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  “You don’t have to pay anything. Just come along and help me build my dream and I’ll help you build yours. I’ll sign anything and make you a full partner,” she promised.

  “I don’t want you to do that. I’d come, but I don’t think my parents will let me,” she admitted, sad that her dream was so close and yet so far away.

  Fiona reached out to take Allyssa’s hand. “Don’t worry, I think I know a way. I don’t know how you will feel about this, and this is a sloppy way to do it, but...” she suddenly found herself tongue-tied. “Allyssa...” she tried again and failed. “How about...” she gulped, used her other hand to grab her water, took a drink, and then tipped it over on the table. The ensuing chaos found them needing both their hands to mop it up.

  “Jeez, Fey. If you wanted to get my attention,” Sally teased as she rushed over with a dry towel and extra napkins.

  “I think she was trying to get mine,” Allyssa teased in turn, but stopped when she saw how red Fiona’s face was.

  They soon had it cleaned up and as it hadn’t ruined their meals, they sat down again.

  “Where were we?” Allyssa asked, trying to take a bite of her sandwich and sadly dipping a fry in the ketchup.

  Feeling more determined, Fiona took her hand again, waiting for Allyssa to look up. When she did, the brunette woman swallowed again, gave her hand a squeeze, and said, “Allyssa, if you marry me you will be my partner in the fullest sense. We won’t have to get a lawyer or explain ourselves.”

  Allyssa’s eyes widened at the proposal. She stared at Fiona and felt her heart contract for a moment. Her eyes traveled down the attractive face, down her muscular arm that was encased in a flannel shirt, then she glanced at the hand that was holding her own and the well-meaning touch took on a whole new meaning. As Fiona went to take her hand back, Allyssa held on for all she was worth. Finally, she looked up into the brunette’s deep brown eyes. “You want to marry me?” she asked for clarification.

  Fiona nodded. She wanted to say more, but she desperately wanted to hear what Allyssa had to say. No declarations of love had ever been spoken between them. While Fiona knew she was attracted to Allyssa, she had no idea if the other woman was gay.

  “Just to be your legal partner in this?” she asked to be sure, her heart was thumping so hard she was sure the other woman could hear it.

  Slowly, Fiona shook her head. “No, not just,” she answered softly. She figured it was best to be honest about this.

  “You want to marry me because...” she began slowly, hesitantly, “…because you like me?”

  Fiona nodded. “I more than like you, but if you don’t...” she began to pull at her hand and it became almost a tug-of-war between them.

  “You like me?” she repeated wonderingly.

  “Yes, I do…and more,” she said steadily, stopping the tugging to look her straight in the face. “If you aren’t ready for a relationship like this, we can just be business partners, but they don’t have to know that.”

  “They?”

  “Your parents, my father, the law, whoever. We can make this whatever you want it to be.”

  “Is that what you want? Just a business arrangement?” Inside she was so scared she couldn’t have eaten if she had tried. In fact, she distinctly felt like she was going to throw up.

  Fiona shook her head. Squeezing the hand now holding hers, she looked at her gently. “I want a true partnership in every sense of the word,” she admitted.

  Allyssa looked down at their hands, unable to hold those beautiful brown eyes anymore, sure the woman would change her mind. “And, if I accept?” she mumbled.

  Fiona tried to smile as she leaned forward slightly to catch the younger woman’s look. When Allyssa raised her head even slightly she smiled broader and said, “I’ll try to make you very happy.”

  “You like me?” she repeated wonderingly, surprised, as she looked up further.

  Fiona didn’t hesitate, she nodded immediately. “I think our friendship is the kind that could last if we give it a try. I don’t want to pressure you though, it’s up to you.”

  “I accept,” she answered, no hesitation anymore just in case this intelligent and wonderful woman she had so admired changed her mind.

  “You do?” Now it was Fiona’s turn to doubt.

  “I do,” she responded with a grin at the words.

  They shared a smile and then both looked at their clasped hands.

  “Do you want a ring?”

  “Do you?” Allyssa asked in response, not sure how this would work.

  “How about we both get bands and then go tell your folks?”

  Allyssa suddenly sat back, not willing to let go of their hand clasp, but looking dejected. “I think we should get the rings and then get married at city hall. We can tell them after that.”

  “You don’t want a big wedding? I can afford...” she began, but Allyssa was shaking her head.

  “I don’t think my parents will approve of a same-sex marriage. I do know my mother wants me to quit the clinic, so at least she will get that demand taken care of.” She suddenly chuckled. “I don’t think you are the country club boy she wanted me to marry,” she admitted.

  Fiona smiled. “Are you sure you are okay with marrying a woman?”

  Allyssa nodded shyly, looking down again. She glanced up and said, “I only knew when you said you were going away how sad I was to be losing my best friend. I like you too, but I didn’t think of it as attraction because I don’t think that way.”

  “How are you going to feel being married to a woman? Sleeping with a woman?”

  Allyssa bit her lip. “I don’t know until I try. I know I don’t have the prejudices my parents might have. I know I really like you. Are you willing to marry a virgin?” she asked.

  “You’re a virgin?” she asked, surprised. She had thought for sure one of those country club boys her parents had tried to foist off on her had succeeded at some point.

  Allyssa nodded again, suddenly shy and unable to speak.

  “Hey,” Fiona said and waited for her bride-to-be to look up. “We’ll take it slow and easy and learn about each other, okay?” At Allyssa’s shy little nod, she smiled. “Someday we’ll have kids too, I promise you that.”

  “We will?” She was surprised at the change in subject and looked at their clasped hands again and then up at the earnest brown eyes staring into hers.

  “I’m a doctor. I know how these things work,” she teased. “Just trust me and always talk to me about things. We should be able to work anything out together,” she further promised.

  Allyssa suddenly knew a happiness she had only felt working at the clinic and when she had gotten the SUV, but this was different … a different happiness, and it felt good. She wasn’t going to lose her best friend. She wasn’t going to lose this wonderful woman in her life.

  “Are you still hungry?” Fiona asked, seeing the uneaten meal, her own half finished.

  Allyssa shook her head.

  “Then let’s go. We have a lot of plans to make,” she finally let go of Allyssa’s hand and seemed reluctant to do so. “Thank you, Sally. Delicious as always,” she said, leaving the waitress enough for the meal and a generous tip as she got up. Allyssa followed quietly.

  “Are you okay?” she asked her out in the parking lot.

  “It’s a lot to take in,” she admitted.

  “Are you having second thoughts?” she worried in return. Maybe she had pressured the kid into this. Maybe she couldn’t love her. Maybe….

  “No, not about us, not about the ranch. I’m just worried how my parents will take it. They are going to disown me,” she admitted.

  “Then I’ll be your family,” Fiona said softly, the wind blowing her hair around her face creating a halo. She gently leaned up and kissed the taller woman on the lips to seal their bargain…just a peck.

  Allyssa had been kissed before, but this was different. First, Fiona was a woman. Second, she was now her fiancée. She licked her o
wn lips, enjoying the sound of that. As Fiona turned to get into the car Allyssa had already started while they were in the diner, the taller woman put her hand on her arm and turned her back. Leaning down to the shorter woman, she put her face into Fiona’s, reaching out with her lips to kiss her in return. Fiona took charge immediately, sensing Allyssa’s hesitancy. Her lips were warm and now wet. Fiona deepened the kiss, taking the taller girl into her arms to pull her body against her own muscular one. She held her head in place so she could kiss her deeply and thoroughly. She coaxed the blonde’s lips open so she could gently lick at her lips and then play with the other woman’s tongue. Allyssa was an apt pupil and was shocked to feel desire for another human being for the first time in her life as the kisses continued and deepened. A car coming into the parking lot of the diner flashed its headlights at them and ended their first kiss. Allyssa was panting slightly. For a first kiss, a real kiss, that was something!

  Fiona held onto the other woman, steadying her, petting the back of her head to calm her, much as she would have a skittish horse or dog. She leaned her forehead against the taller woman’s as she looked down, then looking up, asked, “Are you okay?”

  Allyssa nodded, causing both of their heads to nod. She smiled and looked at Fiona’s lips again, wondering at how incredible they had felt against her own.

  “Is that your first kiss?” Fiona asked, concerned. Was she corrupting an innocent child?

  Allyssa shook her head. “It’s not,” she assured her. “Although I don’t think any of them have ever felt like that.”

  “Get a room!” a couple of guys called to them as they entered the diner.

  Laughing, the two of them pulled apart and Fiona opened the driver’s door. Allyssa, thinking that Fiona wanted to drive, stared at her uncomprehendingly as she held it. Then when Fiona made a flourishing gesture with her arm she realized the brunette was being chivalrous and holding the door for her. She sat down awkwardly in the driver’s seat as Fiona handed her the safety belt to put on. “Thank you,” she said quietly and Fiona stepped back to shut the door before hurrying around in the cold winter’s wind to her own side.

  “I don’t think anyone has ever done that for me,” Allyssa commented as Fiona got in and began holding her hands out to the blowing air on the dash.

  “What? Held a door for you?” she asked, surprised.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she admitted.

  “What about those guys from the country club? Don’t they have any manners? You would think with their money they would.”

  Allyssa shook her head as she waited for Fiona to put her seat belt on and said, “No, they are like the horny guys at college. They are looking to get laid and that’s about it. They try to get in all the girls’ pants and then brag about it when they do.”

  “But none of them got into yours?” she confirmed.

  “No, none of them did,” she admitted.

  “That’s good, because now,” she looked at Allyssa in the dark car, lit only by a street lamp in the parking lot, “you’re mine.”

  Allyssa liked the sound of that. She liked the idea of belonging to the brunette. She’d liked her first taste of desire and possibly passion. She smiled at her fiancée, showing off the even and straight white teeth that two years of braces at twelve had given her. “And you are mine,” she added.

  Fiona put out her hand to grab Allyssa’s and give it a squeeze. “Don’t forget that.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “You WHAT?” her mother screeched.

  It was a measure of the shock she was feeling as she lost control in front of a stranger. Fiona was sitting in their formal living room, the room reserved for guests. Her parents had been summoned for their announcement and Allyssa was cringing at the volume her mother had reached.

  “I said, Mother, that Fiona and I were married this morning at city hall,” she reached out and Fiona captured her hand in hers.

  “But you’re women!” she gasped, looking around as though someone could refute that statement.

  “Yes, Mother, but women can marry each other now.” For some reason Allyssa was taking perverse pleasure in shocking her mother. She’d been braced for this confrontation for days. She’d discussed it with Fey over and over, and the woman had promised to stand by her regardless of what her parents did.

  “Well, you will have to get this foolishness annulled,” she announced, looking at her husband for approval and support. Bob was strangely silent as he stared at the two women who had just announced their marriage.

  “There’s more, Mother,” Allyssa continued as though her mother hadn’t spoken. She relished the fact that after years of her mother overriding everything she had to say, for once she was going to listen. Whether she heard her or not was another matter. “We are moving to Oregon.”

  “Why in the world would you want to move there?”

  Allyssa looked at Fiona for encouragement for a second. The older woman smiled and nodded. Allyssa turned back to her mother. “Fiona owns a ranch there. We are moving there so she can open a veterinary practice.”

  “You certainly are not!” her mother told her.

  “Look, Mother, I don’t need your permission to do anything,” she pointed out, ready to do battle.

  “You’re underage. She took advantage of you!”

  Allyssa laughed, genuinely laughed at her mother. “As a matter of fact, Mother, I am of legal age. I’m twenty years old and I’ll be twenty-one in a couple of months. You have no authority over me. Over the past couple of days, I’ve been getting my things out of this house. There is very little here that I can’t do without. A few childhood mementos perhaps. The only thing you can do is accept it or not. If you choose not to, you won’t ever see me again. I’ll send you my address, but if you choose to write or visit me, I expect you to treat me in a civilized and adult manner. I’m a married woman now. And I’ve married a doctor. Isn’t that something you always wanted for me…to marry a doctor?”

  “But a man, not a woman. This isn’t a real marriage!”

  “I assure you, Mrs. Webster it is a legal marriage. Your daughter and I were married by a judge this morning,” Fiona spoke up.

  “You took advantage of my naive and young daughter...” she began, but Allyssa interrupted her.

  “That’s enough. That is my wife you are speaking to,” she said, showing her backbone for the first time, her wife looking on proudly as she watched and listened. “If you can’t speak to her in a civil tone then don’t speak to her at all. I think we are leaving.” She looked down at Fiona as she got up to confirm, and with a nod her wife got up beside her.

  “Bob! Aren’t you going to say anything?” Helen screeched, turning on the stunned man.

  Her father seemed to shake himself from whatever trance he had been in. “Now, wait a moment...” he began.

  “You are not stopping us,” Allyssa threatened.

  “No, no,” he said, motioning the two of them down to their seats. “Let’s talk about this like reasonable adults,” he added.

  “Yes, let’s see how we can get her out of this mess she has created,” her mother put in.

  “Helen, I want you to be quiet,” Bob ordered and with an audible snap, Helen closed her mouth, astonished at his tone and words.

  “Now, the two of you were married. It’s all legal?”

  At their nod, he seemed to lose some steam and sat back in his chair.

  “This isn’t a stunt to get attention or something?”

  Allyssa shook her head and Fiona watched her, wondering what he was doing.

  “But why?” he asked, trying to appeal to her. “What would make you do this?”

  “Daddy, I know you don’t understand, but I want to make a life with Fiona. She asked me to marry her and I said yes. I knew you wouldn’t understand, so we got married. She has to go to Oregon to work the ranch and I want to go with her to help her.”

  “But why a woman, Sweet Pea? Why?”

  “You would never
understand.”

  “Try me,” he entreated her.

  Fiona realized he was giving her as much respect as he could. He and his wife had spent years organizing and dictating their daughters’ lives. They couldn’t understand that their youngest daughter had rebelled, had grown up. She wondered what the sister was like and then remembered how snooty she had been the one time she had met her.

  “Daddy, I love Fiona. She’s my best friend. She encourages me. She accepts me. She gets me. I want to spend the rest of my life with her as her best friend, her partner, and her wife. We are going to make a life together in Oregon. I know you don’t understand it, but there it is.” She sounded like she was pleading with him to understand.

  “You’re right, I don’t understand,” he shook his head. He looked defeated, but Helen looked furious and was about to speak when he raised his hand. “I guess we have no choice. I want you to give me your address,” he looked briefly at the woman his daughter had married to include her in his edict. “I don’t want you to cut us out of your life,” he admitted. “However, I expect you to come home if you need to.”

  “Daddy, you weren’t listening. I’m going to make a home with Fiona in Oregon. We are going to make a life together.”

  “I heard you. However, I think this is an impulse on your part,” he told her, reverting to his old tactics of statements. “You may change your mind and I want you to know you are welcome back here when you do.”

  Allyssa was shaking her head. “I won’t change my mind, Daddy,” she held up her ring on her finger and wiggled her fingers. “I made this decision willingly and I’m looking forward to my life with Fiona.”

  Helen was ready to jump in, but Bob shook his head. They left it at that, but the silence was rather ominous. Fiona went with Allyssa as they headed out the door, leaving the last of her childhood treasures. The back of the Jeep was already loaded with boxes that Allyssa had snuck out of her parents’ home under the premise of moving back to the dorms…she hadn’t told them she was moving back, they had assumed. In the past few days she had also withdrawn from school, given notice at the clinic, and made plans with Fiona.