Appointment with a Smile (29 page)

Authors: Kieran York

I was also of the opinion my newfound love was what Molly had wanted for me. She had once told me that the truest gift of love was the way it made a person feel about themselves. Molly’s philosophy was accurate. I was no longer weighed down by concerns of being inadequate; love had made me someone’s champion.

Samantha interrupted my musings. “How is your painting coming along for the Boston exhibit?”

“Bethany insists that I paint. Fiona is pleased with my production, so all is on point.”

“Bethany’s good for you, Danielle. She’s doing the art world a great service by encouraging you.”

“Which reminds me, Bethany and I would like to invite your family to stay with us. Maybe visit for a skiing trip. Bethany has fallen in love with Colorado. She’s investing some of her retirement funds to purchase a place in Aspen. Somewhere we can go to unwind. Anyway, we’d love you all to join us. It would be great fun to get your boys interested in snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.”

She laughed. “I’d like to redirect them from snowboarding. We’d enjoy getting to know both you and Bethany better. Although our lives are extremely full, I miss Mom, and you enrich my memories of her. Maybe it was some serendipitous good fortune we met. First of the year good?”

“It’s wonderful. Just let me know when you can make it, and we’ll put up signs restricting all snowboarding. It will be a rule of the mountain.” I somehow knew we would all become very close. Love spills over. “I haven’t officially met your sons yet.”

She looked puzzled. “Sorry, I thought Jeffery had introduced you earlier.” She motioned for the boys, and they quickly arrived at our side. “This is your grandmother’s friend from Colorado,” she told them. “Danielle, I’d like you to meet our son Daniel and our younger son, Jeffery Junior, or as we call him, JJ.”

I extended my hand. “JJ, and Daniel.”

Suddenly, the realization hit me. I surveyed Samantha’s face.

She nodded. “Mom named the boys. Daniel is your namesake. She loved you more than you can ever imagine.”

That wasn’t true at all. Something inside me had always imagined. Indeed, for many decades I had imagined. I had long ago envisioned love. Tenaciously, Molly and I had held onto our love. A love in our hearts that was indestructible.

There might have been many explanations and excuses. But we both had believed in love. Not just the everyday love, for that had eluded our lives. But beyond was a consequential, extravagant love that transcended the moments of our time and bound us to one another’s dreams. Certainly, Molly never left my life, no matter where she was. In spite of it all, she and I lived love’s most precious and unceasing excursion. Perhaps it would forever be our destination. Eternal love had filled our souls faster than life emptied them.

Simply put, I do believe in angels. Yes, I shall forever believe in love.

About the Author

Kieran York worked as a reporter and reviewer for both newspapers and magazines and was a magazine publisher for three years. She has written mainstream works including poetry and general fiction and is the author of two Royce Madison mysteries,
Timber City Masks
and
Crystal Mountain Veils.
She also wrote a collection of lesbian short stories entitled
Sugar With Spice
. During the seventies, she wrote and performed songs with a woman’s band.

Kieran has been a guest lecturer and panel member at various events, including Rocky Mountain Book Exhibition, Colorado Woman Musicians Series, and Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers programs. She has written for “Journal of Mystery Readers International.” In addition, she has given numerous campus and coffeehouse poetry readings and taught poetry and creative writing workshops.

She graduated from a Kansas university and attended Mexico’s University of the Americas her junior year. She has done graduate work at the University of Colorado.

Kieran lives in the Rocky Mountain foothills with her schnauzer, Clover. She enjoys gardening, music, literature, art, and theatre. She considers her valuables to include Clover and other family and friends, her library, her antique typewriter collection, her guitar, and her garden.

Recommended Reading from Blue Feather Books:

My Soldier Too by Bev Prescott

“I wish I’d known love in this life.” Captain Madison Brown strained to hear the dying soldier’s last words in the makeshift hospital on the fields of war-torn Iraq. The lieutenant’s final comment haunted Madison for the remainder of her tour in Iraq and then followed her home to Massachusetts. Ironically, Madison wanted no part of love for herself—or so she thought until she crossed paths with Isabella Parisi, an idealistic young social worker who challenged her to love again.

Isabella, a dedicated professional from a tightly knit Catholic family in Boston’s North End, has a seemingly perfect life: a satisfying job, a family she adores, and a devoted boyfriend. A chance encounter with Captain Madison Brown causes Isabella to question everything she thought she believed in. And the emotionally guarded Captain Brown gives Isabella even more reason to doubt the feelings swirling within her.

Isabella’s family, Madison’s commitment to the Army, and their fears about what it means to love each other conspire to keep them apart. Just when it seems they’ve finally dodged all of the landmines between them, Madison is deployed to Afghanistan.

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Not all of the ravages of war happen on the battlefield. What happens to Isabella and the relationship between the two women when Isabella must confront the fact that Madison is not just her lover, but her soldier too?

Confined Spaces, by Renee Mackenzie

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Kara Travis likewise anticipates nothing more than a brief fling upon meeting Andi, especially given her reputation as both a personal ice princess and a corporate hatchet wielder for Royal Environmental. What luck to find a hot lesbian bartender in nowhere rural Georgia.

Andie and Kara spend a passionate weekend together and find that their notions of no strings attached are far from accurate. Their supposed short-term ideal diversion of a commitment-free romp hits a major complication when they come face-to-face with one another at Royal Environmental’s offices Monday morning. While carrying out her duties, Kara discovers crimes being committed by and against Royal Environmental employees.

Will Kara be forced to shut down the Georgia Division of the company? If she does, Andie will lose her job. Worse yet, Kara may lose Andie before she’s really even sure she’s got her.

Corporate politics, complicated romance, and long distances conspire to keep Andie and Kara all boxed in. Can love triumph despite the
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