Mae

'I 'ave the way of knowin' a few thin's, Mae. I kin surely make ya forget there was ever another man, yeah? I 'ave no shame in admittin' I was pleased when I knew what yer fa was wantin' from me."

Mae was trying to catch her breath, her heart pounding in her chest as she put her hands on his massive chest. "I want you to let me go," she told him quickly, fearfully.

He immediately released her, to her relief, but she was still terrified. Frightened enough that she turned and ran back home. He followed her at a slow jog, but didn't try to catch her or even scare her by catching up to her. He only stayed close enough to make sure she didn't hurt herself until she ran into the little shed behind the house and shut the door.

He went in the house, but her father wasn't there. He found him out in the fields and said nothing as he joined him, working alongside him quietly.

Mae curled up on her pallet, wiping away tears.

It had only scared her, David had done absolutely nothing wrong, but it had still terrified her. She had been so afraid he wasn't going to let her go, he was going to hold her down out there in the woods...

He hadn't. He had let her go and followed her home without trying to stop her or upset her.

So why was her heart still hammering? Why couldn't she stop crying?

Slipping out of her little shed, she hurried to the large manor house and went in.

Isaiah immediately jumped up from his book when he saw her and hurried to her, pulling her close.

"My love! What's wrong?!? Did something happen? Tell me, please! I will fix it straight away!"

She shook her head, still sobbing. "No... nothing. Please...? I... I just need a small nap, I think?"

He let out a breath, releasing his fear for her with it. "Of course, my love," he murmured, lifting her to carry up to his room. Sitting down, he leaned back so she could lay her head in his lap and he stroked her hair lovingly as she slowly settled down and stopped crying.

After a long moment, she spoke. "Papa brought him here. David. He brought him here to try and convince me to like him and marry him."

Isaiah went tense. "Oh? Is that so? And... how do you feel about this... David?"

"I was afraid. I thought he was trying to take advantage of papa, but when I found out why he was here... I was afraid. I thought... He's so big! And he could do as he pleased and who could stop him? Not me. He didn't though, he was very sweet... but I am still so afraid of him. I cannot see him that way, not at all. I was less afraid of him when I thought he meant to try and steal from papa? Now all I can see is a huge man who could hurt me so easily if he wanted to. It would only take being alone one time and he would decide he could do what he wanted and I didn't matter. I don't matter."

"Of course you matter, Mae! You matter more than anyone! No one I have ever met has mattered more than you!"

"Only to you," she whispered. "I don't matter to anyone else."

"You matter to your father, your brother, your friends, ALL the people you have helped and who know you are closeby and can help! You matter to everyone, Mae! The ONLY people who say you don't matter aren't people at all, they are monsters! And they only say that because they are the ones who don't matter and they want to make you feel bad about yourself, as bad as they feel about themself! And yes, Mae, you matter to me! You matter to me more than anyone has EVER mattered to me! I love you! I adore you! I would marry you this minute if you would have me!" he cried, his arms practically crushing her as he held her.

Mae sobbed brokenly in his arms until she finally cried herself out and fell asleep.

When she woke, her head ached and she knew that Isaiah had been crying as well. His eyes were rimmed red and his nose was red and there was anguish in his features as she looked her over. She knew he wanted her to acknowledge what he had said, to tell him she felt the same. Instead, she looked down, her face full of shame.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Never be sorry, Mae. I will always be here, always. No matter what."

She nodded, then slipped away and went back to her home.

She began staying busy again.

David didn't bother her, or even speak to her unless she spoke to him first. He seemed to understand that he caused her undue stress and he tried hard to make sure he didn't make it worse.

Her father seemed upset that she wanted nothing to do with the man he'd brought in, but he still liked the man and kept him on. He was a good worker and a good man. Even Mae seemed to come to an understanding with him by the time Summer came around and they were able to smile and joke.

Mae was still having trouble sleeping and her father knew she was locking herself in her room at night. He could hear her cry out some nights and wake screaming, but he didn't know what to do for her. She pretended nothing was wrong.

She also stopped visiting the manor with him as much when he went. She found excuses not to go, reasons to travel as much as she could and go out to the outlying villages.

Isaiah always sadly asked after her, his eyes going haunted when he did.

Mid Summer, Isaiah got visitors. His nieces were back and they brought the baby and announced there would be other guests coming out from the city as well.

Mae visited them and smiled politely, but made excuses to leave early.

Her father knew it was all very unlike her, but he didn't know how to help her. He had thought David would fix everything.

Mae pushed into the barn as she led their horse in, just getting back from a trip to Blaylock. She was tired and not feeling well at all as she unsaddled the horse.

The door opened and she let out a sigh. "Good, I'm exhausted, do you think..."

Her words stopped short as she turned, expecting to see David, but seeing Callan standing there instead.

Callan Ingram.

The source of every nightmare she had been having for almost a year now.

"Hello Sweet Mae," he smiled, coming in and moving closer to her.

"How are you here? Why? Why are you here?" she cried, horrified.

"Actually... you," he told her with a smirk. "Old Hallingford thought he was hurting me with all of his demands! It was laughable, really. As if I wanted to work! He only gave me the excuse I wanted to stay home as I pleased. And blackballing me? As if it mattered. It didn't keep me out of the more fun places and it didn't keep my friends from coming to see me all they wanted. I've been having a fine time, Mae. His actions didn't have their desired effect at all," he told her, backing her all the way to the wall as he reached down and stroked her cheek. "What I would like to know, though, is how you managed to wheedle yourself into my head so much? Why have I been unable to stop thinking of you, Sweet Mae? No matter how many girls I bedded, I had to close my eyes and imagine it was you. How did you manage that? I decided, when my father insisted on coming and seeing the old boy himself to straighten things out, that I would come too. I came to a decision, regarding you, Sweet Mae. If I must have you, then I simply must have you! I will marry you, bring you back to the city with me. Would you like that, Sweet Mae?"

"S-s-stop c-calling me that!" she managed, terrified as she pressed herself against the wall. "L-leave me alone! Go away, please! Y-you were never supposed to come here!"

"Oh, now, Sweet Mae! That isn't how you talk to your intended is it?" he asked mockingly, catching her jaw as she tried to slide down the wall.

"Release her at once!" Isaiah yelled, storming in the barn door, several people following behind him.

When Callan snatched his hand back, Mae let out a cry and fled across the room to Isaiah and he caught her in his arms, but only for a moment as her father pulled her to him.

"What is all of this?" Callan asked with a smirk, looking around the group of men, even his father who looked confused. "I simply came to collect my soon to be bride."

"You know she doesn't want to marry you!" Isaiah seethed angrily.

"It doesn't matter," he shrugged. "Her and I were together, we have to marry. It's the law. You know it's true, old boy. You took her that night and ran with her. Took her from me."

Mae's father looked down at her in stunned confusion.

"You RAPED her! Against her will!" Isaiah yelled.

"Semantics," Callan smirked with a gallic shrug. "Her and I still made love."

"You ravaged her! Do not call it what it was not! You broke her completely!"

"Again," Callan grinned. "Semantics. She is mine."

"No!" her father yelled uncertainly. "No, not if she is intended! She is! They spoke the words! Her and David! They spoke the words and they plan on being married this weekend!"

"T'is true," David nodded, stepping up next to Mae and putting a huge hand on her shoulder. He looked down at Callan as if he wished Callan would speak out against his word.

Mae shook her head quickly. "No! No, I didn't say that! David never asked me to marry him and I never said yes!" she cried.

"Mae!" her father hissed, even as Mae pulled away from him.

She went to Isaiah and pressed her face to his chest as he held her close. "Isaiah asked me. He's asked me more than once and I've spent almost every night since last summer in his bed and his arms." she told her father, but it was loud enough that everyone could hear.

Isaiah looked down at her in stunned jubilation. She could have chosen gentle, young, quiet, handsome David, or even the perfect and rich Callan... but she chose him! No... she hadn't said they were marrying, she had played on words. She was only seeking safety.

"My Sweet Mae," Callan chided, moving closer to her.

David said nothing, he simply stepped up and backhanded Callan, knocking him back across the barn to hit the back wall heavily.

When Mae whimpered and jerked at the loud noise and the shouts, Isaiah picked her up and she put her arms around his neck as he carried her into her fathers house.

"David, if I may ask it of you, please tell all of those people to leave," Isaiah asked the large man, who nodded and stepped back out.

Mae was alone with her father and Isiaah.

"Mae..." her father began. "Why didn't you tell me?

Mae shook her head quickly, trying to stop shaking as she wiped away her tears.

"It's alright, My Love," Isaiah whispered. "They will all be gone soon and they will never come back. No one will ever bother you again and... nothing has changed. Not at all. I will still be here for anything you need. I will help you sleep as you need and..."

"No," she shook her head. "I... I know it now, Isaiah. It's you," she managed, still shaking and sobbing. "I'm saying yes."

Isaiah tried hard not to smile too openly as joy swept through him and he closed his eyes.

She was saying yes!

It was almost beyond imagining to him, less than a week later as he smiled down at her with a full heart as he carried her up to their bed. She was his wife.

His wife!

He couldn't stop them as tears welled in his eyes again and once again, she smiled when she saw them and wiped them away with a gentle touch.

She had become a new creature after she had said yes. Smiling at him, being loving and affectionate. Incredibly sweet. Always before she had hid herself from him, been afraid to show him who she was, but now she wasn't. She was giving herself to him completely and not holding back at all.

Everyone could see the change in her, especially her father. He saw the girl she used to be again.

Isaiah laid her in their bed, then hesitated. "My love," he whispered. "Say the word and I will only hold you," he promised.

"Oh, no! No, husband, you made me a promise once, remember? You told me you were perfectly capable of giving me all the children I wanted. We keep waiting and you won't be able to make good on that promise at all!"

He chuckled, his eyes shining as he rolled into bed next to her playfully. "Have no fears, My Love, I have years yet before I can no longer give you children!"

"You have no idea how many children I want!" she told him with a smile, pulling him in for a kiss.

To her shock, there was nothing gentle or sweet about his kiss. It was hungry and passionate and it gave her chills as his hand slid up her neck and into her hair. She knew he had kissed her a hundred times when he thought her asleep and he was always so incredibly tender and gentle. This was...

She wasn't sure what it was, but she definitely loved it as her hands moved up around his shoulders to kiss him back just as hungrily.

When Isaiah finally pulled back from their kiss, Mae was lost in need and full of wonder as she looked up at the loving and sweet man. He looked down at her, his eyes full of the same wonder as he began reverently undressing her, his eyes drinking her in as he bared her skin slowly. He was trembling by the time he had her undressed and he sucked in a sharp breath when she got up and began undressing him. He had assumed he would undress himself, but as she slowly undressed him, he saw the need in her to show him the same affection he had been bestowing on her since the day he had met her.

He could see in her eyes the way she knew she had taken him for granted and how badly she wanted to make up for it. Show him that she felt the same, it only took her time to finally see it.

She adored him.

She hesitated when she got him to his undershorts and he quickly took over, laying her down gently and easing them off as he got into bed next to her. He could see her fear and the way she was trying to cover it as she looked at him. He gave her another gentle smile and stroked her face as he pulled her close to him.

"Are you certain, Mae?" he asked softly, kissing her temple.

"Yes, husband," she whispered, her hands sliding up to pull him down into a kiss.

Isaiah smiled slightly as he kissed her, then let his hand slide down her perfect body, tracing her curves and lines and making her breath catch. Her body shivered involuntarily when he lightly traced fingertips around her sensitive nipples and she made an adorable little mewling noise that made him grin as he pulled back to look down at her.

Her eyes looked amazed as she looked up at him in shock.

He chuckled softly. "You assumed I would know nothing?" he asked lightly, his fingertips rolling her nipple gently between them as she gasped again. "That I would come to you a blank slate?"

"How?" she demanded, her cheeks turning pink and he saw anger flare in her eyes.

He chuckled again, adoring the little flash of jealousy. "Perhaps the knowing comes from my extensive library," he teased.

Her look became uncertain as she blushed and he grinned again, leaning in to kiss her again. His hand eased down further, stroking her hip and circling in to touch her gently between her legs.

She let out another soft, gasping sigh, her fingers tightening in his hair as his fingertips rolled over her bud.

"Isaiah!" she cried breathlessly as he rubbed gently.

"Yes my love?"

"Oh! That is beautiful!"

"All of you is beautiful, my lovely little Mae," he whispered, kissing her temple again. "Relax for me, my love," he told her, trying to ease her legs apart. "Give yourself to my care."

Turning, she looked up at him, into his eyes, searching. She gave him a small nod. "I trust you," she whispered, then relaxed her limbs and let him move her legs wider.

Her heart hammered in her chest and tears welled in her eyes as she closed them. Isaiah quickly kissed her tears away before kissing her lips and moving over her to press his body to hers as he gently slid a knee between her legs. She tensed slightly, but let him spread her legs wide before he delved his fingertips down even further between her legs. He groaned softly as his fingers met with wetness, her hot excitement for him and she let out a shuddering breath as her back arched slightly.

Isaiah moved down just enough to wrap his lips around her closest nipple, making her mewl again as her hands gripped his hair more tightly as she started panting as he sucked.

His thumb pressed harder on her bud as he circled and his fingers toyed along her slit as she writhed and whimpered for him, making his heart full and his cock throb.

Mae let out a sigh of pleasure and contentment as she smiled slightly, wishing she had seen how wonderful he was much sooner. Wishing she had given her heart to him right away and not made him wait and suffer!

"I love you, Isaiah," she whispered as she began letting her body go to him.

Leaning close with a soft smile, he kissed her again, then moved to kiss her jaw and neck, his body going more and more tense. She wondered if his need was getting urgent as well as she held him.

When he gasped softly and put too much weight on her, his breath labored, Mae felt a rush of fear and panic as she rolled him off of her and looked down at him. He was grimacing and clutching at his chest and Mae cried out in dismay.

"Isaiah? What's wrong? Please, no! NO! Lay still my love, try to relax, I will go and..."

The door opened and Callan stood there, crossing his arms and leaning on the door frame with a smirk. "You didn't think I would bow out, did you old boy? Callan asked. "Wasn't hard with what she had on hand and all of her books and as much time as you spend down at her farm. It'll look like you went to age and I will have my Sweet Mae... uncontaminated by you."

"No! No, what did you give him? Please! Please, I will marry you, I will do anything you ask, just please! Tell me so I can counter it!"

Callan looked Mae over, his eyes considering. "Your word you will marry me and obey me without question of I tell you?" he asked.

"I swear it! Please, now, before it's too late!"

"Henfennel and Cassus root."

"NOOOOO!" Mae wailed, throwing herself on Isaiah's chest. There was no counter to that unless he got it right away. It had to have been in his system for hours now, for it to have started shutting down his heart and lungs, the spores growing and filling his chest.

Callan moved closer and took her arm, pulling her away. "You gave your word."

"Please! There is no remedy for that, it doesn't count! I said if I could counter it!"

"No. You said if I told you what I gave him. You swore it. Come now."

"Let me stay with him, please?"

"He can't even see you anymore, Mae. He doesn't know you are there. Let him slip away in peace and don't remember him this way."

"Let me hold him, please!" she wailed, clutching Isaiah to her chest.

"Get dressed, Mae, we have a long trip," Callan told her firmly, standing up straight and pulling her away physically.

Mae screamed wordlessly, sobbing as she reached for Isaiah who was staring sightlessly as he gasped.

She screamed again and again in anguish as she rocked, Callan dressing her like a doll as she grieved.

"You are a monster, Callan Ingram!" she cried as Isaiah gasped his final breath.

Callan only gave her a grim smile. "This is on you, Mae. All you had to do was say yes to me, come with me. You knew I wouldn't let him have you, you knew I wanted you for myself. I had rights to you! I was your first, the man you were bound to marry!"

"Please! I am nothing, remember? A no-one! A farmer's daughter and a hedge witch!"

"Not any more," he told her with a sneer. "Now you are Lady Hallingford. Why do you think I waited until AFTER you were married? Now I will be running things in the city, not that old fool and his outdated ways! Come on, Mae, get up! We are leaving this hole," he snarled, yanking her up and dragging her out of the room as she cried.

"Bessa! Bessa! Isaiah! He..."

Callan clamped a hand over Mae's mouth. "Lord Hallingfords heart gave out while he was bedding his wife," Callan told the woman. "I will be caring for Mae through the funeral arrangements. Go and gather the other servants to see to dressing him and laying him out for rights."