Dar retrieved a container and handed it up. “How about some toast to go with that.”
Kerry cleared her throat experimentally, feeling an ominous scratchiness. “I think my bug is migrating,” she informed Dar mournfully. “Ice cream would work better.”
“Ah.” Dar stood and gave her a sympathetic look. “How about some soup?”
“Mmph.” Kerry had popped the top on the yogurt and spooned up a mouthful. It was plain and cool, and it made her throat feel better. “Only if you’re having some too,”she replied, bumping Dar lightly with her hip.
Dar felt her stomach growl at the thought. “Deal,” she agreed, searching in the cupboards for the appropriate cans.
Kerry took her water and yogurt and retreated to the table, sliding behind it and sitting cross-legged on the bench seat. She nudged the indirect light on and sat there quietly munching. “If we both get sick, this is going to so suck, Dar.”
“Eh.” Dar shrugged, busy emptying things into one of the pots.
“In that case, I vote we just find an empty beach, stake it out, and let the sun take care of it.”
Kerry sighed.
“Relax. At worst, we spend a couple days in bed together.” Dar chuckled softly. “Is that so bad?” Taking a small oil candle from the cabinet, she lit it and walked over to set it down in front of Kerry. It made a friendly, warm flicker between the two of them, and Dar watched it a moment before she went back to her task.
“If you put it like that, no.” Kerry played with her yogurt, making small mounds of it with her spoon as she consumed it. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Dar in the galley, her profile quiet and somewhat somber as she heated up the soup. Absently, she lifted a hand and pushed a bit of hair behind one ear, then fiddled with it, a sure sign Dar was preoccupied with something.
“This has sure been a day, huh?” Kerry asked.
Dar glanced over with a half smile. “Yeah.”
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“Those pirates had me a little spooked,” Kerry said. “Glad you knew how to handle them.” Her ears detected a hitch in Dar’s breathing and a soft clank as her spoon whapped against the side of the pot. “I know they didn’t hurt those other people, but getting tossed off the boat the way I was feeling…wow.”
Dar eased past the galley entrance and came over with two bowls of something steaming in her hands. She set one down in front of Kerry, then took the seat next to her.
“Mm.” Kerry sniffed. “Chicken noodle.”
Dar dabbled her spoon in her soup, propping her head up on her fist. “I wasn’t gonna let them take the boat,” she said. “But what was more important to me was protecting you.”
Kerry took a spoonful of the hot soup and swallowed it, feeling a blessed sense of relief as it soothed her cranky throat. “You did.”
She ate a small bit of carrot. “Protect me, that is.”
“Mmhm.” Dar nodded. “And anyway, you know how much I hate having anyone tell me what to do. I wasn’t going to let those scrungy bastards do it.”
“Aaabsolutely not.” Kerry smiled. “Not my Dar.”
That got a smile from Dar, and she stopped twiddling her spoon.
“So…why is that bothering you?” Kerry asked softly.
Dar looked up at her. “Did I say it was?” she asked in a deceptively mild tone. Kerry just looked her in the eye without saying anything. After a moment, Dar’s lips tensed into a wry half grin, and she ate a spoonful of soup to give herself time to think about her answer.
It wasn’t something she wanted to talk about, but if she couldn’t talk to Kerry about it, then who? There was no one on Earth closer to her than her partner, not even her father. Andrew, though, might well understand what she’d felt; Kerry surely wouldn’t.
Kerry simply waited, and ate her soup. Dar would either tell her, or she wouldn’t—further probing didn’t seem like a good idea.
Dar started to speak, then stopped, a mildly bemused expression on her face. She shook her head. “It’s actually pretty stupid.”
A blonde eyebrow lifted. Stupid wasn’t a description Dar usually applied to herself. “Hm?” Kerry made a small encouraging noise.
“When that guy on the boat pointed that gun at me, I almost shot him.”
Kerry waited, but when nothing else seemed to be forthcoming, she leaned on her elbows. “Okay,” she accepted. “And?”
Dar was sucking on her spoon. “For a minute there, I wanted to.” Her eyes fixed on something past Kerry’s head with a pained,
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almost lost expression. “I wanted to kill that guy.”
“He was pointing a gun at you, sweetie,” Kerry answered matter-of-factly. “For that matter, I wanted to kill him too. It’s a good thing for him
you
were holding the shotgun.” She gazed at her lover. “Because if I saw anyone threaten you with a gun like that, I would kill them.”
That wasn’t quite the response Dar had been expecting. She regarded her adorable soulmate with bemused eyes, watching her slurp her soup. “So, you don’t think that was a strange reaction, I take it?”
“To someone pointing a lethal weapon at you? No!” Kerry snorted. “Do you?”
Dar reconsidered. “It just surprised me, I guess,” she admitted, remembering that moment of dark joy, and the fire that had seemed to fill her from within. Maybe it was normal, or at least the alternative to dissolving into a puddle of fear. With Kerry’s obvious acceptance of the subject, the tension inside her eased and she attacked her soup with greater gusto.
Kerry grinned to herself and picked up her bowl, drinking from the side of it. “Now this, on the other hand,” she commented, after swallowing a mouthful, “is guaranteed to send you straight to hell, if you believe my family.” She drained the bowl, then licked her lips. “Heh.”
Dar chuckled, a great deal more easily this time.
Kerry offered her a carrot. Dar’s eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth. They both laughed as Kerry relented and ate the vegetable herself. “You know, I like this.”
“Carrots? I know,” Dar replied, slurping a noodle.
“No, this.” Kerry indicated the flickering oil lamp. “It’s romantic. Almost like being around a campfire.”
Dar eyed the tiny flame, then looked at Kerry. One eyebrow lifted.
“Okay, so it’s a campfire for gerbils,” Kerry admitted. “I still like it.”
Her eyes went to the clock on the wall, then she remembered something. “Be right back.” Kerry slid out from behind the table and disappeared into the bedroom. After a minute, she returned, her hands behind her back, and walked over to where Dar was seated and rested her chin on Dar’s shoulder. “Hi.”
Dar turned her head so they were nose to nose. “Hi,” she replied.
Kerry removed her hands from behind her back and set a small box down in front of Dar. “Happy birthday, my love.” She leaned in and gave the shocked Dar a kiss on the lips. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
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her birthday the next day. She and Kerry had agreed to exchange Christmas presents when they got home, so she’d figured… “Yeah, I did,” she answered softly. “Kerry, you didn’t have to—”
“Ah ah ah ah ah.” Kerry put her fingers over Dar’s mouth. “Just open it. Humor me; I’m a sick woman.” She slid back into her seat and watched as Dar examined the box, turning it over in her hands before she started to unravel the thin, lacy ribbon around it.
Dar’s face was a study in concentration as she carefully untied the knots and laid the ribbon open on either side of the box. Then she held the bottom steady with one hand and lifted the top with the other, setting it down before she removed the light layer of cotton batting just under it.
Kerry waited. She saw the motion as Dar’s jaw muscles relaxed and the sudden reflection of the dim light on her widened eyes.
“You’re tough to shop for.” She spoke quietly, more to give Dar a chance to collect herself than anything else. “And you’re one of the most conservative non-traditionalists I know. So, I thought you’d like something like this.”
Dar carefully lifted the gift out of the box and cradled it in her hand. She released a long held breath and looked up at Kerry. “It’s gorgeous.”
Kerry smiled.
Dar looked back down at her gift. Resting in her palm was a pocket watch, its cover etched in fine gold and silver filigree over a darker base. From the top, a twisted link, silver chain trickled through her fingers. She gently opened the facing to reveal a face with large, crisp numbers and a briskly sweeping second hand.
There was engraving on the inside of the cover. Dar tilted her head to read it.
Because you make every moment of my life worth living.
She stared at the words until they blurred and she had to close her eyes to blink the tears from them. Without a sound she put the watch back into its box and reached for Kerry, who readily squirmed into her arms for a hug.
Kerry felt the shudder as Dar inhaled, and the soft gasp as she buried her face against Kerry’s shoulder. She held the moment carefully in her heart, understanding deep down that she could have written the words on a napkin and it wouldn’t have made a difference. “I love you,” she whispered in Dar’s ear, hugging her tightly.
Dar drew in a breath, held it a moment, and then exhaled, sniffling a little before she spoke. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get you all wet.”
“Honey, you always get me all wet,” Kerry teased gently, rubbing Dar’s shoulders with both hands. She felt her lover’s body shake again, but this time it was with laughter. She rocked Dar back and forth, just loving her.
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So what if she had a bug? So what if their vacation had turned into a bad television movie? She had Dar, and they had each other, and there was nothing else anywhere that could top that. Nothing.
The soft sound of the waves trickled through the windows on a breeze that ruffled the oil lamp and threw a single dancing shadow against the wall.
DAR WHISTLED SOFTLY as she worked on the stern deck, tidying up the boat from their ordeal the day before. It was about an hour past dawn. The sunlight poured over her swimsuit-clad body, warming her shoulder blades and allowing her to appreciate the brisk breeze.
Kerry was tucked in bed with a cup of hot tea for her still-sore throat. Despite that, the blonde woman had seemed much more chipper when they’d woken up, and Dar suspected Kerry would not stay in bed that long. But that was okay.
With a grin, Dar finished her task and re-entered the cabin. The scent of fresh coffee greeted her and sure enough, behind the galley counter she found one of Santa’s own little elves making it. “Ah hah.”
Kerry looked up, producing a sunny smile for her partner.
“Merry Christmas and happy birthday, honey.”
Dar prowled into the galley behind her. “Thought you were resting.”
“I was,” Kerry replied. “Now I’m cooking. It’s a serial processing kind of thing.” She tapped Dar’s chest with a mixing spoon. “I feel a lot better. Now go over there and let me finish my pancakes.”
“Pancakes?” Dar’s voice rose in surprise. “Mmm.” She inclined her head and kissed Kerry on the lips.
“It’s a tradition.” Kerry put a hand up and touched Dar’s cheek. “Now scoot.”
Instead of obeying, Dar slipped her arms around Kerry’s body and caught her up in a powerful hug, lifting her up off her feet.
“Urgh.” Kerry reveled in it, enjoying the unexpected side effect of feeling her spine relax and realign itself. “Ooh... Thank you.” She felt Dar’s hands rub her back briskly as she was set down again.
When she leaned back and looked up, she was glad to see Dar’s face completely open and happy—lacking the worried tension of the previous day. She patted Dar’s belly through the thin swimsuit fabric and gave her another hug, then gently nudged her out of the galley so she could finish making breakfast.
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Dar reluctantly retreated to the couch and dropped onto it, stretching out on her side and crossing her ankles. “So, are we in agreement about ditching DeSalliers and company?”
Kerry pushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. “You mean, just take off and let them all sort out their own problems?”
“Mmhm.”
“Yeah.” The blonde woman nodded. “I mean, there’s really nothing we can do, is there?”
Dar examined a faint scar on her upper thigh. “Not really,” she said. “Sometimes it pays to know when to just close the books and walk.” She gave Kerry a rakish grin. “Besides, that family feud sounds ugly.”
Kerry had occasion to know more about that than most people.
She merely grunted in agreement as she poured pancake batter onto the small griddle, getting the temperature just right for the creamy substance to immediately start bubbling at its edges. She reached over to a dish and removed a handful of chocolate chips, sprinkling them evenly into the batter.
She could only imagine her mother’s reaction to her choice of breakfasts. For more years than she could count, breakfast at home had been dry toast, perhaps an egg white, and a bowl of healthy cereal with skim milk. Of course, that had only spurred her to find a way to grab a candy bar before first period at school and resulted in her developing an intense dislike of Grape Nuts.
Living with Dar was definitely different. If she felt like having a milkshake for breakfast, the only comment she’d get from her partner was likely to be “Where’s mine?” Dar had a very secure and relaxed attitude toward her own body and that extended to Kerry’s as well, easing Kerry’s initial shyness considerably.
To be fair, most of the time she and Dar ate relatively healthily, and somewhat to her surprise, the last time Dr. Steve had checked her cholesterol, it had actually gone down forty points. She suspected all the extra time in the gym was responsible for that, but she wasn’t about to argue with the results. Not when she was finally getting to indulge herself and not have to worry about comments around the dining room table.
Ah well
. She turned her attention back to her task. Pancakes took practice. Kerry maneuvered the paper-thin flipper under the cakes and expertly turned them, exposing nicely golden bottom sides. The scent of the cooking batter as well as the melting chocolate filled the air, and she felt her mouth start to water.