Jen's Legacy.
Thank goodness you are safe.

Claire sat up over him, determined to prolong this delicate moment for as long as possible, taking care not to let him slip from her body as she fumbled in a shirt pocket to find her phone.

He would be a long time leaving her body from what she could feel, and with her weight pressing down on him.

She turned it on, finding a stronger signal than earlier, at Badger’s Crossing.

“I should phone and let my grandmother know that I am alright, Royce.” He was not going to say anything, perfectly contented to be exactly where he was, able to reach up and hold her breasts; to kiss them and play with them.

She paused to consider what she would say; anticipating all of the questions, and how she would answer them; going over them in her mind, and all of the while they were talking, Royce would be in her body, making love to her while she tried to carry on a conversation with her grandmother!

I fell overboard. I was rescued from a watery grave, and we will soon be in Culver. Nice, neat, simple; in few sentences. She would say nothing about them fucking each other... pardon; 'making love'.

Her grandmother would not let it end there, with so much unsaid. She would have a hundred questions of her own to ask, always needing more information; digging for more detail.

Who rescued you? How? Were you injured? How did he help you? Where are you now? Are you safe? Who is he? Has he…? Is he fucking you already?

She could easily answer those last, unasked questions; had he? Yes. He certainly had! He was still doing it to her even then, and she could feel it, all of it. And no, her grandmother wouldn’t ask that kind of personal question even if she suspected it was happening to Claire at that very moment.

Her gran was outspoken, but not that outspoken. She hoped. The older lady was also quick to detect the answers to questions she hadn’t even asked, so Claire would have to be careful.

Why not just tell her everything she wanted to know and not evade anything? Tell her she was in love, shock her, and prepare her for the rest of it; that she was already pregnant with twins. At least twins. No. Not that either. Too soon.

Royce detected her concern.“ Are you alright, Claire?” She pushed back against his hands as he held her, feeling how hard her nipples were against his palm.

“Yes. I was just thinking about how much to tell her and trying to anticipate her questions.”

She wouldn’t tell her gran anything else, about who she was with or where they were, or what they were doing even then; just that she was safe and not to worry about her and she would see her in a few days. This was all too new to be able to understand all of it enough to explain it to anyone else. Keep it simple, keep it brief. Avoid the difficult questions.

Claire still had a half hour on her battery.

She pressed a single number and heard the phone on the other end, ringing, but only for a couple of seconds before it was answered.

“Claire? Is that you?” It was Claire’s phone. Who else could it have been?

“Gran.”

The relief and excitement in her grandmother’s voice was obvious even to Royce, who could hear all of the conversation as Claire sat up over him, holding her phone up to her ear as he lowered her to lie upon him with their heads close together, kissing her under her ear and on her neck as he supported her by holding her breasts. What was said, would directly affect him as much as it would her, so he should hear it too. She would have no secrets from him.

Royce pushed more firmly into her, intent on staying exactly where he was, determined not to lose any ground with her as he moved his hands to hold her cheeks, smoothing his hands over them; pulling them apart, touching her gently between her legs from behind, feeling how moist and snug she was around him; feeling where he was in her, and how deep, setting her squirming on him, interrupting her flow of thoughts, complaining in only a gentle way.

He could distract her too; break her concentration just as she’d distracted him, telling him about that dream. Two could play that game.

“Where are you, Claire? Are you alright? I heard what happened when Elinor called me last night to tell me. I’ve been worried ever since, with you missing since Monday. I never slept.”

“I am well, Gran. I couldn’t phone you before now. Never better, and I am more than alright. A few small bruises, nothing more. And I’m safe.” Never mind that she’d almost died. Her gran didn’t need to hear that.

“But where are you? All I heard was that you had fallen into the rapids last Monday, and….” She faltered fighting back the tears that she’d struggled with all day, thinking that her granddaughter had been lost for two, almost three days before she’d heard even the first report of it.

“Gran. I’m alright. I promise. You don’t have to worry about me. I am safe and well.”

She could detect the relief in her grandmother’s voice, but knew she was crying.

“How did you get out of the river and get warm? You were not dressed for anything strenuous, and everything you needed was on that raft.”

“I was rescued, Gran. A man saw me fall overboard, and he came down to help me. He jumped into the river and saved my life, looked after me, and he has been looking after me ever since.” She wouldn’t tell her grandmother how he had been looking after her or what they were doing even then.

“We climbed away from the river on Tuesday, and… we have been walking ever since.”

She decided not to say anything about those lengthy interludes when they had not been walking, but had been learning intimate things about each other, and doing other shockingly-inappropriate, but exciting things.

“A man? Who? Elinor said something….”

“Royce….” She began to say his full name, but then changed her mind. “Royce, is his name. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Now that I am able to use my phone, I thought I should tell you that I’m okay, and that there is no need for a search party or anything like that. We should see you in a couple of days.”

She recalled what her gran had just said.

“You started to talk about Elinor. Is she alright? I tried to help her, but that was when I was thrown overboard when the raft released and then spun out of control.”

“She’s alright. Bruised was all, thanks to you. She was saying—I was speaking to her late last night—she was telling me what happened, and how they couldn’t hold up in that current, but that as the raft began to go into the next rapids and went out of sight, that she thought she saw a man running down those screes and scaling down cliffs at a reckless pace as though he were on his way to you.”

Elinor had seen that?

He had been on his way to her, but Claire had known none of that until later.

“Elinor told me how she couldn’t believe her eyes; the risks he seemed to be taking.”

“He got to me, Gran. He pulled me out, risking his life again, though I didn’t know all of it until the next day. I think I was too cold to notice, but he got me out and even got me dried and warm.”

She didn’t need to go into any details about the shock he had been to her when she had started to come around and had seen how naked he had been (and other things about him; especially not say anything about the way males usually were, when they were close to a naked woman), and how naked she was too, or how he was touching her and looking at her.

“He’d been walking the rim when he saw me fall from that raft.”

She wouldn’t say anything about that climb, or how personal it had become for them both. Never mind telling her gran about that rash... or her blisters... or him putting lotion on her after getting rid of all of her clothes again... or her asking him to make love to her (which they’d tried to do even on that second night together)... or the storm of last night... or about that cougar scaring the wits out of her... or him helping her pee, touching her so personally as he’d helped her... or that strange dream where she had talked to Royce’s late wife....

The list seemed endless. She’d better not tell her of them making love that morning... or of her seeing that sperm in her own body breaking the wall of her ovum. So many shocking and unbelievable things she couldn’t talk about to her gran, or to anyone. And she hadn’t even told her anything about Jen, yet, or what was happening within her body, or what he was doing to it even then, at that very moment.

Her grandmother was still talking.

“The rafting party waited at Badger’s Crossing for you, watching the river for as long as they could. When you didn’t show up, they didn’t know whether to believe the best, or fear the worst, though Elinor felt sure that man she saw, was on his way down to you, so you, not showing up one way or another, seemed like good news. Then they lost another day at Marsden, waiting out a storm, so I only heard about that accident last night, Wednesday, instead of sooner, and I got a search party started. Today was their first day.

“Royce. You said that is his name?”

“yes, Gran. That’s his name. Royce.”

“Does he not have a second name? I would like to thank him. Where is he?”

He’s doing something else right now, Gran.” Claire turned her head and kissed him to encourage him to do even more to her, as well as moving her body on him to help him again.

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