As the Crow Flies, page 39
The change in Isabel over the past week was truly remarkable. Gwen didn’t know what Liz had her doing, but whatever it was, they were doing an awful lot of it, and it showed.
“I’m telling you right now,” Gwen informed Sam later that night, after she’d helped her shower and made her comfortable in bed, “you’re living here with me until you’re better…at least until you’re better…and then you can do whatever you want.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Tomorrow you’ll make a list of things you can’t do without. Isabel and Liz will go to your house, pack everything, and bring it here. After your sutures are out and physical therapy starts, you and I can make another trip for whatever else you’ll need.”
“Well, I’ll definitely need any and all papers on my desk, some clothes, my laptop…and my bookends.”
Gwen played coy. “Bookends? You mean the ones with those cascading Persian-rose flowers that tangle themselves around the feet of those omniscient Ming-blue rooks?”
“Yes, those.” Sam laughed. “That one three-dollar bookend was the best investment I’ve ever made, the investment of a lifetime. I’m glad it found its mate. And I’m so glad I found mine. In fact, I think you and I are rather like bookends.”
“Oh, really?” Gwen looked at her flirtatiously.
“Really. Come here, and let’s see how perfectly we fit together,” Sam said, and pulled Gwen on top of her.
Gwen resisted. “Are you sure? I’m afraid I’ll hurt your leg, Sam.”
“The only thing you hurt are my feelings when you doubt me.”
“I’m so sorry I did.”
“Does that mean you’re done with this nonsense about me eventually leaving you for a younger woman?”
“Not completely, but I’ve decided to take my chances and thoroughly enjoy every minute until you do.”
Sam frowned. “I love and adore you. You’re my twin flame. We’re entangled, you and I—spiritually, emotionally, and in a few minutes physically, if you let me have my way with you.” She ran her fingers through Gwen’s hair. “I’m in this for the long haul, Professor, whether you think so or not. We’re both women of a certain age…we’ve both had relationships. I like to think we’ve saved the best for last.”
Gwen shifted and settled her weight on Sam’s body, careful not to put pressure on her leg. “It is by far the best, my darling, and the last as far as I’m concerned. I’d grown content being single…until you came along and made me realize what I was missing.” She gazed into Sam’s eyes, stroked her cheek. “But I’m telling you right now, if it’s not you, Sam, it won’t be anyone else.”
“Well then…” Samantha turned her head on the pillow and gestured at Gwen’s wineglass. “If you’ll hand me that glass, I’d like to make a toast to us.”
“No wine. You just took a painkiller.”
“Oh…right. Well, I’ll make a toast anyway.”
Gwen lost herself in those rich-brown bedroom eyes that were looking especially sexy right now and marveled over the woman beneath her.
Samantha smiled up and drew Gwen’s face to hers. “Here’s to the last and the best,” she whispered against her lips. “May they last a very long time.”
Epilogue
It was Valentine’s Day, and a light snow fell as Gwen and Samantha got out of the car. Liz and Isabel had slept in, and the two of them had managed to sneak away for a cozy brunch at the inn, where they exchanged gifts. Gwen was wearing a beautiful ruby bracelet, and Samantha couldn’t wait to put on the diamond earrings Gwen had just given her. Tonight, the four of them were heading into the city for an opera. That was Gwen’s gift to everyone—that and a night at the Hilton.
Isabel and Liz were sitting on the porch wearing jackets, lacing up their ice skates as Gwen and Samantha came up the steps. Isabel had bought them all a pair for Christmas, and for the first time in seven years Gwen was skating again. Alley had moved on. Just knowing she’d found a paradise, a place to wait until they one day met again, had helped heal Gwen’s heart, and a bittersweet joy had returned to this winter wonderland. Samantha would never get the hang of ice-skating, she decided, but she enjoyed having Gwen pull her around and sometimes enjoyed pulling Gwen down when she slipped and fell.
“You ladies better watch the time,” Gwen warned them. “If we want to catch the 4:20 train we have to leave here in exactly three hours.”
“We’ll be ready,” Isabel promised her.
Liz’s phone beeped, and she let out a groan as she read a text. “It’s my mother asking about Lisa’s baby shower again. Why am I in charge of everything?”
Samantha paused on the steps. “Because it’s your sister and our nephew, and the shower has to be in New York.”
“Don’t worry,” Isabel said as Liz stuffed her phone into her pocket. “Sam and I will help you coordinate things and get invitations out.”
The renovation of the cottage was complete, and Isabel and Liz were now dividing their time between the Berkshires and the city. Samantha, on the other hand, was undivided. She’d given up her rental after the new year began to live here with Gwen, and with Bertha, her soul-bird and favorite muse.
When Samantha reached the top step and looked at Liz, she put her hand out in front of her face, pretending to shield her eyes from the diamond on her finger. “Should I go back to the car and get my sunglasses? That rock is absolutely blinding. I can’t even see. Could you at least show a little consideration for others and keep it turned around or maybe just take it off and keep it in your pocket?”
“Not happening, Sam.” Liz’s smile was almost as blinding as her engagement ring. She leaned into Isabel and held her arm out to admire it. She’d received it along with a marriage proposal just last night. “You better go get those sunglasses because it’s never coming off.”
“Look what Sam gave me,” Gwen said and showed off her new ruby bracelet.
“We saw it when she first bought it,” Isabel said.
“Well!” Gwen feigned indignation.
Samantha smiled and looked out at the snow. She knew there’d be a wedding reception on this property, maybe next summer. And, who knew, maybe another one soon after that.
Isabel pointed to the front door. “The UPS truck just delivered a box for you, Sam.”
“Yeah?” Samantha got excited when she saw the box and rushed to it. “Don’t anyone go anywhere,” she said as Isabel reached for her gloves and Liz worked a mitten over her big diamond. “I have a gift for each of you—a paranormal romance.”
“A romance?” Gwen asked. “What could be more appropriate on the occasion of Valentine’s Day?”
Samantha put the box on the table and peeled off a piece of tape, but before she could finish, the crows flew in, all four of them—Bertha, Sandy, and their two kids, Harvey and Irma. They all stared at the can of peanuts and cracked corn on the porch. “You birds will have to wait one minute,” she said, and returned her attention to the box. She peeled off another piece of tape, opened the flaps, and pulled out a book.
“Oh, Sam.” Gwen’s face lit up. “Your new book?”
“One of them.”
“What’s that on the cover?” Isabel asked. “A crow?”
“Mm-hm.”
Liz was losing patience. “Come on already. Let’s see it.”
“Hold on.” Samantha dug into the box for two more. “One for each of you,” she said and handed them out.
They all gasped at the cover. It clearly startled Gwen. “As the Crow Flies? It’s Bertha and…our house?” She turned the book over and read the back cover. “I don’t know what to say, Sam. Is this…”
“Our story,” Samantha said.
Gwen held the book to her chest and stared at her, speechless.
Liz hugged her copy and jumped up and down.
“We all know what we’ll be reading on the train,” Isabel said. Nothing excited her like a new book.
“But just tell me now, Sam, because I need to know,” Liz said. “Does my character get the girl in the end?”
Samantha grinned at Liz as she took Gwen in her arms. “Of course.” Samantha winked at her over Gwen’s shoulder. “Everyone gets their girl in the end. If they didn’t, it would be a story of unrequited love. And that would be a tragedy, don’t you think, and not a romance at all.”
About the Author
Karen Williams is a writer, psychotherapist, and licensed wildlife rehabilitator who holds degrees in communication arts, philosophy, and clinical social work. In addition to her novels and short stories, she has published articles on nature and the human-animal bond, and was awarded the Maxwell Medallion by the Dog Writers Association of America. Her most recent novella, Meeting Ms. Roman, was a Goldie finalist.
She loves music, dancing, romantic comedies, and speculative conversation, but most of all loves communing with nature, exploring the woods with her canine buddies, and howling with the coyotes who share her property.
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Karen F. Williams, As the Crow Flies
