Linda S. North - The Dreamer, Her Angel and the Stars
Page 32
ARIEL’S HEART WAS near bursting. Surely she was dying. No one could live through an orgasm that intense. The labored movement of a breathing chest beneath her brought her back to her senses, and she slowly withdrew her fingers, feeling the caress of Kiernan’s warm velvet and then the coolness of the surrounding air.
Kiernan grunted, and Ariel rolled off to nestle by her side.
After a few moments she rose onto her elbow and saw Kiernan regarding her with bright eyes and a radiant face.
Kiernan whispered, “Hi.” Ariel thought it was such a simple word of greeting, but when said by Kiernan, it held a universe of meaning.
“Hi,” Ariel echoed. She positioned Kiernan so her head rested on her shoulder.
Ariel heard what sounded like a contented sigh and Kiernan snuggled up against her, lightly stroking Ariel’s breast. Kiernan said, “I need a few minutes to regain my strength, darling, then I’ll do unto you what you’ve done unto me.” She let out a yawn.
Ariel tried unsuccessfully to smother her answering yawn. She stroked Kiernan’s hair. “Why don’t you sleep while I hold you?”
“I don’t want to sleep,” Kiernan said with a pout in her voice. “I want to make love to you.”
Kiernan was stubborn, but Ariel knew she would coax her to sleep. After all, she had an ally—not even the mighty Kiernan O’Shay could withstand the call of Morpheus. “We’ve been awake for close to twenty hours, and I need to sleep also. I’ll be here when you wake, and you can love me then for as long as you want, and how you want.”
Kiernan lifted her head and gazed at Ariel with eyes full of hope. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
“For always?”
“For always,” Ariel pledged. She bent her head and lovingly kissed Kiernan in confirmation of the promise.
Stroking Kiernan’s back soothingly and nuzzling her hair, she soon heard her breathing smooth into sleep. She gazed overhead at the viewport and beyond to the darkness of space, which stretched like a black, velvet canvas covered with a sprinkling of diamonds, and into a vision of the future.
One day their children would travel to those distant planets on light-speed spaceships built by Kiernan. Somehow, she knew it was the destiny of future generations of O’Shays to walk upon distant planets under night skies with constellations they would name. She kissed the top of her wife’s head and knew she would soon join her in sleep, and in dreams, dreams of the future. And she knew whatever moment of time they were in, they would be together, and it would always be the now.
Epilogue
KIERNAN SLIPPED ON her robe, exited the bathroom, and walked into the sitting room. She smiled when she saw her wife nursing their three-month-old daughter, Celeste, in the rocking chair that had rocked generations of O’Shay babies.
She bent and kissed Ariel tenderly on the lips and knelt by the rocking chair to stroke her daughter’s head, feeling her soft, downy, red hair. She leaned over and bestowed a kiss on top of the hair, letting her lips rest there for a moment.
Celeste was apparently enjoying her breakfast since she frequently made smacking and loud sucking sounds. Kiernan said, “My, enthusiastic little leprechaun, isn’t she?”
A spark of devilment was in Ariel’s eyes as she said, “She inherited that trait from her mother.”
“I agree—but she has my nose.”
Ariel laughed, causing her nipple to disengage from Celeste’s mouth. The unhappy baby protested with a fussy cry until Ariel once again placed the nipple in her daughter’s eager little mouth. This time Celeste clamped down tightly, and Ariel winced and exclaimed, “Ouch.”
Kiernan winced in sympathy. “Are you sure you want to nurse her for another three months? Just wait until the teeth start coming in. Though I have to say I do enjoy sharing this time with you.”
“I enjoy it, too.” Ariel smiled at their daughter and stroked her head before regarding Kiernan with bright eyes. “One day I envision you in this chair with our second daughter and watching you nurse her.”
Kiernan’s face froze. She was at a loss for words for a moment. “Er—you know, we don’t have another ship to name any more children after.”
Celeste Dawn, Kiernan’s replacement for the Celeste, had been completed six months earlier, and Kiernan had insisted on naming their daughter Celeste Dawn, after the new ship.
“Kiernan, that’s the silliest and lamest excuse I’ve ever heard. In another three years our prototype light-speed ship will be complete, and we’ll have another name.”
Now that complete control of Stellardyne was Kiernan’s, she had created a special department devoted to designing the light-speed ship. Joanna had returned to Stellardyne and recently received a promotion to the position of senior executive in charge of data processing. Ariel finished her degree three months before Celeste was born and soon would be working as a design engineer for Stellardyne’s new light-speed ship department. She would work primarily from home, connected by computer to the engineering department.
As for Theodore, Kiernan and Ariel duly chastised him. Whether he was truly sorry, who could tell?
Jack’s investigation into Dwayne Campbell’s background revealed he spent his childhood in an isolated Christian Fundamentalist enclave in Idaho. The State removed him at fifteen, along with the sect’s other children, when discovering they’d been physically and sexually abused. He lived in foster homes until he was eighteen, joined the military for four years, and trained as a fighter spacecraft mechanic. After his stint in the military, Kiernan hired him as part of her race crew.
Jack located Barbara in New Zealand. She and Dwayne had been married for three years. She told Jack that Dwayne was kind and considerate—until he found her diary and read the account of her affair with Kiernan. For Barbara it was an experiment. She said Dwayne was never religious, but suddenly had commenced quoting biblical scripture that condemned homosexuality. He accused her of being a lesbian, blaming Kiernan for changing her into one. He soon became more rabid in his views against homosexuality and seemed obsessed with the topic. She left him a few months later and filed for divorce. That he had severe psychological problems associated with years of brainwashing, and abuse, wasn’t in doubt.
“Ah, do you really want to name our next daughter—Elmer?” Kiernan teased.
“You’re incorrigible. Why not name the ship after our daughter? That’s the way it’s usually done.”
“I like the idea of naming our daughters after the ships we build. Call it a new O’Shay family tradition.” She gazed tenderly up into Ariel’s eyes. “Or we could name the ship after my beautiful wife.”
Returning the tender regard, Ariel said, “That’s sweet, my love, but you promised me the honor of naming our light-speed ship.”
Kiernan recalled that she had made that promise, and that she’d said she would bear their next daughter.
Ariel said smugly, “In fact, I already have a perfect name in mind for this ship, and for our next child.”
Kiernan asked suspiciously, “What name have you picked?”
“Shenandoah,” Ariel said with a smile that lit up her face.
“Shenandoah, daughter of the stars. I think that’s a wonderful name.” It was the perfect name for a starship that would travel to the distant stars, and the perfect name for a daughter who might one day reach the stars in that ship.
That was for future generations. With Ariel, Kiernan had already reached the stars.
The End
About the Author
Linda is a fifth generation Floridian who lives in North Florida with her partner of twenty-nine years, five cats, and a dog. She got her start as an author by writing Star Trek Voyager Fan Fiction under the name of cygirl1. She is an unabashed romantic who believes in happy endings. Her hobbies are writing, Harley Davidson motorcycles, toy steam engines, toy wooden boats, and collecting Star Trek action figures.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Epilogue
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Epilogue