This is a much longer story than I usually submit.
The story is fiction and involves incestual relationships. All characters involved in sex acts are eighteen or older.
I make no claims to the story being historically correct, although I did try to keep it so when possible. I did not, however, try to make the dialog correct for that period.
*
Jim marched off to war and never returned. He went to fight the rebels with one of his state regiments. Many of the young men from his area went. Few of them returned whole; most of them not at all.
The regiment was chewed up in a terrible battle. Jim's company was in the center of it. The unit was composed of men from his city and the surrounding farms.
Jim left a young widow, Margaret, and a young son, Jason. Margaret was within a month of her twenty-first birthday. Jason was two. He too would have a birthday soon. Margaret's father had died the year before. It was a terrible blow to her that she had lost her husband too.
There were many widows in that city after the battle. A generation of men from the area had been wiped out. Margaret, like many other women, persevered. With help from her mother and in-laws, plus a widow's pension from the government, she was able to maintain a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. Both she and her husband had come from well-to-do, but not wealthy, families.
Her in-laws owned the house she and Jim had lived in. It was right next to theirs and not far from the home of her parents. It was a little small, but sufficient for her and her son. Margaret's mother-in-law was a great help with Jason and the young boy developed a close bond with his 'Gramma'. Margaret too became close to her in-laws. Especially to her mother-in-law, Lydia.
Margaret's mother Beatrice was also supportive. She was very friendly with Lydia and Jason loved her as much as his other Gramma.
Margaret attended church regularly. Often with her mother, or her husband's parents. It was through the church that she met other war widows. Many of them with children. They soon started to meet at each other's homes and formed a tightknit, but informal group.
There were few men available for the widows to marry; if they were inclined to remarry. Most of the few men, of their age range, left in the town were those who had shirked their duty. Thus they were abhorrent to Margaret and almost all of the other ladies in the group.
Any woman who did marry one of these shirkers would be ostracized by almost all of the women in the town.
There were other men who had been unable to enlist because of physical defects. Often not more than a limp that precluded marching. There were more such defects in those days. These men were more acceptable to the widows and many of them found themselves with wives. Indeed the loss of so many of their fellow citizens opened up opportunities for them. They found themselves needed and many rose to the occasion. Veterans, too, were available for marriage. Although many of them had been wounded and often were missing limbs. Many of those not already married found spouses.
Margaret was not one of those who seriously contemplated remarriage. She had loved her husband and wanted to devote her life to raising their son.
A point we should make. Although Margaret should not be considered rich she was well-to-do. Many of the widows were from the poorer families of the area. These women often had to work to supplement their pension. Margaret was fortunate that she had sufficient income to provide for herself and Jason. She did not have enough money to hire a maid, except for an occasional cleaning woman for a day or two.
In the Victorian era women were not expected to feel lust. Even worse masturbation, by either gender, was considered degenerate. Male homosexual behavior was roundly condemned. At least in public. Lesbianism wasn't even considered. It was not even thought of as ever likely to happen. Again, at least in public. Some things were just not discussed.
Horniness in women was termed 'hysteria'. Doctors treated women experiencing such attacks by massaging their clitoris until they experienced a paroxysm, their term for an orgasm. The sexually inhibited women could not even think of taking care of this problem themselves.
Margaret had been brought up to be a proper lady. She had been reasonably content in her married life. She loved her husband and the birth of Jason had been a great joy for both of them.
Margaret believed that she had a duty to provide her husband with sex. She enjoyed it somewhat. At least she didn't hate it. Margaret liked to feel her husband's body next to hers. She would never have said so to anyone, but she enjoyed the feeling of fullness she experienced when he slid his cock into her pussy.
But Margaret had never experienced an orgasm.
Just after the war ended Jim's father died suddenly. It was a blow to Lydia and Margaret did her best to comfort her. Margaret's mother, Beatrice, also supported her. Beatrice and Lydia had always been friends, but they became closer after the death of Lydia's husband.
The informal association of widows continued. They met weekly at different women's homes. Attendance varied, sometimes as many as twenty women might be present; or as few as seven or eight. The women did develop bonds as people with similar problems tend to do. Once Jason started school Margaret was able to attend more often.
Their children, of course, were one of the main topics of conversation. After a couple of years their personal needs were sometimes alluded to, always in an indirect manner. Veiled hints were made of one's desire. Margaret never took part in such conversations, but she listened. She often felt empty after hearing such talk and would feel a wetness 'down there'. She never mentioned these reactions to anyone. Indeed she felt shame that she was so affected.
Margaret was starting to hear the occasional reference to hysteria treatments. She was well aware of what they were about. In fact Lydia suffered frequent spells of female hysteria, especially since the death of her husband. She often had to visit her doctor for relief. Beatrice, less often, suffered from hysteria too. Strangely it was accepted by society as a typical weakness of the fair sex.
It was after a rather large gathering of the widow's group that Margaret returned home to find a small dog-eared book in her reticule. It was titled
Joy for Ladies.
Margaret had no idea where it had come from, but obviously someone had slipped it into her bag. That wouldn't have been hard to do. The women usually left their bags on a table near the front door of whatever home they were visiting. Any one of the ladies present could have put it there.
As it happened it was one of the times that Margaret was feeling slight distress 'down there'. It was enough to get her to start reading. Both repulsed and fascinated Margaret found herself turning the pages and absorbing the books message. She had skimmed over the preface, read the first chapter and started the second when Jason got home from school. Margaret put the book away in her bedroom. She was undecided about reading it further.
The book was written, supposedly, by a woman. It started by discussing masturbation for women and the joy of paroxysm. Its central point, stated quite plainly, was that women deserved the pleasures of love. The author derided women who had their hysteria treated by doctors. She advocated the use of dildos and massage of the clitoris.
The book described dildos and alternates; cucumbers and darning eggs were mentioned as well as several other common household items, such things as hairbrush handles. One's own fingers inserted into the vagina were also recommended. She gave several examples of how to use some of the things mentioned. The point the author was making was that there was no limit to the number of things that might be used for self-pleasure.
Margaret felt herself blushing with embarrassment. To even read such a book was probably immoral. She put the book down, but she could not deny the empty feeling in her body, 'down there'.
Margaret had to get dinner for Jason. After the meal she and Jason visited his 'Gramma'. Lydia was a little out of sorts. Margaret recognized the symptoms. She knew that it wouldn't be long before Lydia would visit the doctor for a hysteria treatment. Margaret wondered to herself if she should get a treatment too; perhaps it would help to cope with that empty feeling. She kept silent, though. Since she had never experienced an orgasm she knew very little about paroxysm. She had only ever heard references to it. After all it was not a subject one discussed with others. Most of what she did know she had just read in the little book.
Margaret and Jason returned home at dusk. She and Jason read by lamplight for an hour, she was reading a novel, not the new little book. She sent Jason to bed earlier than usual.
With Jason safe in his bedroom she retrieved the book again. She felt a little shamed that she did not have the strength to resist its suggestive message. She reread the preface. There the author told of her own doubts and fears. How she too thought she was a wanton for even thinking such thoughts. She told how she had found that women were more than receptacles for their husband's seed. She described her encounters with other women who had learned differently and how they had taught each other how to enjoy the pleasure of their bodies. Her last line in the preface spoke volumes.
Your husband, if you have one, need never know. It can be your secret.
Margaret skipped to the chapter about pleasing oneself. She read, again, about using a cucumber to fill the void in her lower body. She felt her nipples firming and a dampness at her female parts. There were cucumbers in the ice box. Her mind kept returning to them. She wasn't seeing a cucumber in her mind's eye. She wasn't seeing anything. She was feeling, feeling a hard member against the walls of her pussy.
Her female parts were no longer that in her mind. They had become, if the book was true, a place of pleasure. The cucumber an organ to fill her and bring her that pleasure.
