Page 117 of Echoes
With nothing else to do but go home, they headed in that direction and took their time, finding fun stops along the way, eating at diners and the few really nice restaurants they’d looked up and made reservations for, and when they picked up their girls, they listened to their kids excitedly tell them all about their time with their grandparents. Rachel and Violet held hands the entire drive home, and they each carried a five-year-old up the stairs to their bedroom, which they still shared because they weren’t ready to have separate rooms yet. Most mornings, when either Rachel or Violet went to wake them, they found Daryn in Dora’s bed.
“I hope they’re always like this with each other,” Rachel said the morning after they got home and found the girls in one bed again.
“I kind of hope they eventually sleep in their own beds. I think if and when they end up in relationships one day, their significant others will prefer that.”
Rachel smiled at Violet and asked, “Do you think they’ll marry whomever they married in your vision and have their own kids?”
“I don’t know,” Violet replied honestly, wrapping her arms around her wife. “And I’m okay with that. I just want them to be happy.”
“Well, they’re still out, so any chance you want to go back to bed and take advantage of this rare morning where they sleep in?”
Violet kissed her temple and replied, “Yes, but I kind of also just want to watch them sleep, if that’s okay. I missed them.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Rachel said and held on to Violet’s arms around her waist. “I love you.”
“Oh, my love, I loveyou.”
Rosie & Felicity
“Have I told you how happy I am that we have no children?” Rosie asked.
“Not today, but yesterday, I think, you mentioned it. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, you just got down on your knees in the shower, and I realized that we don’t have to wake up any babies, toddlers, or teenagers, and that made me very happy.”
“I thinkI’m about to make you very happy, babe,” Felicity said before she spread Rosie’s legs with her hands and licked her.
“You always make me happy,” she replied and closed her eyes.
Then, she moved her hand to her wife’s head and held her in place while Felicity drove her to the first orgasm she’d have that morning. The shower on this ship wasn’t overly large, so to take one together, they had to really squeeze in, but they never seemed to mind when it meant they got to have time together on an expedition. Shower sex onboard was better than tiny-bed sex, but wall sex was the best sex they’d had on a ship. This was their fourth expedition together, and technically, Rosie wasn’t even working this one. She’d just gone along for the ride and got to watch her wife in action. And when she wasn’t doing that, she got to relax in the room and work on her second book.
They had the life Rosie had never thought she’d get to have. She had a gorgeous wife. She got to go out on the water and discover new things, solving old mysteries. Sometimes, she even got to do that with her wife. It was true that they spent time apart whenever one of them was on a job and the other one was either at home or on a different one, but they not only made it work; they understood each other, and it became a part of their relationship instead of something they had todealwith. Rosie hadn’t had that with Ami or any other past partner, and taking the wrong path initially, she’d been worried she’d never get it.
They’d talked a lot over the years about how maybe it hadn’t been the wrong path, exactly, just not the shortest one, perhaps. They could have still ended up together, but maybe they wouldn’t have been ready for each other back then and needed the years to get to thatpoint. Neither of them was sure why Rosie had seen what she’d seen, but they’d long ago stopped worrying about it because they just wanted to live their life.
“After this, I’m… taking you against… that wall,” Rosie said just before she came, knowing her wife would know which wall.
Well, there was only one, really, and it was the one with the door on it because the rest of them were covered in shelves or had the small table. The final wall held the bunk beds that made sleeping next to each other difficult, but they kind of liked it, too. It made going home to their house on the water and sleeping in their king-sized bed feel that much more luxurious. Besides, Felicity always took the top bunk, and neither of them knew why, but they had some of the best conversations of their relationship while talking late at night in bunk beds.
“Fine by me,” Felicity said and stood to kiss her. “Then, we have to go out there.”
“I know,” Rosie replied.
They wrapped up their shower so as not to waste any more water, but neither of them dressed. Rosie pressed her wife to the wall and stroked her until Felicity was wet enough. Then, she slipped inside her and kissed her until Felicity was tapping her wrist and asking her to stop without words. The kissing was practically a requirement because just on the other side of that door was a hallway that was typically busy day or night, and Felicity was loud if Rosie’s mouth wasn’t there to block her sounds.
“God, I love that,” Felicity told her.
“I love that, too,” Rosie replied and kissed her once more. “Let’s get dressed.”
They dressed and made their way out to the deck, as they’d done every night for each of the first five nights of the expedition. There were people milling about, some of them starting the night shift, but none of them paid her or Felicity any attention. Rosie wrapped her arms around her wife from behind and kissed her neck.
“Whenever you’re ready,” she said against Felicity’s ear.
Felicity pulled one of the pieces out of her pocket and dropped it into the water. They’d broken their part of the device up into at least ten pieces and planned to drop one piece every night from a different part of the ship. Some of the pieces were so light, they’d be carried far away with the current before sinking eventually. Others sank immediately. Either way, they didn’t worry about anyone discovering all of the pieces, knowing what to do with them, andputting them back together. One of the pieces was just a standard coil. Another was a flat strip of metal. All of them were corroded and burned. If anyone discovered them, they would assume they came off a plane or a ship and were useless. Only the two of them would know the truth, and that was how it should be.
“It’s a nice night, huh?” Felicity asked, leaning back against Rosie’s body.
“Yes, it is,” she replied and kissed Felicity on the neck again.