Vetted Further

by K'Anne Meinel

  “How’s it going?” Keith asked her that last night.

  “I think I’m doing well, but I won’t know until next week when they’ve had a chance to put in all their evaluations and grade the papers. I feel almost as though it’s too easy, and that worries me.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe you just know your stuff?”

  She nodded in agreement as they sat on the porch waiting for Sean and Traci to get home from school. Rosemary hadn’t made an appearance, and they were both relieved about that but for different reasons. “I think Fey taught me more than I realized by having me help her.”

  “I’m sure you studied too,” he pointed out cheerfully, admiring this daughter-in-law of his. Fey had chosen well. She was smart, loyal, and someone his other children could look up to as well.

  “Oh, yes. It helped a lot after–” she clammed up, not wanting to discuss the loss of her baby. Those thoughts were always near the surface, ready to rear their ugly head and bring up the feelings and emotions she couldn’t avoid.

  “I understand,” he admitted and something in his voice had her looking up. “Didn’t Fey ever tell you we lost a baby?”

  She shook her head. “She never talks about her mother,” she admitted, realizing the truth of that statement.

  “That’s because she doesn’t remember her.” He looked nostalgic as he remembered. His life would have been completely different if she had lived. “It was a case of too many babies too soon,” he admitted. Gulping slightly, he looked around to see if Rosemary was eavesdropping and then said, “It was better for everyone that my parents raised Fey.”

  Allyssa nodded. Fey was wonderful, and unfortunately, it wasn’t due to her father’s influence. She’d often wondered why Keith had been so willing to give up his child to pursue his own life.

  “I just couldn’t handle it…after,” he admitted further and then quieted, not willing to explain further. “Then I met Rosemary, and she had these two boys who needed me.”

  She wanted to point out that those men were very disrespectful of him. From what Traci and Sean had let drop, they were horrible people. Fey had told her a few things too when she had met her step-siblings. They were as nasty as Rosemary, so he had failed there too. She wisely kept her mouth shut and was relieved to see the bus dropping off the two children. They both rose from their seats to greet them.

  The house was livelier with the children home. Rosemary appeared from wherever she had been hiding and after initially greeting the children and playing with them a bit, Keith disappeared.

  Traci was animatedly talking about a project she was doing for school. She wanted to tell her class about the horse rescue and was peppering Allyssa with questions.

  “And the children from 4-H get to pick their own mounts, right?”

  “Well, if the horse is suitable for them. Their parents have a say too, and it helps to socialize the horses, so they can be adopted,” she clarified.

  “Have you let our horses be adopted?” she asked, sounding worried.

  “Those horses that Fey brought over for you to ride went back to their owners, but there are dozens of horses waiting for you and Sean whenever you come to visit.” She smiled at the boy who was playing with some sort of building set in front of the television, and he grinned to show he was listening to their conversation and had heard her.

  They discussed all the things the therapists were doing with the horses too. “Do they teach the horses or are they teaching the people riding them?” the astute little girl asked, sounding intrigued.

  “Both,” Allyssa agreed. “I saw one mentally disabled girl come out of her shell and actually laugh in enjoyment while riding one of the older mares around the paddock. The older horses are sometimes the best for this because they are tired but still viable.”

  “What’s viable?”

  “Capable. In this case, they are living out their lives on the ranch and we need them,” she explained.

  “They’re still dangerous,” Rosemary put in, coming into the room and hearing those last few sentences.

  “So is walking across the street,” Allyssa countered. She wouldn’t be cowed by this rude woman. She’d learned at the feet of some truly manipulative people, so Rosemary didn’t intimidate her in the least. Most of the time she ignored her rudeness. She turned back to Traci, “They are usually a little slower, but they are easier to work with and love the attention.”

  “One of the horses that was with the first batch was so pretty,” she remembered the horses brought in for the horse rescue. It had been so exciting.

  “I think I remember that horse you liked. We nicknamed him Pretty Boy. He was a gelding, and–”

  “She doesn’t need to know about such things,” Rosemary practically hissed.

  “What’s a gelding?” Traci asked at the same time.

  Ignoring Rosemary, Allyssa explained, “It’s a boy horse that can’t make babies anymore. If it’s the one you are talking about, didn’t he have the longest eyelashes you ever saw on a horse?” She asked the last question to distract the little girl from the subject that was agitating Rosemary, who was looking daggers at her guest.

  “Yes, that was the one,” the girl said exuberantly and then launched into further descriptions of the various horses she remembered. Traci was clearly horse crazy.

  After dinner, Allyssa returned to her studies. Rosemary would not allow her into the kitchen to help her clean the dishes, but she let Keith know how she didn’t appreciate the extra work caused by his family. She didn’t care that Allyssa overheard. “She’s telling the children things they don’t need to learn!”

  The test on that final day seemed harder, but Allyssa finished in plenty of time to go over it a second time and was confident in her answers before she handed the test in. She was relieved to have the testing over and looked forward to finding out how she had done the following week. Heading back to Rosemary and Keith’s place, she was surprised to find them arguing in the living room. Trying to head upstairs to the guest room unobtrusively, she was shocked to hear Rosemary turn her viperous tongue on her.

  “It was divine intervention when that sinful baby of theirs was taken!” She was pointing at Allyssa.

  She turned from where she was walking up the stairs, unsure at first that the woman meant her and Fiona’s baby.

  “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Keith shouted back. For a moment, Allyssa thought he was going to strike the hateful woman.

  “People like that,” she was pointing at Allyssa, a triumphant look in her eye, “shouldn’t be procreating. It’s unnatural. Their kind should naturally die out. It’s disgusting.”

  Horrified, Allyssa continued up the stairs, rushing to the guest room, so she could pack and get out of this terrible house. She heard Keith still shouting at the bitch, “That was my grandchild she lost! It wasn’t her fault, and she…” Allyssa stopped listening as she began to cry and threw her things into the bags. Checking twice in the bathroom and around the room to ensure she had everything, she slung her computer bag over her shoulder and then her camera. She had to try twice to zipper the big bag shut since she hadn’t been neat. She wrestled it shut and then tried carrying it with everything else. They were still shouting at each other but had moved from the living room to the kitchen. She struggled to get her things outside to the Jeep. It was raining again but she got them inside and shut the liftgate with a bang. Looking back at the house, she knew she should say goodbye. That would be the polite thing to do, but the tears streaming from her eyes mixed with the rain pouring down. She got in the Jeep and started it up, turning the defogger on high when the windshield immediately fogged up from the heat of her body. She grabbed a tissue to blow her nose and another to wipe the wet rain and tears from her face. She finger-combed her blonde hair away from her face as she drove away from the hateful house. She hadn’t even made the bed and didn’t care. She was sorry she hadn’t said goodbye to the children, but she hoped Keith would understand and
explain.

  Stopping at a gas station, she filled the Jeep, still sniffling over her emotions and hurt feelings. Keith had been so kind and so polite. He didn’t deserve the hate she felt in that house with Rosemary and her controlling ways. She had never met Rosemary’s older sons, and if they were anything like her, she was glad for that. Poor Sean and Traci. They were such sweet kids, and it was awful they had to put up with that vile woman. She headed towards the interstate, plugging in her cell phone, so it would recharge in the car. She tried to reach Fey to let her know she was coming, but it went to voicemail and then she heard, “The mailbox for this number is full. Please try again later.” She sighed. Fey must have been busy. Still, she might see the missed call and call back.

  The phone rang almost an hour into her trip. It was Keith apologizing for what she had walked into. “Oh, I was just anxious to get home to Fey,” she said, letting him off the hook. It wasn’t his fault and they both knew it. “Tell the kids they are welcome to come for Easter vacation,” she assured him, hoping he would also give her excuses to them, so they would understand why she left without saying goodbye. Being the kind-hearted man he was, he accepted her excuses, knowing there was nothing he could do for her. Rosemary just was. He couldn’t change her. He had never even bothered to try.

  She had hours to think, and she found herself crying on and off. The rain stopped for a while and turned to snow, requiring her to concentrate. She was glad she had concentrated when she saw a truck far in front of her slip off the interstate. The cars that were being looky-loos nearly caused another accident, and Allyssa was grateful she’d had the brakes checked before this trip. She braked hard to avoid the collision when someone braked for no reason other than to look at the big rig laying on its side. Looking in her rearview mirror, she saw the cars behind her braking hard and heard the screech of metal when someone was rear-ended. Carefully, she made her way around the jam in front of her before speeding off to get away from them. She had noticed that some cars traveled in packs, and she didn’t want to be within miles of people who could cause more accidents. She concentrated on her own driving and the snow coming down, so she wouldn’t end up in the ditch.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “You’re home! You’re home!” Fey said, twirling her about as she welcomed her into their house. Rex was jumping around, begging to be petted.

  Allyssa laughed, pleased with her reception as her wife helped her in with her bags. She was trying to pet the exuberant dog at the same time.

  “You’ve been crying,” Fey accused, noting the puffy eyes and sad look in her wife’s eyes. “What happened? Did you fail your last test?”

  Allyssa shook her head, feeling the need to cry again and determined not to. But Fey was like a warm blanket enveloping her in her love, and she found herself blubbering out what had happened. She told her about Rosemary’s snide remarks and the fight that lent wings to her exodus from the house.

  “That bitch!” Fey said succinctly, feeling bad for her wife. “I am so sorry you had to be subjected to her. The next time you go for testing you can stay at a hotel. Hang the expense!”

  Allyssa was just happy to be home and in her wife’s arms. She managed to tell her everything about her experiences: from her reception in Denver, to how it had made her feel, and what had happened in Portland.

  “So, overall,” she summed up, “you had a crappy week.” She smiled to show she was teasing as her heart bled for her. It had been a lot emotionally, and she wondered if Allyssa even realized she had fed her while she told her everything that happened. She could already see she was stronger. She was angry and ready to take them all on again. “I do have good news for you,” she continued, handing her a large envelope.

  Gingerly taking the envelope as though it was going to bite her, she pulled out the paperwork it contained. It was a certificate granting the Sweetwater Horse Rescue a 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, which meant that donors would be allowed to write off their contributions of money, food, and supplies. It had been six months since they filed to obtain the non-profit status. Looking up, her eyes filled with tears again, but this time the tears were joyful. “We can announce this on the blog!” she said ecstatically.

  “I thought that would cheer you up,” she said, smiling. She was thrilled when Allyssa wrapped her arms around her again and began to kiss her exuberantly.

  “I am cheered,” she stated, and her hormones surged at that moment. Suddenly, she realized she had this beautiful, strong, and exciting woman in her life and couldn’t wait to express herself as she rained kisses down on her.

  “Oh, yeah? How cheered?” she teased, kissing her back for all she was worth, pleased to see she had gone from crying over her stepmother-in-law to this.

  “Let’s make a baby,” she whispered huskily.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, pulling back, startled. “We need to determine the time…”

  “I feel intensely hormonal, and I want to try. I don’t care about checking every moment to see if I’m fertile. And not only me…I want you to try too,” she said, still holding Fey close and looking deeply in her brown eyes. She’d thought about it on the way home. She wanted a baby with Fey, and she wanted Fey to become pregnant too. She wanted a family with this wonderful woman.

  “Wait a moment. We have so much going on,” she gestured at the paperwork for the horse rescue. Then, she pulled back to look at her wife and the pretty blonde made her heart melt with want and need. At that moment, she wanted to give her anything she desired.

  “That’s why we shouldn’t wait. Not because I’m sad over losing our baby but because we are young and healthy and fertile. Let’s try!”

  Fey knew it wasn’t sound reasoning, but she couldn’t deny her young wife anything. They retrieved the vial of sperm they had been saving in the cryo-tank and a syringe with a tube. Laying everything on the bedside table, they began to make love, each of them forgetting for a moment they were planning on inseminating. Instead, they were simply enjoying the thought of being together again after so long away and apart.

  The terrible things that Allyssa had gone through that day and week subsided from her consciousness as she enjoyed her wife’s body, making love to her in earnest. She was familiar with the things she had been taught by this experienced woman.

  Fey would never tell Allyssa how much she had worried she might not come home. Her week had been terrible too but only because of her own troubled thoughts. She’d worried time and again that Allyssa’s family would convince her to stay in Denver. She hadn’t been wrong in thinking they would try. She also hadn’t anticipated how nasty Rosemary would be and was determined to call her father to talk about that, but for now, she was enjoying feeling her wife’s body on her own.

  “You are so sexy,” she murmured as she made love to her. “Your scar is not ugly, it’s a badge of honor. You came through everything and survived,” she said, touching the scar her wife had hidden from her for months. It did look bad, but time would fade the marks. She had almost lost her wife and if losing their baby had been the sacrifice, she willingly gave it.

  “I shouldn’t hide things from you,” she murmured as Fey’s hands caressed her nearly naked body. Their clothes seemed to drift off rapidly as they made love in earnest.

  “No, never,” she agreed as she buried her face against Allyssa’s breasts, breathing in her scent and enjoying the fact she could. She was so soft and nubile. And to Fey, she was beautiful.

  “Oh, yes,” she said as she felt the strong, work-roughened hands caress up her long legs. She returned the favor, her fingertips lightly caressing along the strong shoulders she revealed below the plaid shirt. She quickly stripped the shirt and then the bra, pleased to see how girly and lacey it was as she flung it to the floor. These deserve homage, she thought as she played with the breasts that were revealed.

  Fey groaned as the soft hands enveloped her breasts. She knew she was probably due for her period next week because they were so tender, so aroused,
and felt swollen. At a slight squeeze, she shuddered with desire for her wife, grinding against her, letting her know how much she wanted her. She smiled as she kissed along her wife’s neck and her wife’s leg slipped between her own. She lightly humped it.

  Allyssa couldn’t get naked fast enough and helped Fey peel the layers off as she made love to her. Smiling at how well they had this down, she cupped Fey between the legs and squeezed, pleased when Fey’s eyes closed and she groaned loudly. Her fingers slipped between the folds as she felt the wetness. Gauging the moisture between them, she hissed in her breath as she felt a gush against the palm of her hand. I need to taste, she thought as she began to kiss down Fey’s muscular body, stopping only briefly to pay homage to her wife’s breasts before continuing along her path.

  Encouraging her wife as she made her way down, Fiona twisted slightly, so she too could taste her wife, nuzzling her way between the younger woman’s legs as she arrived between hers. Together, they pleasured each other, licking, sucking, and playing with the wetness each was generating. Fey couldn’t help herself. Her fingers were inexorably drawn inside her wife’s wetness, and she began to plunge, squeezing her buttock with her other hand as she held her in place.

  Allyssa couldn’t believe Fey would sixty-nine with her. She’d wondered about this position for so long and found it even better than her imaginings. She used her tongue to dive inside Fey’s body, tasting the wetness and gulping greedily at it. She had to hold her breath to work the folds and tongue her, the flesh smothering her nose as she gasped for air. She could feel her own crisis rising, and just as she began to buck against her wife’s face, she heard Fey’s gasp of surprise as she came in Allyssa’s mouth.