Buster's Story Ch. 02

"Oh!" he moaned. "Take it easy Nat. I don have no one but my hand all this time."

"You don go the whores like Big Joe?" she asked as she kissed his stomach.

"Non! I go look and Big Joe there growling at me," he said trying to work his hands between her legs.

"Big Joe still a big bully?" asked Natalie as she move back up the bed and into Brian's waiting hands.

"Non, just with me and your honor," Brian said. His fingers found what he'd been hunting for and missing so long. Natalie was wet and his fingers soon had her moaning and rubbing against his hand. Brian could take it no longer and moved between Natalie's legs. After positioning himself, he thrust deep into Natalie's pussy.

"Ah," Natalie gasped. "So much better than my fingers," she thought. Grabbing Brian she held on as he slowly increased his rhythm until the bed was bouncing as hard as it could against the wall. Natalie felt that heat build up in her middle that had been almost forgotten. She keened her orgasm as it washed through her.

Brian felt and then heard Natalie orgasm. Biting his lip, he tried to hold off, but couldn't.

"Grrrrrrrahhh," he growled and came so hard he almost blacked out. As he tried to roll off, he realized the knot had formed and they were stuck fast. He began to giggle. Natalie joined him as they lay on the bed.

*

The two of them made love five times before finally falling asleep. Brian woke to the smell of real coffee, bacon and potatoes cooking. He stretched, washed up in the basin and then dressed. He put his uniform back on as he had nothing else.

"Smells good Nat," he said as he walked up behind her and wrapped her in his arms.

"I feed you and then we go see Grandma Davy and get Jenny from Maman," said Natalie. She'd had plenty of time to figure out how to visit people this morning. She knew that by the time they'd visited Grandma Davy, that the whole village would know and wonder when the rest of the men would be home. Soon she hoped, and no more telegrams with bad news.

Brian ate more than he'd managed in weeks. The trip home on the ship was nearly as bad as the one to Europe. Then he'd ridden the train only long enough to clear the big cities. After that, he'd run most of the way home. It was a long trip made longer by the desire to be home.

Natalie watched him as he ate. She still couldn't believe he was home. She'd woke many times in the night just to make sure it wasn't a dream. Each time he'd taken her again. She smiled as tender bits rubbed on the chair.

"I can't eat any more," said Brian. He put his plate in the sink and grabbed his great coat. Natalie grabbed her coat and hat and they headed to Grandma Davy's.

*

Grandma Davy had just sat down with her tea when there was a knock on her door. She decided her nose must be deceiving her, and went to answer it rather than just calling out for whoever it was to enter. She opened the door to see Brian standing there and nearly fainted.

"Brian!" she cried as he wrapped her in his arms.

"Grandma Davy, I have missed you," he said as they came in and shut the door.

"Are all the men back?" she asked as they sat at the kitchen table. She pulled her chair close so that she didn't need to let go of his hand.

"Non, I am the first. I run all the way home as far as I can," he said.

"Oh. Oh my. Is Kent comin home?" she asked.

Aye. He be home today or tomorrow. So will Big Joe and most his brothers. Hank come home soon and Bizzet. Bizzet, he have troubles. He,..." Brian trailed off not knowing what to say about his friend.

"He and his wolf want to run away?" Grandma Davy asked.

"Aye. Too much noise, too many dead. He cries when alone and think no one hear him," said Brian.

"We take care of him," said Grandma Davy. "We take care of all our men." Grandma Davy had followed the war very carefully and knew more than the rest what kind of horrors the men had faced. Two letters had already arrived about Bizzet and two other men. She didn't let Brian know that.

They talked for a little longer and then said their goodbyes. Brian was anxious to meet his daughter and Grandma Davy knew she had to make sure her medicinal stores were up to what was coming home.

*

A little girl was playing in the snow out in front of the cabin where Celia and Martin lived. She was playing with two little boys and pelting them with snowballs.

"Jenny!" Natalie called as she held Brian's hand.

The little girl looked up and saw her mother. She smiled and then realized that there was a man with her. Walking up to the couple, she sniffed the air and tilted her head to one side trying to puzzle out who the man was.

"Maman, who is that wif you?" she asked.

"This is your Papa. He is home from the war," said Natalie.

Jenny walked up to the man who had crouched down to her height. He held very still, amazed at how much she looked like Natalie. She took her mother's hand and looked intensely at the man.

"Papa?" Jenny asked holding out her hand to touch him.

"Yes Jenny, I am your Papa," he said. "It is very nice to meet you at long last." Brian wanted to scoop her up and yet knew better. He remembered his own fears at meeting relatives when he was younger. Instead, he held out his hand to Jenny.

Jenny took his hand and looked at it and then very slowly sniffed him. "You must be my Papa. You smell like the flannel shirt Maman keeps in her pillow and cries with late at night when she thinks I am asleep," she said.

Natalie choked back a tear and looked at Brian. Brian stood and stroked her face. Then he held out both hands to Jenny with an unspoken question.

Jenny smiled and walked into his hands to be picked up. Brian held her close, sniffing her scent to lock it in his memory and then wrapped one arm around Natalie so that all of them were hugging.

"Jenny! Where are you?" called Celia. The boys had come running in without her and she had come looking for the little girl who was both the love and bane of her life. She saw the two adults and Jenny in their arms. She recognized who it was and fainted.

*

"Maman!" Natalie said as she patted her mother's face. They had run to where Celia had fallen in the snow after hearing her call Jenny.

"Natalie, is it true? Is that Brian?" she asked trying to focus her eyes.

"Yes Maman. He came home last night. Says the boys will be home soon," said Natalie.

Brian offered his mother-in-law a hand up out of the snow. No sooner was she on her feet than she wrapped him in her arms tightly. She then patted his face and began to usher all of them into the house.

Martin spilled his coffee when he saw who had come in the door and then patted Brian on the back as Jenny ran in circles around the four adults hollering that her Papa was home.

*

By noon the word had spread that Brian was home. Everyone had finally congregated in the saloon as it was the only place big enough for everyone. Jenny wouldn't let Brian out of her sight, and Natalie wasn't much better. Sally was pouring beer as fast as she could. Two of the wives had cranked up the truck and driven towards the railway station to see if any of the others had arrived home.

Conversations were interrupted by hugs, backslaps and kisses. Brian wasn't sure it had been such a good thing to come home alone, but then again, he'd never give up the feeling of having Natalie and Jenny in his arms.

Celia and the other women had just begun to set out food when they heard a truck horn honking off in the distance. Everyone went out to see what was coming down the road. It was the two wives that had left earlier and in the back of the truck were ten men in uniform.

Cheers went up as the men jumped down from the truck and families reunited. Brian stood there watching who got off.

"Buster! You bastard! You run home?" called Big Joe as he scooped up his mother and headed for the porch where everyone stood.

"Aye, couldn't take it no more," said Brian.

"Buster?" asked Natalie.

"Your man here so dumb, he forget to shift back. Gets caught by an English officer and I have to pretend he one of the dogs," said Big Joe with a laugh. "So now he have to patrol every few nights as Buster to keep from letting people know wrong things." Big Joe kissed his mother and then took a beer from Sally who kissed him too.

Brian nodded. He looked around and realized that someone was missing. Someone who should have been with this bunch.

"Big Joe, where is Kent? Bizzet too?" he asked quietly.

"Bizzet, he lost it. Kent he got him off the train. Coming home with him like you did," said Big Joe.

"How far behind?" asked Brian.

"Two days? One? I don know how long they run," Big Joe said. "Kent a good man. He'll take care of him. You tell Grandma Davy about Bizzet yet?"

"Yes. She knew fore I told her. Tried not to show it, but she did. Mebbe the doctors write to her?" Brian asked.

"Mebbe. He howl too much. You let me know when they get home if I don see them first," said Big Joe.

Brian nodded. They went in to get something to eat and every couple of hours another man or two trailed into the saloon to be welcomed home. He asked quietly, but no one had seen the two missing men. When it was dark, Martin drove the truck back to the railway station to wait for men. Brian, Jenny and Natalie headed home.

Jenny was tucked up in a trundle bed next to the fire. Brian and Natalie sat nearby and talked quietly.

"Bizzet went crazy?" she asked.

"Yes. Like I tol Grandma Davy, too many bad things. The trenches were horrid. Dead soldiers everywhere. Bits and pieces everywhere in the mud. It smelled bad. Worse than any slaughter house you ever been. Then the noise... Bombs all night or gunfire. After a while, you don sleep. Or, you wake every time a bomb or gun goes off. Then there is the cold and the mud. It is everywhere. I think it took three baths just to find my real skin. Threw away my uniform, cause it was more mud than cloth. My boots rotted off three times. Big Joe, he get mold growing on his feet so bad they turn black. Had to go to the hospital for a week. Me, I just get sores. Bizzet, he go crazy," said Brian. He had only touched on what really happened. There was no way to describe some of it. No need to share the nightmares. For him, the worst was seeing soldiers stuck in the barbed wire scratching at their faces because of the gas. Mustard gas didn't kill quickly. It burned inside and out and if blinded, soldiers stumbled into the wires and became sitting ducks for the enemy to shoot.

Natalie knew he wasn't telling her everything and she honestly didn't want to hear any more than what he was willing to tell her. Grandma Davy wasn't the only one who read the papers.

"You gonna go look for them?" she asked.

"Non. They come home when ready. Just don be surprised you see a wolf on the porch one morning. Half an ear, it is Bizzet," said Brian.

"Half an ear?" asked Natalie.

"Aye. Caught it on barbed wire. Pulled and left a bit. When he shift, the ear still missing," said Brian. Bizzet had gotten caught coming back from a trench raid. He was tangled up in the wire and it took Big Joe, Kent and Brian to free him.

Natalie looked down and saw that Jenny was asleep. "We go to bed now, very quietly," she said.

Brian looked down at his daughter asleep with a doll in her arms. "Aye," he said.

They undressed quietly and crawled into bed. Unlike the night before, they made love slowly and gently. Brian held Natalie close as she came. Spooned together, they drifted off to sleep.

*

A week later, Brian woke to the sound of pounding on the door. He grabbed his robe and headed to the door. He opened it to find his brother Kent and Bizzet standing there.

"Come in. Jenny is by the fire and Natalie is asleep. You okay?" he asked looking at the two of them. Bizzet was nude and Kent was a little worse for wear.

"Aye. Just cold," said Kent.

"Hungry?" Brian asked.

"Non. Bizzet killed a moose and we ate good," said Kent.

"Bizzet, you gonna talk?" asked Brian. While in the trenches, Bizzet would have days when he wouldn't or couldn't talk.

"Haar tu tak," said Bizzet.

Brian nodded in understanding. Bizzet was still partially shifted. The vocal cords hadn't come all the way back. "Let's get you dressed. You want your uniform?" he asked Bizzet.

Bizzet nodded and looked to Kent. Kent handed over a pack. Inside were boots and a uniform. Bizzet had more decorations on his uniform than Brian or Kent. He was also more damaged than any man who'd left the village. Besides a missing chunk out of his ear, his body was criss-crossed with scars. Barbed wire, shrapnel, and various wounds from bullets and knives. Bizzet had actually given up trying to stay alive and survived in spite of it. At least his body had.

The two brothers helped their friend dress. They had just sat down when Natalie appeared in the door. She walked over to the two men and hugged first Kent and then Bizzet. Bizzet was happy to see her and shaking so hard at the same time that Natalie was afraid he'd fall.

"Is okay Bizzet. You are home. We take care of you," she said.

Bizzet nodded. He still couldn't speak. He sat back in the chair and held Natalie's hand.

"You want me to go get Grandma Davy?" Natalie asked.

"It is up to Bizzet," said Brian. He'd have gone right away, but realized that Bizzet and Kent both needed a few minutes to collect themselves.

"Ppppreeze," Bizzet finally managed to stutter.

Natalie nodded and went to get dressed.

She was back with Grandma Davy in thirty minutes. Grandma Davy had grabbed a basket she'd made up when Brian first told her about Bizzet coming home. She hugged each man in turn and then took Bizzet off to Brian and Natalie's bedroom.

"You think she can fix him?" asked Kent.

"If anyone can, it will be Grandma Davy," said Natalie. She could smell the tincture that Grandma Davy was giving Bizzet. Mint, poppy and lavender. Low voices could be heard, but not what was being said.

Grandma Davy came out about twenty minutes later. "He sleeps. Tomorrow, I bring his maman to him. You okay with him here?" she asked Brian.

"Aye. He be safe. Kent, he can sleep at your house?" Brian asked.

"Yes. Natalie, he wake, you give him five drops of this," Grandma Davy said handing her the bottle of tincture.

Natalie nodded.

*

"Maman, there is a man in the bed, but he look like a wolf," said Jenny.

Natalie blinked. She had fallen asleep in the rocking chair next to the fire. Brian was still asleep on the floor. "That is Bizzet and he had a very bad night. You let him sleep," she said to her daughter.

"Okay. I want my breakfast," Jenny said.

"I cook breakfast in a minute," said Natalie trying to wake up. It had been a long night. She stretched and folded up the blanket. Looking into the room, she saw that Jenny was right. Bizzet was more than half shifted and snoring away with funny growling snores. She turned back to the kitchen and began to make breakfast. Bacon, eggs, potatoes and coffee.

Jenny was finished with her breakfast and Natalie had just sat down with her's when Brian woke up.

"Any coffee for a poor man?" he said with a smile.

"Poor? You have a family that loves you. That is more riches than you know," teased Natalie. She got up and poured him a cup of coffee. She put a dollop of molasses in it and handed it to Brian who'd managed to sit at the table. She got him a plate of food as well. Natalie got halfway through her breakfast when Bizzet appeared in the doorway.

"You hungry?" she asked.

"Aye," he said softly. He smiled at Jenny as she stood next to her Papa watching the man walk over to the table.

"You okay?" Brian asked.

"Aye. Little sleepy, but good. Good to be home," said Bizzet.

"Aye. Grandma Davy bring your Maman over in a bit," said Natalie.

Bizzet nodded as he ate. By the time he'd finished, Jenny had bounded outside to watch for the visitors. It wasn't too long before Grandma Davy and Juliet, Bizzet's mother walked up the path.

Juliet wrapped her son in her arms and the two of them cried. Brian and Natalie went outside with Grandma Davy and Jenny.

"He be okay?" asked Natalie.

"We see," said Grandma Davy. They sat down on the porch and waited. Men had been coming home in ones and twos for a week. There had been telegrams as well, which meant the quiet of the village was broken by howls and cries of the bereaved. A few of the widows had handed children over to grandparents and run off into the woods to grieve. Others had turned in on themselves and walked like ghosts. Some of the families didn't know how to cope with the men who'd come home and weren't the same person who'd gone off to war. Grandma Davy had been busy and almost every household had a small jar of tincture to calm as well as willow bark and a cough tincture for those who'd been gassed and survived.

An hour later, Bizzet and his mother walked out of the house. They thanked Brian, Natalie and Grandma Davy. Then they walked back to their house on the other side of the village.

"They gonna be okay? She forgot the bottle of tincture," said Brian.

"Maybe. That tincture, you keep. You need it, you take it. I see the ghosts in your eyes. Not as bad as Big Joe's, but they are there," said Grandma Davy. She hugged them and headed off.

*

By summer, all the men who were coming home had done so. Brian was back to working in the saw mill with Kent. Jenny had a new bedroom and Natalie's belly swelled with the baby to be born in the late autumn. Life was slowly returning to normal. Widows remarried, and people moved in or out of the village. Bizzet had settled down with a girl wilder than he was. Both of them spent more time in wolf form than human form.

Brian finished work and headed home. There was still plenty of light and Natalie met him on the road. She had a picnic basket in her hand.

"Where you going?" Brian asked.

"I'm going up to my meadow. We have dinner up there, just you and me. Jenny is with Maman for the night," she said with a smile.

Brian smiled and took the basket from her hand as they walked up the hill and into the forest. It didn't take them too long to reach the meadow where they'd met years ago. A few trees had fallen. The meadow was in full bloom. Brian spread out the blanket and Natalie got the food out. Bread, cheese, ham and a bottle of beer. They ate and then relaxed on the blanket. Brian told Natalie about her day and Natalie rubbed his shoulders. The massage turned into foreplay and clothes dropped to the blanket.

"You comfortable?" he asked her. Her belly was round and her nipples high on her full breasts.

"Aye. I want to make love. Jus be slow and gentle," she said.

Brian kissed her nipples and then down the line of dark hair that ran from her belly button to her pubic bone. His tongue laved her clit and lips as she moaned and arched upwards. As he tongued her, his fingers traced her lips and slid into her pussy. Natalie wiggled under his touch.

"Ah, I miss this while you were gone," she said.

"I miss this," he said as he slid his cock slowly into her. He was still afraid he'd hurt the baby, but Natalie said he was fine. They figured this one had been conceived the night he came home. Brian had been happy and Jenny was ecstatic to learn that she'd have a baby brother or sister by the end of the year.

Brian kept his strokes slow and a bit shallow. Natalie grabbed his arms and pushed hard against him as she began to come. Brian couldn't hold back and drove in with rapid strokes that brought both of them in less than a minute. They collapsed to the blanket and lay there panting.

"Okay?" he asked her. This was all new to him and he still worried.

"Aye. Feel so good," Natalie said.

Brian smiled and curling up with her in his arms, his fingers trailed along her hip until they reached her sopping pussy. He found her clit and stroked it until she came again and again. Then they napped in the warm evening air. As night fell, Brian shifted and wrapped himself around his mate.