The Wild Rose

The Third Day..

Eliza woke up feeling rather warm on the spring day, however, rather than shy away from that warmth she snuggled into it to be welcomed by a hard chest against her back and an arm tightening around her waist. It was then all of last night’s memories came flooding back to her, making her grin. She was no longer a maiden, she had allowed the secretive Lincoln to take her virtue and make love to her three times that night. She was his completely and she couldn’t find an ounce of regret. He had been so tender and loving to her, taking his time and trying to make their first time together as painless as possible.

Although he had relaxed her and made sure that she was ready for him, it still didn’t stop the slight pin-prick pain when he entered her. However, it just confirmed that she truly did belong to him. He had awoken some sort of carnal desire within her, something that no other man but him would ever be able to satisfy. She turned in his arms to face him, watching as he opened one of his dark eyes and smirked at her, running his finger up and down the curve of her hip.

“How are you feeling?” He asked quietly, pressing his lips to her forehead.

“Fine, a little sore, but better than fine actually” She giggled, a blush coating her cheeks as she suddenly felt rather shy on realising their very naked state as his hairy leg brushed between her legs as he shifted his weight.

“Well, at least you know that you’re mine now” He said, never taking his eyes off of her face. She nodded and smiled, glad that he felt the same way as her about their consummation of their relationship last night. “Now, as much as I’d like to spend all day in bed with you, I think you need a break, so I propose we have breakfast together and then head down to the river today like I asked yesterday?”

“Yes, that sounds like a wonderful plan.” She replied eagerly.

“It is a great plan, and I can show you the roses I keep telling you about whilst we’re there”

Eliza nodded her head in response, clutching her sheet to her chest.

With a small sigh, Linc got up off the bed, unashamed in his nakedness, making Eliza blush hard and avert her eyes almost immediately. It was deemed improper for a man to walk about as nude as the day he was born, yet it was also morally wrong to have made love to man before marriage. Maybe a sneaky peek wouldn’t hurt. Eliza chewed her lower lip before glancing back up, getting a good view of his rounded rear as he shuffled his trousers back up his legs, covering his modesty almost instantly. She didn’t know whether to be glad or actually feel disappointed in the lack of a view now. At her lustful thoughts Eliza frowned, she sounded just like a harlot!

After going through the typical morning routine of dressing, washing and eating their breakfast, the couple got ready to have their outing to the river. Linc kept his hand securely fastened around Eliza’s one in a loving manner – or he was trying to stop her from trying to escape. Not that she would think such a thing.

For a mid-spring late morning stroll it was a rather warm day, the sun constantly shining down upon them as though happy for their union as a man and woman. It was them against the world in Eliza’s eyes, and she’d do anything for this man beside her, just as she assumed he would do anything for her.

Eliza gasped when she set eyes upon the river that Lincoln had told her about. The grass was a lush green; home to what seemed liked hundreds upon thousands of daisies. The river seemed rather wide here, edged by tall reeds and grass. As Lincoln led her closer without saying a word, she finally saw the roses he kept comparing her too. They wove their own pattern around the reeds and grass and up a nearby tree. They were a startling bright red, definitely claiming all the attention from the rest of the surround beauty.

“So, why do you compare me to these roses?” She asked curiously.

Lincoln grinned at her, kissing her chilled cheek. “As I’m sure I’ve told you before, my sweet rose, the roses are beautiful flowers, however, you are more beautiful than any flower that exists. You’re your own work of art, something beyond perfection that will never be surpassed. And for that, I think I love you”

Eliza’s hand shot out and covered her mouth as she gasped, staring up at him through watery eyes. “What a wonderful term of endearment, something I wasn’t yet expecting!”

Lincoln simply smiled at her in response, walking to the edge of the grassy bank and shrugging of his grey blazer, laying it across the ground, gesturing for her to sit. “If you look closely into the river you can see your own reflection, and it’s like going into your own little world.”

She wrapped her thin skirt around her legs, kneeling down on the silk insides of his discarded blazer. “I’m assuming you’ve done this a lot then?”
Before answering her, Lincoln grabbed her chin softly between his thumb and forefinger, pressing a gentle kiss against her rosy lips, breaking it off too quickly for both of their likings. “Yes, I like to come here to think” He confirmed, nodding his head as he knelt back and watched her carefully.

Eliza chewed her lower lip as she leant forwards, leaning over to the water’s edge so that she could see this reflection that he had told her about. She was mesmerized; her face was rippled like a piece of art work, surrounded by the wild roses and their vines, almost as though creating a frame around her pale face.

She heard Lincoln shuffle behind her but assumed that he was adjusting his position on the bank, making himself more comfortable. How wrong she had been! If she had just turned around when she heard him mutter to himself her life may have been saved.

*

Lincoln watched, not daring to breathe as he held the bloodied rock in his hand, she didn’t even utter a cry of pain after he had hit her around the head. She had fallen to the ground immediately, the tips of her glossy hair becoming wet from the river. “All beauty must die” He muttered quietly, glancing to the ruby rock before placing it down on the grass beside him.

He gently picked Eliza’s lifeless body up, her glassy, dead eyes staring up at him as he cradled her petite body for a moment or two. “You’ve achieved perfection, Eliza. What else was there for you to do?” He asked her, half expecting to get a response. He sighed, knowing that it would never happen now. Lincoln shuffled forwards on his knees, not caring for the grass stains that he was giving himself and placed Eliza into the cold water.

Her white dress became see through as it absorbed the water, she looked so peaceful and perfect amongst the reeds and the roses. It was where she belonged. After taking another minute just to observe her deadly beauty, he yanked on a rose, breaking it from the vine, planting it between her teeth and closing her eyes with the pads of his fingers.

Now he could sleep easy at night.

“They call me the wild rose,

But my name was Eliza Day.

Why they call me this I do not know,

For my name was Eliza Day…”