Insight

by Jennis Slaughter

  Shaking her head, Raelin reached out to tug the blonde closer. “I don’t know, but I’m glad that it did. Come here Darlin’, I need a kiss.”

  Del scooted closer, leaning forward to kiss her witch, letting it linger as long as she could without breathing. “I guess dreams really can come true, huh?” Del grinned at her joke.

  She reached down and brought Raelin’s left hand to her face, kissing the intricate silver ring. “I guess you’re stuck with me now, or as much as you can be according to State law. I could always have papers drawn up if you want.”

  “Yes please. What is mine is yours from now until forever. Do you want to go where it is legal, and get married? I hear that Canada is beautiful or Hawaii,” the witch suggested.

  “Either one is nice, depending on the time of year. Canada gets cold,” Del said, scrunching her face up in distaste. “I can have a lawyer draw up a power of attorney, medical and financial. Not that I have much to leave to you,” Del laughed. She knew she needed to tell Raelin about her own estate and figured now was a good as time as any, since they were on the subject.

  “Good, the sooner, the better.” Raelin smiled. “Am I taking your last name or are we combining or what? You know that we’ll have to have a ceremony for your father and Jenny and Kasey.”

  “We’ll figure it out. Raelin, I can’t draw up those papers for you. You’ll have to get those done yourself. The thing is, you own a lot more than you think.” Del leaned up on her elbow so she was looking down into beautiful dark eyes. “When Jacobs read that will, everything in his estate was left to one person. Your father left you everything, Raelin. All of his properties, his money, and the entire contents of his safety deposit box.”

  “Excuse me...what did you say?” Raelin grunted as she tried to sit up.

  “Careful you’ll hurt yourself,” Del said, helping Raelin sit up. “Arthur Kingsley Senior left you his entire estate.”

  The older woman stared at her for a moment. “He left me everything? He didn’t leave anything to AJ or even to Jenny?”

  “Nothing. He basically said AJ was an embarrassment to his name, and I think he trusted you to give to Jenny whatever you saw fit. I have a copy of it if you want to read it later,” Del said, running the fingers of the hand not holding her up through Raelin’s dark hair.

  “Yeah, I do. I guess I do need to find a lawyer. Is yours pretty good?” Raelin shook her head slightly, trying to wrap her mind around this newest development.

  “Very good. I’ve worked with her since I became a P.I. She’s gotten me out of some tight spots shall we say over the course of a few investigations,” Del said sheepishly.

  Grinning, Raelin leaned forward to give her wife a kiss. “Good, then she knows you well. We have a lot of things that we can talk about.”

  Del groaned at the thought. “Maybe a lawyer in town would be best for you,” she tried weakly, knowing Raelin wouldn’t fall for it.

  “If you don’t want me using your lawyer, I won’t, but I prefer to use someone that one of us trusts, and I don’t trust any of the lawyers here. I don’t know who knew what in this town, and I’m not sure if I want anyone here to know all of my business. Does that make sense?” the brunette asked.

  “Yeah, perfect sense. I don’t have a problem with you using Jessie; I’m just scared to think of the stories that are going to get told.” Del smiled. She leaned down and gave Raelin a deep kiss, reassuring her with the contact.

  Running her hand through silky hair, Raelin wiggled her eyebrows. “Is she an ex?”

  “No, but I may have slept with her baby sister.” Del coughed a little, “Often,” she finished turning bright red.

  “Friend with benefits type?” Biting back a smile, Raelin was shocked that she felt a bit jealous.

  “I guess. It was more I had a huge crush on her older sister and she was the closest I was ever going to get. I’m not proud of that, and it was a long time ago. I know that look you’re trying to hide. It was nothing serious, and Jessie is like a sister to me more now than anything else,” Del said, looking away.

  Reaching out, Raelin turned the blonde face back towards here. “No, don’t go there. You have a past and I understand that. But I have to admit that I’m a little bit jealous. I’ll get over it. You are friends, so you evidently have worked things out so that it’s comfortable for the both of you. I can live with it because I know that you love me and we’re together. So there. Give her a call and ask her when she can see us, or if she can come here.”

  “Well, you can’t make the trip all the way to New Orleans, so I’ll call her in the morning and see if she wants to make a trip out here. I’ll have her grab some clothes out of my closet while I’m at it,” Del said softly, thankful her witch was so understanding. “How are you feeling anyway?” Del asked, her hand resting on Raelin’s flat tummy.

  “I’m okay. Would love to go downstairs and sit on the back porch. Would you mind helping me?”

  “Yeah, sure,” the Chief replied, crawling out of the bed so she could help her witch downstairs. She offered her arm to Raelin and waited as Raelin rose slowly from the bed. “Kasey would probably like to say hi anyway.”

  “I just wonder what they are both going to say once they notice the rings.” Raelin carefully got up off the bed, taking the blonde’s arm, and they slowly make their way downstairs.

  “Good question. Your Goddess is good. Mine fits perfectly. With hands as small as mine, that’s hard to do.” Del smirked as the slowly made progress down the stairs.

  “She is a Goddess, Del. I think she can get almost everything right.” The witch was breathing a bit harder by the time they made it to the bottom of the stairs, and she asked for a minute to catch her breath. “I’ll stay right here if you’ll go and get a glass of tea and have it waiting for me on the porch.”

  “You’ll be okay?” Del asked concerned.

  “I’ll stay right here,” she promised.

  Del nodded and headed to the kitchen to get the ice tea like Raelin had requested. She placed it on the back porch and saw that Jenny and Kasey were already out there cuddling in a chair. She smiled at them and returned back to where she’d left Raelin. “Hey, it’s beautiful out. The sun is just about to set.” Del grinned, offering her arm once more.

  “It can’t be any more beautiful than you, but I’ll look at it anyway.” Raelin grinned.

  “Cheesy, but I’ll take it.” Del laughed as they made their way to the porch. She helped Raelin sit down in the long chair, but slipped in behind her and pulled the taller woman back so she was resting against Del’s chest. “This okay?”

  Turning her head so that the blonde could hear her, the witch replied, “Your arms and legs wrapped around me? Oh yeah! This is more than okay.”

  “Be good, we don’t want to traumatize the kids.” Del laughed, nodding to the younger pair curled up in the chair beside them.

  “Excuse me, but what is that I see on each of your left hands?” Rori was sitting on the railing, flicking his tail around.

  “Uh, well it’s an interesting story actually,” Del started, but then poked Raelin gently in her good side. “Your witch should be able to explain it wonderfully.”

  Kasey looked over at the seemingly random sentence, and figured Del was likely talking to the cat again and had forgotten to think it rather than say it. She was about to turn her attention back to her own girlfriend when a flash of light off metal caught her eye. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked curiously.

  “What are you talking about, babe?” Jenny looked at her lover.

  “Your aunt and her girlfriend are sporting matching rings. On the left hand no less.” Kasey grinned, taking in the flush on the blonde’s cheeks.

  “They’re what?” Jenny sat up and turned towards the older couple. “When...what...how?” She looked all confused.

  Raelin laughed and held out her hand to her niece. “You won’t believe this, but my Goddess gave us her blessing in a dream and when we woke up we bo
th had rings.”

  “So you had a dream, and then when you woke up even Del had a ring?” Kasey asked, trying to wrap her head around it.

  “No, we had the same dream. She offered to bless us, so Raelin proposed. I accepted. We woke up with rings, and we’ll be getting papers drawn up that get us as close to married as this damn country will allow us,” Del explained.

  “Mmm, okay then...I think.” Jenny frowned and leaned back against her Deputy. “So...okay.”

  Raelin laughed. “It’s great Jenny. We had already talked about spending our lives together so when she offered, I knelt and proposed.”

  “Oh well, congrats, you guys. That’s good,” Kasey offered, poking Jenny discreetly.

  “I’m sorry. Congratulations.” Jenny got out of the chair and carefully hugged her aunt and kissed Del on the cheek. “I don’t want you to think that I’m not happy. I just don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone getting married in a dream before.”

  “It’s a little hard to take in. Then again, when have we ever done anything the easy way? We still aren’t really married. That’s why we are having the power of attorney papers written up,” Del explained, kissing the top of Raelin’s head.

  “You guys plan on going anywhere to actually get married?” Kasey asked, allowing Jenny to settle back in her lap.

  “I’ve thrown the suggestion to my wife.” Raelin turned to that she could look at Delaney’s face. “My wife...that sounds so perfect.”

  “I figure we’ll see where we are after the papers are all drawn up. Sadly, no matter where we get married, the state isn’t going to recognize it, not that I need a piece of paper to tell me who I love,” Del said, kissing Raelin’s temple with a smile.

  Sighing contently, Raelin rubbed one of Del’s arms that were around her waist. “I was thinking that Raelin Delacroix sounds pretty good. What do you guys think?”

  “I’d say that sounds pretty good.” Kasey grinned.

  Del paused a little as the words sank in. “You want to take my name?” she asked, awed that she could be so in love with one person.

  “Why not? I’m proud to be married to you.” Raelin turned to look at the blonde. “Is that okay?”

  “No, it’s perfect. I just thought you would want to keep your own name. I would be honored to have you take mine,” Del smiled, giving her witch a kiss.

  Reaching up to caress the blonde’s face, Raelin murmured. “We can do the hyphen bit if you want, but I really want to have your name.”

  “No, I think Raelin Delacroix sounds pretty perfect to me.” The Chief smiled, gently cuddling closer to the woman pressed against her.

  “Can your lawyer friend start the paperwork on the name change too?”

  “I’m sure she can. I’ll ask her tomorrow when I call. She’ll rip me a new one if I call this late and wake the baby.” Del laughed into Raelin’s throat where she pressed a gentle kiss to the bronze skin.

  Jenny glanced at Kasey. “Are they just too cute for words?”

  “Yes, they are.” Kasey smiled, pulling Jenny closer. “We aren’t that bad, are we?” she asked in a teasing tone.

  “Can it, Tonto. You’re worse,” Del mock growled from her place behind Raelin, hard pressed to keep the laughter out of her voice.

  “Children, please.” The witch laughed. “I think that it’s about time for dinner, and I still have an excellent excuse not to cook. So, what’s for dinner, ladies?”

  “Is there anything you’re craving?” Del asked.

  Turning her head so that her mouth was next to Delaney’s ear, she breathed. “Nothing I can say in public.”

  “Lasagna good enough for now?” Del asked feeling her body warm at the suggestion. God, she missed her witch.

  “I can eat Italian.” Raelin added on a bit softer, “And you?”

  “You aren’t going to make this easy for me are you?” Del chuckled softly. Then a little louder, she addressed Kasey. “Can you give me a hand?”

  “Yeah, sure can,” Kasey answered. She coaxed Jenny out of her lap long enough so that she could get up and head for the kitchen.

  Del rose up from her place and headed into the house, returning a few seconds later with the throw blanket from the couch. “Here’s a blanket if you want to stay out here for a bit,” Del offered. “It cools off in the evenings and I don’t want you to get a chill.”

  Reaching up, the brunette grabbed Del’s shirt and tugged her down for a kiss. “You take such good care of me. I know I can’t say thank you enough or I love you enough, but I do.”

  “It’s okay. I feel it every day.” Del smiled. “Call for me if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll be back out when it’s done.”

  With a last loving kiss, Del headed back into the house to start on dinner.

  Sighing happily, Raelin turned to Jenny. “We really hit the jackpot didn’t we? Hey, could you find that journal we found earlier and bring it out here? I want to look something up.”

  “Yeah, one sec. It was in the box we brought back from the hospital.” Jenny hopped up from her chair and returned a few minutes later, an old warn leather bound journal in her hands. She handed it to Raelin and took up her chair again. “What are you looking for?”

  Opening it up, Raelin thumbed through it real quick to see if she could find anything in regards to the house. “I want to see if there are any notes in here about the house, since we both have found our loves here. Even though I knew that Del was on her way, I didn’t know that I would fall in love with her.”

  “You realize I was kidding when I made that comment about the house. You really think it made me fall for Kasey?” Jenny asked curious.

  Shaking her head, the witch was quick to reassure her friend. “No, I think it lets us know that our true loves are nearby. No one or nothing can make you fall in love. The heart rules. You know that.”

  “Yeah, makes us do some pretty crazy things. Finding anything?” the young woman asked, leaning over to take a look.

  “No, nothing yet. It will probably take me a while to find something. This writing isn’t the easiest to read. I think that this dates back to my great grandmother.”

  “You mean Quinlan’s grandmother? That’s ages ago. No wonder the ink is all faded,” Jenny said eyes wide.

  “Yeah, so give me a few, and I’ll let you know what I find out.” Raelin was quickly engrossed in the book as there were spells and family history mingled throughout.

  Seeing her aunt quickly lose herself in the writings, she decided to go help with dinner. “I’m going to go make sure the trouble twins don’t tear the place apart or kill each other. You need anything?”

  “Nuh-uh.” Raelin waved her hand, already amazed at what she was finding.

  A Chapter 27 a

  Del paused outside the doors of the bank and just watched Raelin as she approached. It had been a few weeks since Raelin had returned from the hospital and thanks to the energy of her home, she’d make a quick recovery. They still had to be careful not to tweak her side too much, and she still got tired easily, but generally speaking, it was good to see Raelin up and about again. They’d come into town for an appointment at the town bank. Raelin had finally felt ready to find out what all had been left to her, and Del’s lawyer was scheduled to visit the next morning. She gave Raelin a soft smile. “You sure you want me along? I’ll understand if you want to do this alone.”

  “No, we share everything, both good and bad.” Raelin reached out for the blonde’s hand.

  Del nodded and held the door open for Raelin as they entered hand in hand. They approached the open teller and requested the bank manager. Raelin explained the situation and showed him the proper documents to get the box opened. They were led to a private office and the bank manager advised them he would be back shortly with the deposit box. Del glanced at Raelin, seeing her rubbing her hands on the tops of her thighs nervously. She reached out and stilled the woman’s hands with her own. “You okay?”

  “I don’t know if I’m scared
or what.” The older woman closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her nerves. “It’s silly, I know.”

  “Not really. I’ll be right here, and nothing you find in that box is going to change that. So let’s see what your daddy left you.” Del smiled as the manager placed the box in front of Raelin and excused himself, allowing them privacy.

  It took a few moments for Raelin to lift the lid to the box. Inside were Raelin’s school pictures all the way up to her graduation picture from college. There were also some candid pictures that looked like Quinlan had taken and had given to Arthur. Love letters took up a lot of space, and Raelin set these aside to read later on. Also, there were the deeds to all of the properties in Leroy that the Kingsley’s owned and a large manila envelope sat at the very bottom. The brunette pulled back her hand and just stared at it.

  “Look at you with your pigtails,” Del giggled, looking at the school photos. She looked up and noticed Raelin staring at a large envelope. “Any idea what that is?”

  “Nope, not sure if I want to. Would you mind opening it?” Raelin swallowed. She was terrified that it might contain something about her family that she really didn’t want to know.

  “Yeah, if you want.” Del took the envelope and opened it, sliding the papers out and reading over the page on the top. She scanned it twice, then broke out laughing. “This is good. You know how AJ gambled away all of his money?”

  “Yeah.” Raelin closed her eyes and winced. “I have to pay off his debts?”

  “No, you can thank him for his money. Your father was a silent partner in the casino he played at. He owned fifty-one percent of it,” Del chuckled, handing Raelin the papers. “It’s probably how your father knew about AJ’s bad habits.”

  Raelin’s jaw dropped. “We own a casino? You’re kidding.”

  Del’s eyebrow shot up. “You own a casino, yes. Trust me, the irony of your evil half-brother gambling away his money, and by extension giving it to you hasn’t been lost on me.”

  Shaking her head, Raelin leaned forward to kiss her wife. “No hun, we own a casino. What’s mine is yours.”