The hot pull distracted her so that she didn’t realize they were moving until they sat, face-to-face, Jack on his knees, her legs spread wide over his hips, his hands tangled in the hair that cascaded down her back, holding her just so while he drew hard at her breast, suckled and suckled until she groaned, flexing against him, stretched open and wet.
She reached for him but he blocked one hand and then the other, gathering them behind her to keep them at the small of her back as efficiently as handcuffs. It went against the grain and he knew it, knew she’d struggle and resist, and that she’d stop, as she did, as he used his free hand to fit himself to her.
Anna dropped her head to watch it happen. She wanted to rock against him in welcome, to drag him in and then retreat so that he must follow, but he knew her game. He held her and moved her exactly as he wanted, entering her with excruciating, exacting intention: he penetrated mind and heart and body, insisting that she give in and take all of him, everything he had to offer. When she thought there was no more to surrender he still inched forward, crooning at her, come and come and come to me. Finally he released his grip on her wrists and cupped her buttocks in his hands to lift her, just so.
His mouth grazed her jaw, suckled at her earlobe. He whispered to her.
“I fill you up.”
She pulsed and strained against him, took his mouth and the kiss she wanted as he began to rock into her, deep and deeper still. She began to shudder, coming undone by the simple fact of him. Joined at the quick, for once and always.
25
WESTERN UNION
TOTTENVILLE S.I. N.Y. DIST TELEGRAPH OFFICE XUS23 S902JD
SUN MAY 27 1883 7 A.M.
MRS LILY QUINLAN, MRS MARGARET COOPER, MR AND MRS LEE, ROSA AND LIA RUSSO
18 WAVERLY PLACE NY NY
DEAREST ALL. WE WERE MARRIED SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN TOTTENVILLE S.I. SHOCKINGLY SPONTANEOUS BEHAVIOR BUT WE ARE VERY PLEASED WITH OURSELVES. HOPE THERE IS ROOM FOR US BOTH AT ROSES UNTIL WEEDS IS READY. WILL BE BACK LATER TODAY AFTER SEEING SOPHIE AND CAP AND JACK’S SISTERS. HOPE TO BE THERE BY SIX. PLEASE NO PARTY UNTIL RESOLUTION OF INQUEST. LOVE TO YOU ALL. ANNA AND JACK
WESTERN UNION
TOTTENVILLE S.I. N.Y. DIST TELEGRAPH OFFICE XUS23 S902JD
SUN MAY 27 1883 7:10 A.M.
MR PETER VERHOEVEN ESQ AND DR SOPHIE SAVARD VERHOEVEN
40 PARK PLACE NY NY
DEAREST SOPHIE AND CAP. WE TRIED TO WAIT OUT THE IMPULSE BUT HAVE HAPPILY SUCCUMBED TO A REVOLUTIONARY MINDSET AND FOLLOWED YOU INTO MATRIMONY HERE IN TOTTENVILLE S.I. PLAN TO RETURN ON THE THREE O’CLOCK FERRY AND WILL COME STRAIGHT TO PARK PLACE TO TALK. WITH ALL OUR LOVE. ANNA AND JACK
WESTERN UNION
TOTTENVILLE S.I. N.Y. DIST TELEGRAPH OFFICE XUS23 S902JD
SUN MAY 27 1883 7:15 A.M.
DET SERGEANT OSCAR MARONEY
86 GROVE ST NY NY
WILL BE BACK LATE TONIGHT AND AT HEADQUARTERS FOR FIRST SHIFT TOMORROW. ANY NEWS THAT CANNOT WAIT LEAVE WORD FOR ME ON WAVERLY PLACE WHERE I’LL BE LIVING FOR THE NEXT WHILE AS I FINALLY TALKED ANNA INTO MARRYING ME. JACK
? ? ?
NEW YORK POST
Sunday, May 27, 1883
MORNING EDITION
WHERE ARE ARCHER CAMPBELL’S LITTLE BOYS?
FOUR SONS LAST SEEN THE DAY BEFORE THEIR MOTHER’S SUSPICIOUS DEATH
POLICE DEPARTMENT REQUESTING INFORMATION FROM THE PUBLIC
FOUL PLAY FEARED
Readers following the story of the tragic death of Mrs. Janine Campbell last Thursday will be shocked to learn that her four young sons are missing. Archer Campbell, husband of the deceased, a postal inspector and senior detective for the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice last saw his sons (Archer, Jr., 5 years old, Steven, 4 years old, Gregory, 2 years old, and Michael, 2 months old) just the morning before their mother’s death.
In a statement made to the police, Mr. Campbell related the following facts: Last Tuesday evening his wife announced that she was taking the children to spend a week on the Connecticut farm of his brother Harold Campbell, a common occurrence that raised no suspicion. However, when Mr. Campbell came home on Wednesday he found his wife had collapsed upon return from Connecticut and retired to her bed. She assured him she would be better after a good night’s sleep, and took laudanum to that end. She was still abed when he left the next morning for work and could not be roused, which he attributed to the effects of the laudanum.
By one o’clock that afternoon Mrs. Campbell was dead, the victim of suspected malpractice and criminal abortion gone wrong. Mr. Campbell spent Thursday afternoon and all of Friday much occupied with the investigation into his wife’s death and the arrangements for her burial. Late Friday evening he sent a telegram to his brother Harold in Connecticut, announcing the death of his wife, plans for the funeral to take place the next afternoon, and a request that the boys be brought home in order to attend.