The Wilderness Bride (Oregon #1)

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

L isa didn’t want to think about the day she and Preston had been together, but it had been the day she conceived a child. She realized women didn’t have to go out for a picnic in order to get in the family way. Most women could do that in bed. But as she held the blanket and burping cloth she’d made for a second child, she couldn’t push aside the urge to try again. What would it hurt to take Ashley on a picnic?

There was a spot by the stream that was pleasant to look at. Preston had taken her to a secluded section covered with trees. There had even been a fountain nearby. She’d been na?ve to not realize the reason he took her on a picnic at that specific location on his family’s property was to share a dalliance with her. Had she been wiser, she never would have joined him. But that was all in the past. She couldn’t do anything about it.

She clutched the items she had made for a future child and held them to her chest, barely noting the way they pressed against the clamshell Ashley had gifted her. She might as well try it. Maybe nothing would come from it. But what if she conceived this time?

She would take Ashley to the stream. The stream would take the place of the fountain. The forest trees would take the place of the evergreens on Preston’s property. What was it that Preston had taken for their picnic? A blanket. Ashley had a blanket that was folded up and waiting to be used. She could take that. Preston had also brought a basket with food the cook had made. She didn’t think Ashley had a basket, but he did have a wooden crate that he used to carry things in.

Now what was it that Preston had brought in the basket? After a moment, she recalled the menu. Fish, cooked carrots, oven-roasted potatoes, plums, rolls, and tea cakes. To drink, he had snuck out some sherry. Yet again, the sherry was another reminder of her naivety. She hadn’t thought anything about him bringing alcohol along.

She thought over the jarred foods Corrine and her family had brought. They included potatoes and carrots. They didn’t have plums, but they had brought pears. And they did bake some rolls that Ashley had kept in the cellar to make them last longer. They didn’t have tea cakes, but as she recalled, she and Preston had never gotten to the dessert anyway, so that didn’t matter. For the meat, however, she would need to go with the elk since they didn’t have any fish. And she didn’t need sherry to convince Ashley to be with her. Ashley often initiated lovemaking. No doubt, he would be responsive to her advances today.

Feeling a spark of hope, she folded the items she’d made for her second child and tucked them in the back of the drawer where she had put the other fabrics and sewing supplies. There. Now she had a plan. Even as she realized imitating the events of that day back in Vermont didn’t mean she would get the same result, hope propelled her forward. She shut the drawer then went to gather the things she would need for the picnic.

* * *

“You must really like the idea of getting gloves and a better pair of boots,” Ashley teased Lisa as he took in all of the food she had packed for the picnic. “This is a lot of food.”

He had expected some of the elk since they had so much of it, of course, and some of the rolls the Paxtons had brought them. But he hadn’t expected a full-course meal.

Lisa placed the bowl of pears with the rest of the food and smiled at his joke. “I thought we should take advantage of the day. So many of the days are cloudy or filled with rain. It’s nice to get some sunlight.”

“Yes, there isn’t enough sun out here along the coast, but there’s not much snow in the winter either. You’ll be glad for the rain when you aren’t trying to forge your way through a wall of snow to get to the outhouse.” He poured water into their cups and gave her one of them. “It makes up for how muddy the trails get in the rain.”

“Do you ever get tired of the rain?”

“Only if I’m not fully stocked on wood.” He started filling his plate with food. “I don’t let a little rain stop me from chopping wood. As long as it’s not pouring down, I can manage it.”

“Do you ever spend an entire day relaxing?”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “There have been a couple of days where we didn’t leave the bed. Those don’t count?”

He thought he detected some amusement on her face before she got comfortable on the blanket and placed the plate on her lap. “You know what I mean. Every day since I came here, you’re always doing something.”

“I like to keep busy. Being busy means I’m focusing on the things in front of me. Things I can control.” His voice drifted off for a moment as his mind unwittingly went to a time when he had sought leisure over work. “When I’m busy, I’m not creating trouble.”

“What kind of trouble could you get into? Everything you do is to help others.”

If she knew… If only she knew…

But he didn’t want her to know. He didn’t even want to know. There had been so much he’d left in the past, and having her with him had a way of making him forget. Except, he wasn’t forgetting in this moment. The wide selection of food she brought reminded him of the day when he and Gene sat under a canopy apart from their family and friends. They had gone to an outdoor party a neighbor was having. The selection of food had been more than anyone could possibly eat, and servants waited on all in attendance. He recalled how discontent he and Gene had been. How selfish and greedy they’d been. How they had taken everything they’d had for granted. How neither one could imagine doing a single day of actual work. How they plotted to get out of such a thing ever happening to them.

He glanced her way. She was eating, a happy expression on her face. If he had known her back then, would he have made different decisions? Would he have chosen to accept the decision his and Gene’s father had made? If he had simply accepted that decision, Gene and their father would be alive today.

His gaze went to the necklace he’d made Lisa. The day they’d shared at the beach came to mind. She was a lovely wife. Perhaps she might have been considered a wallflower in Rhode Island, even if she was beautiful. She wasn’t flamboyant enough to be the center of attention. He wasn’t sure if he would have been attracted to someone like her back then. He had been so stupid that he probably would have overlooked her, and that would have been to his detriment. She made him a better person. She made him happier than he’d ever been. He didn’t deserve her, but in God’s grace, He had given her to him as a gift. Perhaps years of repentance did pay off.

She had taken the time to prepare a picnic for him. He wasn’t going to let that summer day in Rhode Island when he talked Gene into stealing money from their father taint this moment. He wanted to connect today with Lisa. In the future when he thought of picnics, he’d much rather recall this. If he kept his mind on the present, he’d be able to do just that.

When the meal came to an end, he helped her pack the dinnerware into the crate. He was ready to fold the blanket and put it in the crate, but she stopped him.

“There’s no hurry to leave, is there?” she asked. “It’s nice out here. Why don’t we sit and enjoy the moment?”

Well, he had nothing pressing to do, so he supposed it was fine. With a nod, he set the crate back on the blanket. To his surprise, she picked the crate up and placed it on the ground next to the blanket. Then she settled next to him and gestured to the stream.

“It’s peaceful out here, isn’t it?” she asked.

He turned his attention to the stream and the surrounding trees. “It is. Didn’t you say this is the area where you like to do the laundry?”

She grimaced. “How can I be at peace when I think of laundry?”

“I’m sorry.” He put his arm around her shoulders.

“Thank you.”

He should be good. He really should have let the moment turn more romantic than humorous, but her grimace was too tempting. He brought his mouth to her ear and whispered, “If I mentioned my dirty socks, would that ruin the mood?”

She groaned but laughed.

“It might be a good time for me to wash them since I’m already here,” he added.

“It’s too bad you didn’t bring a bar of soap with you.”

“I would have if I’d known this picnic was an excuse to get me to do some laundry.”

She laughed harder. “Ashley, I’m trying to have a wonderful, romantic afternoon with you. I can’t do that if you’re going to keep talking about laundry.”

Though he knew it wasn’t the response she wanted, he couldn’t resist asking, “What could be more romantic than washing socks? As it turns out, I have two of them on right now. You can wash one, and I’ll wash the other. It’ll be something we can do together. Doing things together is romantic.”

She didn’t seem to know how to answer him, so he figured he’d save her from having to come up with something. He brought his mouth to her cheek and kissed her. Then he kissed her ear and then her neck. Since she had stopped laughing, he knew it was safe to bring his lips to hers.

She reached up and cupped the back of his neck with her hand. She proceeded to part her lips, a silent invitation for him to deepen the kiss. He followed her lead and interlaced his tongue with hers. His body couldn’t help but react to her. He enjoyed making love to her more than he enjoyed anything, and since she was being forward, he was assured her flow had finally ceased.

He lowered her to the blanket and settled next to her when something sharp poked his side. He stopped kissing her and shifted so that the rock, or perhaps a stick, was no longer poking him. Then he brought his mouth back to hers. She felt wonderful, especially after he hadn’t been able to do this with her for almost a week. He traced her breast and then her hip and pulled her up against him. She responded to him with great enthusiasm, and this only increased his arousal.

He rolled on top of her, and his knee struck something hard. Perhaps if he hadn’t been so fast in rolling on top of her, it wouldn’t have hurt so much. But the pain made him roll off of her and check his knee. The pants weren’t ripped. His gaze went to the blanket. It didn’t have a tear in it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He touched the ground around them and suddenly realized how bumpy—and sharp in some places—it was. “It’s not comfortable out here.”

“I feel fine.”

Maybe she had a comfortable spot, but after he explored the area under the blanket, he concluded that this was not the kind of place where people should be lying on the ground.

“Let’s do this at the cabin,” he said.

She reached for his shirt before he could get up. “Why? This place is perfect.”

“It’s not perfect. It’s bumpy. And sharp.” He didn’t know how he missed that when he was eating. “The bed is more comfortable.”

She sat up beside him and tightened her hold on him. “I’ll stay on the bottom. You can be on top. I don’t mind the ground.”

“But I was on top. Lisa, it’s fine if we leave. Believe me, I’ll want to do this with you when we get to the cabin.”

He kissed her to assure her he wasn’t going to change his mind about being with her this way. He meant to keep it short, but she kissed him in return and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then she pulled him back down to the blanket with her.

This time a rock jabbed him in the shoulder. It took some effort, but he was able to end the kiss. “Are you telling me that nothing is poking at you right now?”

“I don’t care about that. I just want to do this.”

“We will do it.”

“We have to do it here,” she insisted.

“Why?”

“We just do!”

He blinked in surprise at the desperate tone in her voice. He studied her. Was she afraid something bad was going to happen if they didn’t make love at this particular spot? “What’s going on, Lisa? Why does it have to be here?”

She paused for a moment then her expression softened. “It doesn’t have to take long. We don’t even need to remove all of our clothes. I just want to do this. We’ll only do it once. I promise I’ll never ask you to do this here with me again. Every other time can be in the cabin. Just do this for me. Please?”

He didn’t know why she was so insistent on being here, but he could tell it was important to her since she was willing to fight for it.

He cupped the side of her face with his hand. “Alright, we’ll do it here,” he whispered.

Her hold on him relaxed, and the panicked look in her eyes gave way to relief.

He didn’t know what to make of it, and she didn’t seem inclined to explain what was going on since she kissed him. Well, he supposed it didn’t matter. It wasn’t wrong to make love out here. Uncomfortable. But not wrong. And if this was something she wanted—if it was something she needed—he would do it because he would do anything for her.

He deepened the kiss and then he proceeded to make love to her. But, since this was something that was meant to bring enjoyment to them both, he didn’t rush it.