Chapter Twenty-Three
Lizzie
On her way back to her room after breakfast, Lizzie found Lucy sobbing quietly into a handkerchief outside her door.
‘What is it Lucy?’ she asked urgently, putting a comforting arm around the girl. She looked behind for Karl, but saw that he was detaining her roommate so they could have a moment alone.
‘I can’t come, Ma’am. I’ve thought it through a hundred times and I can’t come.’
‘What? Why ever not?’
‘My place is here. If… if the ship is going to sink, then I have to do what I can to save the passengers in my care. I can’t just run away.’
‘But you will be helping the passengers. You will be helping forty-eight children, not to mention your own unborn child, to safety. We cannot do this without you. Would you be able to help that many people if you stayed?’
Lucy stopped crying and looked up thoughtfully. ‘I didn’t think of it that way. Do you really need my help?’
‘Of course. We are going to be moving all those children with only a handful of adults. They will be frightened and will not know what is happening. You must help us get them safely to the Portal and through to the other side. Karl says they are bringing several other stewards, too, just to help. It is your duty to help us.’
‘Yes ma’am, put like that, it is. But I won’t go through. I’ll stay and go back to help with the others once all the children are gone.’
‘As you will, Lucy. However, do remember that you are not solely responsible for this ship. There are other stewards who must do their part too. Once you have done your duty, you have every right to put your child first.’
Lucy looked unconvinced, but she wiped her eyes and gave a watery smile just as the termagant forced her way past Karl and headed towards them.
‘You two can get out of my way too. Who do you think you are, blocking the passageway so people cannot get where they need to go?’ Mrs Duncan complained waving them out of her way as if they were annoying flies.
Hastily, they stepped back and pressed themselves against the wall so that the large woman could pass by and enter their stateroom. She shut the door behind her with a resounding thud.
‘I will not see it as my duty to save that woman,’ Lucy whispered with a giggle.
‘No. The trouble is Karl says she is one of the ones who does get saved. She probably forces her way onto the first available lifeboat and be damned to everyone else,’ Lizzie whispered back.
‘I had better get back to work. Thank you, ma’am. I feel better about this all now. I didn’t like to feel like a rat deserting a sinking ship.’
‘You could never be a rat, Lucy. Even if you put yourself at the head of the line, you would be legitimately entitled to because of your child. Remember how important that child is to where we are going.’
‘Funny, isn’t it, Ma’am? I’m not married and I was thinking I might have to do away with it or give it away when it was born because I couldn’t keep it. And now there is this place that wants me because of my baby; a place that won’t see me as a bad girl. It all sounds so… perfect.’
‘It does, doesn’t it? Yes, that new world wants you and your baby. Just remember that.’
She followed Lucy back up the short passageway until she met up with Karl, who had been waiting watchfully for her. The breakfast crowd had drifted away up the stairs to their leisure pursuits, and for a few minutes they had the reception area to themselves.
‘Is Lucy all right?’ Karl asked, as he nodded to a woman who was one of the stragglers from breakfast. She was a tiny woman with sleek black hair parted down the centre and huge brown eyes that seemed to take in everything around her. Lizzie had seen her roaming the decks and the corridors at all hours of the day and night.
‘Yes. She had convinced herself that she had to do her duty and stay to help the passengers. I told her she would be helping passengers go through the Portal. I said we needed her to help with all those scared children.’
‘If Bart does his job there will be no scared children, just excited ones up for an adventure. They will not know what happens back here.’
‘They will one day.’
‘Yes, there will be a record of those last hours back home for anyone who wishes to see it – for closure. However, by the time the children are ready to watch that, they will have accepted their new life. Children are amazingly resilient.’
‘I suppose they are. I hope I am. Would you mind if I took a few moments to lie down on your bed? I am not sleeping and I am so exhausted all the time.’
‘Certainly. My roommate has gone up to the smoking lounge for the day. You will not be bothered.’ He opened his door and ushered her in.
Then, when he began to close her in, she got up the courage to speak. ‘Karl would you come in with me?’
His face was a picture of astonishment and eagerness. Clearing his throat, his skin turning bright pink, he stepped in after her and closed the door.
‘If I lie down, would you stroke my head for me?’ she asked, feeling like she was taking advantage of his good nature.
‘Of… of course. Do lie down.’
She removed her shoes and jacket and lay down on the top of the already made-up bunk. Karl took off his coat and sat down on the floor beside the bed. Then he lifted his hand and began to gently stroke her brow. It felt like heaven.
‘You know,’ she whispered. ‘Even if this all turns out to be a hoax, I am glad I met you. I have never felt as loved as I have in these last few days. I cannot regret that.’
‘I do love you, Lizzie.’ His voice was no more than a deep rumple in the air. She took comfort from it and the gentle, repetitive movement of his fingers on her skin.
‘I love you too.’
For a moment, his fingers stopped, and then they started up again.
‘A month ago, I did not have a friend in the world and I thought I would be cast out on the street like a scarlet woman. Now I have everything I have ever dreamed of and more. I am so grateful to you.’
‘A month ago, I was a lonely man beginning a great adventure I hoped would cleanse my jaded pallet. I never expected to find love, to have the possibility of a family. I never thought such a thing was possible for me.’
‘Karl, would you kiss me?’
His fingers stopped moving but they didn’t leave her forehead. Then very slowly he drew himself up onto his knees and leaned in toward her. She closed her eyes and waited, and for a terrifying moment, she wondered if he would actually do it. Then she felt his lips play over hers gently, tenderly, as if she were the most precious thing in the world to him.
She opened her lips and invited more. He responded by intensifying the kiss, leaning in, so that their mouths were pressed together as if they’d never part. Then, when the first pleasure ebbed, he began to use the soft flesh of his bottom lip to caress her as he gently nipped at her upper lip with his teeth. It was so unexpected that she drew in a startled breath.
He withdrew immediately. ‘Did I hurt you?’
‘No. It was just unexpected. No one has ever nibbled me before.’
‘I didn’t know I was doing it. I am sorry.’
‘Don’t be. Kiss me again, please. Nibble me, do what you will to me. I am yours to do with as you will.’
He gave a self-conscious laugh. ‘Do not say such a thing to a man or you might be taken at your word.’
‘I want to be. I want to know what it is to be with a man without pain, fear and humiliation. It is all so new to me. I do not know where to start.’
‘Let me touch you then.’
Her gaze jerked up to meet his. ‘How?’
His fingers moved to her blouse and began to unbutton each pearl slowly, waiting for her to stop him. Her pulse began to race, but she didn’t move. She wore no stays and all that covered her breasts beneath her top was a chemise of white lawn. When the final button was undone, he drew back the sides of the blouse and pulled it free of her skirt. Then he began to
stroke at the thin, cotton fabric that clung to her swollen, sensitive breasts.
‘You are so beautiful,’ he said in hushed awe.
His gentle strokes were wonderful and she relaxed beneath his tender touch, no longer embarrassed by what he was doing. But when his fingertips closed around the tip of one nipple, she nearly jumped off the bed.
‘Too hard?’
She shook her head and lay still once more, letting him resume his exploration. He tweaked the nipple again until she felt a hot pooling between her legs. Then, while she was trying to come to terms with the strangely delicious sensations flooding her, his fingers left their play and stroked up to her shoulder. She wanted to tell him to go back, to finish what he’d been doing, but she was too shy.
However, suddenly something warm and wet pressed down on her breast, and she groaned with pleasure as his mouth sucked in her nipple along with its cotton covering. Convulsively, she reached up and buried her hands in his brown hair, feeling its silky strands, unmarred by greasy pomade. When he gently grazed the nipple with his teeth she clutched at his hair, pulling him closer, whimpering in delighted agony as the sensation threatened to overwhelm her.
Then his mouth left off its ministration and moved away. She whimpered again, this time in disappointment. When he blew onto the damp cotton, she shuddered.
‘How do you know all of this?’ she asked, as he cupped her furthest breast in his hand and kneaded it gently like bread dough. He began suckling on her other nipple through the fabric.
She arched her back, not understanding why, but trusting that her body knew what to do. His tongue left her breast and licked a trail up to her throat, where he began to kiss and nibble her there as he kneaded her full breasts with sure, gentle movements.
‘I am an avid reader. There was a time I thought I should explore sex as part of the human experience so I did my research. However, I could never find a woman I wanted to experiment with.’
She chuckled, as her face began to burn with embarrassment. ‘You can research this in your world?’
‘You can research anything in my world. Am I doing it right?’ His voice was very low and growling, and his breath, as he exhaled onto her skin, sent her into excited rapture.
‘Oh, I think you are doing it right. I have never felt so… delicious. What happens next?’ she said breathlessly.
‘What do you want me to do next?’
She shook her head. ‘I have done no research. I do not know what there is on offer?’
‘There is a buffet of pleasures. Try what you want and then move on.’ He chuckled against her skin and even that felt wonderful.
‘Kiss me then, and continue to touch me as you are doing. I like that very much.’
He moved up so that he could kiss her deeply and this time it was not tentative exploration. This time, he kissed her like he wanted to devour her and her senses reeled from the onslaught. Shakily, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, needing him as close as it was possible to get. Her breaths came as croaky gasps when he gave her space to breathe but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered but their mouths and the rhythmic kneading of her breast.
Then, that wasn't enough. She wanted more. She wanted to feel his skin on hers, not separated by starchy fabric that chaffed her sensitive skin.
‘Take your shirt off?’ She made it a question, in case he thought her too forward. He ripped the shirt from his body and followed it with his undershirt. She opened her eyes so she could see what he looked like, and she moaned with delight at the sight of him. His torso was tanned and muscular, with a scattering of hairs fanning out from the centre of his chest. His shoulders were broad and solid. Up close, he looked so much bigger without his shirt than he had with it.
Tentatively, she reached out and stroked his skin, feeling the ridges and the wide expanse of muscle across his chest. It was his turn to groan.
‘You are beautiful,’ she said, not realising she used the exact words he had used when he saw her for the first time. Instantly, he was back covering her mouth with his once more. This time he was frantic with desire. She ran her hands along his back, feeling the muscles flex beneath her touch. Then he was kissing his way down her neck and the friction of his bare skin on hers was bliss.
‘Can we… be joined when I am with child?’ she asked shyly, as yet another ripple of sensation made its way down to her core.
‘Of course, as long as there are no complications. Is that what you want? Are you sure you do not want to wait until we are married? I might be a mad man and you will feel worse…’
‘You are no mad man, Karl. I trust you with my life. And I do not want to wait if it does not hurt the baby and you do not mind me being fat.’
His laugh was a joyous thing. ‘In our world, your body swollen with new life is the most glorious thing there is. You have no idea how beautiful you are to me like this.’
‘Then, if the door is locked, let us remove our clothes and… come together. I do not remember how it happened before. I was too terrified to pay attention. I know it hurt between my legs; that's all.’
His hand ran down the length of her body and cupped her between her legs through her clothes. She bucked against his hand in surprised pleasure.
‘That didn’t hurt,’ she admitted with a gasp.
‘Let me get this skirt off you and see if I can get the rest of this right. I feel my control is reaching its limit and I may need to relieve the pressure before we go further.’
‘Relieve? How?’
‘Don’t concern yourself, beloved. I just need to…’
Her hand found its way to the front of his trousers and felt something hard there. The groan he let out told her not what she did was good or bad, but it was definitely significant. She felt her way along the length of the rod-shaped part of him she discovered. This muscle was harder than the muscles in his chest.
Suddenly, he clamped her hand hard against him and his body jerked convulsively as he cried out in agony. Struggling to free herself, she tried to draw away, but he pressed down on her hand as the waves of his pain washed over him.
Finally, they stopped, and he laid his head on her breast drawing in deep gasps of air.
‘I am so sorry if I hurt you. I did not mean to,’ she said finally, stroking his damp hair back from his face.
‘You did not hurt me. I just released my seed. Not in a suitable place, but I do have a spare pair of trousers with me.’
‘Your seed?’
‘It is what made you pregnant. Seed was sown in your womb. My seed, of course, would never make you pregnant, mores-the-pity.’ He drew back from her and squeezed in beside her on the narrow bunk. He rested his head on her shoulder and she felt a blooming sense of tenderness for this exhausted man at her side.
‘Have we been joined?’ she asked.
‘Ah, no. Not as yet. We will get to that shortly. This body should not take long to recuperate. In the meantime, I will continue exploring after I remove these.’
He slid off the bunk and shucked off his pants revealing his full, glorious nakedness to her. She loved the flat expanse of stomach and was curious about the thatch of dark hair below it. And what nestled in its curly depths. However, she could see nothing long and hard like she had felt only moments ago.
Before she could question him, he began to remove her skirt, petticoats, chemise and, finally, bloomers. It felt strange to be naked before him, yet she was not embarrassed. His admiring gaze would not allow it.
Then he was stroking her from her throat to her breast, over her gently swelling stomach and down to her thighs. Each time he did it, she felt the delicious tension, which she had thought gone, returning with even more force. She arched up to meet his roaming hand as his naked body lay pressed to her side. He kissed her again, deep and probing, while his hand moved lower, until he cupped her maidenhair in his palm and pressed in with his fingers.
‘Ohhhh…’ Flustered, aroused, restless for more, she writhed under his han
d and she looked up to see him smiling.
‘What?’ she asked, as his touch threw her into another wave of pleasurable sensation.
‘I seem to be doing something right. And I was correct about this body.’
‘I… ohhhhh… I do not understand.’
‘Fast turnaround. Just touching you here.’ He pressed his fingers into her core and she bucked. ‘Is making me hard again.’
‘Hard?’ She looked down his body and saw a most peculiar phenomenon. There was a shaft growing between his legs, and it grew larger and larger the longer she looked.
‘What?’
He reached out and took her hand, placing it on the growing thing that was now lying flat against his belly. She recognised the feel of it from before, and as she touched the thing it jerked in response.
‘What is that?’ she asked, in astonished curiosity.
‘That is what will join us. Soon. However, I want to prepare you first.’
Before she could ask how, he was dipping his fingers deeper into her core and her legs fell apart automatically to give him greater access. When she realised what she was doing, she tried to draw her legs together. But he wouldn’t let her.
‘Don’t… please. I know you feel vulnerable spread open like this but that is what I need to see right now. You have no idea what the sight of you like that does to me.’ He moved his fingers and she jerked against his hand. Then he was stroking her with those fingers in the damp cleft between her legs and she felt the tension inside her building even higher. Her skin was so hot and clammy she didn’t know what to do with herself. All she could do was writhe against his clever hand as it pleasured her.
There came a point when he clamped his mouth around one nipple and sucked hard on it while he touched her down below and something happened, something incredible, and she felt her body explode with pleasure until she was crying out, just as Karl had done not long ago.
He lifted his mouth from her breast as she came back to earth.
‘Did I release my seed?’ she asked, as she felt the tension building again and she wriggled under his still moving hand.
‘In a way. I am going to replace my hand with my pe… manhood now. Are you okay?’
She nodded mutely, wondering what was to come. It couldn’t be better than what he had just done to her.
But then he was pressing the hard cylinder of flesh into her and she felt her body stretch to accommodate it. When she thought there was no more room inside her, he stopped. For a long moment, he stayed still, holding the weight of his body off her with his muscular arms as he looked down into her face.
‘Okay?’ he asked.
She nodded again. 'It doesn't hurt like last time.'
Then he was drawing back from her and she didn’t want him to go. Had reminding him of that other man turned him from her? Before she had time to feel the full sting of his rejection, he was driving back into her body once more. The sensation was slicker and more pleasurable this time. When he pulled back again she let him, knowing what was to come. When he thrust into her this time, harder and faster, she felt it right at the deepest part of her, and little ripples of pleasure started to make their way outward from that centre.
‘Ohhhh….’ She gripped the blanket beneath her convulsively as she waited for the next thrust.
Then he was moving steadily faster and faster, thrusting into her body as his skin became damp and hot and his muscles rigid with tension. And she found she was going with the movement, feeling her way, matching her rhythm to his. Lizzie watched his face as the sensations built. Sweating, features strained with deep concentration, he pounded into her again and again. She met his every throbbing thrust until she felt that strange explosion rippling through her again. Her body stiffened in response and she rode out the exquisite pleasure, only partly aware of the sound of Karl crying out above her as he rammed home one more time.
They were soaked with perspiration as they lie next to each other, bodies satiated and still.
‘I didn’t know…’
‘Hmmm?’ He nosed into her neck, found her ear and began to nibble on the lobe. Her body responded with another wave of pleasure.
‘That. What we did. I didn’t know that was “joining.”’
‘Hmmm.’ He bit down a little harder on her lobe and she moaned.
‘I thought it would hurt like… like with…’
‘Do not say his name. He does not exist. This was when you really lost your virginity and when I lost mine. Everything else… gone as if it never was.’
‘Women say it is uncomfortable even when it doesn’t hurt. I do not find it so.’
‘Good. I did it right, then. Now shhhh… I am tired. Sleep for a little while, hmmm?’
She nodded her head. Now that she thought about it, she was tired too. Exhausted, in fact, and with his body plastered to hers, she let herself drift off into peaceful oblivion.