Family Connections Val Brown

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"Great." Denise beamed. She felt a certain amount of relief as Maggie agreed to their conversation. After giving Maggie their address, Denise hung up
and headed down to Randa. The blonde was rooting inside a cupboard and didn t hear DJ enter the kitchen.
Sneaking behind Randa, DJ placed her hands over the blonde s eyes. "Guess who has a visitor coming around tomorrow evening?"
Randa grinned. "You?"
DJ shook her head. "We!" She turned Randa around to face her. "Maggie agreed to talk and she will be here about six tomorrow."
"That s great. How do you feel?"
"Okay& at the moment." The poet s smile faded as a shadow of thought crossed Randa s brow. "What is it?"
"Well your interview on The Open Book is being aired tomorrow evening."
Denise shrugged. "We ll have to tape it I suppose. As for right now& " Denise opened the fridge and scanned the empty shelves. "I think we need to get
some food in. Fancy a trip to the supermarket?"
"Hey& yeah! I ve been craving some chocolate chip cookies. Can we go to that place where you can use those devices and scan your own goods? I love
those things!"
Shaking her head the poet chuckled, "Sure." She remembered how much fun Randa had playing with the hand held scanner the last time they shopped
and how they ended up buying twice as much because of this.
"Great!" Randa winked. "Meet you in the shower?"
Lowering her voice, Denise enquired, "Why wait?" Taking Randa s hand she quickly led her back up the stairs and towards the bathroom.
CHAPTER 16
Monday morning was as beautiful as the postcards in the shops of Bakewell showed England to be. The sky was a deep blue with only a few puffy clouds
floating across the wide expanse. The sun was shining brightly with the promise of another perfect day but in one house in Derbyshire there was a
palpable aura of tension.
Randa predicted Denise would deal with that tension in one of three ways. She would make love, work in the garden or write. Denise surprised her by
doing all three. Up far earlier than the nurse, Denise had worked in the garden from first light weeding the roses, pruning back the hedges and bringing
fresh cut flowers into the house. Randa found her staring at the roses that had been placed in a porcelain vase and set on the kitchen table. The nurse
stood next to Denise and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"That rose garden is a beautiful legacy from Sara," she said to the poet. Denise smiled and draped her arm over Randa s shoulders.
"It isn t the most beautiful part of her legacy, love. Our life is the best part of it. Every day that we are together, loving each other and living the life that she
wanted for us, we honor that legacy."
Randa leaned her head on Denise and sighed. "You have such a way with words, my friend. You should really think about doing some writing
professionally." Denise gave a soft laugh at that.
"You think I could be successful?"
"Well, I don t know," Randa teased, "But I would buy your book, if you autographed it of course."
"Mmm, an interesting demand," Denise murmured as she moved to nuzzle the neck of her partner. "Do you have any other requirements we should
discuss?"
"Several," Randa returned as she moved her hands under the poet s shirt. "I have a whole list of them upstairs in the bedroom if you d care to take a
look."
Denise moved back and looked into the nurse s sparkling green eyes. "Let the negotiations begin." Breaking apart at the same time, they raced for the
stairs.
***
It was later in the afternoon and Randa, fresh from the shower, caught up with Denise in the study. She was seated at the computer studying the monitor
through her silver framed glasses. Randa recognized the look of concentration on Denise s face as the one she used when deeply involved in her writing.
Not wanting to disturb the poet at work, the nurse kissed her on the cheek and turned to leave the room.
"Hey, English minor, come over here a second and take a look at this." Randa moved back to the poet s side and glanced at the screen then back at
Denise.
"It s a poem."
"Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. Of course it s a poem. At least it will be when I get this problem fixed. I thought maybe you could take a look at it." Randa
turned to the poem again and began reading.
"Well? What do you think?" Denise asked.
Randa studied her with uncertainty. "I m not sure I understand what you think is wrong with it. From my perspective, it s perfect both from a grammatical
and a literary standpoint."
A smile of triumph graced Denise s features. "I knew it! I knew it and I was right." The poet grabbed Randa and pulled her into her lap where she planted
kisses across the nurse s face.
Randa reached her arms up and around Denise s neck and returned her kisses with enthusiasm. "I don t know what brought this on but you have one
month to stop kissing me and explain yourself."
Denise laughed and hugged the blonde to her. "Ever since I started writing and had my first works published I have only ever hated one thing about the
process. Once I ve finished the writing it goes into the hands of an editor. From that point on it becomes frustration and agony for me. Carl has been
wonderful as a publisher but he knows I hate having someone else second guess and correct my work when they might not have the faintest idea of what I
want to say or how I want to say it. So yesterday when you noticed the mistake in what I was working on, it gave me an idea."
"So& you tested me by having me read this poem?" Randa asked as she indicated the screen.
"Yep."
"But I didn t find anything wrong so how could I have passed the test?"
"That s just it, there wasn t anything wrong with it. You knew when to leave well enough alone and that s all I ask. I know you ll find any spelling or grammar
mistakes I might make."
"Are you talking about me working for you?" the blonde asked.
"Well, I would never want you working for me. How about if we say you are working with me? There might be some nice financial rewards in being my
editor."
"It s not the salary, it s the fringe benefits I think I d really enjoy," Randa said as she deposited a brief peck to Denise s lips. "Let me think about it okay?"
"Fair enough. Now, how about a little late lunch before Maggie gets here?"
"Good idea. I d make it but I d never want to cook for you. Of course I m perfectly willing to cook with you."
Denise laughed at her partner. "How about neither of us cooks and we both pop round to the chip shop instead?"
"Why are we still sitting here? Lets go get those chips!"
***
At precisely six o clock a small white car pulled up in front of the Jennings house. Maggie got out slowly and stared at the front door. From inside Denise
and Randa watched the redhead look at the house.
"This is where she might have grown up if things had been different," Randa said in a hushed tone to the poet. "It s hard to imagine. She s the natural
daughter of one of the finest women I ever had the honor to meet and love and she will never know her. That s got to be going through her head right about
now. She had parents who loved her, a home and security but she never had this house or Sara or you."
Denise watched Maggie a moment longer then took Randa s hand. "Let s go try to give her some of those things." The couple went to the door where
Denise paused to give Randa a quick kiss.
"For luck," she said and pulled open the door. Maggie watched somewhat warily as Randa and Denise came down the steps. Randa moved slightly
ahead of Denise and reached a hand out to Maggie.
"Maggie, welcome to Derbyshire. I m Randa Martin, Denise s partner and it s a pleasure to meet you." Maggie seemed a little hesitant but shook [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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