Chapter 74: Mother and Daughter

One day as our retreat continued at a leisurely pace, we were out behind the foot-sore army scouting for any sign of Cornwallis or his German mercenaries. We were spread thin and seldom in sight of each other, perhaps a mile or so apart. It was a pleasant day and the war seemed far away.

Then from a narrow lane appeared a woman in thorough dishabille, her long hair awry and her clothes torn and disordered, her nose dripping blood. She was a fine looking and mature woman, likely ten years older than I was, and she looked completely distraught. "Please," she cried, wringing her hands, "help me." She fell to her knees at the side of the road.

I dismounted, pulled her to her feet and held her gently. She felt good, firm and warm, and my usual urges began sending messages to my groin despite her apparent distress.

"They took everything," she moaned, clawing at my back, "stripped the farm. Come, come." She dragged me after her, holding my hand. A couple of hundred yards down the lane and over a small rise, we came her small, tidy house, and a shed, necessary and a barn badly in need of repair. There were no animals, not even chickens. A light-haired girl sat on the stoop, head in hands.

"This is my daughter," the woman said. "I hid her in the root cellar."

The girl looked up at me, eyes tear stained. She swallowed. "I could hear them raping her," she said, "their feet kicking the floor right over my head. She screamed and screamed."

"Just the officers poked me, a pair of 'em," the woman said, looking away and sniffing. "Their men were out there stealing everything."

"Redcoats?" I asked, enjoying the girl's blue eyes and soft body with my gaze. I wondered if she was still a virgin. It's truly shameful how my mind works sometimes.

"No," said the woman, whose right eye was starting to discolor and close, "they said they were from Connecticut. Said their enlistment's were about up and they were going home."

"My army," I said. "Damn, I'm sorry."

"Men are men," the mother said. "We've seen soldiers before."

"Where are your menfolk?" I asked.

"Out making whisky," she said, waving toward the woods. "My husband and his brother. They ain't much help."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, looking at the door hanging by one hinge and the scraps of paper and crockery strewn about the yard.

"Pack up what little we've got and go back to my folks," the woman said. "We can't stay here. They said, those men said that the British and Hessians were right behind them."

"What have you got left?" I asked.

"A few clothes and a lot of whisky," the girl said. "It's down in the cellar."

"That's got some value," I said.

"I know," said the woman, "and it's about all we've got."

So I put my horse in their harness. She did not like it much but she did it, with some ears twitching and hoof stomping, after I gave her some oats I found in the shed. Then we brought up the jugs of whisky, two gallon stoneware ones. They had more than a hundred gallons of hooch, a small fortune in those days.

We loaded into their rickety wagon and got going late in the afternoon. The woman assured me that her men would know where she had gone and to make sure, she nailed a note to the broken door. I drove and the girl sat beside me, silent.

By dusk we found a tavern with an almost-empty stable. I tossed a canvas over our load, and we ate and rented two rooms. There was very little conversation and what there was avoided the topic of Continentals or rape. The women went on up to their room, and I stayed with the lonely inn-keeper and shared his bottle for a while.

"Foin lookin' pair y'got there, laddie," he said with a grin.

"Tain't mine," I said. "I'm just driving somewhere, not even sure where."

"That so," he said, refilling my glass. "I was thinkin' they moit want com'ny."

"Doubt it. They had a rough time today."

"Shame. Been a while since I dipped the ol' wick."

"No serving wenches hereabouts?" I asked. "No whores?"

He shook his head mournfully. "Run off. Damn war's gettin' too close."

"You see any Connecticut men lately?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Never heerd tell."

"How's the bug population?" I asked.

He laughed, clapped me on the back, and I drained my glass and mounted the stairs. There was a surprise waiting in my bed.

"Mama's sound asleep," she whispered when I sat down beside her and raked back her fine hair. "She sleeps like a stone generally."

"That so?" I said, pulling off my boots. "And what was it you had in mind?"

"Rogering," she said clearly. "Boy I was going to wed ran off. I haven't been with a man for nearly a year."

"You sure?"

"I got the itch, bad," she said, and she sat up and grabbed me and kissed me. "You need a shave," she said, pulling away and touching her face.

"Tavern keeper, he was saying how he was lonesome," I told her.

"Ugh," she said with a giggle.

"I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Make love to me," she said, lying back and spreading wide her arms and legs.

So I quickly got out of my clothes and did what she asked, several times in fact, and when she decided she had enough, she pried herself out from under me, found her shift on the chair and tiptoed back to her own room. I slept, well pleased and very satisfied. There is absolutely nothing like a woman's happy moans to make a man feel proud of himself, and sex is the best sleep inducer ever known.

I awoke as my door creaked open. It was the girl's mother, looking very fetching despite her black eye and swollen lip. She was fully dressed so I turned on my side to conceal my morning erection.

"Too late," she said, "you ought to lock your door." She sat on the bed and tossed back the quilt, and there I lay wearing just my long-tailed shirt and in a state that can only be described as fully aroused. She flicked the head of my trembling shaft. "Did you put this ugly thing in the girl last night?"

"A gentleman never tells," I said, pulling the covers back to my waist.

"That so," she said with a good smile. She yanked the quilt from my hand and clambered up on the bed after kicking off her shoes. "Lie back," she ordered.

I held the base of my prod and she got situated on it and slowly lowered herself, chin high and eyes closed. "Those, those pigs that climbed on me yesterday were like a pair of rabbits." She took a deep breath as she collapsed the last couple of inches. "They couldn't wait to get away." She heaved herself up and down a couple of times, then put her hands down on my chest and looked into my eyes. "I hope you are not in a hurry."

I held her hips, raised my knees and enjoyed her, and when she came it was as if she had been struck by lightening, a quick jolt that shook us both. Then she collapsed on me.