by Donna Raider
##
On Sunday, they unfurled the sails and let the wind carry them toward home. Leah loved the feel of the wind speeding the boat across the waves. Mika taught her all about the boat. She was a quick study and was soon handling it as well as Mika. She thrilled at the powerful feeling of the wind in the sails and the boat cutting through the ocean waves.
They knew this was their last day and night together before returning to the responsibilities of mayor and priest.
“I am going to have a hard time going back to not having access to you twenty-four seven.” Mika kissed Leah’s lips gently.
“Mmm,” Leah purred, “but at least we will now have our nights together. I always hated it when you weren’t with me at night.”
Mika recalled how she had loathed sleeping without Leah. “That will never happen again,” she promised.
##
On Monday, they watched the horizon as their tiny town came into view. They were happy they would be seeing their son.
Mika took her hand, lacing their fingers together. Leah could feel the tension in her body. It was building just as it had the day of their wedding.
Leah pulled her closer and kissed her, a kiss filled with the promise of eternity. Mika’s anxiety slipped away, and she held her tightly, eager to face a new life with her wife.
“It looks like we have three welcome-home groups waiting.” Leah frowned as she surveyed the three separate groups waiting for them on the dock.
“Three?” Mika tilted her head.
“Yes, my innocent darling.” Leah smiled. “The group on the left is your church people. They will have questions about problems they have had in your absence. The group on the right is made up of people from the city or citizens with issues that haven’t been resolved to their satisfaction. Unfortunately, those are my people. The group in the center, which is made up of our son, Amber, Samson, Delilah and Ruth, is the only one truly thrilled that we are back, and wants nothing from us but our presence.”
She expertly guided the boat into their slip. Mika threw the tie line to Richie, who tied off the front of the boat. He then tossed a line to Samson, who caught the second line to pull the back of the boat against the dock. Leah shut off the idling motor and joined her family on the deck. Richie leaped onto the deck, eager to hug his mother and Mika.
Samson prevented the crowd from overrunning the boat, pushing them back to allow the newlyweds room to disembark.
Mika clung to her wife’s hand as if she feared someone might steal her. As soon as they were on dry land, the crowd began to press on them, everyone talking at once.
Unable to get the crowd’s attention, Samson fired a shot into the air. Silence fell over the crowd. “We’re going to the diner so these folks can have dinner,” he yelled. “If you have business to transact with them, they will be in their respective offices in the morning. Please give them a chance to get home.”
Mika secretly thanked the man and led her wife and son to the waiting car.
While Leah much preferred being on the boat alone with her wife, it was good to see her son and be back in their little town. She was glad to see nothing had changed in their absence.
They entered the diner and sat in their usual booth.
“Emily said I could stay with you tonight, since you were gone so long.”
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart.” Leah smiled and returned his hug.
Ruth donned her apron, watching the newlyweds closely. She nudged Delilah. “Wow,” she breathlessly whispered, “I have never seen two people so enthralled with each other. I thought Mika had it bad before the wedding, but… man… she hasn’t taken her eyes off Leah.”
“Can you blame her?” Delilah exhaled slowly. “She’s gorgeous. I have never seen her look as happy. She looks like a woman that owns the world and everything in it.”
“I am betting Mika made all her wishes come true,” Ruth giggled.
“Mika doesn’t exactly look disappointed,” Delilah pointed out.
##
Richie had talked nonstop since their arrival. “Can we have a movie night?” he asked as Mika unlocked the door to the mansion.
Mika glanced at her wife to make certain it was okay for the boy to stay up late. She nodded. “Sure, Son,” Mika said. “You select the movie. Give your mom and me a chance to freshen up and I will pop us some popcorn.”
“Yes,” the boy said gleefully, and ran off to the family room.
Leah took advantage of the opportunity to kiss her wife hungrily before running up the stairs, knowing she would follow close behind.
As Mika clicked the lock on the door to their bedroom, Leah threw herself into her arms. “This is agony,” she whispered against Mika’s lips before pressing her mouth to her and drawing her into a long, desperate kiss.
“I know,” Mika whispered back. “Hopefully, he will fall asleep quickly. Knowing Emily, she probably made him take a nap today and fed him sugar.”
Her wife laughed as Mika faked a pout then pulled her close for another kiss. “I can never kiss you enough,” she murmured.
“I am going to take a quick shower.” Leah gently pushed her away. “Why don’t you prepare the popcorn? I’ll be down as quickly as possible.”
Mika kissed her softly. “Don’t be too long,” she whispered. “I already miss you.”
Mika and Richie settled on the sofa with a big bowl of popcorn between them. Richie was explaining the premise behind his latest favorite movie. When Leah entered the room, Mika immediately picked up the popcorn bowl and patted the sofa between her and their son.
As Leah sat down, her wife put her arm around her, pulling her close, and placed the popcorn bowl in her lap. This is what happiness is, she thought as she snuggled closer to her wife and placed her arm around her son’s shoulder as he settled against her side. She was with the two people she loved most in the world.
As the credits rolled at the end of the film, Mika looked at the two most important people in her life and smiled. Both were sound asleep. She silently thanked her God for allowing her this wonderful family.
As she had done so many times over the past two years, Mika turned off the television and leaned her head back on the sofa cushion. It felt right. The best part was that she didn’t have to leave and go home. She was home. She would end this night in Leah’s bed, and every night hereafter, she thought.
Mika looked at Leah’s beautiful face as she slept. It was free of makeup, innocent, and childlike. The feeling that welled up in her chest was almost an excruciating pain. She never imagined love could be so joyous and so painful at the same time.
Leah’s eyelashes fluttered, as she smiled softly up at her. Mika leaned down and brushed her lips gently. “I will carry our sleeping prince to his bedroom, and you can get ready for bed.” Mika kissed her again.
Richie was out cold, not even stirring as the priest picked him up and carried him to his new room in the west wing.
When she reached their room, Leah was already in bed. “You don’t need pajamas,” she said sensuously as she lifted the sheet to reveal her nude body.
Mika quickly disrobed. “Do you know how many nights I’ve wanted to end my evening with you and Richie like this?” she whispered hoarsely.
“I suspect the same number as I.” Leah smiled as she lifted the sheet and welcomed Mika into her warm embrace.
Their lovemaking was slow and gentle. Both were cognizant of the young boy sleeping at the far end of the hall. As they reached the height of their desire to please each other, Leah threw her head back and arched upward to meet her. Mika knew a scream would follow and brought her shoulder up to Leah’s lips. “Bite my shoulder,” she whispered as Leah muffled her cries into Mika’s chest. “Yes, yes,” she moaned before sinking teeth and nails into the priest’s body.
##
A soft knock roused them both from their dreams of each other. Leah snuggled closer to her wife…her wife. God, I love her.
Mika leaned up on her elbow and
answered the knock. “Give us a minute, Son. We’ll be right down.”
“Give us an hour,” Leah murmured into her wife’s chest.
“Not this morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Mika smiled down at her. “We have a young man that needs our attention.”
“Just waking in your arms is enough.” Leah pulled Mika down for a quick kiss then slid from the bed. “Pancakes for breakfast?”
“Umm,” Mika hummed. “May I take a quick shower?”
Leah nodded as she slipped on Mika’s shirt, a pair of running shorts, and headed downstairs.
Mika caught her at the top of the stairs. “Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?” she whispered against her lips. “How beautiful your legs look in those shorts?”
Leah smiled. Queens rarely left anything to chance.
CHAPTER 19 – Maine’s Got Talent
“Then Father Dalton told Gloria that they have found a competition in which we couldn’t beat them.” Richie was continuing to tell his mother all the latest news in their little town. She had her back to the island and was cooking pancakes.
Mika slipped her arms around Leah and hugged her. She jumped, then turned in her arms to kiss her. As they pulled apart, Leah exhaled slowly, realizing that she had been holding her breath from the first moment Mika had touched her. She kissed her again, loving the clean, feminine scent of her. She wanted to drag Mika back upstairs but knew their son was excited to be with them.
Richie suppressed his usual expression of disgust when they kissed in front of him. He was sure he would have to live with it for the rest of his life.
“Good morning, Son,” Mika greeted the boy as she still held Leah tightly.
“Mika, you have to help us,” Richie exclaimed. “Brighton Parrish thinks they can beat us.”
“At what?” Mika poured coffee into the two cups her wife had placed on the counter.
“They have organized a competition they are calling ‘Maine’s Got Talent’ and they are already bragging that they are going to smoke us.” The boy laughed. “They are still smarting from the beating we gave them in skating and baseball.”
“Maine’s Got Talent,’ how original,” Leah chuckled at her joke.
“Sounds like a talent show.” Mika sipped her coffee. “You and your band should do well.”
“Oh, no,” huffed Richie, “it’s not that simple. They have all kinds of jinky rules designed to make it easy for them to win.”
“Like what?” His mother raised an eyebrow.
“Every band has to be made up of teenagers thirteen to eighteen and must have one adult member over thirty.” Richie scowled as if it was impossible to meet the criteria.
“No big deal,” Mika laughed. “Your band with Ruth as the lead singer.”
Richie’s face fell. “Ruth is a great torch singer,” he said, “but this has to be fifties music. You know, the first decade of Rock and Roll.”
“I love fifties music.” Mika grinned, doing a little twist dance. “Some of my best moves come from the fifties.” She winked at her wife as she gyrated her hips.
“I don’t know much about that decade of music.” Leah laughed at her wife’s antics.
“Exactly,” her son wailed. “How are we supposed to compete in something we know little about?”
“They must have a band that is very good at fifties music,” Leah continued.
“The mayor and his three sons.” Richie pouted. “They have a fifties routine they do at all the town functions. You know, homecoming, dances, and parties. They’re great. They will smoke us!”
“Maybe not,” Mika laughed. “When is the big competition?”
“The first weekend in September,” Richie answered. “That is Labor Day weekend.”
“It is mid-June. That gives you about eleven weeks to work up your act. Tonight, let’s get on the Internet and see what we can find from the fifties. I bet there are several songs with which you and the band can compete.”
##
The boy was talking a mile a minute as he planned their entry into the competition. They walked Richie to Emily’s apartment then Mika walked her wife to her office. Mika kissed her softly then headed for the church. “Lunch at the diner,” she said as she backed away from Leah, loath to take her eyes off her.
Leah was speechless when she saw the number of people waiting to talk with her. They all started talking at once. “Please,” she smiled her most charismatic smile, “if each of you will make an appointment with my secretary, we can schedule times for us to visit together one on one.”
She closed the door to her office, grateful for her incredible secretary and her scheduling skills. Her second shock of the day came when she saw the stacks of paperwork on her desk. The sheriff's department generated the tallest stack. It appeared that Emily had instructed her officers to requisition everything their hearts desired, knowing they wouldn’t get it, but that the mayor would have to read and refuse every requisition.
She suddenly realized that they hadn’t seen Emily since their return. Hopefully, the sheriff had found better things to do than harass her.
Leah’s phone announced the arrival of a text message from her wife. “Missing you so much. I don’t think I can do this. Is there any way we can office together?” Two sad emoticons ended her text.
She smiled and texted Mika back. “Skip lunch. I’ll meet you in your bedroom at the rectory.”
Mika’s return text was several broadly smiling emoticons.
Mika’s morning was filled with a line of confessors and staff with problems. Keeping busy made the morning pass quickly for them.
The “Queen of My Heart” ringtone announced a call from Leah. “I am here,” she breathlessly said when Mika answered the phone.
Mika hung an Out To Lunch sign on her office door, locked it, and taking the stairs two at a time, quickly made her way to the rectory bedroom.
Leah had drawn the drapes and was already in her bed. Mika quickly joined her.
##
Afterward, Mika held her, Leah’s head on her shoulder as she stroked her hair and down her back. “That was awesome,” she whispered. Leah nodded, still trying to catch her breath.
It was their first day away from one another since their marriage, and they were both having difficulty with the separation.
“I can’t wait until Friday,” Leah whispered. “We’ll have Friday night and all day Saturday to be together with no interruptions.”
Mika smiled and held her tighter. Her love for her wife had no boundaries. “Can you leave at five today?”
“Yes.”
As they dressed, Mika noticed that she had several bite and scratch marks that were bleeding. “Will you fix these for me?” She grinned. “People will talk if their priest goes around bleeding through her shirt.”
“Seems only right I should fix it,” Leah said, smirking as she waved her hand, “since I’m the one that did that to your body.”
“I loved every minute of it,” Mika said as she kissed her, “and I’m looking forward to the same treatment tonight.”
Arousal shot through Leah. “Is now too soon?” she whispered, pulling Mika back to the bed.
##
Emily and Richie entered the mayor’s office at four thirty. “I just need a couple minutes with her,” the sheriff told Odette.
“She has someone with her now.” The secretary nodded without looking up from her computer. “I will get you in next, Sheriff.”
“I will put this on the agenda for next week.” The mayor graciously smiled as she escorted her visitor from her office.
“Mom.” Richie sprung to his mother, giving her a solid frontal hug. “Emily says I can stay the rest of the week with you.”
“That’s wonderful, darling.” Leah returned her son’s hug joyously and smiled at Emily.
“All he can talk about is finding some fifties music or something for his band to compete against Brighton.” Emily shrugged. “I’m working nights, so I can’t be with him anyway.”<
br />
“Thank you, Emily.” Leah smiled her most appreciative smile. Her beauty caused a deep aching in the pit of Emily’s stomach.
“Yeah, if you will just drop him off like you did this morning, that will be great.” Emily nodded. “Oh, and welcome back. We missed you.” She gave Richie a brief hug and was gone before the mayor could respond.
“Mom, I’m excited.” Her son bounced on his toes. “Do you think Mika can find something that will make us competitive?”
“Let me lock up and we’ll ask her.” She collected her purse, locked her office, bid Odette good night, and practically ran to the elevator. She couldn’t wait a minute longer to see her wife.
The priest was standing in the lobby when their elevator door opened. “I was just on my way to get you.” She pulled her wife close for a quick, but heartfelt kiss. Noticing Richie behind her, Mika put an arm around her son’s shoulder and hugged him briefly.
“Let’s go to dinner at the diner,” Mika suggested. “You can rest when we get home. I know you have had an exhausting day. Richie and I can begin our research for just the right song.”
##
“So, how was the honeymoon?” Ruth grinned as she clicked her pen, ready to take their order. Her wolf senses told her the honeymoon was still in full swing. As recently as three or four hours ago, she thought. No wonder we didn’t see them at lunch.
Sitting beside her wife, Leah blushed as she recalled the things they had done on their honeymoon. She was speechless.
“It was wonderful.” Mika smiled. “We visited places and saw things neither of us have ever experienced before.”
Leah smiled at her wife. She has such a way with words. Never telling a lie, but not sharing anything important, she thought.
“May I have a milkshake?” Richie wrinkled his nose mischievously, knowing his mother would say yes.
“Of course, darling.” Leah nodded.