Prairie Fire
Page 7
Waverly gave Eve a bear hug. “My pleasure, Auntie. So glad you two came out to visit. I’ve missed you.”
3.4—Afternoon Delight
Eve followed Em into their guest room, but as she closed the door behind them, she gently grabbed Em’s hand.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Eve asked, her voice low and beckoning.
Em stopped in her tracks and smiled, allowing herself to be pulled into Eve’s arms. Eve carefully walked them backward two steps to the door, all the while smiling deviously.
“What are you doing?” Em whispered playfully as Eve turned them around, lovingly pressing Em against the door.
“This,” Eve answered just as she put her mouth on Em’s, kissing her deeply as she pressed her hips against her lover’s.
“Mmmm… okay,” Em said in a hushed tone in-between kisses. “But we need to change for our hike…”
“I know,” Eve purred. She gathered Em’s long, curly hair into her right hand, holding it back, as she began to kiss Em’s neck, then her shoulders.
Em’s body melted into Eve’s. She was no match for her lover’s passion.
“I’ve been wanting to take this sexy little dress off you since you put it on this morning,” Eve whispered so Dot wouldn’t hear. She pulled one of Em’s spaghetti straps off her shoulder with her left hand. “It’s been seducing me,” she kissed Em just below clavicle. “Daring me,” she murmured as she moved down Em’s chest, “Taunting me…”
“Oh, Evie,” Em moaned, completely aroused. She was helpless. She had no choice but to submit to Eve’s seduction.
Eve kissed Em’s shoulder as she pulled the other strap off, slipping the sundress off Em and letting it fall to the floor, leaving Em wearing only her pink panties.
“Now look what you’ve done…” Em said, breathing heavily, closing her eyes as she let Eve slowly take her.
“Oh, no…” Eve said with mock regret, gently taking Em’s left breast into her mouth. Em sighed as a bolt of lightning shot through her body, directly to her groin. Eve cupped Em’s other breast, played with her nipple for a moment, and then slowly slid her left hand down the front of Em’s body. Eve lightly dragged her fingers across Em’s skin, down, down until she reached between her legs, letting her fingers toy with the edges of Em’s now moist panties.
Em moaned at Eve’s touch, and the fingers that were getting closer and closer to where she wanted them, needed them to be, where she knew they would be soon. Eve methodically kissed her way back up to Em’s mouth, and kissed her with a controlled intensity. She reached into Em’s panties from below, quickly finding the target she sought. Em cried out.
“Shhhh…” Eve whispered, smiling, suppressing a giggle. She pressed her cheek next to Em’s. “Do you love me, baby?” Eve asked, aroused, her fingers slowly, expertly, working their magic on Em.
“Oh… Evie, I love you… I love you…” Em whispered excitedly, trying desperately to control herself, holding herself back, waiting for Eve. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Touch me, Emmy…” Eve said urgently, her mouth on Em’s. She was ready.
Em quickly reached into Eve’s shorts, deftly finding her target within seconds. Eve gasped a little—she had waited almost too long.
“I love you, baby…” Eve whispered huskily in Em’s ear, while her fingers continued to slowly stroke Em.
“I love you…” Em said softly, passionately, “I love… I love… I… Aaaaahhhh… Aaaaaaaahhhhh!” Em moaned, her climax overtaking her.
Em’s orgasm sent Eve over the edge. She came hard and fast, with a deep, satisfied groan, as little spasms rippled through her body until the end.
Em sought out Eve’s mouth and kissed her intensely as the throbbing of their bodies continued unabated.
“Mmmm…” Em let out a deep sigh, “Is there more where that came from?” she asked, still turned on.
Eve chuckled softly. “Mmmmhmmm…” She responded in a low, sexy voice, “Isn’t there always?”
“Well then, we better step on it…” Em whispered as she began again to touch Eve. Eve closed her eyes as the second wave was about to come. They kissed without hurry, knowing exactly what was in store. Eve ever so slowly moved her fingers, still in Em’s panties, which was all that was necessary. Em caught her breath and began to moan, quickly joined by Eve. The second time was always more intense, more satisfying, leaving them both weak in the knees. When it was done, they giggled and collapsed against the door in each other’s arms.
“Oh, god, mmmmm… I love you, Emmy,” Eve whispered.
Em smiled. “You’re incorrigible Eve Magnussen. And you know I love you, too.” Em kissed Eve, slowly, deeply. “That was wonderful, honey. Mmmmm… Okay.” She moaned as she pulled away from Eve. “We better hurry and change, or Dot’s going to come looking for us.” Em felt her underwear. “Well, these are shot.” She shook her head and grinned. “We’re so terrible.”
“Hey,” Eve teased as she began to strip down, “Nothing better than a little afternoon delight, right, baby?”
“Well, I can think of a few things better, but we can talk about them tonight—in bed,” Em winked at Eve as she began to dress for the hike. She marveled at how in tune they were with each other, and how there was never a question when it came to making love—always ready, willing and able with each other. Em sighed happily.
“Let’s roll! Move ‘em out,” Dot hollered from the hallway as she passed Em and Eve’s door on her way out to the driveway.
Em and Eve looked at each other wide-eyed and snickered like school girls before they hurriedly continued to change clothes. The last thing they wanted was an inquisition from Dot as to why it took them so long to get ready—they knew they would never hear the end of it.
3.5—From Up Above
“Wow,” Em exclaimed as she looked out over the valley below, “This is really beautiful up here!”
They sat resting atop a large boulder on the mountain overlooking the entire valley, each taking sips of water from their plastic water bottles. They had strenuously hiked for nearly two hours, climbing up and up, through the pines and over boulders; and then around, circling back nearly to where they began. The air across the Coachella Valley was clear but for a few clouds—the sky was a pale blue with a horizon of mountains to the north. The visibility went on and on endlessly, with the temperature high on the mountain at least thirty degrees cooler than the valley floor.
“That was quite a workout, Wave,” Eve commented, wiping her brow with a kerchief. “Way more fun than the stair stepper in our gym at home,” she laughed, then looked to Em for confirmation. Em shook her head in agreement as she took a long drink. She would never admit it, but the hike was far more stressful than the stair stepper. For her it was brutal. She hoped they didn’t have much farther to go. Eve caught the slight grimace on Em’s face.
“You okay?” Eve mouthed. Em’s nod wasn’t convincing, but Eve knew better than to try interfere when it came to Em and how she chose to manage her pain.
“This here,” Dot waved her arms around to indicate the mountain they had just hiked and the valley below, “is our gym. Ain’t that right, honey?” she looked to Waverly.
“Yup,” Wave agreed. “Like Ma said, we come up here three, four times a week when it’s too hot to hike down there. Sometimes we hike around Palm Springs in the early mornings while it’s still cool, but…”
“Ish,” Dot added. “Cool-ish. Deep in the middle of summer there’s no such thing as cool any time. Sometimes it doesn’t get below 90ºF—a’tall.”
“Ugh,” Em made a face. “I wouldn’t like that. Sounds perfectly awful to me. That’s one thing I’ll never forget about Texas. It got so darned hot. Yuck.”
“I remember,” Eve agreed, thinking back to when she and her mother Ev flew out to Texas from California on the 5th of July after Em and Alice’s accident. She shivered. Em knew what she was thinking—she was reminded of the same thing. Em took Eve’s hand.
“Well, you know I love it,” Dot proclaimed.
Waverly scoffed, “Wimps.”
“Now, now, Wave, honey,” Dot said playfully, “that’s no way to talk to your elders—even though they do sound like little wimpy wimps, it’s not nice to say so out loud.” She and Waverly laughed as Em and Eve let themselves be the butt of their joke. They smiled patiently until the chortling was over.
“Oh, you two,” Em replied sarcastically, “you are so, so… hilarious.”
“We are,” Dot said confidently as she winked at Waverly.
“So…” Dot quickly changed the subject. “I was thinkin’ we could hang out up here and enjoy the cool weather a bit longer,” Dot began, “maybe go up on the observation deck for a spell? And then we could go down, shower, change, and go for an early dinner at Billy Reed’s for some steaks or fried chicken… or both! How’s that sound?”
“By then I’ll be starving, so Billy Reed’s sounds perfect.” Eve said, then added, “I love that place.”
“Mmmhmm,” Em agreed.
“Well, I’ll have take a pass, Ma,” Waverly said apologetically. “Jill and I have plans already.”
“Bring her along,” Dot suggested.
Waverly clicked his tongue, “I would, but… her parents invited us over for dinner, so…”
“Ah…” Dot shook her head knowingly. “I gotcha. But she’s coming tomorrow night, right?”
“Yep.”
“Good. It’s about time the girls met her.” Dot directed her attention to Em and Eve, especially Em. “I think you’re gonna love this girl.” Dot didn’t say so, but she knew Jill would remind Em of Prairie. Though they didn’t look much alike, their personalities were incredibly similar. “I love her so much already, I’ve gotta keep myself from imaginin’ grand babies every time I see her!” Dot slapped her knee and cackled as Waverly winced.
“I think it’s time we got moving again,” Waverly suggested, good-naturedly giving Dot the stink-eye.
“A gal can dream, cain’t she?” Dot retorted.
“C’mon, Granny, get a move on,” Waverly snickered.
“The older you get, boy, the less fun you are,” Dot teased, poking Waverly in the ribs.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, ladies,” Wave said with a big smile as he evaded Dot’s pokes, “let’s go before somebody accidentally goes over the side of the mountain.”
Dot and Waverly continued to tease each other all the way back to the tram, amusing Em and Eve to no end with their antics. They always enjoyed how Dot and Waverly horsed around with each other—boisterous, mischievous, but always with love, and always respectful. Neither Em nor Eve could imagine ever playing around with their respective mothers like Waverly did with Dot.
FOUR
Baby Talk
4.1—Big Pile of Whoops
Billy Reed’s was hopping busy, as it was normally in the high tourist season between January and May. The Americana motif and good food with large portions drew in tourists and locals alike. In another separate room, weekly line dancing lessons were in progress with a significant group of cold weather snowbird tanglefoots in attendance. From time to time, hints of country music drifted through the dining area and co-mingled with the eclectic sounds of the restaurant.
“Alrighty then,” Dot began as she continued to eat. “Time for some serious talk now.”
Em and Eve leaned forward, giving Dot their rapt attention.
“When… are you gals gonna give me a baby to spoil? I don’t say this to be mean, but if that’s somethin’ y’all have in mind, well, y’all ain’t gettin’ any younger,” Dot laughed out loud at the look of shock on her companions’ faces.
The dinner table conversation stopped as Eve and Em froze in place. It wasn’t as if the question hadn’t come up before, and they knew she was probably teasing them, but to hear Dot say it out loud was startling. It had been weeks since the subject had been broached between them, and even that little mention had turned into a heated discussion, rattling the couple to their cores. They rarely disagreed about anything. The question of starting a family ignited a smoldering ember of contention neither ever imagined would ever be an issue between them.
“Oh boy… I don’t like the looks of those faces,” Dot quipped. “Is this a taboo topic? Did I step in a big, steaming pile of whoops?” Dot frowned with concern. “Ah, hell’s bells.” She quickly, with humor, tried to change the subject. “Hey, how about that hike this afternoon. Wasn’t it great?”
The atmosphere in Billy Reed’s became obnoxiously loud with the din of conversation and the general bustle of the busy restaurant.
“No, Dot,” Eve began as Em remained silent. “You’re fine, it’s just that… y’know… we, uh…” Eve squirmed in her chair and deferred to Em who was staring at her plate in a futile attempt at complete avoidance. “Em?”
Em’s head snapped to attention. A subtle blush began to creep up her neck as she was instantly put on the spot. “Yes, um… We have discussed it—at length,” Em began quietly. “It’s simp…”
“Is everything good here?” The Waitress asked, her sudden appearance interrupting Em. Dot and Eve looked at her, somewhat startled by her abrupt arrival at their table.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re good,” Dot said. “Go ahead and bring the check any time,” she added, distracted.
“Okay…” The Waitress replied, taking the hint she had intruded on a serious conversation. “I’ll um… I’ll bring you… your check,” she stammered before quickly turning and moving to the next table.
Eve and Dot were silent, waiting for Em to finish what she was saying before she was interrupted.
“You were saying,” Dot prompted Em.
“Yeah, um, so… It’s simply that… uh… I…” Em sighed heavily, then cleared her throat. “I don’t want kids and Eve does.” There, I said it, Em thought to herself. “We’re at an impasse,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
“We are,” Eve admitted, frowning. She took a drink from her water glass. “It’s not something I’ve yearned for my whole life,” she began, “but something happened when Em and I got together. I don’t know what the hell happened, but…” Eve exhaled heavily. “Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, I wanted kids—well, at least one. But the sticky wicket is, I want to have a baby.”
She looked to Dot who had remained quiet as the story unfolded. Then she looked to Em who gave her a subtle nod it was okay to continue.
“I always thought, at least ever since I realized I’m a lesbian—which was pretty early on, actually—I completely ruled out the possibility of children. I just didn’t see how it would—or should happen. Twenty years ago, the only lesbians who had children, in my experience anyway, had them from a failed marriage.”
“You were married, weren’t you, Evie,” Dot stated.
“I was,” Eve admitted. “For a minute. Even then, deep inside… I knew it wasn’t a good idea. I mean, to have kids in that particular marriage. So I just wrote off the possibility altogether. Then…” Eve paused for a moment as she considered sharing more, but decided against it.
“Then?” Dot prodded Eve to continue.
“Oh, well… um, yeah, you know…” Eve quickly searched mentally for an alternative then that would satisfy Dot and Em, neither of whom knew about then. “Ev. Yeah. I knew Mom would have had an absolute cow if I just up and had one on my own. You know Ev. You don’t want to release all of that on purpose.” Eve looked to Dot and Em for confirmation, knowing they understood what she meant about her mother. Ev had a strong, controlling personality that Eve preferred to keep at bay whenever possible. “Which, I wouldn’t anyway, because I saw how hard it was for her as a young widow alone to provide for Alice and me all those years.”
“Indeed, it is hard,” Dot agreed. “I know how Ivey struggled raising Waverly before we got together for good. Everything is so much harder for women anyway, and then add raising a child by yourself to it… I think it’s a hard enough job with two parents.”
“And then…” Em said softly.
“And then…” Eve repeated, nodding. “I fell in love with this amazing woman, and I started experiencing these intense feelings—maternal yearnings—I never thought were possible. Not just for me, but for anyone else. The biggest surprise of all is this passionate, almost painful desire I have to physically have a baby. I never understood why couples seemed driven to have babies. Not until my body began screaming it wants to grow a baby, that is.” Eve laughed. “Who would’ve known?” Dot smiled, nodding her head slightly. Em cast her eyes back down to her plate.
“But…” Eve exhaled as she got quiet.
“I ruined the party,” Em said with regret in her voice.
“You didn’t—” Eve began but was cut off by Em.
“I did and I’m sorry, you know I am. I just…” Em hated the baby conversation because it kept leading nowhere. She didn’t see a solution that was going to make either of them happy. She didn’t want kids—at all—and Eve did. How do you compromise on something so life-altering? “I was raised in a way that leaves me convinced I don’t know a thing about having children. Isn’t that your training ground? Your own childhood? Watching your parents do their work in raising you?”
“Well,” Dot interjected, “that’s part of it, but…”
“I was raised by self-absorbed, preoccupied parents, a housekeeper, a groundsman, and a chauffeur—when I wasn’t off at boarding school, that is. I know now my parents loved me, but they didn’t raise me. Not really. Dot, I don’t know anything about being a parent,” Em folded her arms, almost as protection, and sat back into the upholstered carved wood booth. “It wouldn’t be fair to the kid. And,” she added emphatically, ”to state the obvious, we’re not exactly in our twenties.”