Chapter Eight
After supper, Sep went over to Joel, who was sitting next to April on the couch, and nudged him on the shoulder.
Joel turned from the others to look at him. “Can I talk to you in private?” Sep whispered.
“While you women are fussing over the children, we will be on the porch,” Joel told April and Angela.
April and Angela were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t even notice what Joel had just said. Joel turned back to Sep and gestured for him to lead the way out, so Sep went onto the porch first. Joel closed the front door, and they sat in the rocking chairs.
“The longer I’m married to April, the more she reminds me of Sally,” Joel said, humor in his voice. “All Sally ever does is talk when there is a new person around. She needs to find out everything she can about them. When I married April, she seemed so shy and quiet.”
“April wasn’t shy and quiet. She just didn’t know what to say around you because you were so moody.”
Joel looked over at him, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I wasn’t moody.”
“Yes, you were. We didn’t know if you would ever get around to showing us the happy, cheerful person you really are. All you did was sigh and sulk.”
Joel rolled his eyes. “I had a good reason to be upset. But, you didn’t bring me out here to talk about that, did you?”
Sep took a deep breath. Now, it was time to get into the topic he had been itching to talk to Joel about ever since they got here. “No, I didn’t. I came because I’m a newly married man, and I’m not sure what to do.”
“Once you say the vows, that’s all you can do. After that, she is stuck with you.”
Noting the teasing tone in Joel’s voice, Sep smirked. “I know that. What I mean is that I don’t know what to do with her when we’re alone. In bed.”
“Didn’t you marry her last night?”
“I did, but she fell asleep before Owen and I took her to the house. I want to make sure I do everything right this evening after we get home.” He grew silent, not really wanting to say any more than that. As it was, the subject was a sensitive one.
“Well, I don’t know how much detail you want me to give you. Your sister is the only woman I’ve been with, and that makes things a little awkward.”
Joel made a good point. Sep didn’t want to know the details of his sister’s love life. He would rather keep it vague, especially since it was hard for him to think of his sister that way. Sure, she had three children and one on my way, but she was still his sister. “Don’t give me the details. I just want a general idea of what to do so that Angela doesn’t think I’m bad in bed.”
“I know this is going to seem simple, but in my experience, the most important thing a man can do is sincerely care about the woman he’s with. I think a woman can tell if the man is more concerned about his own pleasure than he is about her. A woman will forgive a lot of mistakes if she’s with someone who values her.”
“What kind of mistakes?”
“You should be more interested in caring about Angela than whether or not you’re going to goof up along the way.”
“I got the part I’m supposed to care about her. I already like her. She’s nice. But that doesn’t help me in knowing how to avoid goofing up. If I goof up, she probably won’t want to be with me again.”
Joel shook his head and chuckled under his breath. “You’re placing way too much emphasis on the act itself. This isn’t something that’s just a physical exchange between two people. There’s a lot more depth to it than that. It’s emotional. It’s spiritual. There are many layers to making love to a woman. I guarantee you that if you are a kind and considerate husband, she will enjoy her time in bed with you.”
Sep groaned. “I already got that part.”
“That’s the part that matters. If you don’t do that, you will be a complete failure in bed, and Angela won’t want to be intimate with you again.” Joel shifted in the chair so that he was facing him directly. “You tend to act first and think later. You’re impulsive. Take a look at what happened yesterday. You went out to help Owen rescue some women, and the next thing you know, you’re marrying one of them.”
“I don’t regret it.”
“I’m not saying you should. Angela seems like a very nice woman, just as you said. I’m just saying that this is something you do. It’s a trait you have. Sometimes, you need to take a step back and just think things through. Be reasonable about this. If you do something to goof up in bed tonight, I hope you won’t panic and think you’re a complete failure as a husband. There is a lot more to being a husband then what happens in bed. You can do everything right in bed, but if you don’t treat her well outside the bed, it won’t matter how skilled you are.”
“Don’t you think I know this? It’s common sense.”
“I just want to make sure you put things in the right perspective. A lot of times, people want me to take care of their symptoms instead of finding out what’s causing their illness. You can’t put the cart before the horse. Everything has its order.”
“I’m starting to think I should’ve just talked to my sister about this.” It might’ve been a lot more uncomfortable, but he had a feeling April would have given him something useful to go by.
Joel let out one of his familiar sighs. “I just don’t want you to put emphasis on the wrong thing. You want to know how to please a woman in bed, and I’ll tell you. You kiss her. You touch her gently. You ask her what she likes. You ask her what she doesn’t like. And if you find she likes something, you do more of it. If she doesn’t like something, you don’t do it. You take time to learn her body, and you don’t rush things. Be open with her. Talk to her. Don’t be in a hurry to get to your own pleasure first. Make an effort to make sure she is satisfied before you finish.”
Now this was more useful. “What kind of places does a woman like to be touched?”
“Everywhere.”
“Everywhere? Can’t you give me something more specific?”
“Her breasts and the area between her legs are the most sensitive. But I don’t need to tell you to spend time on those places because you’ll naturally want to do that. You don’t have those parts, so they will be the most interesting to you. I just don’t want you to forget she has more than those parts when you’re making love to her.”
Oh for goodness sakes. “I’m not stupid. I know there’s more to a woman than those two parts.”
“It’s easy to forget a lot of things when you’re aroused. You can get so caught up in the moment that you start thinking only about yourself and forget her. If that happens, and if you end up finishing before she does, make sure you go back and satisfy her.”
“Let me guess. I need to ask her what she likes so that I know how to properly satisfy her. Because there’s no way you’re going to actually give me any details on how I can do this, even though you have three kids with my sister. She obviously likes being in bed with you or else you wouldn’t have that many.” Sep might not know much about how Joel was with April in bed, but he knew enough to know that Joel never forced himself on her like her first husband had. “I know not to force myself on Angela. I know that just from my sister’s first marriage. I’m not going to do anything to make Angela cry afterwards.”
Joel stared at him for a moment then asked, “April used to cry after Harvey was in bed with her?”
“The walls in the house are thin. I could hear a lot.”
“She never told me that.”
“Who in their right mind wants to talk about Harvey?”
“You’re right. It’s best just to leave him in the past.”
Realizing he wasn’t going to get anything else he could use out of Joel, Sep rose from the chair. “We should probably get back in there before my sister thinks we disappeared.”
When they returned to the parlor, it was just April, Angela, Nora, and Hannah. Levi had been put to bed shortly after dinner. Nora and Hannah were telling Angela all about the different patients Joel had taken care of during his time as the town doctor.
“There was one boy who got trapped in a wagon wheel,” Nora was telling her. “When his father got him out, his leg was broken.”
“His father didn’t think Papa could fix it,” Hannah added.
“He did, though,” Nora said. “He can fix anything that’s broken.”
Unable to resist the opportunity to tease his brother-in-law, Sep inserted, “Your father can fix anything as long as it’s on a person. He can’t do anything with a wagon or a door or –”
Joel gave him a playful punch in the arm. “I’m not interested in fixing those things anyway. The only thing I care about is taking care of people. It’s why I became a doctor instead of a farmer.”
“If it weren’t for us farmers,” Sep began, “you wouldn’t have any food to eat.”
“Which is why I sometimes take food as payment for healing people,” Joel replied.
April groaned. “Those two have never fully gotten along,” she told Angela.
“Never gotten along?” Sep asked. “I was just at his office yesterday fixing his door. I wouldn’t do that for just anybody, especially for free.”
“What do you think tonight’s supper is all about?” Joel replied. “This is your payment.”
April went over to the two men and said, “That’s not true, Joel. Don’t lie. We’ve been wanting to have Sep over for a couple of months.” She looked over at her brother. “I worry about you on the farm all by yourself. You don’t come to town often enough.”
Sep shrugged. “I like the isolation. It’s nice and peaceful out there.”
He knew his sister would never understand. She enjoyed her time in town far too much. Whether it was paying Joel’s patients a visit to make sure they were doing well, seeing her friends, or taking her children to the park, she enjoyed all the things the town life offered that she could never have at the farm. He hadn’t realized that at the time, but making her and Joel get married was the best thing that ever happened to her.
“Maybe now that you’re married, you’ll come see us more often,” April told Sep.
“Speak for yourself,” Joel inserted with a teasing tone in his voice. “I’m hoping the wife will keep him out there at the farm more often. A newly married man has better things to do than visit his sister anyway.”
April nudged Joel in the side but grinned. “You won’t be saying that the next time you need the door to your office fixed.”
“I could’ve had any of my brothers fix that door. It just happened that Sep was in town yesterday. What was I supposed to do? Let a good opportunity go to waste? Besides, you’ve been at me to get him over here for a long time now. You should be thanking me.”
“Alright. Thank you.” Then April turned to Sep and gave him a hug. “It was nice seeing you again. I’m glad you’re doing well.” In a lower voice, she added, “Angela told me what you did last night. I’m so proud of you, Sep. What you did by rescuing her and the other two women was wonderful.”
“All I did was tell Owen,” Sep whispered. “He did all the work. I just followed his orders.”
“You did more than that. But I understand. You never were one to flaunt your good deeds.” She pulled away from him and smiled. “I think Angela is a fine woman, and I think you two will be happy together.”
Joel looked at her expectantly, and when she didn’t say more, he asked, “Aren’t you going to pester him about bringing Angela back here or make plans to go out and visit them?”
At this, Sep chuckled. Joel knew that April liked to socialize as much as possible, so he wasn’t surprised that he asked her the question.
“I already told Angela that I will come out with the children in a couple of weeks,” April said.
Joel’s eyebrows furrowed. “A couple of weeks? You shouldn’t be traveling all the way out there when you’re so close to giving birth. You should have Sep bring Angela out here instead.”
“I tried that,” April said. “She wasn’t sure if Sep would want to do that or not. She didn’t want to impose on him.”
“Impose?” Joel replied. “What else has Sep got to do but tend to the animals and his gardens? He’s not even growing a crop this year.”
Since Sep really could not argue his way out of it, he said, “I’ll bring Angela out here in a couple of weeks. Then you two don’t have to keep arguing about this.”
Joel shook his head. “I’m not arguing with her. I’m looking out for her best interest. If she were to go into labor on the way out of town or coming back, I wouldn’t be there to help her.”
“That’s enough, you two,” April said. “I don’t want this to turn into a battle of wits over who can make the best reply. Sep, it was nice having you here, and thank you for bringing Angela. I look forward to seeing both of you again.”
“I just hope Joel is busy with a patient when we return,” Sep joked before he left them and went over to Angela, who was still listening to Nora and Hannah talk about the people Joel had taken care of in the past. Sep had no idea that his nieces could talk for so long about the same thing. “Alright girls,” Sep told them, “it’s time for me to take Angela back home.” Noting the disappointment on the girls’ faces, Sep added, “Don’t worry. I’ll bring her back out in a couple of weeks.”
Sep waited while April, Joel, and the girls said their goodbyes to Angela. He was glad to see that Angela had chosen to keep the veil off for the evening. He wasn’t sure what had convinced her to do that. All he knew was that when he and Joel had returned from the livery stable, she didn’t have it on, and she seemed to be getting along well with April and the children. Everyone seemed to get along just fine, which was what he had expected, given how nice April and Joel were. But it was reassuring to see how quickly they had welcomed Angela into the family.
He did wonder where Angela had put the veil. Would she feel the need to put it on again when she came to town? Or would she be comfortable enough to go without it at all times? He supposed he was going to have to wait and see.
Once he and Angela retrieved the wagon and horses from the livery stable, he was about to help her in when he thought it would be nice to kiss her. He wasn’t used to being so forthcoming in showing his emotions, but there was something about her that prompted him to go through with a kiss.
Making sure the man working at the stable wasn’t looking in their direction, he leaned into her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She looked surprised, so he hurried to say, “I hope you don’t mind that I did that.”
Her cheeks went pink, and she smiled shyly at him. “No, I didn’t mind. You took me by surprise, that’s all. It was a nice surprise, though.”
He squeezed her hand before he helped her into the wagon. “I’m glad you liked it.” Then, not knowing what else to say, he hurried to his side of the wagon, hopped in, and led the horses out of town.