"He?Sam and Cole, too?and my husband are cousins. Grant lost his parents at a young age and came to live here with the men. Grew up together, although he's a few years older. Our house is over by the river." She pointed out the window. "You have questions for me, I'm sure."
"You weren't surprised when you found me in the other room." I looked down at my hands in my lap. "On the chair as I was."
"Making yourself come? I'd be surprised if you weren't. I'm just impressed with your inventiveness and will need to try it later."
I blushed hotly and she gave my hand another squeeze. "It just means your husband is fucking you really well. You can't get enough. That's natural, honey."
I closed my eyes, shook my head. "What I did in there is not natural. There's something wrong with me."
She eyed me closely. "Has Jake said there is?"
"Well, no."
"Has he said he's pleased with you?"
"Yes."
"He has been fucking you, hasn't he?"
I thought of all the times, and variations, that he had. "Yes."
"Then there's nothing wrong. You're supposed to be like this."
My mouth fell open. "Do all women act like me? When I was in St. Louis, the married ladies talked about how miserable it was to lie with their husbands. They didn't seem to like it one bit."
"Then their men weren't doing it right."
"Why aren't you so...bothered, the way I am?"
Maura gave her head a little shake. "I am. Oh honey, I am. I've been married for a long time now, so I'm adjusted to the constant need, but to make you feel better, Grant fucked me over the dining table before he left this morning, the breakfast dishes sitting there. I hadn't even cleaned them before I had to come, but this week, Grant asked me to only come when we fucked, so I had to find him in the barn on the way over here. That's why I was a little later than I planned?he was slow and very thorough."
I took a sip of my tea to think. "But the...the cork." I leaned in and whispered.
"Is it arousing?" she whispered back.
"No. It's not arousing at all," I grumbled, as I squirmed against the offending item stretching me. "Jake's attention when he's putting it in and taking it out, lifting up my skirts at random times to just look at it, having him so...so focused on me, that feels really good. And when it gets bumped, that...that feels good actually."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Jake says, I mean?" I fumbled for the right words. "The first time I was corked, Sam did it. Jake said his brothers can help me with my cork."
Maura got up, took down some cookies from a tin, put them on the table in front of us. "You want me to tell you it's normal, don't you?"
"Of course." I picked up a cookie, nibbled at it. "There was this man in St. Louis. We were to be married, but he found me lacking. I’d undone one little button at my throat during church. It was so stifling hot I thought I was going to faint. When we were outside, he became irate. Called me names, said that I was wanton. A slattern."
"So you're worried that since you're sitting here with your breasts out, and that Jake lets his brothers see you and touch you in ways you thought inappropriate before, you're everything that man called you."
I brushed away a tear. "That, and worse."
"I know it's a conundrum for you, but really, it's simple. Jake does these things to you, for you, because it pleases him. And because it pleases him, he will please you."
I smiled, although it was a little shaky. "Jake said something very close to that yesterday. Does it make taking a cork any easier?"
Maura grinned. "No. Nothing makes taking a cork easier. I never forget it's there. But I never forget Grant either."
"Do you have children?"
"No. Grant can't have them. Mumps as a child."