Kindred Read online

  “You been mulling over the biblical side of this, have you?” She looked sideways at her granny and smiled wryly. “Now, I am embarrassed. Yes, those urges are God given and natural. That is why I am leery. It’s all nature. The order of things. The grand design

  for mankind. The ....”

  Rozina covered Kindred’s mouth with her hand.

  “Kinny chil’. Shhh!” She patted her granddaughter’s head. “You t’ink too much.” Too much book laa’n.” Rozina then placed her hand over the girl’s heart. “T’ink wid dis mo’.”

  “Gramma, what is to become of me and Joshua? We are different. Doctor Twain has taught us well, but why? What are we fit for? Who are we fit for? The colored boys I see in town or on the other estates when Father and I go to tend the sick don’t talk to me.”

  “Dat’s b’kause dey be slaves, chil’. Ef dey talk’um wid you dey ketch a whuppin’ frum dey massas.”

  “But Gramma, how are we supposed to have full lives … get mates? Whites look at us funny. As if we were rare birds. So I know how our kind must view us. We love the life you and Doctor Twain have given us, but ….”

  Rozina listened in amazement to the exact sentiments she had voiced to Dr. Twain years earlier.

  “Chil’, he say he got a plan. Trus him. Uh do. Beside, frum wuh uh see, you got Lelaheo. We gots ta get a lawfully lady for Joshua.”

  The warm flush of the old woman’s certainty washed over her. “You truly believe we could be happy together?” Kindred beamed. “I love you, Gramma.” She tossed both arms around Rozina. “I love you so much.”

  “You should.” Rozina spoke into the crook of Kindred’s neck and sniffed back tears. “Uh cook fuh y’all. Now, weh iz dat lin’ment?

  ****

  Kindred sat with Rozina until the woman fell asleep.

  “Sweet dreams, Gramma.” She bent and kissed Rozina’s forehead, then exited the room quietly. The household was partially silent. Only the ticking of the hall clock and Dr. Twain’s snoring competed for her attention. Once in her own room, she sagged

  wearily against the door, removed her head wrap and placed it on top of the oak chest of drawers next to the door. She did not like how Rozina was becoming listless by day’s end now. She did not like how her granny was tired all the time and rested more. It scared her. The land’s unending discord, Leloheo’s leaving just as they were coming together ... life as she had come to know it was changing. What once had been challenging was now just draining.

  She pushed off the door, untied and removed her apron and stripped down to her shift. She yawned and stretched, her toned, slender body beautiful in profile, in the moonlight. As she undid her braids, she recited aloud, “Please, Lord. No more days like this one. And if you do have more, give me strength to get through them.”

  “Kinny, never think that you have to shoulder burdens alone.

  Startled, Kindred grabbed up her dress. She had gotten to her room without a lamp and had not lit one when she’d entered her room knowing its layout by heart.

  “Lelaheo!” She sucked in air loudly. “You scared the hell out of me.”

  “We need to talk in depth about our situation.” He sat in the dark, in the ladder-back rocker by the window. He reached over to turn up the oil lamp. Light filled the room, illuminating all within. He rose and walked toward her. She withdrew, the door knob hitting her in the small of the back.

  “Please, Lelaheo.” She held out her arm to stop his advance. “Please leave. We should not be alone together like this.”

  Lelaheo pulled the dress form her grasp. He pried her from the door and swept her into his embrace. At their contact, Kindred inhaled abruptly. Caught in his arms, clad only in her shift, she felt both vulnerable and enticing. His ample hands traveled over her,

  slowly, deliberately. A sudden surge of excitement coursed through her.

  “Why not? My intentions are honorable.” He dropped his head down next to hers and nuzzled her ear. He closed his eyes and gave himself over to the tactile. His fingers slowly peeled the straps of her shift from her shoulders, then traced their curvature and the toned muscles of her arms. His hands claimed her waist next, testing how it flowed into nicely curved hips. He shuddered imagining how it would feel to hold her as she straddled him.

  “Lelaheo,” she managed faintly. Kindred, trembling at the emotions running rough shod over her, relaxed in his arms. He nibbled her ear and scattered kisses up and down her lithe neck. His actions added new dimensions to her exhilaration.

  “Kindred,” he whispered against her neck.

  “Love,” she breathed. “Listen to me. Stop for a moment.”

  Lelaheo exhaled loudly against her throat. He ceased kissing her, but kept his hold on her hips. He pulled back a bit to look at her.

  “How long will you be away?”

  “Perhaps one year and a half. At the very least one.”

  “What are we to do?”

  “I wish you could come with me. I shall miss your eyes.” He bent his head and kissed them. “You should be right there with me in class.”

  “That would be novel and ideal, but impractical. Twainhaven needs me.”

  “I do too.” He frowned, his eyes trained on her, under drawn brows. “I could remain here and be a gentleman farmer.”

  “And be bored.” She reached up with both hands and rubbed his face. “You were born to be a healer! And I will be by your side one day, helping you."

  “As husband and wife!“ He caught one of her hands and nuzzled the palm.

  “Are you asking for my hand in marriage?”

  “And the rest of you. Will you have me?”

  “Three days!” she sighed. “Not enough time.” Kindred laced her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hers. “Yes, Lelaheo, but will you have me?

  “Yes, yes!” He declared between kisses. “You silly woman!”

  “Your woman,” she breathed against his lips.

  “My woman,” he stressed, claiming her mouth, crushing her to him.

  As Lelaheo enveloped her, her reasoning self cautioned them to stop, but her instinctive self craved his testing and exploring of her mind and body. She was following her granny’s advice. She was thinking with her heart. She desired him and intended to be with him completely this night. His slow, deliberate kisses should have sent her into a panic, but unexpectedly calmed her instead. On the edge of a new experience, she was strangely tranquil. As his tongue speared between her moist lips and sparred with hers, his hands strayed over the bare skin of her back and shoulders. His touch drained her of

  any diffidence.

  Feeling no resistance on Kindred’s part, Lelaheo dispensed with Dr. Twain’s advice. No. No sprints here. More a marathon. But most of all no false starts. All of his amorous effort kept them focused on the moment.

  “Kinny, Kinny, I, I want … you,” he rasped. His insistent pressure along her spine, pulled her into closer contact with his groin. Her flesh under his fingertips sent ripples of delight through him. He felt himself harden. Her nearness was his undoing. He planted a kiss in the pulsing hollow at the base of her throat. At the same time, he cupped her breasts and circled his thumbs over the nipples.

  Kindred moaned.

  “Lelaheo, I don’t want to wait anymore.”

  Kindred could feel him smile against her neck. He let loose a small hoot and lifted her off her stockinged feet, crossed the room and settled her on the four poster bed.

  “Kinny, from this night on, know you are my wife.”

  “And you, my husband. Let me,” she said as she scrambled to her knees on the mattress before him. She pulled his shirt from the waistband of his breeches. Kindred slowly undid its few buttons and then yanked the top up, and off his body with both hands. Lightly gripping his trim waist, she leaned in, pressed her face to his virtually

  hairless chest. His scent was sandalwood, tobacco and the outdoors. She felt him shiver as she kneaded and examined him. She landed airy kisses up and down h
is muscled torso. She felt his ribs hitch and heard his breathing alter when her hands ventured down to the

  buttons on his breeches. She hesitated. His sizable, erect penis strained the fabric.

  “Go on,” he said hoarsely. Kindred unbuttoned his breeches, brushing her palms down the fronts of his thighs as she pulled them and his hose down to his ankles in one motion. Lelaheo gripped her shoulders as her fingers explored him. He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them. “I’ll do the rest.” He stepped back and doffed the remainder and stood nude before her. “Now you.”

  A surge of excitement mixed with fear coursed through Kindred as her eyes scoured every exposed part of him. He was more beautiful than any diagram of the human male body in a textbook—shining, midnight hair trailing over his back and shoulders, a fully developed, lean, strong body, and a face exuding a strange union of sincerity and desire.

  “Kinny, please. I am getting lonely standing here all by myself,”

  he said extending a hand. “Not to mention a chill.”

  His plea snapped her out of her woolgathering. She stepped off the bed into his embrace again.

  “Afraid?”

  “Not in the least.” She chuckled. This was the moment she’d been waiting for forever. “A chill, you say?” She perused his groin. “Not from what I see.”

  Lelaheo felt awkward. The sudden silence was deafening. “Kinny, if you have had a change of heart …. We do not have to do this. It is not written in stone.” He backed away and began retrieving his clothes.

  “No!” Kindred eased out of her shift, letting it flutter to the floor. She yanked his clothes from his hands and tossed them after, took his arms and wrapped them around her waist. The skin to skin contact was so heady she believed she’d swoon.

  Lelaheo looked at her. “Are you certain?”

  “I have never been more certain,” she reached up and smoothed silky hair strands from his eyes, “about anything in my life before.” She gazed into his eyes. “Touch me. Everywhere.”

  Lelaheo bent his head and kissed her with a hunger that was only rivaled by the way in which his hands sought her. Kindred’s legs buckled a little as she succumbed to his urgency, her breathing becoming more rapid and shallow with each stroke and rub. She broke off their fevered kiss so she could gaze up into his desire-soaked features as she freely returned his caresses.

  Lelaheo steeled himself against her massages, grazes and brushes on him and his about to explode flesh.

  “Kinny,” he sighed deeply, her name a petition. And with it he lifted her up into the circle of his arms and settled them in the center of her four-poster.

  She writhed under the heat of his feathery, scalding kisses on her inner thighs as he peeled her stockings down and off her legs, the insistent searching of his lips and hands on her, and his unending, loving scrutiny of her body in general. Kindred clung to him, the fluttering in her stomach increasing.

  Lelaheo’s focus was her, them, him, in that order. If she had said stop, he did think that he could as pleasing and possessing her were his main goals.

  “Now, love, now. Please,” she whimpered, pulling at him.

  “Your wish. And mine,” he panted, easing between her thighs. Supported by his elbows, he secured both hands in her black, wiry cloud of hair.

  “Kinny, forgive me any pain I may cause you,” he uttered in her ear. “It will last but seconds. I promise you.”

  She was very aware of his firm, searing maleness, prodding her, seeking entry. She hugged him tighter and rubbed her cheek against his. She felt him shift his weight and surge upward into her.

  “Oh!” Kindred cried, startled by the combination of his crushing kiss, his pulling her hair, and his quick, deep penetration of her. She squeezed her eyes shut. She knew he was above her, watching, waiting. Slowly, steadily, he began moving. Kindred moaned, her muscles expanding and collapsing with each ebb and flow of his body.

  “Open your eyes.” This close, Lelaheo could read every nuance of feeling that flitted across her features, he reveled in her joy at his skill. His slow, deep, then fast, shallow lunges elicited low cries from her and spontaneous shouts from him. Their slick dance seemed to go on forever, pushing, building, rolling toward organized chaos.

  “Lelaheo! Lelaheo!” Kindred cried. She arched into him, her center gripping and relaxing around him, her hands on his back, mimicking her body’s inner actions. Her visceral yelp in response to his technique, pulled him along with her.

  “Oh, my Kindred! Oh!” Lelaheo’s control dissolved. His entire body went tight. The way her core fastened onto him, drained his focus. He slammed into her, head back, whooping and spending his seed into her body.

  Chapter Seven

  Kindred yawned and stretched in cat-like glory as she lolled in Lelaheo’s warm embrace. She felt so safe, but knew that sensation would end in two days. She rubbed his arms, which circled her waist, as he leaned in behind her and pressed his mouth to her nape. He shifted his hold to her breasts, cupping each one in a hand, spooning closer around her. Kindred languished in the demonstration of his new-found possessiveness and hoped that it would last both their lifetimes. As she dozed off, she heard the hall clock strike the hour.

  “Six in the morning!’ Her eyes popped open. “The house must be awake.” She tried to pry his hands from her bosom, but he would not let go. “Lelaheo, please! They will wonder where we are and we’ll be found out.”

  “And?” he mumbled through his personal fog. “What of it? So we are together. They all are aware of how we feel about each other.” He ignored her frantic grappling.

  “Stop, clawing at my hands, wild woman!” He tweaked her nipples, slapped her bottom, then released her. Kindred leapt out of bed.

  “Insufferable!”

  “You love it!”

  “I am not amused.”

  But she was amusing, he thought, standing there in all her naked beauty, hair in a tangled mass, attempting to castigate him.

  “Get up! Get up!” She tossed his clothes at him, then hastily began donning her own. “Oh Lord, I should be in the garden or in the kitchen,” she said, her voice muffled by the dress she pulled over her head. She scurried around the room, then stopped abruptly and placed an open hand on either side of her head. “What if Gramma comes to my room?”

  “She will see, me, your ‘husband’, the child she has loved these last ten years with her, I hope, very content, granddaughter.” He got up and began dressing.

  “You are acting like one already.” She came over to help him slip his shirt over his head.

  “I recall this action last eve. In reverse,” he quipped, his grin echoing in his voice.

  She scowled at him. He tapped her under the chin with an index finger. “Smile, Kinny. You are too serious.”

  “Yes, I am. Someone has to be. Oh no, my hair.” She raked her fingers through it. “Where is my scarf?” She looked around anxiously.

  “It was one of the items tossed to the floor last night in our … haste. Oh, there it is.” The edge of it peeked out from under the bed. He retrieved it and handed it to her.

  She tied it over her hair as best she could, checked her clothing and eased into her shoes. “I’ll go downstairs first, you come down a bit later. Agreed?”

  “No. We will go down together. I am not ashamed of what we shared here.” Lelaheo said adamantly.

  Kindred opened her mouth to toss a retort but closed it quickly. She realized she was acting like a child and not like the woman he loved. She comprehended that she wounded him by endeavoring to hide the depth of their relationship.

  “Neither am I.” She stroked his face. “I apologize.” She saw discontent flee his features at her touch. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. A light knocking at the door jolted them.

  “Kindred? Lelaheo?”

  It was Rozina.

  Kindred went to the door, swallowed hard, then opened it. “Gramma, how did you know we were ...?”

  “Mek no nebbuh m
in’, chil’. Jis’ come down.” Through the cracked door, Rozina took inventory of her granddaughter’s well being. “You ah’right?”

  “Yes, Gramma. Never better.”

  “You sho’?”

  “Very sure.”

  After Rozina was sufficiently satisfied that Kindred was with Lelaheo of her own free will, she took Kindred’s free hand. “Weel talk’um. Uh ent mad.” Her eyes traveled to Kindred’s askew head wrap. “Fix yo’ hair fus. Tell’um him’own kin on da do’step.”

  “Yes, Gramma,” Kindred squeezed Rozina’s hand. “You wise, wise woman. I love you. We’ll be right down.” She stepped back and closed the door.

  “Is everything alright?” Lelaheo asked as he finished tying the leather lace on his braid.

  “Gramma wants to talk with me.” She began combing her hair. “And your family is here already.”

  Lelaheo took the comb from her and continued the job. “It’s only fair. It’s tangled because of me.” He paused in his task and took Kindred by the shoulders. “She understands, Kindred. We will talk with Rozina. We will go down together. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” she seconded, feeling a weight had been lifted from her. “Now hurry up with my hair.”

  ****

  The pair’s descent from the second floor was eclipsed by the arrival of Lelaheo’s kin. By the time they came down, his mother’s sisters’ sons, or his “brothers” were out back on the cobble stoned courtyard, setting up camp. The concept of “cousin” was not a

  term used in describing Haudenosaunee family kinship. His mother, Aliquipiso, was in the parlor with Dr. Twain, Joshua and Rozina.

  Lelaheo and Kindred made their way down the hallway, hand in hand, to the parlor. Upon hearing laughter like a pealing bell escape from Aliquipiso, Kindred froze just before they reached the room. She attempted to wriggle out of Leloheo’s grip.

  “Kindred?” he whispered, holding fast.

  “Your mother has not seen you in over six months. Perhaps you should go in by yourself. I am sure you have much to discuss. I may be an intrusion. Lelaheo? My hand, please.”