Building on Dreams

Chapter 8 - Memories of the Meadow

It was just before ten on Wednesday evening when Susan finally arrived home. The taxi pulled into the drive and the driver helped her with her bags while Greg stood waiting on the porch.

"Welcome home," he said greeting her with a kiss before taking her suitcase from her.

"Thank you. It's good to be here," she assured him a she returned his kiss.

"The children wanted to wait up for you," Greg said as they went inside.

"I hope you didn't let them," Susan said.

"No. I sent them both to bed at the proper time, however I did promise I'd have you come in to say good night to them when you got home," he said.

"I suppose I'd better do that then," Susan said, and she stole into each of the children's bedrooms to kiss their cheek and give them a hug.

Zackary roused himself enough to give her a sleepy, "Welcome home," but Jessie was sleeping so soundly Susan doubted she knew she was there.

"Shall I carry your luggage for you upstairs?" he asked when she emerged to rejoin him in the family room.

"Please," Susan said tiredly. "I am so glad to be home!"

"Was it a good trip?" Greg asked as together they went up the stairs.

"Very. The whole time was very productive. I'm well set with meetings and work straight through until just before Christmas," Susan said. "But I did miss you, and the children. I had some odd dreams last night after talking to you."

"I hope that I was not the cause."

"Not you specifically, just what you'd shared about what you'd been dreaming about. Why did you dream about our first night together as Jalyn and Cadence, do you suppose?" she wondered aloud.

"I expect it was the combination of your recent narrative about for our first life which you shared with the children, followed by the circumstances of you being away," Greg suggested.

"Oh I know, but dreaming of our first time? The night when our hands were bound?"

"And you were a stranger? Yes, that's the one," Greg confirmed as he set her case down on the bed.

Susan opened it and started to unpack as they talked. Greg would be using the suitcase next for his trip to New York, so there was some urgency to get it done.

"Do you remember that night?" Greg asked when she didn't say anything more.

"Yes, more clearly than it seems like I should after a thousand years," she said.

"Do you really think it was quite that long ago?" Greg asked.

"Maybe not quite a thousand years, but I feel comfortable saying it was sometime in the dark ages. Life was relatively simple and primitive back then, and as I recall, our village had little to no contact with the outside world," Susan said.

"Which is why I think it feels so long ago to us, but I suspect it was somewhat more recent than that ... maybe only eight hundred years," Greg said.

"Does it matter? That still makes it a really long time ago," Susan said as she lifted the last of her things from the case and put them away.

Greg stood studying her. "You don't like to think about it," he observed.

"About what, specifically?" Susan asked.

"About our wedding night ... the night we became man and wife," Greg said.

Susan paused considering that night, so long ago, the one they'd spent burrowed between furred skins on the floor of a cave, exploring each other's bodies, trying to make love with no experience to guide them and one hand tied. The setting had been frightening with the men outside who spoke the strange language and were watching. They were far more interested in her body than she thought holy men should be. The arms of her new husband felt relatively safe. He at least seemed to care when she cried. Susan shuddered at the memory of the behavior of the sages towards her afterwards, about how she feared she was being raped, not understanding at the time that they'd merely wanted to examine her to confirm what they hadn't been able to see ... that their marriage had been consummated and she'd been a virgin at the time. They were looking for the presence of both blood and semen on and in her body, something they felt was vital to the success of their marriage. They'd found it, but the internal examination had left her feeling violated and bruised ... more so than Jalyn's inexperienced love making had the night before.