Keeping Faith

by T J Vertigo

  “Visitor?” Reece looked towards the guest room. “Who the hell….”

  “THERESA? IS THAT YOU?”

  Reece paled. “Oh no. No, no, no, no. Not your mother!”

  “You tell her to leave.” Faith growled.

  “It is you! Come here and give your mother-in-law a hug!”

  Reece visibly shrunk and shuffled over for a hug. “Hi, Mrs. A. What brings you here?”

  “Oh, Theresa, you could use a shower, dear.”

  “She just got back from the gym. She likes the gym.” Faith mentioned.

  Reece stiffened.

  “My, you’re so tense! Is everything alright?” The older woman stepped back and gave Reece the once over. “You look … well… so big. Do you really think you need to go to the gym so much? ”

  “Yeah, mom, she’s a certified gym rat. And I mean rat.” Faith narrowed her eyes at her wife.

  Reece narrowed hers back.

  Mrs. Ashford looked between the both and raised an eyebrow. “What is going on here?”

  Just then the door bell rang, earning another narrow eyed glare from Reece. Faith opened the door and jumped back.

  “CONGRATULATIONS!” Then they started to sing. “For she’s a jolly good actress, for she’s a jolly good actress, for she’s a jolly good actressssssssss ….”

  Faith made a frightened face as her mother came to the door. “Mom! You remember Cori and Violet?”

  Cori immediately thrust a box behind her back and Violet let go of the balloons she was holding. Reece watched as they floated to the high ceiling and stayed there.

  “What’s going on? Why are we celebrating?” Marsha asked in excitement.

  “Nothing!” Faith blurted.

  Cori walked sideways into the kitchen, passing the box to Reece who frowned and opened it. Her eyes widened as a dozen cookies shaped like breasts one nipple pierced stared back at her. She slammed the box shut just as everybody filed into the kitchen. Putting the box on top of the fridge she gave Cori an annoyed stare. “We’ll just keep them here for now.”

  Faith shot her wife a questionable look and Reece shook her head.

  “Girls, I demand to know what is going on.” Marsha said, hands on hips.

  “Well, you see, I am making a movie.” Faith started.

  “Oh that’s wonderful!”

  “Ma, wait, it’s a lesbian movie.” Faith paused waiting for a reaction.

  Marsha cocked her head. “Yes….”

  “See, there’s some content, some uh," Faith looked at everyone in the room for help, no one offered.

  “What kind of content, dear?”

  “Sex, ma.”

  Marsha’s eyes widened. “Oh. I see.” She sat down on a kitchen chair and sucked her lips into her mouth.

  The room was dead silent.

  Faith sat down across from her mother. “Mom, it’s okay, really. It’s not porn. It’s integral to the story…”

  “Yes, I can see where sex is integral to a story.” Marsha said sarcastically.

  “Mrs. A, If I may,” Cori started, “Faith thought long and hard about this and believe me, it was a big issue. She wouldn’t do anything embarrassing to you.”

  “Are you nude?”

  Faith swallowed. “A little.”

  Mrs. Ashford sat in thought. Turning to Reece she looked inquisitively.

  Reece threw her hands up and shrugged. “Hey, I didn’t write it, I have to deal with it too.”

  Finding an ally, Marsha nodded at Reece. “I see. And you’re alright with this.”

  “Actually…” Reece began.

  Faith cut her off. “Yes, we had a long talk and she’s okay with it.”

  Reece curled her lip. “Yeah, sure.”

  Marsha wasn’t buying it. She’d have to talk to Reece alone.

  After Cori and Violet left, and Mrs. Ashford getting unpacked, Faith and Reece sat at opposite sides of their bed and glared.

  “I can’t believe you took that job! What are you trying to prove?” Faith asked angrily.

  “Me? I’m just making a little money.” Reece replied innocently.

  “Oh, suddenly you’re wanting for money?”

  Reece stood up. “No, but maybe I want some extra to buy you a present.”

  Faith stood too. “Bullshit! You’re being spiteful. Don’t give me that shit.”

  Reece stood silently. Was she? She had to be. She had no interest in making more money. Not ready to admit it, she stayed quiet.

  The bed between them they just looked at each other. It was uncomfortable and Reece didn’t know how to handle it.

  Faith watched in frustration as Reece began gathering clothes. “Where are you going?”

  “You heard your mother, I stink. I need a shower.”

  “We’re not done yet!”

  “I gotta go.”

  Faith growled and threw herself on the bed. Angry at Reece, she threw her wife’s pillows on the floor and stared at them. “Stupid! You’re being stupid!” she yelled into the bathroom. Reece closed the door and turned on the shower. Faith sighed and rolled over. Her mother was downstairs, no sense in screaming.

  Reece let the hot water run over her head. She stood there a long time, not moving, just letting the water run over her ears, her eyes, blocking out sound, blocking out sight. She wanted to stay like that forever, the water drowning out reality. She bent her head, breathing through her mouth, she reached out and leaned both hands on the wall in front of her; her head hung lower. Spite. It was spite. Faith was right. Why else would she set herself up to work with half naked women, she had to touch. After the tirade Faith threw at first mention of the job prospect, it was clear as day she didn’t want Reece to do it. Why? Reece felt like an ass. Again. Why do I keep doing this? I don’t want to fight with Faith. I don’t like how it feels when she’s really mad at me. And she is mad. Fuck.

  Faith opened the bathroom door silently and looked in. Reece’s posture told the story of her thoughts. She knows she’s wrong. Maybe she didn’t realize it when she did it, or she wouldn’t look so… defeated. Faith silently left the room and went back to the bed. She sat there and thought about her wife and how she reacts to things. Reece was acting out, she always acts out. Would it be so bad to let her do this training? Reece would never do anything to lose Faith’s trust. That was a given. It would also allow Reece the opportunity to feel a sense of satisfaction for herself if she’s letting Faith do her thing. Maybe Faith can accept that if she’s going to be simulating actual sex with Alicia Alvarez, Reece can train a few women. Fair is fair after all. Isn’t it?

  When Reece finally emerged from her shower she looked sad. She was surprised to see Faith sitting on the bed. “You’re still here?”

  Faith smiled. “Come here, sit down.”

  Reece complied. “Faith, listen, I’m being stupid. I probably did do this out of spite. I don’t have to do it. I can call…”

  Faith shushed her wife. “No need, baby. You do this. I think you need it. Besides, I’ll be gone all the time and you’re right. A hobby is a hobby.”

  Reece’s jaw dropped. “What just happened when I was in the shower? You were so mad?”

  “I thought some.” Faith climbed onto her wife’s lap and faced her. “I trust you. I was also being selfish. If I’m going to be doing that thing we can’t talk about, then why can’t you earn a few dollars and get me a present.” Faith kissed Reece’s nose.

  Reece pulled a face. “What’s going on?”

  Faith laughed softly. “I don’t want to fight. Not with you. Not over this.”

  Reece’s face was the picture of relief. “Me neither. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  “The next little while is going to be so stressful for both of us, with me gone more than not, and making the movie. You’re going to be home obsessing over it. It’s going to be hard on us. We need to do things together, not against each other.”

  Reece’s heart burst. “You just said what I was thinking. Are you sure you w
ant me to work at the gym? I don’t have to.”

  “It’s fine.” Faith kissed Reece’s lips. “I have trust and you won’t hurt me.”

  “I try.” Reece grinned and looked down. “I can see your tits.”

  Faith looked down too. “I should put on clothes now that mom’s here. Your shirt doesn’t cut it.”

  Reece wrapped her arm tightly around Faith. “Or you can take that off and we can have make-up sex.”

  Faith leaned in for a kiss that lasted a long time. She hummed in delight, pressing her body against Reece, letting her weight lean into her. “Tempting, but mom is here.”

  “I’ll be quiet.” Reece countered, kissing Faith again, sensuously, convincingly. She held her wife’s bottom lip in her teeth and growled playfully.

  Faith melted. Groaning, she pushed Reece down onto the bed and resumed the kiss, hard and hot. She felt her libido rising fast. “Mmm, we have to stop. God.”

  Reece smirked. “To be continued?”

  “Oh, you bet your ass.” Faith replied, swatting said body part as she got off of her wife. “I need to shower too. Keep mom busy?”

  “Thanks a lot.” Reece said with a frown.

  “I love you baby.”

  Reece pursed her lips and started to get dressed.

  When Faith finished her shower she came downstairs to find Reece sitting on the couch with Smudge. “I suggest you go look in on mom.” She pointed to the kitchen.

  Faith, curious, went to do just that. Her eyes bugged out of her head. “Mother! Where did you get that?”

  Marsha looked down at her cookie and took a sip of tea. “I was in the mood for a sweet and found these. You know, they’re quite good with a cup of tea.”

  Faith watched as her mother brought the breast shaped cookie with the pierced nipple to her mouth and cringed. “This is wrong on so many levels.”

  Reece laughed from the living room. “She likes them Faith.”

  “Shut up you.”

  Reece appeared in the kitchen and opened the box of cookies. She took one out and licked it. “Mmm, sweet.”

  Faith walked out of the kitchen in a huff, as Reece and Marsha laughed.

  Reece bit into the cookie and chewed. “You’re right, not bad at all.”

  Mrs. Ashford got up to top off her tea. “Would you like some dear?”

  Reece stood, “No, thanks, I have coffee on.”

  “Sit, I’ll make it for you.”

  Reece sat. “Thank you.”

  “So, Theresa, what’s really going on with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Mrs. Ashford gave Reece the coffee. “With this movie thing.”

  Reece sighed. “Faith is an actress, she has a right to do whatever she wants in a movie. I am simply here for support.”

  “Bullshit. That sounds rehearsed. I know you, young lady.”

  Reece raised both eyebrows at the older woman’s outburst. “Mrs. A, it’s not going to be easy for me, but I have to accept it. We fight if I don’t.”

  “A little fight never killed anyone.”

  Reece slumped in her chair. “I don’t want to fight any more. I can’t tell her not to. It’s her decision.”

  Mrs. Ashford sighed. “I suppose. She’ll only resent you if you force her not to.” She sipped her tea and thought. “But sex, on the big screen…. How will I survive that?”

  “Tell me about it.” Reece agreed.

  “My husband will have a stroke. I can’t tell him this. He’ll just die on the spot.”

  Reece snorted.

  “No, Theresa, what will I do?”

  Reece shrugged. “I have no idea. Let Faith tell him.”

  PART 13

  MRS. ASHFORD DECIDED that the girls just don't eat right and decided to cook dinner. She drove Reece crazy until she agreed, reluctantly, to take her to the grocery store. While there, Reece pushed the cart while the older woman picked over vegetables.

  Reece sighed and shifted from one foot to the other. Shopping wasn't her thing. It never was. Pushing the wagon was torture.

  "What do you think about this cucumber?" Marsha waved the vegetable in the air in front of Reece.

  The club owner smirked evilly. I can't tell you what I think about that cucumber, she thought. "It's okay." She replied, straight faced.

  "Good, you girls don't eat enough vegetables. In my day, you ate three square meals, all the food groups were involved. Nowadays, you drive through and buy a burrito to eat while you drive. So unhealthy."

  "Mrs. A, we do eat well. I'm always on Faith's case about food."

  "Really?" Marsha looked shocked.

  "Yeah. I have to eat well to maintain my body weight."

  "About that, dear." Mrs. A looked Reece over. "Don't you think you have gone overboard a little bit with the muscles? I mean, it's so butch."

  Reece rolled her eyes. "I like it. Faith loves it."

  Mrs. Ashford, not wanting to know any more than that, shook her head. "Tell me something, why would Faith want to do this movie?"

  Reece shrugged. "She just wants to."

  "I don't understand. It's bad enough the whole world knows her business. Every time you or she is on the cover of a magazine, Quinn is miserable for a week. The men at the lodge stopped talking about it, but he knows what they think. You know, he defends you."

  Reece dipped her head in acknowledgement. "That's pretty cool of him."

  "You aren't kidding! I never thought he'd come around. But he did, and now this. This is going to push him over the edge. His little girl, doing those things in a movie. Oh dear, I can't even think about it."

  The club owner felt very sympathetic. After all, she didn't want to think about it either. She despised the whole idea, but for Faith's sake, tried to show a different outlook. She wished the whole movie would go away. She felt awful when Faith told her they accepted her changes. She secretly wished they turned her down and Faith would scrap the whole thing. Life would be so much easier. Reece tried very hard to seem supportive and she really was, to an extent. She supported Faith's career, even though it put both of them in a very large spotlight on occasion. She wanted her wife to succeed at fulfilling her dreams. It made Faith so happy when she got her first acting job. Reece couldn't love her more when she gushed about it. Now, she almost regretted getting her that first job. Almost. She couldn't regret it entirely.

  "Dear?"

  "I'm sorry Mrs. A, I was daydreaming."

  "I can imagine what you were thinking. Theresa, honey, can't we talk Faith out of this?"

  Reece wished she could. "Nope. I tried. I really tried, but she's very interested in the script as a whole. Besides, she'll hate me if I tell her not to do it."

  "But she'll listen if you do."

  "Yeah, she will. That's where it gets complicated. I can't forbid her, you just can't do that to a woman like Faith. It'll make her do it even more. Look, Mrs. A, I hate it. I hate it more than anything, but I won't tell Faith how much. Let her do it and get it over with. Then we can forget it."

  "Someone still has to tell Quinn. Will you?"

  Reece screeched to a halt. "No way!"

  "I can't tell him, and Faith wouldn't dare."

  "How do you know? I think Faith should be the one to tell him. After all, she's the one doing it."

  Mrs. Ashford nodded. "I think you're right."

  Quinn Ashford sat back in the chair and smoked his cigar. He loved it when his wife visited the girls. It gave him a chance to sit around in his underwear, and smoke his cigars. Marsha made such a fuss over the smell. He grinned and sighed. It was quiet. He liked it, so he made a face when the phone rang. He let the machine answer it and listened to the message.

  "Quinn dear, there's something happening that you're not going to like. I suggest you put out that horrible cigar and call your daughter. Oh, and wash the dishes."

  Mr. Ashford frowned. What could be going on? It wasn't Reece, that he was certain of. Sure, the club owner was gruff on the outside, but he was convi
nced she was completely in love with his daughter, and protected her. Boy did she protect her. He knew it ate her up as much as it ate him up to see a tabloid declaring some lie or another. He knew the tall woman felt as if she failed to protect Faith from the enemy. It took Quinn a while to accept that Reece took over where he left off in taking care of his little girl.

  Maybe the girls are fighting? He thought. Then again, Marsha would have gotten involved in that and didn't need to tell him. Curious, he stared at the phone.

  Faith watched sideways while her mother and Reece seemed to become best friends. They chatted as they unpacked the groceries, discussing which way to make the squash. She was very leery as to what happened on their trip. Reece was extremely reluctant to go and now they acted like they were best buddies. Oddly jealous, she started to unpack with them.

  "Faith, did your father call?"

  "No, ma, was he supposed to?"

  "Hm." Mrs. Ashford began washing vegetables. "He could."

  Faith eyed her mother suspiciously. "Mother, did you tell him about the movie?"

  Marsha blinked a few times. "Me? Oh, no, you're going to tell him about your little sexcapade you call a movie."

  "Mother!" Faith looked to Reece for help and her wife raised her eyebrows and looked away. "Oh, I get it. I get it now. You guys ganged up together. Fast friends with a common agenda. Well, fine!"

  Reece shrugged. Mrs. Ashford pursed her lips.

  "This isn't fair. Reece, you were supportive of me!"

  "I still am. But I don't have to like it."

  Faith scowled. "Be that way, the both of you."

  Reece smirked. Faith was cute when she pouted. "C'mere."

  Faith turned her back. "No. You two be friends. I'll go to Cori's."

  Reece panicked. "No, don't go." She went to Faith's side and wrapped an arm around her. "We're just playing. Don't go to Cori's. Okay?"

  "Okay, but you better be playing."

  "I am. I swear."

  Mrs. Ashford narrowed her eyes at Reece. "Traitor."

  "I have to share a bed with her Mrs. A." The tall woman wrapped both arms around her wife and Faith brought her hands up to hold Reece's biceps. "See? She loves my muscles."