SERENDIPITY by Rocky
CHAPTER TWO
The seat was a cold metal folding chair. The plate of small finger sandwiches and the cup of lukewarm tea were sitting forgotten in her lap. Her gaze swept around the room at the mixture of family and friends who were all trying to equally ignore her presence or glare directly at her. 'I wonder if it will be like this at my funeral?' She thought angrily. 'Will they all get together and pretend like they didn't treat me like shit for the last six years. Or will they even bother to show up?' She kept catching herself looking for the one friendly face she knew should be there and the reality would crash down on her …She is gone. Aunt Christen was not there to shield her anymore, acting as a buffer between her and the cold disdaining family that barely tolerated her presence. She calmly rose and walked across the room to set her untouched lunch on the sideboard and left behind parents, sister, and assorted dirty looks without so much as a single backward glance.
"Mrs. Winters, there's a call for you." Said the pleasant young secretary to the tall dark-haired woman standing in the boardroom. "You can take it in the next room."
"Thank you Gwen, …Gentlemen if you will excuse me I think you find everything else you may need in the prospectus and I will be happy to answer your questions after you have looked it over." All heads in the room turned to watch the striking executive walk into the adjoining office.
"Rochelle Winters speaking." She said, answering the telephone.
"Rory, I …I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time." Amy's voice asked, sounding tired and forlorn.
"No! Not at all, as a matter of fact I hope to be done here today." Rory said with a look of concern falling across her face. "Are you OK? You sound terrible."
"Just a little tired I guess. I'm sorry for calling you at work but I really needed to hear a friendly voice right now."
"You go ahead and call me anytime you like. I may be the company black sheep but I still swing a pretty mean sword if you get my meaning." Rory's voice softened. "Things have been pretty rough haven't they?"
"Yea, I suppose you could say a root-canal would have been much more fun. I'm staying in my Aunt's house until the reading of the will and then I guess I will have to leave when they come to fight over the furniture."
The young woman sounded so despondent Rory wished she could crawl through the phone line and comfort her. "Would it be OK if I came out there to visit you for a few days?" She asked. "If things go the way I expect them to, I will be done a week early, and I don't relish spending the next week sitting by the pool at the Holiday Inn."
"Oh Wow! That would be so great!" All weariness left Amy's voice. "When could you make it out?"
"You could meet me at the airport tonight if you like." Rory said delighting at the change in the voice at the other end of the line.
Amy hopped from one foot to the other. She was so excited she could not keep still. She watched intently as the people filed out of the gate, searching for the tall dark-haired wonder that she had met in an airport just like this one only a few weeks before. Therefore, when a pair of warm hands slipped over her eyes, she almost jumped out of her skin.
"Miss me?" A soft voice whispered in her ear.
Amy squealed with delight and spun around to embrace her friend. She clasped her tight like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood, laughing and crying at the same time.
"I take that as a Yes." Rory said beaming down at the younger woman in her arms. Gods! She was practically vibrating. "I missed you too!"
They stood like that for several minutes taking comfort in each other's physical presence when Amy noticed something was different. "Hey, you are dressed like a real person." She said stepping back to admire the woman before her. Rory was wearing a pair of jeans and a calf skin jacket over a tee shirt, nothing like the rumpled suit she was wearing the last time they met.
"I packed all my armor in my suit case." The tall woman quipped. "This time I am on vacation!"
"Ah I see, my knight in faded blue jeans." The small blond woman said wistfully. She did like what she saw. If anything, Rory looked (impossibly) younger than the last time. She was relaxed and happy, and the fact that she had her long dark hair in a soft braid falling down her back, aided in a very youthful look. "It is so great to see somebody who is actually happy to see me!"
"Happy isn't the half of it!" Rory said smiling and linking her arm with that of her beaming companion. "Come on, let's go get my bags and you can show me what there is to see in this home town of yours."
Amy chattered happily as they rode back into town, pointing out local landmarks and the little stories that went with them. Rory smiled as she watched the younger woman gesture first with one hand, then the other; barely keep one hand on the steering wheel as she conducted her animated tour. The older woman was content to merely listen, nod and make appropriate noises, as she deemed necessary. Mostly she was enjoying the exuberance of her young companion more than the passing scenery.
"Here we are." Amy said as she guided the car into the driveway beside a small two-story house. "Home sweet, temporary, home."
"Your Aunt sure must have had a green thumb." Rory remarked, admiring the neat flowerbeds and carefully trimmed hedges that bordered the property.
"You should have seen it in the spring. After Uncle Paul passed away, Aunt Christen spent all her time out here in the yard. She said that it helped to pass the loneliness by having her hands in the earth." Amy smiled sadly. " She loved gardening almost as much as she loved Uncle Paul, it helps to think that they are together again."
"I wish I could have known them. I can hear the love in your voice when you talk about them. They must have been very special."
"It was here that I learned what 'unconditional love' meant." Amy said gesturing at house. "This was more of a home to me than the house I grew up in…" The small woman hugged herself against the growing pain. "I miss her so much!"
"Hey it's okay." Rory said softly gathering Amy into her arms. "I'm here." She stroked the younger woman's soft blond hair as she sobbed uncontrollably. "I'll bet you haven't let yourself cry until now, have you?"
"I didn't want to give them the satisfaction." She sobbed, her voice muffled in the lapel of Rory's jacket.
'Those bastards!' Rory thought. She hugged the crying girl even closer wishing she could take away the sorrow that crushed the heart of the angel in her arms. Rocking back and forth slowly, she let Amy cry all the tears that must have been held inside for far too long.
Finally, Amy came to herself, realizing that they were still standing in the driveway. "Thank you." She whispered reluctantly easing herself from the embrace. She reached out and clasped Rory's hand. "Come on, I want to show you the house before all the carpetbaggers steal away all the memories. We will get your stuff after the tour."
The inside of the house was a direct opposite to the yard outside. Rather than linear and orderly, it was a riot of stuffed furniture and curios, and the books! Shelves and shelves of books, that lined every available wall. Amy spent the better part of an hour leading Rory from one room to the other showing her all the treasures that had come from every conceivable part of the world.
"I saved the best for last." Amy said leading Rory into a small room. It was a sunny little bedroom, with a window seat in one wall. "This was my room when ever I came to stay with Aunt Christen. Whenever things got too tough at home, this was my hideaway. I used to spend hours sitting in the window reading or writing. I guess it was here that I decided I would become a writer."
Smiling Rory turned around slowly taking in the entire aura of the room. It was a quiet reflection of the young woman before her, small, beautiful, and sunny. "Thank you for sharing this with me. I feel now like I've known you forever." It felt right somehow. Rory knew that they had only known each other a short time, meeting in the airport and a few calls over the telephone but she could not get over how comfortable she felt in the company of the young woman.
"You feel it too, don't you?" Amy asked walking over to sit on the day bed in the corner. "Like we were supposed to meet, kind of a Kismet thing."
"I knew it the second after you left the lounge in the airport." Rory confessed. "It was as if I'd finally found something I'd been searching for my whole life only to have it torn away." Her eyes met with sparking green ones across the room. "You are all I've been thinking about every hour of the day. I had to see you again, to know if it was real or if I was just fooling myself."
"Well do I seem real enough to you now?"
Rory went over to Amy and knelt down bring them eye to eye. "Just one more thing to make sure." She whispered. Bending forward, she pressed her lips to that of the younger woman, the start of a slow sensual kiss, which was not going to be interrupted by unwelcome witnesses or boarding calls.
Not breaking the embrace Amy reached out, drawing the beautiful woman in her arms, on to the seat beside her. This time they were unhurried more of a slow, soft search. She nibbled at other woman's full lower lip and then traced both lips with the tip of her tongue. Rory reciprocated by sucking gently, pulling the questing visitor in, sliding over it with her own tongue, tasting, feeling, gathering each sensation and returning the same.
"Oh wow!" Amy sighed and nuzzled at the other woman's neck, she placed small kisses all along her jaw line and whispered in her ear. "That was the most real thing that I have ever felt."
Rory's heart hammered in her chest. She wanted nothing more than to surrender to the multitude of new feelings that coursed through her entire being. Something though, was holding back not letting the obvious answer spring to her lips. Hindsight was telling her that although she wanted nothing more than to explore a possible new relationship with this incredible young woman, she should slow down, especially considering the vulnerable state she was in. "Hey let's go get my bags and get some dinner." She whispered into her ear, " I'm starved!" Neatly sidestepping the entire question.
A quick look of disappointment skirted quickly across the young woman's eyes turning immediately apologetic. "Oh damn, I'm sorry. It must nearly eight and you let me babble at you for the past hour."
"It's nothing," Rory said with shy kiss to the end of the button nose, before she stood up, "There must be a MickyD's around this neighborhood somewhere."
"Oh no you don't!" Amy admonished. "Come on, Tonight I am going to cook for you the best home cooked meal you have had in weeks." She jumped up and headed out of the room for the kitchen.
Rory just laughed following the younger woman from the room. "Well that won't be difficult considering that I haven't had a home cooked meal in the last year."
"Do you need help?" The older woman asked, walking into the kitchen. "I could mash or dice something. I'm a little rusty at the culinary thing but I do remember that you have to slice and dice before the fire part."
"No this is my party, you just go get your bags and I'll do the rest." The younger woman said over her shoulder. "I want this to be special. I don't get to cook for someone very often and I'm going to make this the very best meat-loaf you have ever tasted!"
"Meat loaf huh… That sounds exotic."
Rory was mildly surprised to find that meat loaf was really something grand compared to the long menu of room service and take out she was used to. Amy watched appreciatively as the older woman asked and received seconds while mumbling 'Mmm' noises over every bite. "That was great!" Rory sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I never dreamed something called meat loaf could be so good. You have definitely pushed my appetite into the exercise zone. What do you say we take a walk to wear down what has got to be the best meal I've ever had."
Amy blushed from the praise and started to clear the dishes. "Sure, let's wash the dishes and I'll show you the neighborhood. You want to wash or dry?"
Dishwashing was also a new experience for the tall dark woman she enjoyed its simplicity and reveled in a task that most people would have considered a chore. Chatting quietly about the various aspects of creating the perfect meat loaf, the dishes were soon clean and back in the cupboard.
Walking hand in hand in the gathering twilight the two women had fallen into an easy silence. The crisp air was still and cold as the last of winter rose on the face of the rising moon. Rory smiled down at the smaller hand that was clasped in her own larger one. "Harland would never do this, just walking and holding hands. He was never one for the small pleasures. I think that even suggesting such a thing would have been something alien to him." She smiled again and kissed the knuckles of the hand that fit so perfectly into her own.
"Harland?" Amy looked up shyly into a pair of crystal blue eyes. "Your ex-husband's name is …Harland." She smothered a grin with her free hand. "How so you shorten a name like that, Harl, Harry, Arly?" She said chuckling.
"No nothing like that, that just 'Harland' and nothing else." Rory mused, "Although I did shorten it when he wasn't around. Hardly, Hardly ever home. Hardly ever there at all." Her sad smile reflected all that been wrong with her doomed marriage, the lies, the anger, the terrible loneliness and sense of failure that all preceded her divorce. If there ever had been any love for either of them, it had all been eaten away by bitterness. A sly thought popped unbidden into Rory's head and she chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Amy asked confused with her companion's sudden change in emotion.
"I was just thinking that, Harland has his blond…" Rory gave the small hand a squeeze, "…and I have mine." She chuckled again. "I think the irony is that mine is much more beautiful, and I'm willing to bet that you are a natural blond!"
The smaller woman stopped walking and stepped in front of her friend reaching out for her other hand. Pulling the two hands behind her, she leaned in resting her cheek on the taller woman's chest. "Thank you." She said softly.
"You're welcome, I guess, but what did I do?" Rory asked placing a kiss on the blond curls under her chin.
"For making me feel special by saying that I'm beautiful; calling me 'Yours'." Amy reached her arms up around Rory's neck. "I need to know that I'm important to somebody right now."
"Does this mean that you are not a 'natural blond'?" Rory teased.
"Oh you!" Amy grinned, nuzzling into the older woman's neck. "Don't worry, your bet is safe, all the blond on me is natural." She leaned back catching Rory's surprised smile in a long hungry kiss.
After coming out of the embrace they continued on their loop around the neighborhood finally arriving back at the house. Rory gave up her coveted possession of Amy's hand so she could unlock the door. "I feel like I'm bringing you home from a date." She said with a wry smile. "I'm all shy and nervous as, if someone is going to holler at us for breaking your curfew."
"It's not that late yet." Amy said over her shoulder as she passed through the threshold. She took Rory's jacket and hung it by the door next to her own. "I guess we should get you settled though." Indicating the luggage that still sat waiting in the entryway.
"Um, Yes, I guess we should." Rory suddenly blushed red wondering just exactly the sleeping arrangements were going to be. The physical part of her was pushing hope against hope for something that had been denied far too long. The emotional side shook with terror.
"Hey, it's okay, we can take this slow." The younger woman said reading the hesitation on Rory's face. "You are really cute when you blush like that."
The tall woman took a deep breath and let it loose with a nervous shudder. "I want… I mean I need. …Oh shit. I've never…"
"…Made love to a woman before?" Amy whispered softly. She reached out and took her right hand placing a soft kiss in the palm. "I knew that when you told me your hard luck story in the bar, remember. I had no preconceptions when you said you were coming to see me, and I don't have any now. What ever happens …happens. No pressure." She kissed the open palm again and then pressed it to her heart.
Rory looked down at the hand that was resting on the young woman's breast and then up into her sparking green eyes. She saw only quiet expectation and patience there. "Oh honey, I don' t know what to say. All I know is, that you light up a part of me that I thought had shriveled up and died." Her words were a quiet admission of the feelings that couldn't be denied any longer. She stood in awe of the power that the beautiful woman in front of her held.
"I'll tell you what, why don't we put your stuff in the master bedroom and go from there, okay?" Amy reached down to grab the larger bag and found it much heavier than she expected. "Ugh! Good grief, what the heck have you got in here, Rocks?"
Rory chuckled, taking the bag from the smaller woman. "I told you I'd packed my armor in there. Actually it's books and dirty laundry but you never know it could be laundry and dirty books."
The blond woman simply shook her head and shouldered the smaller bag. "Come on Amazon, I'll show you where to put your stuff." She led the way down the hall to the master bedroom and deposited the bag on the bed. "There, this is where you can sleep. If you want company …well, that is entirely up to you." Amy stood and watched as the tall woman set the other bag on the chest at the foot of the bed.
Rory's hand shook just a little as reached out and clasped the hand that she had given up a few minutes before. Drawing the young woman to her, she led her over to sit on the large comfortable bed. "I know what I want," She began, "I just don't know where this is headed. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of you."
"What!" Amy was stunned. She looked up at the shining blue eyes that were threatening to mist over into tears. "How on earth did you come up with such a ridiculous notion as that."
Suddenly shy, the dark businesswoman looked away from the questioning eyes and concentrated on watching her own thumb as rubbed softly over the small knuckles in her larger hand. She took several deep breaths trying to calm her self and then spoke, her voice barely going above a whisper. "You have been through a really bad time right now. I would love to follow wherever you're leading me but I can't help but think that I'm taking advantage of the situation. All I can think is how wonderful a night of even just holding you would be and yet I know I'd be a disappointment to what you're expecting. I'm not even close to what you deserve."
A small hand moved to caress Rory's cheek, it slid under her chin and forced her to look up into the love that waited patiently there. "So this is the big tough business executive that makes grown men pee their pants with fear." Amy laughed softly. "Are you so used to using people that you thought you were using me?"
"No, I'm just afraid that you would think that I was." Was the quiet reply, "I've never felt this way before and not all together sure that this isn't me being selfish."
Amy threw back her head and laughed. "Shit! Did you ever get that backwards." She laughed again even harder this time. "Baby you made me cream my jeans way back at bar. I thought I was taking advantage of you!" She whooped and bounced into the tall woman's lap, covering her dumb struck face with little kisses. "Let's seduce each other some more, I think we're getting the hang of it." She said with a grin.
Having a lap full of excited kissing machine was something that Rory decided she could live with. Her fears all evaporated with the bubbles of Amy's laughter. She pulled the gorgeous body close to hers and did some serious kissing back.
Like two teenagers the kisses turned into a fumbling necking session that was interspersed with tickles, giggles, and low meaningless whispers. Morning found them, still fully clothed, fast asleep in each other's arms.
(c) 1998 S. Day