With leaden feet, she wandered back to her room, sat on the edge of her bed and took off her nurse’s apron, folded it neatly and placed it on the end of the bed. The final few weeks of training had been exhausting but she’d loved every single minute of it and Wilz was doing okay. What more could she ask for?
Later that night, Gertie lay on her bed, the conversation rolling over in her mind.
“I can almost hear those wheels turning in your head. What’s going on?” Her room mate Lucy leaned up on her elbow. “You’re not worried about shipping out, are you?”
“No, it’s not that.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and clasped her hands between her knees. “It’s a family thing, actually.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, you know.” Lucy laughed. “If you do though, I won’t tell a soul. Take my secrets to the grave, I will. That’s what my mum always says.”
“I’m worried about my sister. I don’t think she knows just how unstable my father is.”
* * *
Wilz followed the well-trodden path to the summer house. Her lover awaited and she needed his embrace after the day’s turmoil. Papa had been put to bed after another argument over dinner, taking ages to settle even with his medication. Eventually he’d closed his eyes and she’d crept out, desperate for some time in the arms of someone who cared for her.
The door was ajar and she slipped inside. He stood by the window, looking out on the moonlit sky. She hurried over and ran her hands over his shoulders, resting her face against his back.
“Was it very bad?”
“It was horrible. The doctor came and did another assessment and father performed terribly. So upset and angry. He’s getting to the almost unmanageable stage. I’m going to have to see if they can’t give him some medication other than sleeping draughts to calm him down until they take him. I feel we need to talk to him about being admitted to a sanatorium. I don’t think it’s fair to drag him out of the house without telling him what’s going on.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? Wouldn’t it be better to take him there and then tell him what you’ve planned?”
Wilz slid his arms under his jacket and wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling secure at last. “I spoke to Gertie last night and she told me about the times he’s attacked Mama. I didn’t know and now I feel really bad that I didn’t get her out sooner. I miss her, but it’s what she’s always wanted and I didn’t have the heart to make her stay here because Papa had it in his mind that she should.”
“I knew he was cruel.”
She moved away from him, determined to take her plans to the next step. “Tomorrow I’m going to go into Singleton and see the lawyer. Now the doctors have agreed to my plan, it’s definitely time to have him committed before he does some serious damage. He’s so unstable, it scares me. I never know what he’s going to do next.”
“You shouldn’t be alone with him.”
He reached out, took her in his arms and she sighed. It was good to have someone to fall back on, someone who she could run to and lose herself with. “I won’t be alone for long. I have you and as soon as he’s settled elsewhere we can go about our life without him interfering. We’ll have our future together at last. Just as we planned.”
He kissed her, starting at her mouth and tracing the line of her cheeks to the lobe of her ear. Wilz shivered under his caresses, the longing she felt for him rising. She moaned when his lips found the hollow in her throat and she clung to him.
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the day bed, depositing her on the quilted cover before leaning down over her. “I don’t have long. I must return home tonight for a meeting early in the morning.”
“You’re here now, that’s all that matters. Love me, make me forget my troubles.”
He lifted the hem of her skirt and ran his hand up the smoothness of her thigh. Wilz arched against him, losing herself in the passion of the moment. Her fingers reached for the buttons of his shirt, carelessly pulling at them before spreading his clothing apart. Her fingers skipped over his chest, toying with the small taut nubs smattered in fine hair.
“You know you’re playing with fire doing that.”
She laughed. “And tonight I need to be burned. Burn away the pain of the last few days, please?”
He sat up, unbuttoned her blouse and pushed it over her shoulders. Wilz leaned up and let it slide from her shoulders and then reached behind and undid her bra, throwing that to the floor.
“Roll over and let me at that zipper. I want you totally naked under me in the moonlight.” His hand cupped one milky breast before she moved.
“Yes, sir!” She did as he instructed and soon they lay together, their passion brought to a head by their love for each other and the events of her day.
Later that night when the moon was high overhead, Wilz woke and turned to the man beside her. She kissed his shoulder waited for him to wake up. He didn’t stir. This time she used her teeth and nipped his skin, making him yelp.
“Ow. What did you do that for?” He rubbed at it with his hand.
“You said you have to go home tonight. I thought you might sleep right through the way you were snoring.” She rolled over and stood up in the moonlight, grabbing her shift from the chair beside the bed, slipping it over her head and letting it drop to cover her body. Wilz padded over
