sighed, reaching down to grab that glorious length, aiming, trying and failing to push into his wife again. Irene’s nightgown hid her body completely. Like Hanna’s, it buttoned all the way to the neck and brushed the floor when she walked. It was tangled around her mother’s waist, mostly keeping her modesty.
“Let me see you.” Marshall tugged up the edge of her nightgown, revealing the expanse of his wife’s stomach. “Please. Just let me…”
“No!” She pulled her nightgown down so far, her hands pushed him away. “Don’t do that! It’s a sin!”
“We’re husband and wife,” he reminded her gently, trying to nudge his way in again, but her legs actually quivered from her effort to close them, as if she could cut him in half with her thighs alone. “Just relax a little, sweetheart. Just… let yourself go. I could… I can make you wetter with my mouth.”
That did it. Hanna’s mother reacted so quickly, her daughter barely had time to register what Marshall had suggested. With his mouth? Down there? What?
“No. Absolutely not!” Hanna’s mother sat up, yanking her nightgown down. “Marshall, we need to pray.”
“What do we need to pray for?” Marshall snorted, shaking his head. Hanna was fascinated by the erection in his fist. It was beginning to soften, but still.
“For your forgiveness. How could you even suggest such a vile thing?” Irene snapped. “I never should have gotten on my belly for you. It was the snake, crawling on its belly, who tempted Eve! Lord knows, I have sinned, trying to satisfy you, trying to make you happy…”
“Come on, Irene.” Marshall sighed. “I just thought I might actually be able to put it inside you that way. It’s not like I asked to put it in your mouth. Or your ass.”
“Marshall!” Hanna’s mother recoiled, grabbing a pillow and covering her body with it for extra protection.
“I’m sorry.” He swallowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“We both need to ask God for forgiveness.” Tears choked the woman’s voice. “We need to ask Him to make us worthy as a couple to serve Him. Our marriage, our union, must stay pure. You know that! It is only through a pure union that we can serve Him best and reap His blessings.”
“Right.” Marshall watched his wife pull the covers up to her neck before she folded her hands, bowed her head, and began to pray.
Hanna watched her stepfather roll to his side, pulling the covers up on his side, covering his erection. Her mother’s words were methodical, phrases learned in their church. Hanna knew most of their prayers by heart, but these words were different. She wasn’t a married woman yet, so she didn’t know the prayers to say for a blessed union between man and wife.
She looked longingly at Marshall, who was facing away from her—and away from his wife—his broad, strong back tanned from long hours of work in the hot sun. Hanna didn’t know how her mother could resist touching him, feeling those hard planes of flesh under her hands. She knew she’d give into temptation. Irene’s faith was incredibly strong—stronger than them both, Hanna thought, frowning at her mother’s closed eyes and whispered prayers, her stepfather’s rigid posture.
Hanna knew she wouldn’t be able to talk to her mother about her dream, not now. And while she had been ready to confess her sin of masturbation, she knew she couldn’t confess that either. Instead, she took a few, slow steps backward before turning on her heel to go back to her own room. She would go to sleep and pray she didn’t have any more dreams.
Hanna froze when she heard her stepfather’s voice. At first she thought he was yelling at her—and just hearing Marshall raise his voice was a shock, because he just didn’t do that—but then she realized he was addressing his wife.
“Look at me!” Marshall snapped, his voice carrying down the hallway. “Stop that incessant muttering and look at me!”
Hanna’s breath caught.