Power Struggles

The sounds of a horse being whipped were heard coming from within a stable. A few moments later a blacksmith was seen working on the hind leg of a horse. The horse was winded, sweating, and covered in welts, some of them bleeding. The blacksmith was approached from behind and hit on the head. He fell to the ground, spooking the horse. His limp body was dragged into an empty stall, tied up to the wall with his hands above his head, holding him in standing position. He came to quickly, taking up some of the slack in the ropes as he stood on his own. The murderer, a short, strong man, lifted a red-hot chisel in his right hand up above his head and rammed it diagonally into the blacksmith's left pectoral muscle through the heart.

Julia performed the post mortem on the blacksmith for Stationhouse #5 because their pathologist was away for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and because of this job she would be getting home late. The detective from Stationhouse #5, Jim Dermott, had always behaved inappropriately around Julia, and he was making passes at her now, true to form. Dermott stood too close to Julia and said, "Rumor has it you are in a storybook marriage but I don't believe that is possible with a man like Murdoch."

Julia wanted to threaten him with reporting his bad behavior to his inspector, but she knew that it would likely be used as a reason that women should not be employed as coroners. She held her ground as Detective Dermott stepped in even closer to her, and she lifted her eyes to give him an angry look (he was six feet tall). She consciously forced her voice to hold a low tone and said, "Detective Dermott, step back. I will not tolerate this inappropriate behavior."

Dermott leaned his head down and tilted it a little, as if he was preparing to kiss her, and while holding his lips near hers he replied with a wink, "You can't blame a guy for trying." Then he stepped back.

Julia provided him with the findings of the post mortem – An injury to the head that likely rendered him unconscious for a few moments, a stab wound from left to right through the second intercostal space diagonally down through the heart with a unique weapon (eight inches long and about the thickness of a screwdriver, but flattened). Scalded tissue, suggesting the weapon was extremely hot, and rope burns on his wrists. She added that the stab wound suggested a short killer, while the head wound did not.

Detective Dermott thanked her for her findings and reminded himself that his investigation would have to wait because he was celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow. He wished Julia a nice holiday and left. Julia prepared the body for cold storage and wrote up the report. She figured she wouldn't be getting home until after dinner – even after the children were tucked into bed.

As Julia headed out of the morgue for home it started to snow. It was only early November but a big storm was predicted and she was excited because they had recently bought some sleds for their children. She looked over to William's office window and saw that it was dark. She was glad at least one of them had gotten home at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow both Ruby and William's brother Jasper would be coming over to celebrate the holiday with them. They would be staying in Toronto through the weekend. Although the children knew Aunt Ruby, they had never met their Uncle Jasper. Everybody was greatly looking forward to it.

Julia walked in the door after nine o'clock – the children's bedtime. She could hear them upstairs with William. It seemed that whenever William was in charge, they roughhoused for quite a while before getting tucked in, and tonight did not seem like an exception. Unfortunately, they were usually too wound up from all the energetic play to be sleepy, resulting in their parents having to spend much more time than normal telling bedtime stories, etc. She decided to go into the kitchen and get herself some dinner, leaving William to reap what he sowed.

The first thing she did was pour herself a glass of whiskey. As she felt the warmth from the liquor slide down her throat, she found herself equally warmed down in her belly by the lovely sounds coming from upstairs. She had never heard children happier than theirs were when they were playing games like "Daddy Monster" with William. The only thing they seemed to enjoy more was when both she and William were playing the game with them. She was tempted to join them, but too tired. Suddenly there was a loud thump on the ceiling above her. She waited the predictable three seconds before the injured child's wails would begin. It was definitely the youngest, Chelsea. Julia fought every muscle twitch in her body telling her to go upstairs to care for the child. "William can handle it," she thought to herself. Sure enough, within a few moments the crying stopped and the pitter-patter of happy little feet started bolting from one room to the other again.

Eloise had left a plate of dinner for her and she started to eat, finding herself to be so hungry she didn't even mind that the food was cold. She continued her eavesdropping. She chuckled to herself when she determined the game they were playing. It seemed to be a new one. William, otherwise known as the "Daddy Monster" would put a child in their own bed, only to have the child run from their bed into some other child's bed. It seemed William's impossible goal was to get each of the children into their own bed rather than someone else's. Finally she heard William using the tone that indicated he was serious telling the children that there was only one more minute left in the game and then all would need to go to their correct bed and stay there. She marveled at how well behaved the children were, doing just that when he demanded it five minutes later. She kicked off her shoes and poured herself another whiskey.

After he got the children asleep, William came down the stairs to join her in the kitchen. He pulled a chair up close to hers and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Welcome home Mrs. Murdoch." One thing led to another and they ended up making love right there on the kitchen table – a first for them. Fortunately Julia had enough where-with-all to have William get up and turn off the light before they got too involved, minimizing the chance that any neighbors or passers-by would see them through the window. Naked and satiated, they headed up to bed.

The next morning, William awoke already quite aroused, a common occurrence for him. He rolled over to spoon with Julia, planning on softly tempting her to awaken and then make love with him. He breathed in her smell. It stirred his desires even more. William's fingers brushed aside some of her curls to expose the skin under Julia's ear. As he lowered his lips to the spot, Julia stirred, offering him a gentle moan and pushing back into him, skin sliding against skin, to increase the contact between them. His hand shifted to slide under her arm and along her rib cage under her breast. Slowly he wrapped his hand around her breast, then kneaded it and pinched the nipple. He was even further aroused as the nipple lifted between his fingers and the breast itself grew larger in his hand.

The evidence of William's need pressed firmly against Julia's bottom, enticing her insides to tighten, as if she could create a vacuum and suck him into her. She did so want him deep inside of her. She could hear her own desire, and she knew he could as well, as her breath gasped a little when she inhaled and slowly deepened and burned as she exhaled. Wanting to build the tension between them even higher, she forced herself not to turn over to face him yet.

William slid his hand down to caress her slender waist and up the curve of her hip. Then he reached down to grip her inner thigh, allowing his thumb to rest just on the hairline of her crotch. The moan she released nearly drove him wild. Unable to wait any longer, he pulled her thigh towards him, rolling Julia so that he could feel her breath against his neck for what felt like the first time. He tucked her further underneath his larger body, lifted his hips to place them between her hip bones, and found the entrance to her depths. He pushed into her, slow and strong, encouraged by her hot breath that he felt envelope his shoulder as the sound of her craving echoed into his ear and seemed to swirl his brain. He had never wanted anything as much as he wanted to be deep, deep inside of her.

William started to thrust into her and Julia's body immediately reacted, arching to reach up to him. The rhythm quickened and she knew there was no turning back now. She felt the warm light beginning to burst through her edges. William took her earlobe into his lips, smothering it in velvety, warm liquid. She became undone. She heard, as if from somewhere else, his name escape her lips, knowing the sound would draw him even deeper into her. "William," she pleaded.

William's thrusts hurried in desperation, then slowed as they strengthened in intensity. His nostrils flared the steam of his passion into her ear. His mouth only loosened its grip on her earlobe to release a moan, followed by, "Oh, You feel so good." Julia's body twitched around him a few final times before they both lay together still enough to feel the pounding of their hearts announcing the completed love of their union.

Soon after, they put on their pajamas in anticipation of the waking of their children. Family tradition held that soon the footsteps of the little ones would be moving to their bedroom door. Brought up since before they could formulate sentences to knock and wait for permission to enter, the three children would soon be pouncing to join them in their bed.

The family opened the front door on that Thanksgiving Day (November 6th) to find that the predicted huge snowstorm had arrived. There was 8 inches of snow on the ground and more falling! Julia called the hotel where Ruby and Jasper were staying, the Windsor House (the same place in which they had leased a suite after they first married), to see if they had made it to Toronto despite the storm. They had. They weren't expected to show up until eleven o'clock, but it was good to know they had made it. Eloise and a friend of hers showed up around ten o'clock to start working to prepare the Thanksgiving feast that was planned for around 5 o'clock that evening. Ruby and Jasper met up at the hotel and shared a cab to the Murdoch home. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company, and both William and Julia wondered if they might not end up courting. The children were ecstatic to be engulfed in all the high quality adult attention, playing joyfully for a few hours before lunch.

After lunch, William and Jasper took the three children to the park to go sledding. In the park they found the highest hill. They only had two sleds so the children had to take turns. At first William and Jasper sat behind each child, steering the sled with their feet to teach them how to sled. They started about half way up the hill and gradually increased the height. It did not take long until the two older children, William Jr. who would be six next month, and Katie, who just tuned five last month, were able to sled solo. They both had learned how to ride the sled by either sitting or lying down on their stomachs. The youngest, Chelsea (three) could sled alone too, but only down a very short section at the bottom of the hill.

Up at the top of the hill there was a section of rock that formed a cliff about ten feet high. From the top of these rocks, you could see that the part of the hill off to the right side was steeper than the section they had been sledding on, and down at the bottom of this section of the hill there was a road. But, it looked like you could start your sled headed down this right-side section of the hill and then turn the sled to the left to connect with the section of the hill they had already been sledding on. The added height would give you more speed. William and Jasper tried it out first, then William took Katie for the ride and Jasper took William Jr. After instructing William Jr. and Katie how to proceed, they encouraged the two children to start from the higher point on their own. The children found the adventure addictive, running back up the hill to do it over and over again while wearing huge grins of glee.

Jasper pulled William aside to tell him about his newfound love for Ruby. They spoke while intermittently watching over the sledding children. Jasper said he thought he could move to NY and join the NYC Mounted Police. William asked if he thought Ruby felt the same way for him. Jasper said he thought so, "but that's the challenge with love isn't it – you never know for sure what the other is thinking."

William shook his head and replied, "In my case, half the time I didn't even know what I was thinking." The brothers shared a laugh, slightly at William's expense. William asked, "Do you want to have children?"

"Oh, yes, I definitely do … but I'll do whatever Ruby wants … That is if I'm lucky enough to have her." After a brief pause, Jasper continued, "I worry that a policeman will be too far below her station …" Jasper looked at William, his older brother who would know more about this particular concern that anyone else in the world.

William reached out and put his hand on Jasper's shoulder. He took a deep breath and said, "Ruby was my strongest ally in winning Julia. I don't think Ruby will have the slightest problem with your class differences. Believe me, it's probably more you that will. The male ego, and one's image in society, suffers a bit as you move up the socioeconomic ladder as a result of marrying a woman who is well-off. Be ready for teasing from your friends and harsh judgment from others." William turned his sights on William Jr. and Katie, currently at the bottom of the hill and preparing to go back up again, and added, "If you do have children it will be the most magnificent experience of your life, but also the most frightening. And you and your wife will probably have more conflicts about raising them than anything else – I know Julia and I do."

Jasper responded, "Well it seems wonderful to me." Then he challenged William to a sled race. Both men knew that they would be able to go faster if they ran to the starting line carrying the sled, diving down into the snow with the sled underneath them at the last moment. Jasper won and made sure to gloat about it.

William Jr. decided to try a similar thing, but didn't notify his adult companions of his plan. He left the sled at the top of the hill and then stepped back about 20 feet. From there, he ran full speed towards the sled, diving down onto it carrying his velocity. He ended up a bit un-centered on the sled as it accelerated down the hill. The added speed scared William Jr. He was afraid that if he turned left like he was supposed to then he would roll over, and at his current speed such a thought terrified him. He stayed straight and headed directly towards the road at the bottom of the hill.

William caught sight of William Jr.'s sled barreling for the road and took off at a mad dash to try to intercept him before he got down to the road, calling out, "Roll off the sled!" as he ran.

There was a carriage on the road and it looked like it was timed to hit William Jr. The carriage driver saw the sled headed for the road and made an effort to pull up the horse, but William Jr. ended up sliding between the front and back wheels of the carriage. The back wheel rolled over William Jr.'s wrist. The collision caused the boy to fall off of the sled, rolling to a halt about 10 feet later. William arrived almost immediately at his son's side. Except for his wrist, which looked broken, William Jr. appeared to be alright. The horse, driver, and carriage were not harmed. The driver of the carriage took all five of them, with their two sleds on the roof, to the hospital.

While they waited for the doctor to see William Jr., William explained to Jasper that he was concerned that Julia would be angry about the accident. They had had some serious conflicts in the past about his taking bigger chances with the children's safety than she liked. The doctor treated William Jr., putting a cast on his left wrist. William called Julia to tell her that there had been an accident and William Jr. broke his left wrist. Not to worry, everything else was fine. They would give her the details when they got home.

Back at the Murdoch home, Julia and Ruby had spent the afternoon together. Julia was becoming worried that William, Jasper, and the children weren't home yet, it was already 5 PM, before she got William's call. She was very relieved to finally hear the front door open. Katie came bursting into the parlor with Chelsea on her heels. "Mommy, William Jr. broke his arm!" Katie exclaimed.

"I know – your Daddy called me. How did it happen," Julia asked.

Katie excitedly said, "He sledded under a carriage!"

"What?!" Julia exclaimed.

William Jr. entered the room and hurried over to his mother. The boy fell into tears once he was wrapped in her arms. Julia squatted down to ask him what happened and if he was alright. Her son explained that he was sledding to fast to turn like he was supposed to and he sledded under a carriage and broken his arm. They had to go to the hospital to get it fixed up. It hurt a lot but otherwise he was alright.

Julia was furious that one of her children would have been put in such a situation where it was even possible that he could have sledded onto a road. She went to meet William as he and Jasper rounded the corner from the foyer into the parlor. "William, what were you thinking?" she demanded, still moving towards him even after he had halted. She stepped in close to him, her inflamed eyes gripping his, close enough that he could feel her angry breath in his face. He looked … worried. "I can't believe you would let him sled down into a road!" she declared, arms flaring at her sides. She continued, "For such a brilliant man you astound me when you make such stupid decisions! Really William, how could you be so … stupid?"

William made an attempt to defend himself, "The odds that he would end up on the road were very low …"

She placed her hands on her hips and said, "Obviously not, since that's where he ended up!"

William sounded stronger as he replied, "Julia, if they never take any risks, they're never going to get good at anything. They'll be doomed to live timid, boring lives."

"But at least they'll have lives, no!?" she stormed.

William opened his mouth to continue his defense, thinking that she encouraged the girls to go horseback riding which was just as dangerous, but he thought better of it and closed it again.

Julia continued, "Honestly William, how do you expect me to ever trust you with them ever again!?" Beginning to get choked up, Julia steamed, "He could have been killed!"

For a moment it looked like William's eyes were growing teary. He turned and grabbed his coat and went out the front door. A few moments later the sound of shoveling could be heard.

Julia then turned on Jasper, "And you too! What is it about males that makes them so dim-witted about safety!?"

Ruby called out, resting her hand on Julia's shoulder, "Julia … you're over-reacting."

Julia turned back to William Jr. and investigated the work done on his broken arm at the hospital. She tried to reassure him, "You know if we make sure you rest it and it heals properly, you will have an even stronger wrist then before you broke it."

Katie looked up at her mother and said, "But Mommy, it was so much fun to sled from the top of the hill."

Julia turned to focus her attention on the little girl, "You sledded down the same hill?" she asked.

"Yes Mommy, lots of times," she answered.

Julia clenched her jaw and her fists and marched out the front door to confront her husband with this shocking news.

"Katie too!" Julia fumed, planting herself in front of William, who was nearly finished shoveling the path. "I'm absolutely dumbfounded at your … She's barely 5 years old! You're parenting is completely … useless." She held her ground, shaking her head in shock and disapproval.

Feeling overwhelmed, William drove the shovel into a pile of snow and left. He needed to take a walk to cool off.

Everybody else soon sat down to Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room. The chair meant for William remained empty. Conversation was strained, but slowly the mood lightened. When Eloise was sending out their deserts, they all heard the front door. William Jr. pushed his chair back, preparing to run to his father, but Julia stopped him. "I'll go," she said.

Julia joined William in the foyer. She was still mad, but she apologized for publicly scolding him. William would not look her in the eye. Julia thought to herself that he looked to be feeling ashamed. She added, sounding a little softer, "You will need to apologize to your son." As they passed through the kitchen, Eloise asked William if he wanted her to prepare him a plate of dinner. He declined, saying, "No thanks, Eloise. I don't seem to have much of an appetite."

Ruby was the first to break the air of discomfort, "Jasper was telling us about the special training of the horses for the Canadian Mounted Drill Team …"

After dinner the group moved back into the parlor. Although William and Julia did not speak with each other, they both took part in the conversation. When it came time to tuck the children into bed, Ruby and Jasper made plans to care for the children the next day while William and Julia went to work. Then they said good-night and left together, planning on finding a club to attend for a nightcap before going back to their hotel. They seemed to be quite smitten with each other.

William and Julia managed to work together to get the children washed up, into their pajamas, and tucked into bed. After Julia had left to prepare for bed herself, William Jr. told his father he was sorry he didn't turn the sled. William reassured him that he didn't need to apologize – he hadn't done anything wrong. But he offered his son some advice for the future, "Son, when you are going too fast and you first feel your stomach kind of flip over with fear, act immediately, before things get even more out of control. As soon as you felt the fear start to take over you should have turned – even if you did roll over, you likely weren't going fast enough yet to get seriously hurt. Once you were going that fast and saw the danger of the road ahead, you should have rolled off of the sled. I'm sorry I didn't teach you guys what to do if you got in trouble. I should have." They hugged goodnight and William told him not to worry, the medicine his mother had given him would help him sleep without feeling too much pain.

As William entered their bedroom Julia came out of their bathroom, already wearing her nightgown. William undressed and put on his pajamas. While he was in the bathroom, Julia prepared his bedding for him to sleep on the couch. When William came out of the bathroom, he dropped his eyes to the bedding and said, "Julia, don't you think we should talk about it?"

"I'm too angry William. I think not," she responded. William sighed, collected the pillow and blankets and went down to the couch.

William was having trouble sleeping on the couch. At first, he kept replaying the image of chasing William Jr. down the hill onto the road. Eventually his thoughts drifted to thinking about what he would normally be doing with Julia if he were upstairs in bed with her now. Images from making love with her the night before on the kitchen table and then again in their bed, just this morning, kept running through his mind. He remembered the warm, soft feel of being inside of her. He could hear her aroused breathing in his ear, and feel and taste her earlobe in his mouth. William's breath caught as he remembered Julia's voice begging as she called out his name. Then, like a slap in the face, the sensuous moment would be interrupted by his memories of Julia reaming him, "Really William, how could you be so … stupid?" William rolled over, hoping that readjusting his pillow would take the hurtful thoughts away. He was growing more and more angry as the night progressed. It was not right for her to shame him and it was not right for them to coddle their children either.

Julia was also having trouble sleeping. She alternated between escalating anger as she imagined William Jr. on his sled going under a moving carriage, to building regret as she remembered the stunned, hurt look on William's face when she called him "stupid." Just thinking of calling him that caused her to cringe. After five or six rounds of this emotional roller-coaster, she actually felt tears fill her eyes when she thought of how harsh her words had been. She thought about getting out of bed and going down to him to apologize and show him how much she loved him – and respected him, but … she had to admit, she still didn't trust him – not with the children's safety. And until he was willing to admit that his decision was wrong, she wouldn't be able to trust him. Ultimately, she decided to stay in their lonely bed, holding out for William to give in and admit he behaved dangerously, and that he wouldn't do it again.

The next morning the children bounded into their parents' bedroom, the door wasn't closed like usual, and crawled into bed with their mother. The room was filled with hugs and kisses. William Jr. said he had slept well. Julia checked his cast and reassured him that it would heal soon. William Jr.'s voice revealed his concern as he asked, "Is Daddy sleeping downstairs?" All three of the children looked at Julia – they wanted to know if she was still mad.

"Yes, and I'm sure your Daddy wouldn't want to miss the fun of having his three children jump all over him to wake him up. Tell him 'Good Morning' for me too," she requested. The children rushed out of the room, thrilled to have such an important mission.

When William came into the bedroom she had already washed up and was starting to select her clothing for the day. She asked William if he wanted to talk.

"No, I don't think so Julia. Now I'm too mad," he explained. He gathered up some of his clothes and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Julia stared at the closed door. In the seven years they had lived in this house, she swore she'd never seen that door closed. By the time William came out of the bathroom, nearly dressed, Julia had riled herself up and was feeling angry at him all over again. Motivated by her anger, she had decided to wear William's favorite dress. He had told her it took nearly all of his self-control to keep from unbuttoning the pearly buttons running down the front. "Let him feel the pain of being denied what he wants," she thought. She asked William to help her with her corset. He did so in silence, showing no signs of being aroused by the usually intimate activity. Julia was sure he noticed her choice of outfit as his eyes seemed to stall on her as she put it on.

To be continued … (Hint: It gets worse for Jilliam before it gets better).