Fugitives of Love

by Lisa Girolami

  However, if the events that had robbed her of so much had never transpired, she wouldn’t be in the arms of the woman who had changed her life. She looked at Brenna, listening so intently to Marie. Her face shone brightly and her hair had remained slightly tousled from their lovemaking earlier that day. Her breath caught in her throat. This wonderful woman, who believed in her and had fought for her, would be next to her when she started a new chapter in her life.

  Sinclair was finally free. Previously, she wouldn’t even contemplate the possibility because it came with the pain of impossibility. But now a simple phone call and a few words from Marie had severed her chains.

  She didn’t quite feel like celebrating, though. Her family had been torn apart. Her cheerless childhood had made her and Topher the products of a cycle of familial violence, molding him into an abuser and driving her into exile.

  Topher could have chosen a different path, but then again, maybe he couldn’t. He had always been such an angry young man, and the tragic decision he’d made that night so many years ago had cemented his fate. She’d never know if he had planned the murder or if the idea had just sprung like a wire worn thin from chafing. She doubted he’d ever reform, but she wished him some kind of peace.

  After a childhood of pain and destruction, happiness sometimes seemed like a long, dark tunnel ride away.

  But she was confident the happiness would come. One day the scars would fade and eventually her guard would fall completely.

  And then she would be whole.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Sinclair walked out onto the rocks, feeling the crunch-pop of kelp under her feet as she surveyed the washed-up fisherman’s ropes and lobster traps. The wind carried a conversation between a Maine lobster captain and his first mate from a few hundred feet offshore as if they stood nearby.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, allowing the morning fog to lightly kiss her face and deposit a salty taste on her lips.

  Some seagulls argued over a beached fish and the sun was attempting to punch through the clouds. The familiar rhythm of the waves crashing and the silence in between sounded so welcoming and reassuring, it seemed to help cleanse her soul of the lifelong burden she had left in Little Creek.

  It had been a long while since she’d collected her sea glass. She looked around, spotting rich deposits in all her secret spots.

  Brenna joined her on the beach. “You’ve got some catching up to do.”

  “Looks like I might need a co-collector.”

  “Looks like you do.”

  “You’ve been trained to find sea treasure so you’d be a good candidate.”

  “I’d like to apply for the job right away.”

  Though they’d have time to collect all the sea glass, she couldn’t help but pluck a beautiful, matchbox-sized piece of lavender and hold it up to the sky. Its rounded shape and calming, dark-lilac color enthralled her.

  “This, and the red piece you found when we met, will make the perfect centerpiece for the window you asked me to make for you.”

  “That day you first took me hunting for sea glass. I remember. And it’s beautiful.”

  “I’m going to call the window Freedom.”

  Brenna wrapped her arms around Sinclair, who rested back against her, feeling her lover hold her tighter.

  “How ironic,” she said.

  “What’s ironic?” Brenna’s breath tickled her ear.

  “If it hadn’t been for my stepfather’s last act of abuse, there wouldn’t have been any blood to prove my innocence, and I wouldn’t have been freed from my own imprisonment.”

  “It’s a fitting irony. And one that I’m sorry you had to endure.”

  “Speaking of fitting, you and I are doing that pretty well, aren’t we?”

  “Yes. A million times, yes.”

  The woman she completely trusted loved her no matter what. Their stay in Little Creek had tested their relationship rather arduously. But, determined, Brenna had struggled and risen above her self-admitted inexperience to finally embrace the emotional tenacity deep inside herself. By believing so completely in their union, she had given Sinclair the strength to overcome her doubts about ever having a successful relationship. And now, they could start the love affair of their lives.

  She turned to face Brenna, her love for this amazing woman overwhelming her, and moved a lock of wind-blown hair from her face.

  “You never gave up.”

  “Never.”

  “And now we can be together.”

  “Forever.”

  About the Author

  Lisa Girolami has been in the entertainment industry since 1979. She holds a BA in fine art, an MS in psychology, and is a licensed MFT specializing in LGBT clients. Previous jobs included ten years as a production executive in the motion picture industry and another two decades producing and designing theme parks for Disney and Universal Studios. She is now a Director and Senior Producer with Walt Disney Imagineering.

  Writing has been a passion for her since she wrote and illustrated her first comic books at the restless age of six. Her imagination usually gets the better of her, and plotting her next novel during boring corporate meetings keeps her from going stir crazy. She currently lives with her partner in Long Beach, California.

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