Chapter 7

England

Sally’s welcome for Michael had been quite arduous. She had insisted that he even reaming her in the buttocks. He hugged her after but she had had reasons for her suffering. She knew about his new duties for the estate’s welfare.

“Michael, these poor girls have been waiting for your return as I have. You have to help them Michael.”

“I am not as young as I once was dear heart. I know the maidens wish to have a successful marriage but is my intimate participation so needed? How can I help change this personal interferrence in the lives of my people? If there had been something like this in the colonies then they would have had their revolution years ago! It looks to me Sally that the rights of the common man will be quite different from what they are now. Many in the new United States and in France are talking about it. Our Monarchs have been a very important part of what we are. As small as we are, we have been able to take over many lands and help many people become civilized. Now how will we handle our own people when questions about their rights happen? The Americans were our own people yet we lost them! Will the Canadians go the same way?”

“Dear, this isn’t a question of rights. All of these women want a ride in their saddle by a very important man in the community. He has won laurels in battle. He commands ships and defends our shore. He is respected by all who know him. His father was a merchant who has grown rich. The family has been born and died on the very ground that their families had lived and died. Now they want to honor you with their bodies. So too you can honor them with your love. They may never feel the same way about the man knowing them later in life. They are aware it will be a difficult life with much hardship and death. But when their Lord is between their thighs this they will forever remember. I know this well Michael – you have always been my lord and master- the father of our children and the owner of my heart. Please let them know you –”

Thus he did his duty to his township. Since Uncle Tom’s death the ritual had been delayed. Now it seemed that he swore he was swiving every woman in the county! Fortunately, Sally had been taught most of the details by Aunt Jenny necessary to prepare the women before he ‘met’ them. A bath or baths, hair combed and brushed, a light perfume, grease available, clean sheets, pillow available, a shot of scotch whiskey before each ‘meeting’, a record of who was joined, and finally a wild leek – Michael’s family had come from Wales hundreds of years ago.

“But Sally, she was the tenth virgin this month! I thought the groom was supposed to break their maidenheads! You didn’t make me wait for Uncle Tom to -”