In The Knickers of Time Ch. 01

'You mean, consummate your love.'

'Yes. I hadn't thought that word could apply to women. I thought it was just about a man going into a woman after they were married.'

'That's the usual, legal concept, but it's so limited. It implies that the man comes but doesn't bother about the woman's experience at all. I've long thought that consummation means that both people come, whatever their genders.'

'Oh, that's a good idea. And that was what happened with us eventually. Before that, though, there was a time when we were moving towards each other. Because we arrived at the farm in the autumn, when it was still warm, and we weren't wearing much, just a shirt and the bloomers under the overall, and a bra in her case, and we were conscious of each other's bodies, and I realised how beautiful she was, and at night when we were in that attic she would strip off, often just by candlelight, and the sight of her lovely breasts and behind was strangely exciting. And when eventually I stripped off, too, before putting on my old flannel nightgown, I could tell she was inspecting me as well. Sometimes, actually, if it was hot, as it could be up under the roof, she didn't put on any nightdress, and I knew she was lying there naked in her bed.

'I think at first I just wanted to cuddle up to her, not yet admitting I had sexual feelings for her, but I was too shy to ask. Of course, she said later she'd been longing for me to get into her bed, because she did know she had sexual feelings about me, but was anxious not to shock me by making an approach.'

'Did you moisten or get nipple-erections?'

'Yes, and I wondered why at first, and I could see her big lollypops popped up, too. I thought it was just because they often do when they're exposed to the air. At the same time, it was disturbing. But we were working long hours, trying to do the work of two men who didn't need any instructions and had all the skills already. We were learning to drive tractor, harness up carthorses, plough and sow and reap and mow and be farmer's...girls. So, we were exhausted by the time we went to bed, and slept heavily. Though we eventually confessed we'd both lain there wanting so much to be together.'

She stopped again. We were approaching the consummation. 'The farmer and his wife were kind, and we were lucky, because there were milk and eggs and vegetables, despite the rationing, as there was always something over from what had to be sold. We were harvesting the veg and gathering the eggs and milking the cows, of course, and she was always baking, and he shot rabbits and game birds and the old hens ended up on our plates. We were never so fit and healthy again, so despite the hard labour we had energy left over for each other...it was the cold that did it.'

A long pause, while she savoured the memory. 'Then. When winter came there was less work, and after supper we went much earlier to our room, which meant leaving the one warm room, the kitchen, with its big range. It was freezing in that attic, and we didn't strip, we undressed in stages, having far more clothing on now, and got into bed as quickly as we could, and lay shivering, trying to get warm.'

I could guess what came next, but waited while she shed a few tears on my breast, overwhelmed by the memory, and gathered herself to continue. Instead of going on, however, she took my nipple in her mouth and stroked the other breast, gently pinching the nipple. Either she was re-enacting that significant moment forty years ago or she needed further emotional-sexual feeling to be able to narrate. Either way, it was time just to be receptive.

Withdrawing her lips, she said, 'Norma, I want to make love to you like I did sometimes to Ailsa, because I loved it when the lovely feeling happened for her, so much it often make it happen for me, too. Can I just do it for you, and you just let it happen?'

'Of course, of course,' I said, 'I'd love it.'

'Don't move, then, please. I'm going to reach round under your beautiful behind.' She raised herself so as to bring her left arm into play and stroked my right 'cushion,' as she described it, smoothing and gently scratching with her nails. Meanwhile she put her mouth to mine and massaged my lips and tongue with hers. If I wasn't already roused into a tender enjoyment of this delightful woman I now began to melt emotionally, physically, soulfully. And then she slowly slid her hand down the cheek and hooked its fingers into my crack, probing and seeking, into my vestibule, along my vulva. Of course, our posture meant that she needed to wriggle the fingertips into the 'grove' and along it. The slight awkwardness made it the more exciting, almost as if she was having to force her way into me. Then, quite suddenly, she popped her little finger into my cunt while pressing her thumb onto my clit. It was an awkward position for her, but for me the awkwardness was so arousing I was not far off coming. Of course, she knew that, and I knew just to stay still.

That little finger darted in and out through my labia, squeezed by the position of my bottom, and the thumb plunged at my clitoris. The slight clumsiness was delightful, as if she were doing this for the first time, and, indeed, no-one had ever made love to me quite like this.

The kiss went on and on and the probing into my crevice continued and I had only to let everything go on, let the orgasm slowly dawn and flood me with ecstasy. And she felt it, as if our bodies were signalling each other through some form of telepathy. As I came I knew she was coming, too, partly because her lips became tight and tense, as if they, too were erecting, like my nipples, now nearly painful in their hardness. I was also aware she was moved by the swelling of my bosom.

Only when our shared orgasm had ebbed did our lips part. We both sighed in satisfaction, and she said, 'Thank you, Norma. It was as if I were with Ailsa, though, of course, I knew very well it was you. Isn't it wonderful that we can have the feeling without even touching ourselves, as just happened for me?'

'You know, Edith, I understood while you made love to me how much you and Ailsa loved each other, how happy you were.'

'We were so lucky to meet on that farm and recognise each other, so to speak. That first night, you see, she knew it was time for us to...consummate...as you said. She said, "Why don't you come into bed with me? We'd be much warmer together." And I understood what she meant. She meant warmer for life, warmer in every way because we'd be together.'

She paused again, once again overwhelmed by the memory of that crucial moment, made the more poignant by the closeness we had just enjoyed. Then she resumed, 'So, I went into her bed, not knowing what we would do, but knowing it would be what we must do or miss the chance of lifelong happiness. But I also felt quite calm about it, not anxious at all, because I knew that as soon as we embraced everything would follow naturally.

'At first we just embraced. Then we kissed, and I'd never kissed with lips before and the feeling was so strong I realised later, after I'd had the lovely feeling, that it could almost have happened just from that kissing. Then, when we stopped, she pushed my head down so my face went between her breasts. That was so wonderful that, again, I could almost have had the feeling. She said, "Lets get these clothes off," because we were wearing vests and bloomers with flannel nighties over them. And we helped each other, laughing, till we were hugging again, but skin against skin. The pushed my face between her breasts again and they felt marvellous, and I knew by instinct what to do. I began to kiss them all over, and especially her lollypops, which just asked to be kissed, and she pushed them at me somehow, so I knew I should kiss them like we'd just kissed with our mouths. They felt wonderful between my lips, and I realised how excited I was because of their going hard. Then she began to stroke mine and they stood up, too, but not from the cold. They tingled, like pins and needles and that feeling spread out into my body and I realised where it was going. So, I put my hand on her stomach and moved it down to her Venusberg -- that was what we came to call that little pad with the fluff on it. I didn't quite know what to do next, but she turned me onto my back and put her hand on my Venusberg and slipped a finger down into my groove and touched my lollypip, and then I knew what to do and she turned onto her back, too. It was only a single bed , so there wasn't much room to move, but she edged my legs apart a little and opened hers for me, and we began gently stroking, and managed to kiss again. She said, "Let it happen, darling, don't be frightened, this is how we love each other." I could tell the lovely feeling was starting inside her, because she was moving her lips up and down to match my stroking her pip, and it was happening for me, too. We both cried out when the climax came, and...we had...consummated, in the way you said.' She ceased speaking.

'Edith,' I said, 'That is one of the most moving stories I've ever heard, and all the more because I know you had just had your wedding and were starting your marriage.' Of course, this was decades before sax-sex marriage was allowed.

'That's a splendid way of putting it. Yes, we were now married, and there's really not much more to tell.'

'Please tell me, anyway,' I said. And she did. But I will relay what she said, and offer a further knickerish adventure in 'In The Knickers of Time 2.'