To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Snowed In
By morning the snow was up to the porch rail, and the electric lights were dead.
Hal stood at the front window in his undershirt and watched the drifts blow across Sherman Street.
"The plant's closed," he said. "The telephone's out. The pole by the Fisks' came down."
"How long?"
"Two days, if they're fast."
I came and stood behind him and put my arms around his waist.
"Rule 1," I said into his back. "A husband's comfort."
"It's twelve degrees."
"Then we'll be efficient."
The furnace was coal, and it kept going.
The parlor had an old iron grate we had never used. Hal built a fire in it and lit the oil lamp on the mantel.
We dragged the featherbed and every quilt in the house down the stairs.
We made a nest of them on the rug in front of the grate.
The light was gray at the windows and gold on the quilts, and it moved when the coals moved.
I sat down on the featherbed in my flannel nightgown with my knees under me.
"Come here," I said.
He came and knelt in front of me.
"I'm going to give you instructions," I said. "You'll follow them in order."
"Which order?"
"The order a bookkeeper balances a day."
"Which is?"
"First, you listen."
I took his hands in mine and held them both flat against my own cheeks.
"Close your eyes."
He closed them.
"Tell me what you feel."
"Your face," he said. "It's warm. You have a freckle by your left ear."
"Good. Now my neck."
I guided his hands down.
He found the pulse in my throat and stayed there for the count of ten.
He was smiling very slightly, and I felt my pulse jump against his thumbs.
"Shoulders. Arms. You can open the nightgown. Slowly."
He did it one button at a time.
The cold air touched my skin, and then the heat of the fire, and then his mouth.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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