait.”

Looking up at her, “I would have you marry me, first; the two of us attending. When I thought nothing of the prospects of this kind of relationship, another man doing my work did not disturb me.”

Caressing her back, with one hand, Enoch said, “I would finish a work we have started before beginning a new work.”

He turned his head into her a delivered a kiss between her breasts and said, “So I will draw a bath for you, and be next to you while you bath, and will scrub your back for you.”

Looking back up Enoch said, “I will not though join with you. Not until we marry for real.”

[Alana_]

Kisses became more profound, more indicative of a passion neither had thought to share with one another. She had married a man, to a be a companion, to be a wife and friend....But instead, she found Enoch Castle. More than a man wanting companionship, and more than a husband wanting a friend in a wife of convenience.

His tongue filled her mouth, and his groan filled the vestibules of her heart. Melissa sucked, her body slow in its lengthy caresses of him, as she tasted the heat of passion filled oral copulations.. A sultry purr hummed from the back her throat, as kisses just .....expanded on what kisses were defined as..Past perfection.. More than desire, ..and weighty in longing and desperate for release from a web of torture tightening in the pits of her belly.

Whispers that were pure erotic fantasy, were whispered against her lips, between kisses that Melissa needed, sought, invited. Her hands clutched at the fabric of his shirt, her body writhing against his as Enoch ground his sheathed cock against her wanton concealed flesh..

Jesus...she had never known arousal before..Faint gleams of pleasure, that were soiled with lack of heart, yes, but never arousal blossoming from the heart of a good man, that drained her of pious reservations..He awoke her..Enoch awoke Melissa,.. and in her he disturbed a calm that had protected her from arousal for all of her adult life..She had never needed anyone before.....and in just hours, her husband was needed, coveted, and wanted.

Enoch, in an act of controlled seductive sensuality, dropped to his knees..His hands fondling, cupping her arse, the heat of his kneading her soft flesh penetrating the fine fibers of her night gown. Her belly tight to his chest, Melissa gasped as his mouth left its warmth of kisses on her cleavage..Lips brushing skin never touched, never revealed, never caressed.

What he said was heard, but not fully understood..His words muffled in passions bliss..She heard and was hurt, and it pained her, but she also understood..Understood what he meant, because this was Enoch..a good man with a heart that craved a union born of blessings from God. Understanding his words didnt' mean she felt the same though........Not at all.

“I will not though join with you. Not until we marry for real.''

Pale fingers entangled through his hair, holding him to her, as Melissa gasped on a sob.She was trying..Trying to understand why they had to wait..Why he needed their union to be repeated again, when she was already his wife...
Closing her eyes, Melissa placed a foot either side of his knees, and slipped her body down along the firm muscular length of his body..
Her night gown rose up along her milky white thighs, just barely keeping her decent, as she straddled his lap..
Her body groaned its piteous impatience as Melissa cupped his face, her breathing hard, shaken, ..she resting her forehead against his, as her husky whisper broke, and she partially sobbed.

But I am your wife....I am!.

She shivered..Not in cold, but in a frustrating blend of arousal, and denial of that arousal..It was such a torment to subdue what flared and burned so easily for her towards him.....and it hurt her heart that her husband felt the same need, but could place a blessing before her...before them.

You test me husband......You test me unfairly.

She left a kiss on his lips,..his throat...her hands caressed over his shoulders down Enochs chest....Her hips rocked her sex over the hard fullness of his concealed want, with Melissa kissing him hard again, her tongue exploring his mouth.
Was it shame that stopped her? She didn't know..But his words haunted her...It wasn't that he didn't want her.....she understood that.....There was just something he wanted more......and that hurt enough to still her desire.

Melissa slowly rose up right, and looked down at him, her face revealing far more about how he effected her, than Melissa was used to revealing about anything , for anyone...She was unhappy.
It was a feeling that made her emotions more raw...She did not want that feeling with Enoch Castle..Ever.

But I'll do as you bid husband............And I'll wait.......but I beg you..

Not too long.

Turning away from him, Melissa felt completely exposed...She grabbed the rug from the floor, and draped it around her shoulders again, holding it tightly to herself.
It was hard..It was hard to want someone and not know the release that would come in promised touches..And she turned, looked back at her husband, and said quietly..

I'll wait.........But I'm already your wife Enoch Castle.....I'd not have come to you other wise.