Identity (22 page)

Liza was immediately remorseful. “Poor baby, let’s get you into a hot shower.”

“Alone?” Shay stood carefully and stretched carefully.

“Well, I
do
have my own bathroom,” Liza said, lifting her eyebrows a la Groucho Marx.

Shay grinned and took Liza’s hand, pulling her into the bathroom and closing the door firmly behind them.

Shay’s hands slid under Liza’s shirt and gently stroked her back as Liza leaned to adjust the water flow and temperature. Liza closed her eyes, relishing the caress. She turned and pulled Shay close. Their kiss lasted an eternity. Liza’s tongue pushed deep into Shay and Shay felt her knees weaken from the erotic onslaught. Within moments, they were undressed and the steamy scent of their passion surrounded them. Liza, eyes dark and demanding, pulled Shay into the shower. They languidly soaped each other’s bodies, eyes full of promise and sharing deep, sporadic kisses that left them dizzy and wanting more. Shay pressed her soapy hand between Liza’s legs as her tongue teased nipples that were erect and insistent. Liza watched the action greedily as her own hand slid easily into Shay. Her thumb strummed Shay’s clit gently. Gasps of delight surrounded them as they merged into one being, erotically charged and eventually, quietly, sated.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Shay, as an only child to older parents, was used to family gatherings that were quiet, subdued affairs. Watching Liza’s youthful, energetic family interact was like watching a hilarious sitcom married to a soap opera.

Everyone seemed happy to gather except for Liza’s older brother, Steve. He was a handsome man, with dark, snapping eyes and sleek black hair, but that was where the goodness ended. He seemed full of superior attitude and unable to relax among the peons of his family. He was dressed in a dark suit and tie. One could tell this was his usual daily garb and that the power suit was what he felt most comfortable wearing. He appeared glad to see his grandmother and father, but Shay could tell there was no love lost between Steve and Liza.

Mary, his wife, was blond, plump and wore a weary air as though it were a protective robe. Their son, Mason, dark like his father, was a typical preteen attached to ear buds and an electronic game. Their daughter, Stevie, who was only six, was a delight and, Shay could tell, held a special place in Liza’s heart. The child had long blond hair, tied back in a thick ponytail, and huge blue eyes. Her thumb had a sneaky way of finding her mouth quite often and her favorite pastime was lap sitting. Shay adored her immediately.

Liza’s sister, Chloe, was a knockout; Shay envied her. How could anyone look that well pulled together so effortlessly? Wearing perfectly fitted, low-slung jeans and a form-fitting tank top, she could have been a magazine model come to life. She was with an equally beautiful man named Scott who worked with her at a law firm.

Shay had a hard time pulling her eyes away from Chloe and several times caught Liza watching her with amusement as they worked with Rosaries to prepare the last of the feast. The family members and guests, for some reason, as they arrived and entered through the kitchen door, invariably huddled around the kitchen table to catch up. This slowed preparations considerably as introductions were made and attention was distracted from the tasks at hand. Eventually, however, everything was prepared or reheated and placed along the countertops in the kitchen. Rosaries fetched Tom from the man huddle in the living room, and he delivered a brief blessing.

“I only wish our dear Sienna could be here to enjoy this meal with those she loved the most,” he said after the amens had sounded.

“She is here, Papa,” Stevie said quickly. “Can’t you feel her?” She popped her thumb back into her mouth as Rosaries pulled her close. Tom cleared his throat, as if trying to choke back sudden tears.

“Well, let’s eat,” Steve said as he made his way to the stack of plates.

Chatter took over then as everyone filled his or her plate and searched for a good place to sit.

The Hughes family ate everywhere, a practice very different from Shay’s family who ate at the dining table only. Shay found she rather liked the informality of it. She and Liza sat with Ro and Kim at the table outside by the garden. Stevie had brought her plate along as well and had taken residence in Liza’s lap as she ate. Liza seemed to enjoy the contact even though the squirming girl made it more difficult to eat her meal. Shay realized anew that the woman she loved
was
as easygoing as everyone said. If she were ever to have a child, this would be the type of person she would want as the other mother. Fantasies of a future family with Liza warmed her into silence.

“They’re cranberries, Stevie. Try them, they’re good,” Liza said.

Stevie was not convinced, making a face and spitting the red berries back onto her plate as Ro and Kim laughed.

“That’s pretty rude, rugrat,” Liza said.

Her gaze found Shay and lingered lovingly. “Are you okay?”

Shay smiled and cocked her head to one side. “Absolutely,” she replied. “Aren’t you going to tell them about the garden?”

Ro speared another forkful of roasted potato. “It’s really beautiful out here, Liza. You have such a green thumb. I don’t know how you do it.”

“It’s backbreaking labor,” added Kim. “I’d rather make twenty beds than weed just one of those rows.”

Liza shrugged. “I love it, the quiet, the heat on my back, the smell of the earth.”

“Ewww,” Stevie offered, wrinkling her sun-pinkened nose. “There’s germs and bugs in the dirt, Mama says.”

Liza ignored her, pointedly.

“Tell them,” Shay urged before biting into one of the delicious buttered rolls.

“What?” Ro queried, looking from Shay to Liza and back again.

Liza slowly explained Shay’s idea for harvesting Meadows South. As she talked, she could gauge the level of excitement that rose in the two women as their eyes widened and they leaned forward, meal forgotten.

Shay chuckled, filling with her own excitement to see that the idea was so well received.

“Oh, no way,” Rosemary sighed. She looked at her partner and they shared a huge grin.

“Liza, Shay, you guys have hit on a fantastic idea,” Kim said.

“Now, we can only pay minimum,” Liza cautioned, shifting Stevie’s sprawling weight on her lap. Having lost interest in her meal, Stevie had inserted her thumb into her mouth and was contentedly leaning back against her aunt’s chest.

“More than enough for these folk.” Ro brushed the issue aside. “I know ten right off the bat who would love this kind of work. You know, some of these older guys were made homeless by government cutbacks in farming.”

Liza managed to take a bite. She covered her mouth and spoke around the food. “I know. George and I had a hell of a conversation one day. He used to own an acre and a half of land, grew tomatoes for contract.”

Stevie wriggled down and ran across the patio toward Chloe and Scott just as a car sounded in the lot out front. By leaning far to one side, Liza alone could see Rich hurry outside via the front doorway and welcome the new arrival with a lingering hug and a look of fondness. She stopped chewing suddenly, the bite in her mouth turning to wood. It was CM. She sat back abruptly.

“Liza?” Shay asked. “What is it?”

Liza looked at the tablecloth and swallowed with some difficulty. “Omigosh, I should have guessed,” she whispered.

Kim studied Liza. “Are you okay, Liza? What’s wrong? Who was it?”

Liza glanced up, eyes distant. “No one. Just CM.”

Ro frowned. “CM? He’s never been here before. Did you invite him?”

“I...I think Rich did,” Liza answered.

“That makes sense,” Kim said, nodding and cutting turkey into small pieces. “They’ve gotten close, working together so long.”

Liza smiled finally and her bemused gaze met Shay’s worried eyes. “Yeah, guess so.”

Later, when Rich and CM came, bearing laden plates, into the backyard to sit together on the low rock wall that bordered the gravel drive, Liza greeted CM warmly, a new sense of love for Rich swelling her heart. He would be fine.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

By nine that evening the guests and family had all cleared out, the food had been put away and the dishes washed. Shay could not stifle her yawns, some, no doubt, caused by the over-the-counter pain medicines she’d required to get through the day. Liza noticed and knew they needed to leave soon.

“We need to get you home,” she said, gently rubbing Shay’s back as they stood in the kitchen.

“I have my car here, remember? We went shopping in your truck. Do you need me to take Rosaries home?”

Liza smiled wickedly. “I’ll take her. I thought I might come over for a while. That is, if you’re not too tired.”

Shay returned the smile, her forefinger tracing a seductive line along Liza’s jaw. “Never too tired for you. Never.”

Liza’s eyes gleamed as she turned away, pulling Shay with her. Moving into the living room, they found
Mémé
and her father sitting together companionably. Not talking, just resting and staring at the droning television. Liza plopped down next to Rosaries and pulled Shay down next to her. “So where was Rich going?”

“Said he had to help CM with some bookkeeping,” Tom answered absently.

“Ahh,” Liza said, nodding her understanding. She patted Rosaries on the knee. “You about ready to go home,
Mémé?”

“I am,” Rosaries replied, but for a long time no one made a move, savoring the quality time together as a family. Another twenty minutes of football wrap-up passed before Rosaries rose with a sigh.

“Thanks, Rose, for everything,” Tom said, rising to see her to the door. “You’re welcome to stay another night, you know that.”

Rosaries hugged Tom close. “
Oui
, you have always made an old woman feel welcome. I have things to tend to, my house she gets lonely, but I will be back at
Noel
and will stay again.”

Liza loaded both bags into the bed of her truck, helped Rosaries in, waited patiently while Shay pulled the VW out of the drive, then pulled out after her.

“Did you have fun?” Liza asked.

Rosaries, her pocketbook held demurely in her lap, nodded. “I did. The family grows when we fall in love.”

“Very true,” Liza agreed. “What did you think of Chloe’s fellow?”

“He is starched, I think,” Rosaries replied, a forefinger smoothing one brow.

“Starched?” Liza frowned in the darkness. “You mean like stiff? I thought so too.”

“I like Rich’s man. He seems very nice. He is fat, but nice.”

Liza chuckled. “So you think CM is Rich’s beau,
Mémé?
I think you’re right. I never thought Rich would like a man.”

Rosaries shrugged. “It is love.”

“
Oui, c’est amour,
” Liza teased as she pulled in front of Placide’s Place. She helped Rosaries from the truck, carried her bag upstairs and made sure she was well settled, then made her way next door to Shay’s.

The front porch was deserted and Liza felt a sudden worry that her carefully laid plans had gone awry. As she mounted the porch however, the locks on the door slapped open and Shay was in her arms, a nervous Peaches lurking in the background.

“Oh, you sweet, sweet woman! How did you know about her? Who told you? I know I didn’t tell you. Did you really do it? Adopt her for me? I thought you weren’t allowed to do that, but I guess since everyone knew I loved her that made it okay. Isn’t she beautiful, and she’s got the sweetest personality.” She paused for breath as she pulled Liza inside and reengaged the deadbolts. “I saw her out there and it terrified me, because I just saw a shadow in the headlights. Then she stepped forward and I saw it was her. She was tied to the railing with a big red bow around her neck and someone had put a bowl of water and an open bag of your food out there.”

She took another deep breath and let silence fall. Peaches sat on the floor at Shay’s feet, and Liza just watched them, speechless in the radiance of Shay’s joy.

“I take it you like having her here?” she said finally.

Shay was grinning from ear to ear, her right hand absently fondling the dog’s velvet ears. She nodded. “Words can’t begin to...thank you, Liza.”

Liza saw a new side to Shay then, a complete side. She sighed, gazing into the content, happy eyes of her lover. “You’re welcome.”

“You must be exhausted. I know I am,” Shay said suddenly. “Do you think she needs to go out again? I say we just go to bed and she’ll get us up if she needs to go. I know I should probably buy a crate and crate her at night, but I’ve never been very good at that. I
like
to sleep with dogs and feel alone when they’re in their own bed. Crazy, I know, but I was always that way even as a little girl...”

Grinning and rolling her eyes, Liza followed Shay and Peaches into the bedroom, switching off lights as she encountered them.

Later, as the three of them lay quietly on the bed, Liza traced an index finger along the blue lizard inked into Shay’s lower abdomen. It glowed with a purplish iridescence in the pale light streaming from the bathroom.

“Tell me about this,” Liza cajoled gently.

Shay sighed and opened her eyes, one hand splayed across Peaches’ soft back. “We have matching ones, Pepper and I. She insisted. One of her friends was a tattoo artist and we had them done together. It hurt like hell too and she said I was a baby for crying out. She didn’t make one sound when she got hers, just puffed on a cigarette and read the newspaper. They’re like mirror images of each other. She said when we stood together belly to belly it made a whole blue gecko.”

“You hate it too, don’t you?” Liza murmured.

“I do. One day I’ll start having it removed. I’ve heard that’s even more painful, and expensive. As much as I hate it, I just haven’t been ready for that, I guess.”

Liza leaned over and gently pressed a lingering kiss dead center on the lizard’s torso. “I love it. You know why?” She looked up at Shay.

Shay brushed Liza’s hair back. “Why, honey?”

“Because it’s part of you now. No matter where it came from, it’s yours and you can own it.”