All is Fair in Love and War

Chapter 1

He was bare-chested and only wore his britches, as Seline was laying on his shirt. He had taken it off in a fit of gallantry for her to lay on so the hay would not be so uncomfortable. They had lain in the hay and talked for hours. They talked about her sisters’ upcoming weddings. They talked about his brother expecting his first child and the constant nagging of his mother for him to court any of the eligible young women in the county. Tonight they could not count stars because they were in the hay barn. The last of the hay had finally all been moved inside. Eventually, Seline got Will to make up a story for her as a bedtime story. His stories were her favorite, and he always surprised her with the many different places and characters that he made up on the spot to tell her about. Tonight's story was a wonderful fantasy in which the brave knight goes off to battle to save the kingdom but in the end, the fair princess must travel to a distant land to outwit the dragon and save her brave knight who had been captured. Just as Will was finishing the story Seline had fallen asleep.

Will looked at her as she slept. She had won his heart long ago, but he was too afraid to tell her for fear that their wonderful friendship would change and he would lose her forever. He fell asleep to the sound of her light breathing. He was thinking of how it would be to hold her.

It was early morning on the day before her engagement announcement and Seline Herron woke early. She had hay stuck in her hair and pieces poking into her back and legs. How could I have fallen asleep like this? She could see the pieces of straw sticking out of one of her long golden locks beside her face. Then she looked to her right and remembered why she fell asleep in the hay loft. William Evans. He lived at the manor farm not far from here and she had known him since they were small. His light brown hair and fair complexion with feathery eyelashes gave him the look of a sleeping angel. She slowly and gently ran the back of her fingers over his cheek. She could feel the light stubble on his face. A slow grin crossed his face as he sleepily reached up and grabbed her hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed the back of it, then brought it down and held it against his chest so she could feel the beat of his heart in her palm.

“Good morning,” Will says with a sultry gravely voice. He had that first thing in the morning low growl to his voice. Seline found it to be intoxicating. She closed her eyes and wished for him to say something else just so she could listen to it some more.

“Good Morning Sleepyhead”. Will said again. This time he reached out and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Seline decided that she could not pretend and rolled over to look at him. This moved her so close to his face that she could feel his breath across her cheeks. Will smiled that lazy grin again that she loved so much. It was warm and cozy in the hay. As children, they had often played in the hay loft of their farms’ barns and taken naps there while their parents and neighbors worked together to put up the hay for each farm.

Now that they were older, it was no longer considered acceptable. Adults must act as chaperones, or they could see each other in a large group setting, but young men and young women just weren't left alone together. Seline and Will still liked to spend time together and they would find any excuse that they could to do things together. As they grew older those excuses became few and far between. They still snuck out from time to time in the summer and fall months when there was hay in the barn to spend time in the hayloft talking and telling stories. The hay barn was too cold in the winter, so they would see each other at some of the social gatherings, and spring was when farmers were the busiest, and they rarely saw each other then. Tonight had been a rare chance. Will's Mom sent him over with a basket for Seline's mom. Her mother had been under the weather, and Will's mother had sent up some herbs to help. Staying the whole night in the barn had not been the plan, but Will had intended to see Seline while he was there. Now it was morning and he was still here.

Seline smiled and shaded her eyes as a shaft of sunlight fell on her face through one of the cracks in the side of the barn. The sunlight made her hair dance with golden firelight and the dust motes looked like they were sparks. “Good morning” Seline finally returned. Will sat up in alarm as he was finally more awake and said “We both need to go before we are discovered. Zeb will be looking for me soon to help with morning chores. I will have to run and pretend I started without him, or he will suspect something after the last time he caught me coming back late.” Zeb was Will’s younger brother, and he was always diligent about getting chores done on time. Zeb was also diligent about telling on his brother if Will was not on time to do his own chores. Zeb was an early riser and thought everyone else should be as well. Will however was not and that irked Zeb.

Will knew that if they were caught now it would not be like when they were kids, when all they would get was chores and a few whips of the switch. Will’s father was a strict man and he was also a god-fearing man. He would be very upset if he knew that his seventeen-year-old son and their sixteen-year-old neighbor were sleeping together in the hay loft of her father’s barn.

In their community, either the man makes an honest woman of the young lady involved, or she is put to death. There are no exceptions.