Rand and Lora

She was driving home from town on a warm early spring day. The soft road clung to the wagon wheels as if trying to hold it back and the remainders of snow banks trickled and oozed down to the road encouraging it. Lora’s mind was busy. Today was her cousins wedding day. This evening they would celebrate not only the marriage, but the coming of spring and the beginning of a new season. She did not hear the rider who was approaching from behind. Her thoughts were jerked suddenly to the present as he tore past her and her own horse, terrified, lunged and a wheel slammed into a rut throwing her off balance. With a cry she grabbed at the seat and the reigns attempting to steady both herself and the horse.

“Careful where you’re going!” She yelled climbing down and running a hand along the horse’s harness to make sure it was still intact.

The rider had turned and was ambling back to her. “I’m sure you are the most attentive, most experience, oh and defiantly most arrogant woman I have seen driving such a rig!” She sputtered but he didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Maybe next time you should keep your wagon closer the side of the road or perhaps stay home!”

“I can handle this myself!” She said stepping back to climb on the wagon.

“So you’d like to think!” He retorted turning his mount away.

Without thinking she reached down and handed some of the partially melted snow at his back. His horse lunged and bucked and took off down the road.

“What he deserves for riding a brute like that.” She muttered.

---

Candlelight and the last fading rays of the sunset filled the church as Martha and Patrick said their vows. Lora saw Martha’s slender figure and wondered how soon it would be when she would be swollen with child. Then the ceremony ended, the benches were cleared away and the feast spread out. The music began and Lora felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder.

“Lora. Lora.” The woman whispered in her ear. “They tell me that Patrick’s brother is home for the wedding and home to stay.”

She nodded, not understanding.

“See him. By the fire, on the dulcimer?”

“I see.” She answered.

“You don’t remember him from before he left, do you?”

“No Mamma.”

“I want you to notice him Lora. Notice him. He is right for you!”

And then her mother was gone and Lora was left watching the firelight glint off of shaggy hair and broad shoulders.

One dance led to another and the night wore on. Patrick and Martha had long since slipped away and disappeared into their new home, but still the celebration continued. And then she was dancing with those broad shoulders. She had quite forgotten about them until suddenly they were in front of her and her hands were on them. “So here is the little snow princess?” She heard a familiar voice say and she looked up and saw his face for the first time.

“You!” she drew back.

“You don’t really want to cause a scene.” He said quietly and pulled her close again.

“I don’t care!” She hissed but gave in.

“Why do you hate me?” He asked.

“I don’t hate you.”

“Yes you do.”

“I don’t – Yes! I hate you!”

“Why?”

But the song was over and she had turned away.

---

“No.” She said again to her mother. “No.”

“But why?” He’s a good man. He can provide for you!”

“He’s a… brute! A… a…” She gave up describing her loathe for him.

“Lora!” Her father burst out, then he too gave up when she said. “Daddy! Please! I don’t care for him!”

He couldn’t help but sigh as he turned to his wife. “We can’t do anything more.”

---

The next several months were filled with Lora and Rand fighting and Lora and Rand ignoring each other. Not a week passed without some new scheme being laid to trap the other in humiliation, trouble, or anything else imaginable.

---

Lora stepped out of the tiny cabin and into the freezing grip of February. She couldn’t stay any longer in that dark room where death and sorrow hung so thickly. She stumbled into the barn and closed the door behind her. That’s when she saw him. Her words of anger melted on her lips as he looked up from the work Patrick should have been doing. He seemed surprised by what he saw in her, but he read her eyes clearly and reached out to hold her as naturally as if he had been doing so since the day they met.

“Why?” She choked as sobs shook her body. “Why did Martha’s baby have to die? So tiny! So perfect! And before she could hold it!”

He just held her and pressed her tight against his chest. Then her tears subsided, but she still held him. Her thoughts returned but her arms still clung to him.

She met his eyes and the look her saw made him wonder. “What are you thinking?”

She remembered what her mother had told her about having children and she remembered Martha’s talk of Patrick in bed. “I want us to have a lot of children.” She whispered.

If he was surprised he tried not to show it. “As many as you want.” He said as he lowered his mouth to hers.

She thought of how Martha described the feeling. If this was anything like it she never wanted it to end.

Breathless he pulled away. “You will be my wife?” as if he had to make sure.

“Yes.”

“Soon?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She looked at him, it was like she was seeing him for the first time. “Because I love you.”

He couldn’t hide how this affected him. “Soon!” She whispered when their kissed ended. “How soon can we be ready?”

“Two weeks?”

She again recalled what her mother had said. ‘Two weeks won’t work.” She blushed and he blushed seeing her blush. “Three?” She asked.

“Three.” He smiled. “ And I’ll come tomorrow night.” He whispered as he kissed her again.

---

She met him by the door and took him away quickly before anyone intercepted them.

“Three weeks still okay?” She asked as they stomped through the snow.

‘Yes. With you?”

“Yes.”

“Lora?”

“Yes.”

“Let me do this right.” He knelt in the snow. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She knelt by him and he pulled the glove off her hand and slipped the ring on.

“We should talk to your parents.”

She smiled. “They will approve.”

---

He worked on the small house on his father’s farm. It had been empty for too long. She sewed linen and prepared a feast. Her mother unwrapped her wedding dress and Lora fixed it to wear. And the passion in their hearts grew and three weeks passed and the wedding passed and they were alone in their little house.

He showed her each room, each detail that he had been working on since Martha and Patrick’s wedding. When he showed her the bedroom she kissed him again. The evening had been full of kisses, but this one possessed more than any before. She unbuttoned his shirt and helped him out of it. “I’ve never done this before.” She said. “I don’t know what to do.” Her skin was burning.

He pulled at her buttons. “I don’t either. I got close to it.. but I never…” She kissed him again.

---

Author's Note:

I wrote this delightful bit of fluff in '02. I just kinda liked the idea of them not liking each other in a bit, but then getting married in a hurry. I don't like using the rulers to indicate where I wouldskip an extra line, but things just get too run together. What do you think? I am always happy for feedback. Thankyou.