Rock Valley

It was already dark outside when Aideen picked Maerwyn up from the floor and announced to her husband that it was past the little girls bedtime. Maerwyn protested as she wanted to hear the rest of the story her papa was reading to her and even though it pleased Aideen beyond anything that her husband and her daughter got along even better that most blood related fathers and daughters, she knew that if she didn’t put the eight month old to bed right now, the girl was bound to be tired and fussy the next day.

Aideen smiled as she looked into her daughter’s glowing face. There were smudges on the little girls cheeks from playing outside all day, while papa was raking leaves. There were some markings of her supper, porridge and bread, on the other. But most of all, the girl bore no resemblance to the man who sired her. And for that, Aideen couldn’t have been happier. As she looked into the girls face, she saw her own, not the baby like resemblance to her assaulter she had believed to see in her newborn daughter all those months ago. As the baby became a toddler, Maerwyn grew more and more like her mother, making it even easier for her parents to pass her off as Caleb’s. Caleb was the proudest father in the land and he adored his little girl. The child even resembled him as she copied looks and expressions of the face that had been bent over her crib her entire infancy.

Still, the girl’s birth had left scars on Aideen, both mentally and physically. The midwife had explained that she would not survive childbirth, as the scar tissue her womb had formed after the ruptured placenta had been removed would probably burst and cause the young woman to bleed to death.

Caleb, who loved his young wife above all, had thus decided that abstinence would be the only way to save her life and had not even touched her since the news had been told.

After putting her daughter to bed, Aideen washed her hair and put on her nightgown. As she got into bed, Caleb came in. He smiled as he watched her climb into their big bed and sat himself besides her. He arranged his pillows and sighed as he lowered himself onto them, tired from the day’s work.

Aideen looked at her husband and a sudden urge to touch him, to feel him close to her and hold him in her arms washed over her like a wave.

“Caleb? Please look at me.” She spoke softly, but her voice had an urgency to it that made him turn towards her. A look of despair crossed his face as he watched the beautiful young woman that was lying next to him, wearing nothing but a thin nightgown.
“Don’t my love. Don’t make it any harder than it already is.” He spoke softly while already turning away, planning on rolling over and going to sleep so that he wouldn’t notice her presence any more than he already did.

But she didn’t let him. To Aideen, it had taken to long. She was very young and not determined to live like a nun for the rest of her life. They had only been together until the baby had been born, but she remembered all those wonderful months of intimacy and tenderness. She pulled him close by his shoulder and kissed him with all the passion she had build up during those 8 months of waiting.

At first Caleb joined her in the kiss, but soon he realised where this would lead to. He pushed her away and ran out of the bedroom, out of the house, away from his enchanting wife.

There, out in the yard in the dark with nothing but the moon lighting his path, he collapsed onto his knees and cried out all his despair and his frustration, praying to the lord for strength to guide him through this.

All of the sudden, he heard a soft voice from behind him, a warm hand touching his arm and another one, pulling him back onto his feet before embracing him.

She kissed his neck, his chin, his cheeks, his lips. She slid her hand through the tie holding up his trousers, gently discovering what was within them before pushing them down to the ground. She let her nightgown slide down her shoulders and embraced him again, making sure every inch of his front was covered with hers.
She let out a little scream as she noticed his reaction to her action and gently tried to pull him down to the ground.

Caleb, no longer thinking, picked his now naked wife up and carried her upstairs, to their bed, where they both spent the night releasing all inhibitions and forgetting about any possible consequence to their actions.