Mail Order Bride- Illinois

Chapter 2

Jonathan sat next to his future wife and tried to concentrate on the sermon. God he hated being in a church again, it was a reminder of his childhood.

Jonathan let his thoughts as well as his eyes stray to the woman sitting beside him.

When he met with Abby’s parents the only thing that he asked about was her ability to be a good mother. He didn’t ask her parents what she looked like, her appearance didn’t matter. Abbigails parents simply told him that she was of marrying age, and had a kind disposition to everyone she interacted with. Jonathan didn’t think that she would look like much, given that she was twenty-three and still unwed. When he first saw her, he couldn’t believe that was the woman he was going to marry. Jonathan believed that it was one of her older sisters. When no one else appeared he let it dawn on him that this beautiful creature would soon be his wife. She had long blonde hair, braided and placed artfully on top of her head. She was larger than most of the women he knew and interacted with in the saloons, but her luscious curves appealed highly to him. He could imagine what she felt like flush against him. He felt himself getting hard just thinking about their upcoming joining.

Abby’s eyes caught his, and a most becoming blush appeared on her cheeks before she turned her attention back to the sermon. Abby had a small smile on her face that Jonathan couldn’t help but find sweet.

‘Well she’s defiantly an innocent,’ he thought to himself. His wife, his deceased wife never looked at him with such innocent. That is because she was never an innocent, not even on their wedding night. He pushed the horrible memories of his late wife and looked at Abby.

‘God she’s gorgeous, I don’t deserve a woman like her,’ Jonathan said to himself. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to deserve her. The war left him a shell of a man, and he made a lot of mistakes. One of them being his first wife Caroline. Caroline pursued him, and Jonathan was dumb enough to marry her. The only good thing that came from his marriage to Caroline was his two sons.

Soon enough the service came to an end with a prayer. Jonathan bowed his head in prayer.

“Amen,” the congregation echoed.

Now it was time for the fun part. It was time for them to be married.

Jonathan found himself standing in front of a church with a woman he just met today. The congregation had emptied out, and only Abby’s family had remained. The preacher kept it short and sweet.

“Do you Jonathan Smith take this woman to be your lawful wife. To have and to hold…” the preacher continued the vows, and Jonathan said,

“I do.” When promoted. Then the preacher continued on the wives vows. A very timid voice came,

“I do.” Normally there would be an exchanging of rings. But Jonathan wasn’t prepared for a church ceremony. He assumed they would be married by proxy. The preacher had obviously seen this issues before so he smoothes right over it. The preacher quickly finish’s out the ceremony.

“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. I now pronounce you man, and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Jonathan leaned in slowly, and gave his wife a smile peck on the lips. When he pulled away, Abby gave him a shy smile.

Abby’s father came up to him, and gave him a pat on the shoulders.

“Why don’t you come on over for dinner tonight?” Jonathan thought it over for a minute.

“While I appreciate the offer sir, I can’t accept it tonight. How about tomorrow?” Abby’s father nodded,

“Sounds like a fine idea,” his new father-in-law gave him a pat on the back and walked off. Jonathan waved the man off, ready to spend some time alone with his wife.

.

Abby sat in the bed at the hotel room, terrified. Jonathan left the room to bathe, and Abby had changed into her nightgown and slip into bed. Abby tried to go to sleep before Jonathan returned, however she was too scared to fall asleep. She about screamed when she heard the door close shut.

‘Good Lord he’s quiet,’ she thought to herself. Jonathan turned the lamp on low so that he could see around the room.

“Abby, are you awake?” Jonathan said quietly so as not to wake her if she was sleeping. Abby hesitated for a moment, but answered him;

“Jonathan?” Abby said hopefully in a voice that said she was dead tired.

“I’m sorry did I wake you?” Abby wanted to lie and say that yes he had woke her up from sleep, but she couldn’t lie to this man he was too kind to her.

“No I have been unable to fall asleep for some time now.” Abby admitted quietly.

“Well do you want to talk?” Jonathan suggested as he moved around the room.

“What do you mean by ‘talk’?” Abby asked Jonathan thinking that this was a strange way to assert his husbandly rights.

“I was thinking we could sit down and converse a little, get to know one another.” Jonathan stated and sat on the bed next to her. Abby started to panic as she saw him get under the covers. “I wanted to start out by telling you I don’t plan to consummate this marriage until we get to know one another better.” Abby eyed him warily out of the corner of her eye.

“So does that mean we will consummate the marriage after we have our talk tonight?” Abby said warily.

“No, we will consummate this marriage whenever you tell me you want to.” Jonathan said in an even voice looking at her dead in the eye.

“Are you being serious?” Jonathan sighed heavily,

“Yes I am deadly serious, while I want to make love to you right this instant I will not do so until you feel the same way.” Abby digested that information while Jonathan got himself settled into bed.

“What do you want to talk about?” Abby asked when he turned the lamp down low.

“Why don’t you tell me a little more about yourself,” Jonathan asked as he got settled.

“Like what?” Abby asked, in truth there was not much to say.

“Why haven’t you married before now, you are a beautiful young lady.”

“Well to tell you the truth, I was engaged.”

“To who? When?” Jonathan asked with anger in his voice. She hoped that he wasn’t angry at her, so she rushed to tell him.

“I was engaged to a son of my parents friends before the war. It was arranged by my parents when I was only twelve. I cared for him, but not as I should have. The next year is when the war broke out, when I was sixteen he joined the union; he told me that he couldn’t sit here and wait while his friends never came back. I wrote to him but he barely ever wrote back. I understood he was in the middle of a war, he shouldn’t have to worry about writing me.”

“I would have wrote you,” Jonathan interrupted. Abby gave him a broken smile.

“I believe that you would; but one day his parents received a letter saying that he was killed in battle.”

“Why did you not find another man? Did you miss him that much? Do you miss him still?” Jonathan asked. Abby almost laughed, then cried. Abby mustered her dignity,

“I mourned him for a time, but I never found anyone to marry because no man wanted me.” Abby let a single tear slip down her cheek before she could control her tears. Abby didn’t want to look pathetic before her new husband.

“Aw sweetheart now that is a down and out lie, from the second I saw you I wanted you, I prayed you were the woman that was to be my wife.”

“Truly?” Abby asked with hope in her eyes.

“I swear it on my honor.”

“It means a lot to me that you think that.” Jonathan gave her a small smile. “So what about you?”

“What would you like to know?” Jonathan asked, and Abby tried to think of something to say.

“Did you enlist?”

“I sure did,” Jonathan said but didn’t give up any more information.

“Were you born in Oregon?” Abby asked and Jonathan laughed.

“No, after the war I traveled the west. I eventually made it to Oregon and I fell in love with the country, that’s where I met Carolina.”

“You wife?” Jonathan nodded, but didn’t say anything more.

“I don’t know why you said you want to talk, you’re not telling me anything. Can you at least tell me about your children?”

“I have two sons; Cullen and Devlin. Cullen is four while Devlin is six.”

“Oh gosh they are so young,” Abby broke in.

“Yes they are very young, Cullen doesn’t really remember his mother, but Devlin does and he misses her a great deal.”

“I would too, I can’t imagine losing my mother at that age,” Abby stated. Jonathan gave her an odd look before continuing on.

“Devlin has become very withdrawn, he rarely ever speaks and when he does it’s in anger. Cullen is very open and loving.” There was a long, awkward silence between them. Abby decided to go to sleep, or at least try anything was better then this. Abby let out a loud yawn and turned to her husband.

“I am beat, I am going to get some sleep.” Abby decided to lean into Jonathan and kiss his cheek. Abby started to pull back when Jonathan put his hand on her cheek. The small contact sent shivers up her spine; Jonathan leaned in to give her a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. Abby gasped at the pleasure of his kiss, and Jonathan took full advantage by sweeping his tongue inside her mouth. Abby had never been kissed like this before in her life, and she didn’t know how to respond to Jonathan’s hot kiss. Abby tried to mimic Jonathan’s tongue, but didn’t know how well she was doing. Jonathan let out a low groan, and pulled her roughly to his own body. Abby felt his arousal against her thigh, and panicked. Abby wrenched her mouth from his, and turned on her side facing away from him.

“Good night,” Abby finally managed to say.

“hmm, that was nice,” Abby heard Jonathan say and in a whisper she affirmed,

“I thought so too.” Abby went to sleep with a smile on her face.

.

“You sure you want to do this?” Abby asked her new husband.

“I told your father we would have a meal with them before we left. We are leaving tomorrow.” Jonathan said as they rode on his horse to her sisters farm.

Abby was nervous, she didn’t want to go to another family dinner. She was trying to be optimistic of a future with her husband, but her sister had a way of ruining things for her.

Jonathan pulled up to the horse post, and tied his horse to it. Abby had rode in front of him, it was quite thrilling to have his front settled so tightly against her back.

Abby’s father came out to greet them.

“Mr. Smith nice to see you. Glad you could make it.” Jonathan raised his hand in greeting.

“Thank you for the invite sir,” Jonathan said and her father and brother in law started talking.

Abby found herself in the kitchen making the food like always. Abby cooked most of the food while her sister Elly was out socializing. Her mother of course helped her.

“The food is delicious honey,” her brother-in-law said.

“Thank you sweetheart,” her sister replied. Abby held her tongue like always. The evening was long and torturous, but Jonathan was able to cut the evening short. Jonathan said they had an early morning tomorrow, which they did. On the ride back, snuggled up against her husband it felt so amazing.

“Your cooking was amazing,” Jonathan whispered in her ear. Abby let out a smile,

“How did you know?” She asked him. Jonathan let out a small chuckle,

“By the way you brother-in-law reacted to it.” Abby looked back at him,

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“He looked prepared for the worst, but when he tasted it he got something amazing. He knew it wasn’t his wife’s cooking, but he knew better than to say something.” Abby couldn’t help it, she busted out laughing.

“You look beautiful when you smile.”