Pride and Joy

by M. L. Rice

  Daniela looked worried. “Better?”

  Bryce let out a grateful breath. “Yeah.”

  “We can sit here as long as you need. We have a whole hour to just sit and chat.”

  “You’re too good to me, Dani.”

  Daniela snorted. “Don’t give me that. I haven’t done anything but kidnap you into hanging out with me every hour of every day. I’m sure you have other things you need to do besides act as a tour guide for a poor actress.”

  “I don’t, actually. But I do kind of need to talk to you.” She paused, braced herself. “I didn’t say everything I needed to yesterday.”

  Daniela laid her palm on Bryce’s knee. “Whatever you need. I’m all ears.”

  “I got some good advice from a friend after I dropped you off, and I think I have the proper perspective on things now. But what I have to say is…difficult for me.”

  Daniela looked nervous, but said simply, “Okay.”

  Bryce took a deep breath and looked at the ground. “I told you yesterday that I feel like a disappointment, but it’s…it’s more than that.”

  Daniela stayed silent.

  “God, this is going to sound so stupid, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to do things for me. To make sure I’m okay all of the time.” She grimaced. “I feel like…I feel like I’m causing you to get trapped in my messed-up life.”

  “Bryce, I—”

  “Seeing you again after all those years and getting to know you the way I have in these last few weeks…I feel like I might need you or want you around too much. That scares the hell out of me. I don’t want to be a burden on you, especially when you’ll be leaving in a week.”

  Bryce looked up to see confusion and hurt on Daniela’s face. When Daniela finally found her voice she said, almost defensively, “Do you think I feel obligated to watch out for you?”

  “I—”

  “I know who you are, and you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known. I’m sorry if you feel like I pity you or something. That wasn’t my intent.”

  Fighting the urge to cry, Bryce waited a moment before speaking. “Why in the world would you want to spend so much time with me, then? I’m not the person you knew in high school. I’m nobody. I don’t exist.” She twirled her fingers in the air as if dissipating smoke.

  Daniela spoke with a slight tremor in her voice. “Of course you exist. You’re very real to me and to so many others. Bryce, what in the world are you talking about? What’s making you think like this now? I know you’ve been struggling, but you seemed to be doing so much better. What happened?”

  Bryce couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’ve lost my parents. I’m not fit for duty in the Coast Guard. And this.” Bryce turned her head so that Daniela had a full view of her scarred features. “This represents everything I’ve lost. I want to hold on to something, to someone…to you, but I can’t ask you to carry my weight.”

  Daniela made shushing noises and pulled Bryce into an embrace. “Hey. Stop.”

  Bryce’s shoulders jerked as she tried to calm herself and stop the flow of tears. She couldn’t tell Daniela how much she loved her, even though her words would make more sense if Daniela knew the extent of her feelings. But she still didn’t have the courage to make that leap.

  Unable to speak without great gasps of air, Bryce said, “Dani…I am so…glad…that we’ve become…friends again.”

  “Me too, Bryce. You honestly have no idea.” She squeezed her tighter and then pulled away to look into Bryce’s eyes.

  “But…you’ll be leaving soon and I…I don’t want you to have to worry about me. I’m not worth the energy you’re putting into helping me.”

  “That’s not true.” Daniela sounded exasperated, and Bryce didn’t blame her. “Of course I worry about you, Bryce, but it’s not because I don’t think you’re capable or because I think that you need rescuing. I worry because I care about you so much.”

  Bryce shook her head.

  Daniela continued anyway, “Bryce, I’ve waited so many years to get to see you again. I really don’t think you understand what it means to me to have you back in my life.”

  “I appreciate that, really I do. You don’t know how much. But…I just can’t shake the way I feel about this. I feel like an anchor that will do nothing but drag you down if you tie yourself to me.”

  “Tie myself,” Daniela repeated. She narrowed her eyes. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I know you, Bryce. You’ve been hiding something from me. Have I done something wrong?”

  Bryce had never seen Daniela on the verge of tears like she was now. She felt like such an asshole. What in the hell was wrong with her?

  “If I’ve offended you in any way or…or…God, if I’m bothering you—”

  “No! Dani, I swear, you…you honestly have no idea…”

  “Tell me, then. Please!” she pleaded, the tears falling unchecked down her flawless cheeks.

  “I…I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.” She put her hands on Bryce’s shoulders and forced her to face her. “You have to.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Damn it, Bryce! Help me to understand! I’ll never understand if you don’t just tell me—”

  “I’ve fallen in love with you!” Bryce’s heart stilled. There it was: the truth. But as she stared into Daniela’s red eyes, she knew only the absolute truth would do for the woman she had grown to love with all of her heart.

  Daniela gasped and put her hand over her chest, breathing fast. Bryce looked up at a cloudy sky that had started to sprinkle small droplets of rain onto her face, mixing with her salty tears. She had said it. Now Daniela would know why she was pulling away, why she didn’t want her to get too attached.

  She felt Daniela’s hand gently guide her face back down. “Oh, Bryce. I have been in love with you from the moment I saw you. How can you not have seen that?”

  “W-what?”

  Daniela laughed with obvious relief through her tears. “I never thought…oh my God, I really never thought that you could love me back!”

  Bryce’s jaw opened in stunned disbelief, and she completely forgot how to form or utter words. Elation as powerful as she had ever felt surged through her whole being.

  Daniela laughed gleefully at Bryce’s stunned expression and pulled her into a tight hug. Bryce didn’t return the embrace. When Daniela noticed, she pulled away carefully. “What’s wrong?”

  Bryce tried to think of some way to express her emotions eloquently, but all she came up with was, “Dani…I don’t know.”

  Daniela’s smile fell immediately and fear filled her eyes. “Don’t know what?”

  Bryce rose from the bench, frustrated and insecure. “I don’t know if I’m good enough.”

  Fiery determination replaced the terrified expression. Daniela stood. She took Bryce’s face in her hand and tilted her head to look down into her eyes. “You listen to me, Bryce Lee Montgomery. I have been in love with you my whole life. Don’t give me any of this bullshit about you not being pretty anymore or being damaged. You were and still are the single most beautiful woman in the world.”

  Bryce made a doubtful face.

  “Do you think I give a damn that you have a limp? That you have a little scar on your face? Bryce, I love you. I love you. I’ve never loved anyone else because no one has ever been able to compare to you. You were everything to me when I was growing up.” Her voice softened as she ran her palm down the scarred side of Bryce’s face. “When you went off to the academy and no one back home ever heard from you again…Bryce, I couldn’t stand it. Not knowing what you were doing with your life, not knowing how you were.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

  “For years I heard nothing, just the rumors about you and Leah and your parents. And then, out of the blue, I hear you were in a life-threatening accident in the Coast Guard, and my world ca
me crashing down. I panicked until I was able to track down and talk to Jennifer and find out you were okay. And later when I learned that our tour would be in Seattle for four weeks? Well…let’s just say I made it my mission in life to meet up with you again. I would never have been able to forgive myself if I hadn’t gotten to see you at least one more time.”

  Several tourists emerged from the Underground Tour building, laughing and paying no attention to the life-changing moment occurring only yards from them.

  Daniela smiled. “And now look at us, standing in the rain like some kind of old romance movie, professing our love for each other, and all you can say is that you’re not good enough for me. Me! An unknown actress sharing a closet of an apartment in New York with strangers? Not a penny to my name?”

  “You’re more than that, Dani.”

  “Yes, I am.” Her eyes narrowed with passionate fire. “I’m someone who has loved you from the moment she laid eyes on you. Someone who knows the real you and not the person you’ve deluded yourself that you are. I am more, yes. And so are you.”

  “I’m—”

  “Not the lost soul that your parents see,” Daniela said, shaking her head. “You’re not the loser you’ve convinced yourself you are. You are Bryce. My Bryce. And I will love you more than anyone in this world until my last breath.”

  Bryce stood flabbergasted, her face still cupped in Daniela’s soft hand. “But…” was all she managed to say.

  Daniela placed her left hand on Bryce’s other cheek. “You just said that you had fallen in love with me. I have never in my life felt as happy as in that one split second.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Is it true? Do you love me?”

  Bryce just stared. She had never seen Daniela so resolute about something.

  “Damn it, Bryce!” She quieted her voice. “Do you love me?”

  A tear ran down Bryce’s cheek and she said simply, “Yes.”

  Daniela let out a sob and then pulled Bryce’s face to hers, kissing her with the passion of years of pent-up desire.

  Bryce’s world exploded. She had spent every waking hour of the past three weeks imagining what Daniela’s lips would feel like, but no amount of daydreaming could have prepared her for what she was feeling now. Heat flamed in her stomach and she couldn’t help but drop her cane and pull Daniela tightly to her body.

  She moved her tongue greedily over Daniela’s lips and was rewarded with the same from her. Daniela moaned and wrapped her fingers in Bryce’s now-wet hair. It wasn’t until they got a catcall from a passing teenager and his friends that they pulled apart.

  They both breathed heavily, electrified by the contact, and Bryce felt as if she would never be able to remove her hands from Daniela’s back.

  “I love you too, you infuriating, wonderful woman,” Daniela said breathlessly.

  Bryce couldn’t help but smile. It took every ounce of willpower she had to not bring Daniela in for a kiss again. Instead she simply said, “Dani, are you sure this”—she put her hand over the one Daniela was using to cup her damaged cheek—“doesn’t bother you?”

  Daniela actually laughed. “Oh, Bryce. Chicks dig scars.”

  Bryce rolled her eyes but moved Daniela’s palm to her lips, kissing it gently.

  “I think we should get out of the rain,” Bryce said reluctantly. It was falling more heavily and their clothes were soaked.

  “God, how am I going to do the show tonight? Knowing that you’re waiting? I just want to…feel you.”

  Bryce blushed deeply. “Geez, Dani!”

  Daniela laughed again. “You’d better drop the shy thing and get used to it. This has been building for…how many years now?”

  Bryce pulled her close and bent down to kiss the side of her neck softly. The pleased gasp from Daniela made her tingle all over. “You’ll stay with me tonight?”

  “I’ll stay with you forever.”

  The two women smiled at each other and held hands as they walked to Bryce’s car. There were so many things that they were going to have to talk about, so many logistics to work through, but tonight would be just for them. Nothing would ever hurt again as long as they were entwined in each other’s arms.

  Epilogue

  Bryce put a large black line through her wall calendar. It had been three months to the day that Daniela had left Seattle to finish her tour and get back to New York. Three months of nothing but phone calls, video chats, texts, and a near-debilitating lack of physical contact.

  But that would end tomorrow night.

  Daniela was coming back. Bryce had no doubts that they would pick up precisely where they had left off, and it didn’t involve ever leaving the bedroom…or getting dressed, for that matter.

  A knock on her office door made Bryce jump as she fought the rising heat in her stomach. “Come in.” Her voice cracked with embarrassment.

  Captain Jack entered the room.

  “Captain. It’s been a while. Good to see you.”

  “Likewise. It looks like things are going well here.” He gestured to the pool outside her office door where wounded veterans were getting scuba lessons from volunteer divemasters.

  Bryce smiled. “We’re getting so many new students that we’re going to need more staff. It’s amazing what this program is doing for them. They love it!”

  “And what about you?”

  “Well, obviously I love it. I got my advanced certification last week and will be working on my rescue certification in the next few months.”

  He nodded. “That’s good to hear.”

  “Please sit.” She gestured to the chair.

  As he sat, he pointed to the picture on Bryce’s desk. “Miss Cordova?”

  “She’s…she’s my girlfriend.”

  His face broke into a wide smile. “Damn fine work there, Lieutenant. Damn fine.”

  Bryce laughed and sat down.

  “What’s she been up to these days?”

  Bryce’s chest swelled with pride. “She’s auditioning for Broadway shows.”

  “New York, huh?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I bet it’s tough having to do the long-distance thing.”

  “It’s just like being in the military.”

  He chuckled. “Settle in, Lieutenant, I have a proposition for you.”

  *

  She looked at her foot, annoyed that it was tapping so insistently. The computer screen in baggage claim was showing that Daniela’s flight had landed five minutes ago. Bryce imagined her girlfriend waiting behind the infinite line of passengers pulling heavy bags from the overhead compartments on the plane. She tried not to pace, instead focusing all of her attention on the escalator that would bring the love of her life back to her.

  Just then, standing behind a very large man in an ill-fitting Hawaiian shirt and a woman holding a screaming baby, Daniela came into view. All of the extraneous noise of the airport silenced as Bryce’s breath caught in her chest. Seeing Daniela in person literally made Bryce weak in the knees. Thank God for the cane. Daniela hadn’t seen her yet and Bryce watched with obvious pleasure as the woman she loved looked from right to left, biting the corner of her bottom lip as she searched the crowd. Her hair was pulled back into its usual ponytail and she wore the fitted Seattle Coast Guard T-shirt Bryce had given her as a reminder of who waited for her.

  When Daniela was halfway down the escalator, her eyes finally found Bryce’s and she took a relieved breath and smiled. It took an eternity for her to descend to the ground floor and make her way through the crowd, but when she finally reached Bryce she dropped her duffel bag and threw herself into her arms.

  Bryce buried her face in Daniela’s hair, breathing in her scent deeply. “God, I missed you.”

  Daniela sniffled. “I don’t ever want to leave you again.”

  Bryce laughed. “You know I won’t let you give up your opportunities in New York for me.”

  “I know. But you’ll come with me next time, right?”

  B
ryce squeezed her tighter. “I don’t think I could do three months apart from you ever again.” She paused, breath shallow with excitement. “I have some good news on that front.”

  Daniela pulled away and looked up at Bryce with happy tears in her eyes.

  “I was talking to Captain Jack yesterday…” She allowed for a suspenseful pause.

  Daniela waited. “And?”

  “And…DiVeR is expanding. To the East Coast.” Bryce winked.

  Daniela’s eyes widened. “Where on the East Coast?”

  Bryce cupped the back of Daniela’s neck, caressing her soft skin. “He said it was up to me as long as there are veterans in need nearby. I’m going to be in charge of the whole thing. On both coasts. We can live in both places.”

  “Oh, my God.” Daniela’s face broke into an enormous smile.

  Bryce gleefully pulled her into another hug. “I feel so damn…lucky. We’ll never have to be apart like this again.”

  Daniela pressed her body closer to Bryce’s. “Thank God. I thought I was going to explode if I didn’t get to touch you soon.”

  Bryce shuddered as a ripple of lust coursed through her body. She was disappointed when Daniela pulled away.

  “I have some amazing news too. Ready?”

  Bryce nodded.

  “The producer of a brand-new musical saw me in A Chorus Line and called me in for an audition when I got home. I didn’t tell you about it,” she said when she saw Bryce’s confused look, “because I didn’t want to jinx it. And I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well?”

  “I got the part! Bryce, this is like a, possibly my big break, big deal. It’s a big-budget musical…like along the lines of Wicked or Rent. I’m part of an ensemble cast, but it’s still a really important and prominent role. Way bigger than Morales. And the paycheck…” Her eyes were glittering.

  Bryce was thrilled. “You’re going to be famous!”

  Daniela blushed. “Maybe. God, I love you so much.”