The Inheritance Paradox
Nine (Eugene’s Story)
IT SEEMED CATHERINE was on the side of Eugene staying with Sasha. She begged the two to stay a few more days because travel would be difficult with the number of people fleeing the city. The roads would definitely be dangerous, and she was worried larger gangs of ruffians would be flooding into The Patch.
Eugene spent his day doing more cleaning of the yard and grounds around Catherine’s home. He learned the names of some of the neighbors who returned from the river to assess the damage to their homes and collect precious heirlooms from the ashes. He helped move charred timbers and reinforce fences or partial walls.
The day passed quickly. Sasha and Catherine joined Eugene in cleaning and repairing. Two neighbors joined them for dinner and told of their flight from the flames and losses they had seen. The two men took Catherine’s son’s room for the night and were up early in the morning to continue their salvage operation. Eugene and Sasha again spent the night in the daughter’s bedroom, which solidified her unavailability to the other men. They treated her as Eugene’s wife and respected boundaries.
Those boundaries were becoming less firm between Sasha and Eugene. Sasha became more aggressive with him, insisting he help her remove her frock and help her into the nightdress Catherine had provided. She trembled beneath his touch. He could tell she was scared or worried or aroused or all three. As the nightdress slipped over her bare shoulders, she let her chemise fall to the floor. The nightgown draped over her breasts, and she pulled Eugene’s hands around her to hold them.
“Sasha, it is not a good idea to become involved with me. I cannot stay with you. As soon as you return to Joliet, you will marry your cousin and I will disappear,” Eugene explained, unable to keep his hands from enjoying their perch.
“When I am married, will my husband want to do this?” she asked, continuing to hold his hands to her breasts.
“No doubt he will.”
“Will it feel as good as your hands on me?”
“I suspect it will.”
“Then I will anticipate his caress as much as I crave yours. Come to bed and hold me, Eugene.”
There was no question that Eugene’s body was ready for much more than the caresses being offered. He restrained himself with unrealized discipline, so he did not cross any line she had not erased. She could not help but feel his arousal against her and subtly shifted her weight and position to rub against him more.
“Sasha, my dear, we must constrain ourselves to sleep. When a man is aroused as I am, it is difficult to restrain himself from the desire to mate. In your innocence, you are encouraging the drive,” Eugene said.
“I know how it all works,” Sasha said. “I was raised on a farm and have seen all manner of animals breeding. I believe I may be coming into season myself. What difference will my husband know if I am already gravid when we marry?”
“I don’t want to take advantage of you,” Eugene said. “You are still suffering from the shock of the fire and the intense labor of helping Catherine with the cleanup. Sleep now, love. We should move tomorrow.”
Idiot! How will you explain to Wells that she offered herself to you and you declined?
“I think instead of a conscience, you are the devil on my shoulder!”
“Let me be an angel on your shoulder instead,” Sasha whispered back, rolling to face him and kiss him.
The kiss was soft and tentative, demonstrating Sasha’s inexperience. Eugene struggled with himself to avoid giving in to the sensations Sasha aroused in him and eventually she slept on his shoulder, her lips still inches from his.
That wasn’t enough. Your kisses were not deep enough to transfer the genetic material. You are hopeless!
The morning was a replay of the previous day with the addition of the two men at breakfast, who returned to their own ruined homes to continue their salvage work. At about noon, Catherine’s son, James, returned with a wagon laden with supplies. He was happy to see Eugene there to help with the reconstruction. They framed an open shelter for the livestock and unloaded hay beneath it. The chickens were happy to get into the yard when scratch was scattered for them. Overnight, two more chickens had arrived.
The neighbor men left to return to their wives, sheltered on the outskirts of town, taking Catherine’s horse and empty wagon with them to load their own building supplies.
“I believe we need to move on toward Joliet tomorrow,” Eugene said. “Now that your son has returned and there are soldiers patrolling the streets, you should be safe from the gangs.”
“Eugene, I can only thank you over and over for your kindness these few days. Jimmy will continue the work here and we’ll be all back to normal in a week or two. Did you see up the street? The O’Malleys managed to frame a new home on their old foundation today. The people of Chicago will recover quickly. We’ll help each other, just as you have helped us.”
“Oh, Catherine, your kindness kept us fed and bathed,” Sasha said. “I wish I could stay with you forever.”
“The two of you would be welcome,” Catherine responded. James looked appraisingly at Sasha and his mother smacked him in the side.
The boy has an eye on your woman.
“Not my woman,” Eugene growled beneath his breath. Jimmy cowered.
After dinner, they boiled more water for baths. Eugene insisted Sasha go first this time but did not object to taking the second turn in the cooling bath water before James got his turn.
When he reached the bedroom, Sasha was sitting on the edge of the bed brushing her hair. Eugene had not seen it down below her shoulders. She had kept it tied up tight as they worked in the house.
“Eugene, will you help put my hair up? I really can’t leave it down. It will be an unrecognizable tangle in the morning.”
“You have beautiful hair, Sasha. It’s very silky.”
He twisted the locks as she instructed and inserted her hairpin. In the process, her robe dropped from her shoulders, leaving her bare from the waist up. Eugene caught his breath as he stared at the sight in front of him.
“Are my breasts as pleasant to look at as to hold?” she asked. She made no move to cover herself and Eugene was transfixed.
“They… You are beautiful, Sasha. Just beautiful.”
He lifted a hand to caress her bare flesh, and she pressed her lips to his. This time, Eugene allowed himself to direct her in deepening the kiss, touching their tongues as he teased her nipples with his fingers. He pulled back and looked mournfully into her sparkling eyes.
“I love you, Eugene. Won’t you accept this gift I am offering you?”
He felt helpless to resist as she pulled him down to lie on the bed with her. It had been this feeling that led him to betray his marriage. He should have been able to resist. Her robe parted the rest of the way, revealing it was all she was wearing. Her fingers worked rapidly at the buttons of his union suit. When her hand tentatively grasped his erection, he was lost.
At last!
They coupled again in the morning before going to breakfast with Catherine and James.
“We’ll be leaving for Joliet today,” Sasha told Catherine.
When Catherine looked closely at Sasha, the girl blushed crimson.
“I see. Things have gone well for you. I’m sad to see you leave, but let’s make sure you have supplies to take with you,” Catherine said, winking at Eugene. That caused him to blush as well.
Nonetheless, she packed Eugene’s rucksack with dried meats, bread, and fruit. She told the two to keep the spare clothes she’d given them as they would surely need a change before they reached Joliet, some forty miles away.
The neighborhood around them was bustling with activity as wagons of lumber arrived and were unloaded for the neighbors to rebuild. Regular patrols moved through the streets to maintain order and prevent any looting. Jacob traded out his club for a length of wood James cut for him and trimmed so Eugene could use it as a staff. It was comfortable in his hand. James was quite a craftsman, though it seemed he was always looking for a ‘friendly wager’ on one thing or another.
Eugene and Sasha headed south to the river, then carefully made their way to the railroad bridge which they crossed without incident, though a soldier looked askance at them. They turned west to follow the river southwest of Chicago.
This part of the metropolitan area, of course, was unscathed by the great fire, though there was news of several smaller fires having burned in spots as far away as St. Louis. The drought was blamed and no one bothered the two strangers walking along the river road.
One of the good things about walking along the river was that they found a hostelry near the railroad tracks where they could have a room for the night complete with evening and morning meals. The Cochrane Hostelry was a three-story clapboard building with a dozen rooms and a large dining hall. It offered boarding for customers’ horses while they took the train into Chicago. As a result, there were more horses in the stable than customers in the inn—many of them waiting for owners who had gone into Chicago before the fire.
They had a good meal, but both lamented not having more of Catherine’s chicken and dumplings.
“She taught me her recipe, and I can’t wait to be in a place where I can cook it for you,” Sasha said as they reminisced. “When we get to Joliet, I’ll fix you the best meal ever.”
“Sasha, my dear, you know I can’t stay in Joliet with you,” Eugene said as gently as he could. Tears sparkled in Sasha’s eyes.
“I know. I will be broken-hearted when you leave. Will you not stay even a few days with me?” she asked.
“I think it would damage your relationship with your family and your future husband,” Eugene said.
“Yes. No doubt you are right. Let’s not hurry to Joliet, then. Surely, we could stretch this journey to a week or more, couldn’t we?”
“Every day we are together will make it harder to be apart,” Eugene sighed.
But it will ensure that she is carrying your child for the next generation!
“You’re not a help.”
“I would be your helper,” she said. “Can you take me with you to Michigan? We don’t even need to continue to Joliet.”
“It’s more complicated than that. I’m not even from your time,” Eugene sighed.
Sasha looked puzzled but did not pursue the matter.
As soon as they left the dining room and went to their room, the time together heated up. Sasha threw herself into Eugene’s arms, frantically kissing him. They looked at the bed and saw it was as narrow as the bed at Catherine’s, but this one had a trundle pulled out and prepared.
“We are not using that,” Sasha declared. She began at once pushing it under the other bed. Eugene bent to help her, and as soon as it was disposed of, they resumed kissing, sitting on the edge of the bed.
As they kissed, they removed each other’s clothing until both were fully naked. Sasha kissed Eugene less urgently when they were naked and explored him in fascination. She traced the chain and pendant he wore around his neck.
“Are you nobility?” she asked, examining the unicorn emblem on a shield with its accompanying motto.
“Uh… No… It was a gift from someone very special,” he said.
“Are you married?”
“No. Not anymore. And that special person is long dead.”
Or yet to be born.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“I should not be so attached to a past that might never be,” he said. He removed the pendant. “Here. Let it be a covenant between us that even though we cannot be together, my love will remain with you.” He hung the pendant around her neck and she touched it, pressing it against her chest.
“Your love?” she whispered.
“I cannot deny that I love you, Sasha.”
She threw herself into his arms, pushing him back on the bed and inviting him into her at once.
“Do you think we will have children, Eugene?” Sasha whispered as they walked between the river and the railroad the next day.
“It seems likely, if we continue to enjoy each other as we have the past two nights,” he smiled.
You will.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I will not be with you to raise them.”
“It was a dream. I could be carrying your child already, couldn’t I?”
“Yes. Probably.”
“Then we should find another place where we can enjoy our married life a few more days. When I reach my aunt’s house, I shall need to marry my cousin immediately.”
“I’m sorry you will need to act so quickly,” Eugene said.
“It isn’t really a hardship. Luke is a handsome boy. And he’s nice and kind. He will be a good father to our children. And I shall give my firstborn this pendant and the story told in secret of the man who came out of Lake Michigan to catch me up from the flames and transport me to bliss. I may have been foolish to insist I needed to see the world before I married. Well, I saw Chicago, though I was only there three weeks. If I had known what pleasures marriage could bring, I don’t think I would have hesitated to marry Luke.”
“Then look forward to your marriage. Run to his arms as soon as you see him,” Eugene said.
“I will. I will teach him what you have shown me about love.”
That should be interesting.
“You won’t be here.”
“No. Of course not. Look, Eugene. Another inn. Can we stop for the night?”
“It is only a little after noon.”
“Oh, dear! What ever could we do before dinner?”
It took five more days to reach Joliet and Sasha became more and more reticent as their time together neared an end. They were just a mile from her home when she stumbled and pulled Eugene off the road and into a woodlot.
“Are you okay?” he asked, holding her to him.
“I need… to weep, Eugene. In a mile, I shall become a widow and will be married off to another man. I will need to rejoice in my homecoming and my new husband. There will be no time for me to mourn my loss,” she said, pulling him down to the ground and burying her face against his chest. “Weep with me, my love. Tell me you will miss me.”
“I feel the loss already, Sasha. My… conscience has been goading me to leave, and it has been all I can do to silence it.”
Sasha nodded her head against him. After they had cried quietly for a few minutes, she kissed Eugene tenderly.
“Does your conscience have a name?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I know it is not like my conscience that simply makes me feel guilty if I’ve done something bad. I’m surprised my conscience did not raise its head this past week or ten days. But yours is an actual presence you talk to. I’ve caught you in conversation as you argue with it. So, does it have a name?” she asked.
“Yes. His name is Galahad.”
“That was one of King Arthur’s knights in Le Morte d’Arthur.”
“I am surprised you know of that work.”
“My family has collected more than fifty books in our library. I shall read that one again when I get home.”
No! You cannot go to see her library.
“I wasn’t thinking that.”
You would have in a moment. You cannot interact with any of her family or her home.
“I won’t.”
“Won’t what, Eugene? You are talking to him again.”
“He thinks I would delay my departure just to see your library because I love books,” Eugene said.
“Would you? Would it simply take a few books to get you to stay?” she asked.
“No. The only thing that could ever tempt me is you. I have disciplined myself to that loss. I will not engage another.”
“Then I have something to say,” she said, straightening herself. “Sir Galahad! Listen to me. You hold sway over Eugene’s mind and possibly his body, forcing him to return with you to your world of Michigan. But understand: You will never hold his heart. No matter how many women you take him to, no matter how far you travel in the world or in time, he will never love you and you will never know how he loves me. I can’t cast you out, but I know you.”
That cut deep.
“She’s right. You have pushed me to make love to her from the moment I met her, not caring how I felt or how she might feel the loss when you take me back.”
“Know this, Galahad: My children will hear a different story of the noble knight than the one written in Malory’s book. Now, Eugene, take me to my aunt’s home and let me mourn my lost husband,” Sasha said.
She stood and returned to the road where Eugene accompanied her for the final mile.
There was a gathering at the farm, and as they approached, they could hear loud voices.
“I’m not waiting any longer. I’ll ride to Chicago and find her!” yelled a young man.
“Temper yourself, Luke. We don’t even know if she is alive,” said an older man.
“And why would you ride after a woman who left you at the altar?” a woman asked.
“But I love her and I will find her,” Luke declared.
Eugene squeezed Sasha’s hand and then gave her a little nudge toward the group who were apparently arguing the merits of coming to find her. If the young man’s passion for her carried on, she would be in good hands. Sasha came up behind him.
“You needn’t ride to find me,” she said, touching his shoulder. He spun to face her.
“You… You’re here! I’ve been frantic. The news has been so bleak,” Luke cried.
“I was taken in by a widow until it was deemed safe to travel,” Sasha said.
Eugene stepped behind a carriage where he could listen without being seen.
“A gentleman agreed to guard me on the road. I got home as quickly as I could. I promise, Luke, I will not leave you again. The city was not as attractive as this old farm.”
“The preacher is here. Let’s marry now!” Luke said enthusiastically.
“Where is this gentleman who escorted you? We should thank him,” the woman said.
“He’s right there,” Sasha turned to the wagon where she’d left Eugene, but he was no longer there.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
