Hope you're happy

[Lovely]

October 3, Year 2
mid-morning


Lily was still just a young woman, but she was also a wife.. one who had recieved some interesting news and headed down to the smithy to slap her husband in the face.

"Missus Carlisle..." Patrick rubs his jaw. ".. and to what do I owe the pleasure, this morning?"

"I hope you're happy now!" One hand is gently placed over her middle and the other at her side, dropped there after delivering the slap. Her expression is a mix of things, some anger clearly there, but a hint of worry and happiness mingled in as well.

"Well, it is a clear day, there's no cold wind and the work is light, so I could say I am happy now, but suppose you tell me why I might not be?"

She stamped her foot and her mouth twisted in frustration and turned into a pout. "You did it to me again!"

He noticed the placement of her hand and put the hammer down. Looking about, he spoke softly with a clever smirk. "I'd say perhaps -we- did it to you again, love. You're sure? You've spoke with Sam?"

"Not we.. you.. I'm blaming you right now.." She still pouted, shifting her feet in the dirt floor. "I left Sam's office and came right here.."

He chuckled at her pout, not meaning to hurt her feelings if he had. "It's not a cold Lily. I believe you were there... and certainly if it wasn't you, then you have every right to slap me again," he smiled gently, wiping down his hands on his apron before offering reassurance. "You adore the boys. Why does this upset you?"

Her lower lip quivered softly and her head shook as she looked down at the toe of her shoe. "I don't have the right to slap you again.." She sighed softly, her voice small and shy as she glanced around to make sure no one was about to hear her talking with him. She did adore him which is part of why she was able to tell him things even when she felt embarrassed or foolish. "I adore the boys very, very much.. and to be fair their father just as well.. if not more. I don't want to get all fat and stretched out! I've seen some women with their wide hips and shapes.. and I want none of that! They have had children and that is what it does to you.. and I don't want to end up like them.. all these children and their husbands are down at Tessa's and watching girls like me pass on the street, while they barely look at their wives anymore.. I've seen it Patrick Carlisle and I'll have none of it!"

"I'm not exactly a welcome customer with Tessa's girls," he reminded her, his dark amber eyes holding more compassion and kindness than the smirk that remained. "Though that's hardly your point. Where would you ever get the idea that I would do such a thing? I'm rotten, Lily, not evil... not entirely."

[Lovely]

"Because every man does it eventually!" She gasped her surprise that he wondered where she'd come up with the idea. "I didn't say you were evil.. well not today.. you don't have to be evil.. you just have to be a man.. and you are certainly a man.. how will you not do it? How can you want me when I'm all swollen and misshapen? I've already had the boys.. and now another is coming. Look at me!" She motioned to herself as though she'd suddenly grown 12 sizes when in fact her waist was a size smaller now than before she'd had the boys, her dresses only needed to be let out where the boys had blessed her with a fuller top. Her hips now had a slight more curve, giving her a less girlish and more womanly shape, but they were by no means large.

"I do, Lily, and rarely look any further now that I have you to notice that there's anyone else in the world," he said gently, looking her over now and still being quite pleased, if not moreso to know there would soon be more of her to hold. "You -are- a woman and you are my wife. I am not other men."

She pouted still, but instead of looking at her shoe, she shyly tilted her head to peek at him. "I know.." She whispered softly. "If you were other men, I would never have fallen so in love with you. I worry Patrick, that you'll grow tired of me or that I won't be.. beautiful to you anymore.. that my 'shine' will wear off and you'll want something new."

"Can't happen," he whispered, raising her chin with a char-darkened fingertip for a slightly less than polite for public kiss. "The beauty you are to me is not just in the size of your dress, Lilian. It's far more."

She leaned to him, not caring what would smear from his apron, the kiss was worth having to wash the dress of stains. She looked up at him with slightly misted eyes and whispered. "I love you so much.. sometimes it frightens me."

"I appear to have that effect on many people, darling, but definitely not for the same reasons," he chuckled quietly, holding her close for only a moment longer. The fires were likely too warm to be so close to her linens. "Did Sam know... how far... how long it's been?"

"He said at least three months, possibly more.. though he's near certain his first calculations are correct." She smiled for him now, showing more of the sweet joy the news had brought her.

"Three months... and you didn't think to tell me your concern before now?" He wasn't angry as much as disappointed a little, and a bit worried. "Though you haven't been ill... have you? You were so sick before."

She poked his shoulder lightly. "I had no idea.. I wasn't ill.. and didn't suspect at all until I missed my last monthly and realized but still I wasn't sure as I wasn't sick like I was with the boys."

"Hmm...missus Carlisle, if I weren't working, I'd have half a mind...," he grinned, motioning with his eyes to the loft overhead where the boys had likely realized their first spark of life.

Her smile tipped playfully wicked and her fingers toyed over the top edge of her dress. "What if I insist? What if I undress and stand right here .. refuse to move until you do?"

[Lovely]

"I'd think, Lily, that we might have the makings for more of a story for that lady from the paper than either of us are willing to be part of... but as long as you're insisting... and the wind isn't cold... I'll see you... and raise you," he teased, scooping her up in his arms a moment for a deeper kiss before letting her shuffle to the ladder on her own.

She gladly took his kiss, not letting go of him right away when he set her down. "Be sure to tend the fire and the irons first.. We don't want Pa or Doyle chasing us down.." She remembered the time he'd run off with her to the river.

"Why not... they could use the exercise," he teased, before sighing, thinking of his dear father and what torment he put the man through on most days, building a slight grin. The codger deserved it much of the time, he thought, though how he'd dote on the new baby when it arrived. He shook his head. "We're not going far enough to run. I'll be there in a moment... and not a moment soon enough," he added, stealing another kiss before turning to mind the irons.

Her soft giggle floated from above him as she gracefully climbed the ladder, despite the somewhat awkward dress. While he tended his irons she stripped off the layers and settled herself comfortably ontop of them to wait for him, giving him quite the site to welcome him to their hideaway.

Patrick couldn't help but be enthralled with watching his young bride move up the ladder unhindered by her skirts and soon to be unhindered even more. Once she'd slipped from view, he set the hotter of bands to cooler coals and gave the bellows a few wheezing strokes to stoke the fires to keep them steady. He looked around the roads to see where townsfolk lurked and looked, but it was a lazy autumn afternoon and many were home preparing their winter finest of knits and stitches... as was he, but mending was not part of his routine as much as the rending would be. Not a breath later, he was up to the top of the ladder to find her waiting.

Her lips held a slight inviting, playful.. teasing smile as her eyes slowly travelled over him. Her eyebrow arched after her slow perusal as if to say -You're over dressed. Shifting her slender legs a bit, she beckoned him closer with a curling finger, the spark in her eyes begining to burn hotter than the fires below the loft.

"Hmm... Missus Carlisle.. you're a very naughty girl," he whispered, crawling closer to her and watching every curl and stretch. "Whatever would your husband do if he found you in such a compromising position?" The smile couldn't be helped nor could the eager tugs against apron, strap and belt as he moved closer still.

Lily wet her lips with a slow sweep of her tongue like a hungry kitten watching a mouse. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she shrugged her shoulders. "Depended on his mood, but I'm certain we would both enjoy it... and he wouldn't keep me waiting to find out just what he would do with me.."

"Wouldn't he? Seems it would be terribly wicked for him to leave you wanting and waiting," he smirked, enjoying the view of her above her skirts rather than beneath them. The heat from the fire below certainly kept the chill away from her but not entirely from perking against the autumn air's touch. Loosened from his own trappings, he slithered closer, loosening his thin shirt as well. Truth was that anyone could appear in a moment's notice which only added to the excitement of their moment as was very apparent.