by G S Binkley
“Thanks. We’ve got lots of footage for the documentary and shooting some of it inside a studio will be perfect. However…” Shanti pursed her lips. “It would be a lot better with graphics added because some of it might not make sense unless we use it.”
“Tell me when you guys are ready to shoot what you need and I think I can get you someone who would be perfect to help with the graphics.” Lacy walked slowly back to the trailer with Shanti and Gage as they talked.
“Nate?” Gage quizzed Lacy.
“Who’s Nate?” Shanti asked.
“Lacy’s brother.” Gage grunted, thinking of how he would add fuel to the already volatile trio of Shanti, Griff and Michael.
“Cool. Is he cute?” Shanti asked the rhetorical question, knowing that any brother of Lacy’s would be absolutely gorgeous.
***********************
When Gage relayed to Ryan White at dinner that Lacy wished to work exclusively with them on any further projects, the director proposed an idea. “Lacy, since your kids are still young and will be in school, how about doing a sitcom? It wouldn’t take as much time to do.”
“That’s a great idea, Ryan.” The writer was excited.
Both Ryan and Gage waited to hear what Lacy thought of it.
“Lacy, think about it. It would be on a set that doesn’t have to be changed all the time. No location filming. St. Troy’s big enough to bring in a live audience if you want and… the kids can have a permanent place at the studio to come and go when we work there. After they get out of school, I mean.”
When Lacy sighed, both the writer and director thought she would oppose the idea. “On one condition.” Her two dinner companions waited patiently. Lacy turned to her partner. “You write it.”
“Done.” Gage was happy.
Lacy turned to Ryan. “Make that two conditions. You direct it.”
Both Gage and Ryan beamed at the prospect of all of them working together for hopefully several years on the same show. “You don’t have to ask me twice. I’d love it.” While Ryan enjoyed many aspects of living and working in Hollywood along with the various locations filming that was required, he thought it would be a good change of pace to settle down for a while.
Each of them raised a glass and toasted their new venture together.
“Who’s going to tell Mark?” Gage laughed.
***********************
Over the next few days, Lacy and Gage found pleasure in the time they were able to spend alone. They took a two-day overland trip with White Elephant Safari and the blonde tour guide set them up with her uncle for an aerial view of the Moola River.
That night under the Tanzania sky, Lacy and Gage sat on the ten-foot wide wooden deck at the White Elephant Safari compound. “It’s beautiful.” Lacy said after she stood and moved to the railing.
“It’s just a sky filled with stars, Lacy.” The blonde walked up behind Lacy and wrapped her arms around the taller woman. “Now you on the other hand are beautiful.”
Lacy turned in her lover’s arms and proceeded to give Gage a tantalizing kiss that threatened to stop the blonde’s heart.
Recovering from the sensual assault, Gage sucked in a deep breath. “Wow.”
Lacy leaned in seductively. “There’s more.”
“More?” Gage gulped.
The younger woman’s lips wandered down Gage’s neck, sucking every inch of it as she sighed in delight. Lacy’s hand slid over the blonde’s breast and after spending a few luxurious moments there, she slipped her hand lower, pulling at Gage’s shirt.
Gage grabbed Lacy’s hand and moved it away, bringing her hand back to the blonde’s breast. Gage moaned.
The brunette mumbled between kisses. “I want to touch you.” Lacy’s hand returned on her original quest to feel her partner’s skin.
The blonde stepped back meeting the disapproving blue eyes of her lover. “Trust me. I want you too but… not out here.”
Lacy scanned the empty compound, seeing nothing except the land and trees blanketed by the moon’s glow. “Why not?” The actress captured the blonde’s lips again in a deep and probing savage kiss.
Nearing a frenzied peak of sensual feelings that landed squarely at her center, Gage kissed her lover hard. “Take me.”
“Here?” Lacy’s tongue and lips never halted their advance.
Breathless, Gage begged. “Here… anywhere. Just take me.”
Moving back from her lover, Lacy easily guided the overheated blonde across the porch and to the front door. “Come with me.”
The blonde swallowed hard. After Lacy led her through the doorway, Gage took charge, whipping pass her partner and yanked Lacy to their bedroom. The writer pushed through the entrance to their room and shoved her lover on the bed. Gage perched her body over Lacy’s and stared deeply into the bluest eyes on earth. “Mine.”
Nodding, Lacy agreed. “All yours.”
The blonde wagged her eyebrows and slowly dropped down to place a gentle, loving and affirming kiss to her lover that Gage belonged to Lacy and Lacy alone. No words were needed to state her claim. The kiss was filled with such intensity and passion that both women knew they would be together always throughout time.
Epilogue
Back in St. Troy, a week after school started in September, Hayley looked sad because her siblings were sent to school during most of the day. “Oh, honey, come here.” Lacy picked up her daughter. “Gage will be…”
“Mimi?” The green eyed toddler gleamed.
“Yes, Mimi.” Lacy shook her head, knowing Gage wasn’t all that keen on the name. “Will be back with your brothers and sister in a little bit. You want to wait outside?”
“Hi.” The tiny blonde smiled.
When Lacy took her youngest daughter outside, she saw her brother, Nathan drive up. “Hi.” The dark haired woman waved to Nate.
“Hi.” Hayley echoed and this time it really meant ‘hi’ instead of ‘yes’.
Nathan slammed the door and walked over to his oldest sister, giving both Lacy and Hayley a kiss. When his niece held out her arms for Nate to hold her, the young man stalled. “Hold on a minute.” He hurried back to his vehicle and reached through the front window and pulled out a bundle.
Hayley bounded in her mother’s arms, with outstretched arms.
“Do you like her, Hayley?” Nate showed the young girl the ruby colored Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy.
Shaking her head furiously as she grabbed for the puppy, Hayley exclaimed. “Hi.”
“I think she’s happy.” Lacy smiled as she laughed.
“Happy!” Hayley echoed.
Nate allowed Hayley to hold the puppy. “After Gage told me about her talk with Derek, I thought I would surprise him with the puppy.”
“He won’t be the only one surprised.” Lacy shook her head, wondering what her partner would think of this new addition to their family.
Concerned crossed his face. “You’re okay with it, aren’t you?” Nate had given Lacy’s children a puppy several years ago named Racuzzi but he died.
“Actually, I think it will make all the kids happy especially Derek.” Lacy assured her brother.
“Happy!” Hayley petted the puppy and the Cavalier in turned licked the little girl on the face.
“So where is the rest of your gang?”
“Gage went to pick them up and Sammy wanted to go along. This one would have gone too except that she was sleeping.” Lacy studied the puppy for a moment. “They don’t get very big, do they?”
“Nope.” Nate grinned. “You can keep her inside.”
“Great.” Lacy nodded toward the puppy. “But you’re the one that’s going to tell Gage that.”
“Maybe I can just leave her here before they get home.” He laughed but seriously asked. “I thought they’d be home by now.”
Lacy put Hayley down on the ground along with the puppy. “Dani had dancing practice and Derek had gymnastics today.”
The young man squatted when he saw the
puppy move beyond his niece’s reach. “Let me get her for you.”
Hayley frowned when the puppy took off and she was intent on following it but her uncle retrieved the puppy and handed her back to the toddler.
Nathan looked back up when his sister thanked him. “Now Hayley won’t be so lonely in the mornings since Sammy is in pre-school.”
When Gage drove down the driveway, she noticed Lacy gathered with her brother and looked intently at her daughter playing with some moving object. “Okay, guys, nobody gets out before I stop the car completely.”
Her children had observed the activities outside their home and were excited about something. “Hurry.” Derek ordered.
After the Jeep’s motor was turned off, Dani jumped out and ran toward Hayley with Derek right behind. Gage was on the other side of the vehicle and had to help Sammy out of his seat. “Hold on there, little guy.” Gage was a bit concerned when she heard both Dani and Derek scream. Holding Sammy in her arms, Gage hurried around the jeep and that’s when she saw it.
The puppy and three happy kids eagerly playing together while the one in her arms kicked and demanded. “Let me down. I wanna see the puppy.”
Sammy plopped down next to Hayley and tried to pull it on his lap. The four children vied for the puppy’s attention as it ran in and out around them.
The blonde walked up to Nathan and offered a dismal grin. “You just had to go and do it, didn’t you?”
With the blonde glaring at him, Nate decided to remain silent and moved closer to his sister for protection.
If the blonde was upset about Nathan getting the children a new puppy, any concern soon dissolved when Derek ran up to Gage and hugged her. “Thank you, Gage, for getting us the puppy.”
The happy glint in his eyes and the gleeful noises the other children were making sealed the decision that the puppy was here to stay.
Lacy wrapped her arm over Gage’s shoulder after Derek ran back to play with the puppy. “Sweetheart?”
“Mmm….” Gage loved the touch of her woman.
Lacy watched her children play then spared her brother an appreciative look before turning to her partner and brushed a kiss on Gage’s temple. “Never a dull moment, huh?”
Gage thought about the last few weeks after sharing her life story with Lacy and smiled. Those sleepless nights filled with nightmares that began at the start of the summer had turned to beautiful happy dreams as she lay each night in her lover’s arms. The blonde’s smile grew wider and Gage wrapped her arm around Lacy, pulling her closer. “Nope, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The End
Thank you for taking the time to read this story.
The fifth story in the Woman I Love series is titled ‘What A Woman’. With the movie studio finished, Lacy and Gage begin a TV show together and several former cast members drop in as guests on Lacy’s new series. With the children a bit older, Lacy and Gage continue to meet the challenges and joys of being parents.
The WOMAN I LOVE Series has five installments where Lacy and Gage’s lives span over ten years. I hope you come along for the ride. Thanks again, GSB
other stories
by
g. s. binkley
Alternative
The Woman I Love
A Woman Like You
Here Comes My Woman
What A Woman
Murder at Fountain Blue
An Innocent Heart
Short Stories: Just the Way You Like It
Heart of Africa
Mainstream
Angel in Disguise
Murder at Red Rum
Murder at Knifepoint
Once Again, Alexis
Here Comes Jordan
This is copyrighted material, ©2004 Binkley … all rights reserved.
NOTE: There are plans for one final story focused around a grown up Dani Levine Ballant entitled “Dani’s Story”. This story will focus on the Ballant/Levine family after the children have grown. Dani and Lane Grayson meet again and reignite their love affair. Derek, Sam and Hayley are grown up and out on their own. Lacy and Gage are still going strong. Gage continues to write while Lacy has her own art showing.
