“Are you hungry?” Lizbeth let Gray pass and followed her to the bathroom door.
Gray nodded her head yes, but didn’t speak. The exhaustion had really set in during her most recent nap. Lizbeth left Gray in the bathroom and went to the kitchen. Luckily, she hadn’t thrown out the food when she left. She managed to put together clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches for them. While she worked on the menu, Gray joined her in the kitchen, sitting with her head lying on her crossed arms on the table. Lizbeth glanced at her occasionally. She could see how much the ordeal with the boat had taken out of Gray. She was emotionally and physically drained. Her spurt of energy this morning had been false bravado.
Lizbeth set out the lunch and sat down across from Gray, who had raised her head and sat staring at the food in front of her.
“Gray, honey, eat something.”
Gray answered in a voice husky with fatigue, “I will. I just can’t seem to wake up.”
“If you don’t want to eat now, I’ll just put this away. You can go back to sleep.”
Lizbeth reached for Gray’s plate. Gray reached out and took her hand. “No, just give me a minute.” She didn’t let go of Lizbeth.
Lizbeth waited silently while Gray gathered her energy. She watched Gray’s eyes slowly brighten and when she eventually grinned, Lizbeth relaxed her worry and started to eat.
Gray shook her head, as if shaking off the cobwebs that clouded her brain. “Wow, I was really out of it. Thanks for lunch,” she said, releasing Lizbeth’s hand and diving into her plate.
“After lunch, you should go lie back down. You’re exhausted.”
Gray swallowed, chasing the grill cheese down with water. “I will, if you come with me.” She winked.
Lizbeth scoffed at her, “You are so full of it. You barely have the energy to lift that sandwich to your mouth.”
“I’m sorry I fell asleep when you were in the shower.” Gray sounded as if she was afraid Lizbeth was disappointed.
Lizbeth reassured her, “Gray, I’ll be here when you feel better. I’m not going anywhere. In fact, we need to talk about that.”
Gray raised an eyebrow, her sandwich hanging out of her mouth as she froze for a second.
Lizbeth grinned at the expression on Gray’s face. She was so childlike it was constantly endearing. “Honey, swallow,” Lizbeth said, chuckling at her big baby. “I just got off the phone with Molly, the friend that flew me back here. She’s not only a friend, she’s my attorney.” Lizbeth let that sink in, then went on. “I’m about to make a blind leap of faith here and I hope it’s what you want, too.” She hesitated, because she and Gray had never gotten around to talking about the future.
Gray, who had finally swallowed, spoke up. “Why do you need an attorney? Are you going to make me sign a pre-nup? Exactly how much money do you have, anyway?”
“As of today,” Lizbeth smiled. “Enough so that neither one of us ever has to work another day in our lives, and is that some backhanded way of asking me to marry you?”
Gray looked stunned. “What?”
“Asking me if I wanted you to sign a pre-nup. You don’t need a pre-nup if there are no nuptials. Get my drift?”
Gray’s countenance darkened. “We’ve both been married before and it meant nothing to them. Is it necessary to go through a ceremony that in the end had no bearing on the future?”
“Gray, I’m not that old fashioned. It doesn’t matter to me. What does matter is a commitment to each other. Do you want me to move down here?”
Gray smiled. The darkness dissipated. “Yes, I want you to move down here.”
“Then we need to talk about it,” Lizbeth said, still leading Gray through the conversation. She was beginning to understand that this was the way it was going to be with Gray. Gray wouldn’t talk about what she wanted unless Lizbeth pulled it out of her.
Gray took a drink of water, then leaned her elbows on the table and concentrated on Lizbeth’s eyes. “I still don’t understand why you need an attorney.”
Lizbeth explained, “She’s handling the sale of my house in Durham. I just sold it back to my ex-husband this morning.”
“You sold your house this morning?”
“Yes, I’m not going to be living in it and I was planning to sell it anyway, next year, so it worked out for both of us. He wanted it, that’s the only reason I took it in the first place. I don’t need that feeling of vindication anymore.”
“I know what you mean. I spent five years hating Dana, but then when she came here, I didn’t feel a thing.”
“Oh, you felt a thing, I saw you,” Lizbeth said before she could stop herself.
Gray, defensive, said, “Lizbeth, it wasn’t like that. I came back to you, didn’t I?”
Lizbeth stood up and stepped over to Gray. She leaned down close to her and said, “Yes, you did. I’m sorry. Residual jealousy. Just know that I can’t bear the sight of another woman touching you.” She kissed Gray on the lips lightly and then looked into her eyes. “Gray, I need to know if I should buy this cottage from my cousins. If I do, will you live with me?”
“Why don’t you move in with me and Fanny?”
“Because I have to have somewhere for my stuff and a place my daughter can come visit. I just think three women in the same house would be pushing it, don’t you?”
Gray thought about it. “It would give us more privacy and I know you’d never have sex with me over there.”
Lizbeth chuckled. “Always thinking about the important things, aren’t you?”
Gray pulled Lizbeth down on her lap. She was recovering her strength. Lizbeth could feel it in her grip and see it in her sparkling eyes. Gray kissed her and then said, “I think that’s very important. It’s growing more important by the second.” She pulled Lizbeth to her for a long kiss.
She released a breathless Lizbeth, who tried to continue their conversation, but Gray’s insistent lips kept interrupting. “How’s… Fanny going… to feel… about this?”
Gray stopped kissing Lizbeth long enough to say, “If I take my meals with her for the most part, she’ll be fine. We can spend time with her and when she’s asleep, I’ll be over here.”
Before Gray could kiss her again, Lizbeth suggested, “We could put in a wireless com system and she could reach us anytime she needed us.”
Gray stopped being focused on Lizbeth’s lips. “That would make me feel better,” she said, and then she paused. Lizbeth saw Gray’s brow knit. Whatever she was thinking expressed itself in her solemn eyes. “Lizbeth, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Lizbeth knew exactly what she was doing. She was following her heart. It didn’t matter that she’d known Gray only two weeks. She knew that coming here had been her second chance. She no longer carried the heavy heart of the scorned woman, sworn never to take that chance again. Lizbeth felt alive and young, with a world of possibilities in front of her. She wanted to face that future with Gray.
Gray, whom she had found asleep at the wheel, was herself awakening from years of dormant emotions. Lizbeth could be patient as Gray learned to trust her. Even now, she could hear it in Gray’s voice. She was still afraid that Lizbeth would change her mind. Gray hadn’t quite given in, but she was close to believing Lizbeth was really hers to have. All she had to do was take it.
Lizbeth placed the palm of her hand over Gray’s heart. She could feel the steady thumps against her skin. “I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Is that what you’re asking? Is that what you want, too?”
Lizbeth saw Gray physically gulp. She was witnessing from the outside the argument between Gray’s brain and her heart. Lizbeth wanted to laugh, but she didn’t. Gray was suffering with a last minute flurry of what ifs. She had the stricken look of a scared groom, just before he said, “I do.” Lizbeth knew Gray was fighting a losing battle. Gray was already in love with her. Lizbeth decided to help Gray with her struggle. She pressed her chest into Gray’s, wrapping her arms around her neck, and kissed Gray’s breath away.
Gray’s eyes were wide and blinking when Lizbeth released her. A grin crept into the corner of her mouth. “Have you been holding out on me?”
“No, I was just trying to encourage you to make the right decision.” Lizbeth returned the grin.
Gray sighed. “You got me, all of me, as you requested. I can’t resist you. I tried, but it’s just no use.”
“Okay. Then I believe I am following proper lesbian protocol,” Lizbeth said with a sly grin.
“Oh,” Gray asked, laughing. “And what would that be?”
“I’m bringing the U-Haul,” Lizbeth said, bursting into laughter at her cleverness.
Gray laughed at her and rose from her chair, forcing Lizbeth to stand. She took Lizbeth by the hand and led her, limping only slightly now, toward the bedroom. She said, as she skillfully maneuvered Lizbeth into her lair, “And where did you acquire your newfound knowledge of the lesbian lifestyle?”
Lizbeth, following blissfully along, answered, “Molly. We’ve also discussed the uncanny way all lesbians seemed to be connected.”
Gray’s eyes were smoldering. There was no sign of the sleepy baby from a few minutes ago. She casually asked, “What’s her theory on that?”
They were climbing the stairs and Lizbeth thought this probably wasn’t the best time to spring the news on Gray that Molly was now connected to both of them through Dana. She simply said, “We’ll talk about that later.”
When they reached the bedroom, Gray let go of Lizbeth’s hand and hugged her close to her body. She looked into Lizbeth’s upturned face, while her hands began slowly to undress her. Lizbeth’s body trembled with each touch. Gray led Lizbeth to the bed, sat her down on the edge, and then stood in front of her, shedding her own clothing. Again, the pure awe of Gray warmed Lizbeth with lust, but she didn’t move to touch her. Gray had her paralyzed, bearing down on her with those desire-filled eyes. Lizbeth may have been in control of their earlier conversation, but this nonverbal language was Gray’s specialty, and Lizbeth was content just to listen.
She listened. Lizbeth listened for several hours while Gray made love to her. This was their commitment ceremony. There was no doubt when they finally collapsed in each other’s arms that, sanctioned by the state or not, the commitment had thoroughly been celebrated.
The remainder of Thursday and into the wee hours of Friday morning, Gray and Lizbeth alternately slept, talked, consumed food, and then each other. They slept in Friday morning, not bothering to tell Fanny they weren’t coming to breakfast. She must have known. Lizbeth had gotten up before Gray and made coffee. Deciding to let Gray sleep some more, she went out on the front porch where Fanny had left a basket containing fresh biscuits and homemade jam.
Gray joined Lizbeth a half an hour later. They ate the biscuits sitting on the porch. Gray needed to go do her mea culpa to Cora Mae about the boat. Even if it was hers, she still owed Cora Mae an apology for causing her grief. Lizbeth didn’t want to go. She thought the two old friends had things to be said that she shouldn’t be a party to.
Gray had explained that Cora Mae was ten years older and the original island lesbian. She had taken a young Gray under her wing, but not to bed. She was the person who had recognized the symptoms in the fledgling lesbian and helped Gray get through the difficult coming out process. She had been Gray’s rock for years. Giving Cora Mae the boat to use, because the bank took hers, had been Gray’s way of paying some of the kindness back.
To Gray’s credit she was taking all the blame for her recent escapade. She didn’t blame Lizbeth or Jane for making her mad. She could fault no one but herself for drinking moonshine, of all things. 198 proof, pure grain alcohol has caused black outs, hallucinations, and in the worse cases death. Luckily, Gray had thrown up or she may not have made that swim, but she did, and she was now facing the consequences head on.
One of those consequences sauntered up to the front of Gray’s house and knocked on the screen door. Lizbeth could tell by Gray’s body language that she wasn’t happy to see the man at her door. Gray rose out of the rocking chair and called out to him.
“Billy, over here.”
Billy had the look of a man who had lived in a bottle. Even though he had to be Gray’s age, he looked much older. The alcohol had dried up his skin. His gaunt face was unshaven. He dressed like Gray, but somehow his attempt to hang onto his youth didn’t wear as well on him as it did his female nemesis. He had the same blond hair as Gray did, but that was where the similarities stopped.
Billy approached cautiously. Lizbeth thought he looked genuinely frightened. Gray stood, holding the screen door open, staring down at the man she would have towered over anyway. This gave them the appearance of the serf coming to pay respects to the queen. He bobbed his head, in a gesture of greeting, in Lizbeth’s direction. He didn’t know her, but he was raised to acknowledge a lady when present. He didn’t nod at Gray.
Lizbeth watched the two old enemies square off from her front row seat. Fanny must have heard the knocking, because she came to the door. When she saw what was happening, she sat down in her rocker, the rhythm of the chair reflecting her anticipation of something exciting. Lizbeth figured Fanny had been watching these two go at it since they were in diapers. The grin on her face said she had probably enjoyed most of it.
Billy kicked at the ground; not looking up, he said, “I’m glad they found you, Gray.”