Chapter Fifty-Nine
At church the following Sunday, Bucky, Steve, and Runa remained behind to speak to Reverend Fury. It was now too cold to picnic in the church yard, so dinner was keeping warm on the back of the stove at home. A simple stew, but there would be plenty of fresh yeast rolls and butter to go with, as well as the preserves that Runa had put up early in the summer, and pans of gingerbread that she had made with Iris the day before.
Speaking of gingerbread, Runa had a pan of it sliced up and bundled into a napkin, which she offered to Reverend Fury. He took it with a smile.
“Thank you, Missus Barnes-Rogers.”
“You’re most welcome.” She looked to Steve and Bucky, who looked back to her.
“It’s your idea, darlin’.” Bucky pointed out. “You should tell him.”
“All right, all right.” Runa looked back to Reverend Fury, who was looking at the three with a bemused smile. “We want to make a donation towards the new church building. We want to donate all the funds needed for the new building.”
His bemusement turned to shock. “I beg your pardon?”
“Everyone has done so much for us over the past few months, that two parties hardly seem the way to thank everyone properly. We want to give something to the community, and we know you’ve been raising funds for a new church building for a while.” Runa explained, trying not to stumble over her words.
“Missus Barnes-Rogers, I appreciate the sentiment, but that’s too much a burden for any one family to bear. I couldn’t ask that of you.”
“You let us worry about whether it’s too great a burden or not.” She said firmly, before smiling at him. “I’m not going to take ‘no’ for an answer. I’ve already set a fund up through Stark’s bank, you see.”
Reverend Fury smiled. “Well, then all I can do is graciously accept on behalf of the community. I’ll make the announcement next week.”
“One more thing, Reverend.” She bit her lip, “Could you let it be anonymous? Just… Say that there are enough funds now, without bringing us into it?”
He nodded once. “We’ve been working towards this goal for a few years now, so it won’t be obvious that we just received a windfall of funds. The board will notice, but I’ll tell them that the donor wishes to remain anonymous.”
Runa smiled up at him. “Thank you, Reverend.”
“Thank you.” He looked to Steve and Bucky. “You two are lucky in her.”
“And we know it.” Steve smiled, looking to Runa, who flushed.
“I’m the lucky one.” She protested.
“You’re all lucky.” Fury told them seriously. “It suits you.”
“Thank you, Reverend.” Bucky said honestly, before looking to his two blondes. “Come on you two. We need to get back for dinner.” He turned back to the Reverend, “Reverend.” He said, nodding his head.
“Mister Barnes-Rogers.” Reverend Fury replied, inclining his head to Bucky, then bidding farewell to Steve and Runa as well. The three left the church and went to where Salt, Pepper, and Fuego were tied up; Steve and Bucky alternated between which of them drove the buckboard on Sundays, the other riding to and from service. Titus was sitting on the back seat of the buckboard, waiting for them, while Iris stood nearby, talking to Bruce. Bucky smiled to see the couple, who had finally admitted to courting one another. Bucky helped Runa up onto the front seat where she would sit beside Steve, before looking to Iris, who said her goodbyes to Bruce.
“I’ll see you at supper.” He promised.
“I’ll be waiting for you.” She smiled at him, before letting Bucky help her up onto the buckboard.
“Going courting tonight, Doc?” Bucky asked Bruce as he headed to his horse and Bruce walked towards his office.
“As long as no-one else on Bluestone minds.” Bruce said companionably.
“Nah. Just remember, Iris is family. You marry her, you’re family too.”
“Is that a promise or a warning?”
“Bit of both.” Bucky grinned as he mounted Fuego. “See you at suppertime, Doc.”
“It’s Bruce.”
“Then I’m just Bucky.”
“I think I can remember that.” Bruce smiled, before tipping his hat slightly to Bucky, who tipped his in return before wheeling about to follow the buckboard home.
~*~
That evening after supper, Bucky and Steve helped Runa with the dishes while Iris and Bruce sat together in the sitting room, talking quietly by the fire.
“I think I’ll go take a bath. Either of you want to join me?” Steve asked as he and Bucky finished drying the last of the pots and Runa refilled the little dish of water kept in the corner for Mercy, who was purring happily, twining about Runa’s ankles. Runa had to gently nudge the kitten aside so she could pick up the plate that had briefly held Mercy’s dinner; finely chopped salt pork and hard boiled eggs. Runa gave the kitten’s head a loving caress before returning to the wash basin to finish up.
“I’d like to take a little walk with Runa, if it’s all right. Spend some time together.” Bucky looked to her, to see if it was all right.
“It is too cold out there to take a walk.” She protested, though she looked out the window longingly.
“We’ll just walk around the house, maybe head into the barn. Just a little time for the two of us.” Bucky suggested, earning a smile.
“All right. I can agree to that.” She smiled, drying her hands and moving to hang up her apron. Bucky smiled, holding out a hand to her, and she took it.
“You two have fun.” Steve told them, watching the two with a pleased, possessive look, before turning to fetch what he needed for the bathhouse.
“Let’s go to the stables. You can visit with Allegro for a bit.” He suggested.
“Let me get a leftover roll to take to him.”
“You spoil that colt. He’s going to be a terror when he grows up.” Bucky laughed, not releasing her hand. “You don’t need to take him a treat, just give him a few caresses and he’ll be happy. Just like me and Stevie.” He teased her, stealing a kiss.
“Mm. I think you and Steve enjoy the caresses a bit more than Allegro does.” She grinned against his lips. “Let’s go visit the horses, Mister Barnes-Rogers.”
“Whatever you say, Missus Barnes-Rogers.” He purred, before walking out through the kitchen door and leading her around to the barn. It was a cold, crisp November night, the stars shining like diamonds above them, their breath forming puffs of steam in the cold air. The inside of the stables was different, well sealed and warmed by the heat of the horses inside. They spent a few minutes giving attention to curious horses that stuck their heads out of stalls to see them, all the horses wearing their shaggy winter coats. When Runa came to Allegro and Gingersnap, she slipped into the stall, Allegro whickering at her in pleasure as she moved to pat his neck.
“He’s getting so big.”
“He’ll get a lot bigger in the next year.” Bucky said from the stall door, watching her with the two horses, Gingersnap gently butting Runa with her head, looking for treats.
“I don’t have anything today.” She protested with a laugh, Gingersnap and Allegro snorting in response.
“What did I tell you? Spoiled.” Bucky laughed.
“All right, I think I have to agree.” She grinned over her shoulder at him, doling out pats and scratches to mother and colt before slipping from the stall.
“Should we head back in?” Bucky asked her.
“Not yet.” She protested. “I like spending time with you. We don’t spend enough time together.”
He reached out for her and pulled her into his arms. “I like spending time with you too, darlin’, just as much as I like spending time with Steve, and you’re right. We don’t spend enough time together. Going to have to find a way to change that.”
She looked up at him, hesitating a moment, before asking the question that had gnawed at her since they had moved into the house and consummated their marriage. “Then why don’t you want to be with me as husband and wife, the way I am with Steve? The way you are with Steve?” She ventured, and Bucky felt a pang of guilt. He hadn’t realized his actions would wound her quite like this.
“I want to be with you, Runa, don’t you ever think I don’t.” He told her fiercely, “But the first baby needs to be Steve’s. Well, I know it doesn’t matter who the father is, both Steve and I will be the baby’s fathers, but Steve… He’s been aching for a little one since before he sent that letter off to you. It’s important to him that we have a baby, so I’m letting him take the lead in this, but don’t think for a second that means that I don’t want you just as badly as he does.” He grinned down at her. “I’ve just got better self-control.”
She looked relieved, but also bemused. “Bucky, you’re an idiot.” She said simply, smiling up at him. He blinked down at her in surprise.
“I’m sorry?”
“You said it yourself. It doesn’t matter who fathers the baby. You and Steve are both going to be its fathers.”
Bucky blinked. “But I-”
“I don’t want to hear any more excuses, Mister Barnes-Rogers.” She said firmly, jabbing his chest with a finger. “I don’t want to know which of my husbands is the father of our children, because they are both going to be the fathers of our children. Keeping track and taking turns is just going to be pandering to people who don’t understand us or think we shouldn’t be doing this in the first place. I can hear them saying now, ‘Oh, who’s the father?’ and one of you replying, ‘Both of us.’ Only to be asked, ‘Well yes, but who is really the father?’ and one of you actually answering them with something other than ‘both of us.’!” She fumed.
“I didn’t-”
“Bucky.”
“Yes, darlin’?”
“Don’t you ‘darlin’’ me!” She fumed. “Stop talking. I need to calm down and you’re not helping.”
“Well, if I need to stop talking-”
“Bucky.”
“-Then I need to do something else with my mouth.” He protested with a grin, hoping to soothe her ire as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, so that he could bow his head and give her a long and lingering kiss. “Better?” He finally asked a little breathlessly against her lips.
“Mm. Not in the slightest.” She replied, though she was clearly trying not to smile up at him.
“Then I guess I’m just not trying hard enough.” He murmured, pulling her into an empty stall and onto a pile of clean hay. She giggled at that, and Bucky smiled to hear the sound, relieved. “Am I at least forgiven?”
“Not yet. I think that you still have some work to do before I’m ready to forgive you.”
“What kind of work were you thinking about, darlin’?” Bucky asked as he moved over her, pressing her into the hay while his hands tugged up her skirts and petticoats.
“I’m certain you’re smart enough to figure it out.” She teased.
“I think I am too. After that pretty little speech, I’m thinking it’s time I made things up to you and showed you just how much I want you.” He purred, earning a smile from her. He lived for smiles like that, from both Runa and Steve. It meant that they were happy, and that was the most important thing in the world.
“I want you too, Bucky.” She murmured, looking up at him with a smile curling on her soft lips. “But here in the stables?”
“No one is going to walk in on us.” He promised. “But thinking that they might adds a little thrill to it, doesn’t it?” He asked, her skirts pushed up around her waist as he unfastened her drawers.
“We’re going to scandalize the horses.”
“We won’t scandalize the horses. We just might teach them a thing or two.” He smiled, placing an openmouthed kiss on one hipbone, then the other as he slowly pulled her drawers down, pushing them down past her knees and leaving them tangled around her ankles. She was bare before him, and he let out a hum of pleasure at that, moving to graze his fingertips lightly down the length of her slit, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
“Bucky…” She breathed out as his fingers dipped inside her and he rubbed, searching for something as he curled his fingers inside her. Her breath caught harshly in her throat as her hips stuttered forward, eyes widening. That was something new.
“Found another sweet spot.” He grinned at her, looking as pleased as a cat that had gotten into the cream. She reached down to swat at his shoulder and he laughed, working his fingers in and out of her slowly, crooking them occasionally to hit that sweet spot. Then he lowered his head and applied his tongue to her clit, firm circular motions that left her gripping at the hay beneath her. It was a sweet torment, Bucky alternating between licking her clit and sucking on it, all the while working his fingers in and out of her. She tried to bite her lips together, to keep from making the noises that would give them away and might draw someone to check the stables. She wasn’t able to give Bucky a warning that he had gotten her close to the precipice, so very close, until she was falling over the edge, electricity sizzling along her skin as she came around his fingers. He eased her down from her orgasm slowly, careful not to push her into another, his lips brushed against one silken inner thigh and then the other as he helped bring her back down to Earth. Then he was drawing his hand away and licking his fingers clean, an action that made Runa blush even as she tasted a trace of blood on her tongue from biting her lips together too hard.
Bucky reached down, unfastening his belt and trousers, freeing his aching cock as he pushed his clothing down, not off, just down far enough so he was free to pleasure his little wife and take his own pleasure without anything getting in the way. She moaned softly as he reached down and positioned the head of him at her entrance, and then she reached for him, drawing him close as he pushed into her slowly, biting back his own moans of pleasure. He paused to adjust, to enjoy the sensation of filling her, so different from Steve but just as good.
She rolled her hips up against his in a way he and Steve had taught her, and he couldn’t help but groan, bowing his head and pressing it against her shoulder. He pulled back, then pushed back into her, and she met his every thrust eagerly. He slid a hand down her body until he reached her thigh, which he pushed, silently guiding her to open her thighs wider so that he could move deeper with longer strokes. He began to pick up the pace, pulling back and slamming into her with impassioned fervor. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly, fingers digging into his back, no longer able to meet his thrusts, and just hanging on for dear life, anchoring herself to him.
“Runa…” He managed to snarl out, feeling hotter and wilder than he could ever remember feeling before. There was another moment of hard thrusts and then he was reaching between them, stroking her clit and making her bow her head, pressing her lips to his shoulder as she tried to muffle the sounds he was pulling from her. She felt like she was drowning in Bucky, reveling in this new side of him that she hadn’t seen before.
If all arguments led to something like this, she would have to fight with her men more often, she thought rather disjointedly as he used his free hand to grab her by the hair and force her head back, crashing his lips down upon hers, each of them swallowing the cries of the other as the dam inside her broke once more and pleasure flooded through her, stars exploding behind her eyelids. He let her ride out her pleasure before he let himself find his own, muffling a curse against her lips as he spilled himself deep inside her.
They stayed wrapped up in one another for some time, his head resting on her shoulder while she ran a hand lazily through his hair, him still seated inside her. Neither cared, and neither tried to move, both with smiles on their lips as they came back to themselves.
“I think,” Bucky finally said, voice rough from shared pleasure, “That we need to go and join Steve in the bathhouse.”
“Mm?” She asked, raking her nails along his scalp as she ran her fingers through his dark hair.
“It’s the only way we can face everyone without looking like we just had a tumble in a haystack.”
“But we did just have a tumble in a haystack.” She giggled, moving to place a kiss against his temple. “But I know what you mean. I don’t think I could face Iris or Bruce like this. I’m not even certain I can face Steve like this.”
“We can face him, and he’ll be glad to see us like this. Time for the two of us to be selfish with each other.” Bucky raised his head and pressed his lips to hers in a long and heated kiss. “Come on, darlin’. Let’s get our clothes back in place and go to the bathhouse before Steve finishes up.”