Autumn Harvest

High pitched shrieks and giggles carried through the soft, cool autumn air as the village children were shooed into their homes. Doshenvale was a small, quiet village, peaceful and homey in the brightly painted golden sunset. Nothing mysterious had ever happened here, but still matrons gathered their babes into their arms and hurried into the cottages flanking the ready to harvest fields. Everybody knew what could happen to a child left alone in the hungry darkness of the night.

Seth swiped at the chilling sweat on his brow as he watched doors, one by one, closing to be bolted and barred against the oncoming night. Slowly, he followed the now familiar path to his home. And it was his home, built just last summer with the help of his friends and family. By all rights this well crafted, sturdy structure should be something he could be proud of, a sanctuary he could rest in after working the fields all day. A comfortable place to relax in at his leisure.

Now, however, it was so empty he could hardly bear to cross the threshold at the end of the day. It had been lovingly crafted, yes, but that was when he believed he would be sharing it for the rest of his life with Tarren.

Beautiful Tarren. Visions of her bright smile and slender body filled his thoughts as he set about barring his doors and windows against the night air. How lovely she had been, so graceful and witty. It had been the cruelty of fate that had claimed her, a victim to the fever, one week before they were to be wed.

Now silence walked in her footsteps across the polished floor his hands had laid down for her. It was not her laughter he heard echoing through the chilled rooms she had helped him plan; it was life mocking him.

Heavily, he dropped his soiled clothes to the floor next to the bed and turned back the covers. The large feather mattress sagged on the left side, contoured to where his body lay night after night. He still could not bring himself to sprawl across the bed onto where she should have lain.

Hopefully his sleep would be filled with dreams of her.

Seth awoke with a start from his fitful sleep, his ears still full of furtive whisperings. The nightmare that had been plaguing him already dim and fuzzy in his memory.

He cursed and kicked off his coverings. Sometime during the night the temperature had soared and the mattress under him was damp with his sweat. He sat up in bed, shivering. The sweat that was coursing off his lean, muscled back congealed in the sudden chill that gripped him. Panting, he realized that it was not the outside temperature that had risen, but his own. His flesh crawled with bumps from the cool, early morning air, but the room still seemed hot and heavy, stifling his breathing and holding him down.

Seth stumbled over to the window to draw the bolt and push open the shutters, taking great gulps of air as the fresh breeze gently lifted the sweat soaked hair from his neck. Outside, under the full moon, crickets sang within the silvery ocean of dew laden grass.

He dropped back onto his soggy mattress, pulling one quilt back up around his throat. His eyelids were heavy and scratchy, his throat dry. In the morning he would go see the village doctor; he could not afford to be sick through the harvest.

Seth's sleep came in spates as he drifted in and out of his dreams. The gentle song of crickets became, to him, the sweet voice of Tarren, singing to ease his aching body and spirit. He tossed and turned, and his dreams and waking melted together, leaving him bereft of his sense of reality.

A cool breeze fanned his hot body as he felt the quilts rearrange themselves to his right. He opened his eyes, turned, and saw Tarren's beautiful face next to his, framed by the moonlight. She touched a finger to her full, red lips. "Shhh, you're so sick." Her voice was soft and melodious, bouncing between Seth's ears. One of her hands reached out and delicately stroked his chest. Sighing, he grasped it tightly to him. She seemed so real. His overactive mind had brought to him even her smell, clean and new, the smell of wildflowers and spring meadows.

"I came as soon as I could." Her whispers unknotted his tense muscles as her cool fingers traced lazy designs across his burning flesh. Desperately, he gathered her into his arms, crushing her strong body to his. Every contour, every line of her was as he remembered. Her long golden hair tickled his cheek as she brought her lips down to brush across his.

God, how he had missed her. Inside him it felt as if something would break open, revealing the aching emptiness he had harbored there. Holding Tarren here in his dreams was more agony than he had thought possible.

Her fingers kneaded his chest softly as she pushed herself up from him. Her smile was slow and luxurious, and as he watched her the tidal wave of pain that he had felt receded ... to be replaced by something else.

He and Tarren had always loved each other. They had grown up together, here in Doshenvale, childhood sweethearts. He had loved her as deeply as life itself, and had never desired any other woman. When she had died he had remained as true to her memory as he had in life, for no other woman could take her place. Yet he and Tarren had waited for their marriage to consummate their love, not wanting to tarnish what had seemed so pure. That day had never arrived.

Now, with her image in front of him in the bed they had been meant to share, he felt again what he had not for nine long months before ... desire. It welled up in him like some untapped spring. Since Tarren had left his life Seth had not felt even a lingering shred of this for any other woman. Now, facing her beauty, her young, strong body hidden under its white cotton nightdress covering, a painful urgency arose within him.

As if afraid this wondrous vision would vanish under his touch, Seth reached tentatively for her. In mid-air her soft porcelain fingers grasped his, pushing him firmly back down. The corners of her mouth pulled up in a familiar, quirky smile.

"Lie still," her voice echoed in his head, "you are very ill." Lightly stroking his face, she leaned forward and brushed her lips across his forehead. A tantalizing glimpse of her full breasts flashed from behind her copper buttons before she pulled away. Tarren's finger dropped from Seth's cheek, tracing his jawline down to the hollow in his throat, and settled on his chest.

Seth licked his dry, cracked lips. "I loved you." His voice broke as his throat closed around the words he had wanted to say for so long.

"I know." On her face was the smile that had haunted him for so long. Her gray eyes shone in the dark. "I loved you more than anything. The only thing I ever wanted was you." Her fingers curled into the hair on his chest, tugging slightly. "There was so much we never got to do, so much left unfinished."

The ache in his chest grew, her words echoing exactly how he had felt since she had left. They should have had a whole lifetime to spend together.

Her touch brought him back to the present, insistent and lingering. Abruptly, she pushed herself off of the bed. "I came back for you, you know. There is only one thing in my life I ever regretted."

As she spoke she reached for the polished buttons of her floor-length nightdress. "You were the only man I ever wanted. I dreamed of the day we would be married, and I could have all of you." The neck of her gown had fallen open, revealing the gentle swell of her breast as she continued. "We were so young. Who knew what would happen? If I had known I was going to lose you, I would have grabbed every moment, relished every chance I had with you."

She seated herself back on the bed with him, pressing her hips against his thigh, the open front of her gown rippling in ways that drew his eyes unerringly. Brief glimpses of supple ivory drew his eye up, across her flat stomach, through the narrow valley between her still covered breasts, and up still, to drown in the deep, velveted blackness of her eyes.

Reaching up to toy with one of the curls hanging damply over his forehead, she leaned close to his body, her breath coming hot on his throat, her nipples stiff and erect where her breasts pressed into his side. "I wanted you more than anything, even life itself." Her full lips formed into an alluring pout, "I've come all this way, Seth. Please let me know that you want me, too."

A deep groan welled up from somewhere deep inside Seth. His parched throat would not allow him to say anything coherent as he struggled to express all his emotions through the haze that had encircled his brain.

Her finger fell to rest across his mouth as her whole face broke into a broad smile. "You don't need to talk. You've already told me everything."

The tip of her finger slid into his mouth, slipping across his teeth, gently tugging his jaw open. Then her mouth was on his, her lips eager and pleading, her tongue cool and inviting, moist to his hot, dry mouth.Slowly, she slid her finger from between their locked mouths, her tongue probing deeper inside him, dancing with his.

With an urgency Seth could sense, Tarren began to work her way down his face and across his throat, her hands massaging his chest, nails pricking his flesh. His mind was whirling; no other dream of his had ever been this real, this full of sensation. Was this some form of delirium from his sickness?

Seth's breath caught as Tarren's teeth grazed his skin, her mouth leaving a trail of cool moisture down the burning flesh of his chest. He felt goose bumps multiply across his body, and the delicate skin over his testicles tightened, drawing up to him momentarily.

Suddenly her mouth closed on his right nipple, her tongue flicking quickly across it. Without willing it, his back arched into her. God, how he wanted her. She set him on fire. For nine months his dreams had danced around this, leaving him feeling empty and unfulfilled, and with damp sheets.

Tarren gripped the waist of his trousers, tugging at the drawstring. Standing, she slid the rough material past his hips and off him. Springing free of his nightclothes, his body beckoned to her, standing strong in the early morning moonlight streaming through the window.

She caught his eye and smiled again. He felt as if her smiles had always been just for him, a secret they had shared.

A faint shrug of her slender shoulders and her nightdress lost its perilous hold, falling in rippling folds to the floor below. Like a statue carved in ivory she stood before him, every detail of her standing out in stark relief, every part of her perfect.

With the graceful ease of a detached shadow she floated back to his side and remained, poised, above him. Her eyes traveled across him as if she were memorizing his every line. Wandering haphazardly down, they finally came to rest on his groin. Almost like a child in awe, she reached out as if to touch him, but her hand drew back when she was only inches away.

A girlish giggle escaped her. "I never knew what you actually looked like. I always lost myself in how handsome you were, but I never knew how much more there was to you." One of her delicate hands wafted upwards to cup her right breast with her palm. Seth stared, swallowing as she began to knead and rub her hard little nipple, finally working it between her thumb and forefinger in small circles.

"I used to lie awake at night and dream of you. I would think of the ways you would touch me." Her eyes closed for a moment as her other hand slipped quickly up her thigh to weave into the mass of curls there. For a moment her head fell back as she cupped herself tighter, her legs closing around her fingers.

She opened her eyes to look at him again, and slid one finger deftly inside her nether lips. "I would touch myself and pretend it was you, your hands rubbing me everywhere I wanted them to." Her finger worked faster, her other hand moving down to help the first, gently spreading those lips apart to give her more room, baring herself for Seth to see. Seth cold hear her breathing as it became louder, faster, keeping time with the desperate motion of her fingers. Her head rolled back again as a low, throaty growl issued from her throat.

"Oh, Seth," her melodic voice was reduced to a mere whimper, "Seth, please."

Seth reached out for her, and felt a spasm rock her body as he gripped her waist. She tumbled on top of him, curling up under his strong arms, her body locked in the throes of her climax. He held her, and stroked her hair. Hadn't that been what he had always wanted to do for her? Now he was touching her, and her body seemed to fit his perfectly. She felt so right, lying across him, his organ nestled in the bend where her thigh met her hip. The sensation was almost excruciating. Only in his dreams had he ever touched a woman thus, and he thought again of how his dreams had never been like this.

He started, as he felt a whispered touch of her fingers upon him. Again she stroked his manhood, and again, causing it to jump as if it were an animal begging to be petted even more.

Seth closed his eyes and felt the pressure rising his loins. No! It would not be over so quickly. He fought it, and reluctantly the feeling ebbed, resisting him as Tarren continued.

Seeming to gather her courage, Tarren closed her fingers around him, kneading him gently. She sat up and moved closer to see what she was doing to him, agilely positioning herself between his legs so as to watch his face as well. Using both hands now, she stroked his length over and over, squeezing him ever tighter. He felt the fingers of one of her hands trailing softly down his inner thigh to cup his testicles, rubbing with one finger the sensitive spot beneath them.

Groaning, he felt his muscles clench as he fought to control the rising waves of feeling inside him. His back arched and his fingers dug into the soft mattress, seeking some way to stave off the inevitable.

Without warning Tarren stopped what she was doing. After a moment Seth looked down to see her grinning up at him, her face happy and smug. Slowly his muscles loosened while his organ bounced on top of him, a creature all its own, wanting nothing more than Tarren's touch.

After what seemed like an eternity he felt Tarren's strong grip on him again, and reveled in the play of her fingers. He was stunned as he watched her drop her head toward his groin. Physical elation gripped him as the tip of her tongue out darted out. Snakelike, it came at him over and over, sliding wetly across him. He could see her eyes gleaming up at him as her tongue played in the curls at the root of his organ. Each new touch catapulted him even higher.

She flattened her tongue against him, working it back and forth as she found her way back up to the top. Then slowly her lips closed around his head, drawing her mouth down over him. Inch by agonizing inch, she took him in until, at last, she gripped all of him between her lips. Using her tongue to lash him, Tarren thrust her mouth down to his very root and back to his crown faster, manipulating him as her hands had manipulated him before.

Seth knew this would not last much longer. His loins felt as if they would explode when he finally released. His muscles tensed; his nerves were solid fire.

That was when Tarren moved. She scrambled quickly on top of him, her soft thighs gripping his waist. With her hand, she positioned him between the soft, wet folds of her womanhood. Seth could feel it gripping him.

Not wanting to hurt her, he tried to hold himself back, but with one thrust of her hips Tarren impaled herself upon him completely, forcing him deep inside her. With a strangled cry she fell forward, lying still upon him. Then her hips began to work, swaying and rocking. Pushing herself up, she looked at him and laughed.

Greedily he pulled her back down to him, forcing his tongue through her lips, thrusting into her mouth and her body. Her nipples grazed the over sensitized flesh of his chest, and he brought his hands up to caress them. Leaning over, he took one between his teeth, holding it while he worked his tongue back and forth across the top of it.

Tarren pushed herself up and clasped his thighs behind her. Her eyes were closed and Seth delighted in every moan she uttered as he pounded into her.

Reaching behind her with one hand, he buried his fingers in the soft, full flesh of her buttocks. With his other, he explored underneath her with his thumb until he found the tight, hard nub she had exposed for him before. Taking it between his fingers, he rolled it as if it were a small pebble, feeling its smoothness. Instantly he was rewarded with Tarren's cry. He rubbed her faster, until her back was arched so that her breasts jutted up toward the ceiling, pointed silhouettes in the moonlight. Her insides gripped him tighter, throbbing around him as her rocking became almost frenzied. It was coming, thought Seth, as his groin demanded release.

A strangled sob came from Tarren, "God, Seth ... Now ... Yes," and her hips bucked wildly as her body spasmed in ecstasy.

Like an explosion, Seth filled her with every need, want, and desire nine months of longing could bring. Blissfully he lay, his body emptying itself, draining him of his passion.

Tarren fell back onto him, her muscles still twitching, her insides still massaging him, her back covered in sweat. Burying his face in her hair, he wished he could have her with him forever.

* * *

Under the deepening orange of Autumn twilight, the burgeoning wheat rippled like a sheet of gold as it was touched by the cooling breeze. At times like this, Father Minnett felt a feeling of peace and serenity. Tomorrow would be another day, but today would stay with him always.

Shaking his head slightly, he pondered the questions that he had been carrying with him. He offered a silent prayer of thanks, for many of those questions now seemed to have answers. Seth had answered them for him, and the peace within his soul whispered his gratitude.

Turning back to the men that had stayed to finish the task, he dropped to his knees to touch the freshly packed earth and bless it. Satisfied, he dismissed the workers and turned to make his own way home.

The Father brushed the damp soil from his hands, thought of Seth, and rejoiced. Even in the torment of his sickness, Seth had been offered a glimpse of the Heaven that waited for him. Surely, the Saints themselves must have welcomed Seth into their waiting arms. The smile on Seth's face had been one that only rapture could bring.