Jessa Ch. 03

She tried not to grimace as she gathered her hair and twisted it on top of her head, but when she tried to hold it there with one hand while she reached into the drawer for pins to secure it, she couldn't help but gasp. Torah sighed in exasperation. He threw the towel over her shoulders, replaced her hand with his, then quickly and efficiently pinned the hair in place. Then he adjusted the towel and was drying her back, rubbing hard. Jessa gasped and braced herself against the counter. A moment later, he spun her around and repeated the task on her front side, taking extra care with her breasts. Then he was squatting in front of her running the towel up, down and between her legs. He paused for a moment to thoughtfully examine the tinge of blood that still dripped from her vagina. But then he tossed the towel aside, turned her back toward the mirror and began applying some ointment to the welts on her back. Whatever it was he used stung initially but then soothed. She reached for the ointment to do her chest, but he snatched it out of her reach. After he had finished her back to his satisfaction, he turned her again and began on her front with painstakingly slow precision. Finally, he took a big glob of the ointment onto a fingertip and ran his finger up and down her slit then plunged it inside her pussy. She gasped at the sting and tried to squirm away but he wrapped his arm about her waist, lifting her on to her toes and proceeded to probe even deeper. When he was satisfied that he had covered as much as he could reach, he released her and held out her robe. She was shaking as he slipped it onto her arms, then belted it tightly about her waist from behind.

With his arms still about her waist, he spoke in her ear. "Still think it was worth it?" She shook her head mutely. "I thought not." Then his hand was on her arm and he was pulling her out of the bathroom and over to the table where food had been laid out. "Eat," he commanded and she sat gingerly, grateful that he had not shoved her into the chair.

Torah picked at some of the food on the table, but he didn't sit. He paced about the room, using his cell phone for some kind of communication that apparently was annoying him. At one point, he piled a bunch more food on her plate. She tried to struggle through it, afraid he was building to another angry outburst as he hit virtual keys on the phone. Finally, when he was across the room, she took a chance and stood up from the table.

"Finish eating!" he snapped, without even looking up.

"I can't eat any more right now," she begged. "Can I eat the rest of it later?"

He finally looked up with narrowed eyes, but then he nodded. "In bed, then. Rest."

"But..." He glowered at her. "Tea, with your mother," she reminded him.

"I've already spoken with her. We will discuss the wedding later. When you are being more agreeable." He gestured again at the bed, and when she didn't move immediately, he stalked over to it and reached down between the mattress and the headboard, pulling out a chain, at the end of which there was a leather padded wrist cuff. He tossed it on her pillow. "Do I need to make it any clearer? You do what you are told or I will see to it for you."

She shook her head frantically and sat on the edge of the bed, as far from the cuff as she could get. "Please, Torah," she whispered.

"In. The. Bed. Now."

Jessa pulled back the bedding and slipped between the sheets, trembling. He looked at his phone and sighed. He looked at her and slipped the cuff back into its hiding place. Then he suddenly reached out and grasped her chin. "If you should decide you need to do two hundred pushups, I will know." She tried to shake her head but he was holding her too tight. He seemed pleased anyway and released her chin, then stalked from the room. She heard the click of the lock in the door.

When she was finally alone, Jessa laid back and rested her hands on her belly, under the sheets. The dull ache was still there. She had no idea what it might mean. And she wasn't even sure what she wanted anymore. She just knew that Torah terrified her in ways she would have thought inconceivable less than a month ago. Some small part of her was beginning to think that it might be time to put aside her dream and resign herself to a life of motherhood. Tears formed in the outer corners of her eyes, and slowly trickled down until she finally slept.

****

Sometime later, Jessa awoke to the sound of the key in the lock. Even before the door was fully opened, two five year old bundles of energy burst into the room and leapt to join her on the bed. "Boys," Torah snapped in his surrogate father voice.

"It's okay," Jessa said, draping an arm about one of the boys.

Torah looked at her intently, probing. "They wanted to see that you were all right," he said, shooting her the warning glare.

"I'm fine," she insisted, struggling to sit cross-legged and focus on the boys. "I just learned it wasn't a good idea to try and race Torah."

"He always wins," one of the boys agreed.

"Okay. Now let me see if I can get this right. You're..." she paused dramatically. "Samu! Right?"

"Right," he replied, clapping with glee.

"And I'm Saula," the other one chimed in.

"And what program were you working on this morning?"

"Math," they both groaned.

She laughed. "I learned a bunch of short cuts. Maybe I can help you with it."

"Torah says you can teach us French," Samu claimed.

"Will you?" Saula piped up.

"Are you learning German?" she asked.

"Aunt Mia says we have to start next year."

"Well, maybe we can start French this year, then." She glanced at Torah, but he was staring at his cell phone again.

"Do you know any other languages?" Saula asked.

"I used to have a neighbor who knew Italian. He taught me some words." She was suddenly aware of Torah's sharp eyes piercing her. "I don't know that I remember many of them, though," she said, confused by Torah's reaction.

"Can you show us where you lived," Samu asked.

"I don't have a map, I'm afraid."

"Not even on your phone?" Saula asked, incredulous.

Jessa shook her head. "My phone is very simple. Most of the time, it won't even do text or email."

'But we have maps, right, Torah?" Saula demanded.

"I'll find our map book when I get a chance," he replied, distracted by his phone again.

"Will you be coming to dinner tonight?" Saula asked Jessa.

Jessa looked at Torah. "We'll have to see," he said. "Now off you go. Jessa needs to rest."

Samu kissed her on the cheek, so then Saula had to, too, then they were off the bed and racing from the room. Torah was staring at her as he closed the door behind them. "Your little brothers are wonderful, Torah. I swear to you that I will never say anything or do anything that would put them at risk. Please believe me."

"Tell me about your Italian friend," he said.

She couldn't detect if there was an implied threat in his words or not. "He was the one I told you about, that my parents caught me with," she said softly. He closed his eyes as if from a sudden headache.

"You had sex with him."

"I told you. We took precautions."

"What precautions?" he demanded.

"He used a condom. Every time. The good ones. Obviously I never became pregnant. Why, Torah? What does it matter? I mean, you knew. I told you at Summer's End."

"You didn't tell me he was Italian!" he snapped.

She cringed. "I don't understand."

Torah took a deep breath, marshaling his patience. "How long had his people been in Parvil Region?"

"I think they moved there when he was around six."

"From where?"

"I don't know. His people were from the Italian alps, but I don't know how long ago they migrated north." He seemed to relax just slightly at that.

"With the first wave?" he asked.

"I don't know, Torah. I swear. We never talked about it."

"I need his name," he snapped.

"Franco. He went by Peter Franc, but he told me his name was really Pietro Franco. Please, Torah, tell me what this is about."

He gave her the darkest look she'd ever seen from him, even at his angriest that morning. "He may be a carrier. He may have infected you and now my family."

"The pandemic?" she whispered, but he was already slamming out of the room, locking the door behind him.

****

Torah didn't return at dinner time, and Jessa made do with food that had been left for them earlier in the day. She eventually donned a nightgown and climbed into bed, falling uneasily asleep. She didn't know what time it was when she heard the key in the lock and Torah came into the room. She felt him looking at her for a long moment, before he went into the bathroom and prepared for bed. When he finally climbed in beside her, he didn't touch her, and she didn't know whether to be relieved or not. The only thing that scared her more than Torah was the pandemic, something she had thought was relegated to history books. Until tonight.