Avery looked up and smiled. “What I want is to have an extra mouth. I can’t choose which one looks more enticing.”
“Ooo, two mouths wouldn’t be a good look for you,” Casey said, urging her right back to work. “You don’t have to be in a hurry. We’ve got hours.”
“Hours. What a beautiful word,” Avery sighed. “Once I’ve worked my way around this gorgeous body, I’m going to start at the top and take another lap.” She let out a laugh. “Little play on words there.”
“Lap away,” Casey said. “Every part likes being licked.”
“Kismet, since everything I’ve licked so far is delicious.” She continued to kiss and lick Casey’s breasts until the nipples grew so sensitive she was squirming under the interest Avery lavished upon her. With a grin, Avery started to slide down the bed, her gaze locked on Casey’s. “There’s one part that I haven’t tried yet, but I have a really good feeling about it.”
“Don’t let yourself be talked out of sampling the merchandise. I’m confident you’re going to love it.” She let out a soft laugh. “I’m a little full of myself sometimes.”
“Your confidence is a huge turn-on,” Avery said, now centered between Casey’s legs. “Let’s get this party started.”
Casey laughed at that, but the sound caught in her throat when the sensation hit her a second later. There was simply nothing better than having a lover bathe your most sensitive skin with her tongue. “Wonderful,” she sighed.
Avery placed a gentle kiss to her flesh, looking up briefly. “Don’t be afraid to direct me. I’m happy to have feedback.”
“You’re doing great,” Casey said, with their gazes meeting again, their growing bond making her heart race.
“I just want to please you. Every day.”
“You’re pleasing me an awful lot right now,” Casey murmured, sinking into the pillow to open up her senses to Avery’s determined tongue. She let her mind drift a little, unable to process so much sensation at once. But she never let herself get too far adrift. Knowing Avery was focused on her pleasure kept her on track, just having to tilt her head to see her, eyes closed, clearly enjoying herself.
A dextrous hand crept up her thigh, then it slipped between her legs as Avery’s talented fingers entered her.
“So nice,” Casey sighed. “Your touch is so gentle.”
Avery didn’t reply in words, but she made some cute moan-like sounds to highlight her own pleasure. They were so connected, body and soul, that Casey felt herself getting emotional again. But she didn’t want to spend these precious moments on the verge of tears. This was a joyful celebration, and she tried harder to stay in the moment to experience all of the pleasure Avery could offer.
Just that slight change of focus had her racing along, and she felt Avery increasing the pressure from both her hand and her tongue. “Close,” Casey croaked out, unable to utter another word before her climax started deep in her body to radiate out, pulsing hard as she struggled to catch a breath. She lay there, spent, taking in deep breaths to recover. Avery was still nuzzling against her, licking her thighs as her hands climbed up to delicately tickle across Casey’s ribs. “You remembered my less obvious erogenous zones,” she said, smiling as their eyes met.
“I’m going to get around to the backs of your knees before the night’s out. Then I’m going to find a few new ones. I’m on a quest.”
“Come up here so I can kiss you again,” Casey said. “But stop on the way and get my phone out of my shorts.”
“Your phone? You want to check your mail now?”
“I’ve forgotten what mail is,” she said, laughing a little. “But I’m kind of fixated on having a memory of this afternoon. Just before I climaxed I looked out the window, and almost cried.”
“Cried?”
“Uh-huh. It was the combination of being in this room, seeing the trees bursting with new life, and realizing our new family is being made—right here. I want to take a photo to keep that image in my head.”
“Sounds perfect.” Avery found the phone and handed it over as she stretched out next to Casey. She tossed her head, with the fine, blonde strands sliding across her shoulder, reminding Casey of one of those paintings of the voluptuous nudes by the French artist whose name Avery would surely know.
Casey got up and stood behind the bed, spending some time composing the image she wanted to recall. “I’m going to frame this and put it on the mantel.”
“We don’t have a mantel,” Avery said, smiling up at her.
“Only because the fireplace is behind a wall. It might take years, but I’m going to figure out how to get this house looking a little more like it did a hundred years ago.”
“Just a hundred?”
She nodded. “We’ll start at a hundred, and keep going back in the time machine if we’ve got money to burn.”
Turning the phone around for Avery to take a look, Casey said, “This is how I want to remember today.”
“Oh, my god!” she squealed. “How’d you do that? I didn’t even know I was going to be in the picture.”
“You were looking at me, not posing. I like it better that way.” She held the camera in front of herself and gazed at it for the long time. “I’ve caught your beautiful face, your messy hair, the satisfied smile on your lips, and the trees through the window. Perfect,” she decided, dropping the phone onto the bed.
“That might be the best I’ve ever looked,” Avery said. “But by the time Lisbet’s eleven or so she’ll realize that was taken right before or after lovemaking. Kids are surprisingly good at figuring that out.”
Casey smiled at her, then gently touched her face. “Are you saying you don’t want her to know we make love?”
Avery stopped and stared at her for a second. “I’m not saying that at all. We’re her role models for how fulfilling it is to have a loving, sexual relationship with someone you truly care for.” She took her finger and slowly trailed it down between Casey’s breasts, then brought it back up to touch her lips. “And that’s going to be the easiest, most enjoyable lesson we’ll ever impart.”
The End
Epilogue
On Saturday morning, Avery blinked her eyes open slowly, with the bat-like hearing motherhood had created informing her that Lisbet was awake, and happy. She could stand down for a little while.
A second later she jerked upright, with her head turning sharply to the right, looking for Casey. They’d slept together for just the past two nights, and she still wasn’t used to having a bed partner. Obviously, she wasn’t used to that bed partner slipping away from her, either. The bathroom door was open, but the door to the bedroom was shut securely. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where she was, and when Avery heard her soft, warm voice on the baby monitor, she lay back and luxuriated in the feel of her bed. Few things felt better than lazing about on a Saturday morning, and squeezing another fifteen minutes of sleep in was awfully compelling. Knowing Casey, she wouldn’t complain if she was on sole baby-duty for an hour or two. But now that Avery had a partner to share the load, she found she didn’t want to avail herself of that option. She wanted to jump into the first day of their new family dynamic.
It was a warm morning, and she tossed off the sheet that had covered them. But just as her feet hit the floor, she heard Casey’s voice, louder now.
“Here’s the deal,” she said. “Your mom and I have changed things up a little.”
Charmed, Avery lay back down, scooting over to be able to hear the monitor even better.
“You’re probably kind of confused about who I am, and why I’m over here so much. But we’ve finally got an answer for all of that.”
Avery’s heart skipped a beat when she heard the emotion that now colored Casey’s voice. “Your mom and I love each other very much, Lisbet, and I’m going to live here from now on so I can be with her—and you—every day.”
Avery had only seen her cry once or twice, but there was no doubt in her mind that tears were rolling down Cas
ey’s cheeks at that very moment. She had to bite her lip to distract herself enough to not join in, but she was hanging onto every word, and didn’t want her emotions to get in the way.
“The cool part, the part I didn’t think I’d ever get to experience, is that I’m going to be…well, you’ll decide what you want to call me, but your mom and I are going to be your parents. Isn’t that fantastic?” Her voice had risen, and sounded very playful. Lisbet reacted as she always did when someone was playing with her, by babbling along, trying to mimic them. She could get a few understandable syllables out in order, and one or two of them now sounded clear as day to Avery.
“Yeah, you think it’s fantastic too, don’t you?” Casey asked. “You’ll have a mama and me.”
“Mama!”
“Mama’s still asleep, sweetheart,” she soothed. Lisbet must have made it clear she was addressing Casey as well, because she said, “You’ve only got one mama, baby girl. I’m going to be…something else.”
“Mama!” Lisbet insisted, with Avery thrilled to hear her child give voice to the truth. No matter what they called themselves, Lisbet had three women who loved her with every fibre of their beings. It made perfect sense that she would want to use the same term for them.
Finding the T-shirt she’d put on when they’d rocked Lisbet to sleep the night before, Avery put it on, then padded into the baby’s room, finding her and Casey in a very amusing stand-off. She was in Casey’s arms, hair askew, leaning back to stare at her. “Mama!” she shrieked, the tone of voice she used when the adults in her life didn’t quite understand the point she was trying to make.
“I think Lisbet has two mommies,” Avery said, laughing at the befuddled expression on Casey’s face.
“But…!” She was so flustered she didn’t seem able to finish her thought.
Lisbet stuck her arms out and tried to lean over, with Avery catching her and lifting her into the air. “You know the truth, don’t you, precious. You’ve had two mommies for a long time now. We’ve just been too…whatever to admit to ourselves that we’re a family.”
She stopped at the changing table, but Casey put a hand on her back. “I took care of that already. I couldn’t handle breakfast, though,” she said, smiling. “She kept asking.” Her T-shirt was askew, and she pulled it into position, then gave Lisbet’s cheek a pinch. “She thinks everyone can feed her if she just gets their shirt off.”
Avery met her eyes. “Not true. She’s never done that to my dad, and she hasn’t tried it with my mom for months now.” She put the baby on her hip and wrapped her other arm around Casey. “Lisbet knows you’re in a different category.” Their eyes met, and she could see that Casey was still feeling emotional. “She knows you and I are in this together.”
“But you’re her mom,” Casey stressed. “You’ve done all of the hard work.”
Avery shrugged. “None of that’s important to her. At least at this point in her life. She knows there’s something special between us, and she clearly loves you. That’s all that matters to her. We’re her people.”
“But you’re her mom,” Casey insisted.
“I was there on her birth day,” Avery said, laughing a little. “You don’t have to remind me.” She gave Casey a hug, with Lisbet shifting her weight to be able to lean against her as well. “One day she’ll want to know who carried her, but for now I want to stress that we’re her parents. I assume she’ll eventually use different names for us, but if she wants to have two mamas, that’s fine with me.”
Casey now looked more confused than ever. “You’re serious. You don’t mind if she calls me mama.”
“I’d love it.” She moved so they were facing each other, then gave Casey a full body hug, with Lisbet cuddled up between them. “I want Lisbet to be one hundred percent secure in the knowledge that she has two parents. So while she’s getting used to that we’ll downplay my role a little.”
“But why?”
Avery looked up into her warm brown eyes, seeing how utterly confused she was. “I think it’s best for Lisbet. Get used to that answer,” she added, smiling at Casey’s sweet, puzzled expression. “Whenever something comes up, that should be our number one goal. If it’s best for her, it’s best.”
“I just think she’ll be confused…”
Avery let go and walked over to sit on the rocker, with Lisbet settling against her, already licking her lips when Avery tugged her shirt up. “Let’s face facts. Even though she’s weaning herself, she’ll remember that I fed her like this. She won’t be confused that my role has been different from yours. I promise you that.”
Casey stood there like she’d been hit on the head, kind of dopey looking. “I’ve never watched you feed her,” she said, with a touch of embarrassment tinting her voice. “Do you mind?”
“Mind?” She looked up at her and smiled. “I was just going to tell you to go get your phone.” Casey didn’t move, so she added, “I’ve always wanted a photo of her nursing, but I felt weird asking my mom to take one.”
“Be right back,” she said, making sparks as she raced out of the room.
“Your mama’s silly,” Avery said, stroking Lisbet’s flyaway hair into place as she latched on properly and started smacking away. The baby was almost always very enthusiastic when she started to eat, then she settled down once a couple of ounces of food hit her stomach and eased her hunger.
Casey was back well before that happened, with Lisbet eating like she’d never had anything better, or more necessary. Avery watched Casey try to get into position, looking as focused and determined as Lisbet did at the moment.
“The light’s perfect,” she said quietly, sounding reverential. “The wall behind you is getting the sun, and it’s reflecting off both of you.”
“Take a lot,” Avery said. “I’m going to start distracting her in the morning so we can skip this feeding, so we have a short time-window for breakfast photos.”
Casey got down on her knees, quietly snapping away, with Avery able to see she was about to lose it again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful,” she said, reaching up to wipe her eyes. “I can’t cry like this every morning, you two. You’ve got to give me a break!”
“I’m falling in love with you just a little bit more this morning,” Avery said, meeting her gaze. “When a woman cries at seeing a baby nurse, you’re with a real sweetheart. Not that I had any doubt,” she added.
“Can I get a few shots from behind? I think I can fit.”
“Sure. We can scoot forward—”
“I’m thinner than I look.” She slipped between the chair and the wall, then scooted down so she was directly over Avery’s right shoulder. “Ooo. This is good,” she said, her voice as soft as a sigh. “My two favorite people, showing how crazy they are about each other.”
Avery turned her head slightly. “We’re both crazy about you, too. And you’re not a milk dispenser, so her love for you is purer.”
“Not buying it,” Casey said, with her voice breaking slightly. “You two are so close it’s… I don’t have a good word for it.” She gently touched Avery’s head. “But I bet you do.”
“I’ve got a few words that get close to how I feel about Lisbet. But having a baby kind of goes beyond words.” Casey grasped the rocker and moved it forward a few inches so she could slip out. Avery met her gaze, adding, “Do you know what I mean?”
“I do.” She folded her legs under herself, then leaned forward, resting her head upon Avery’s thigh. Lisbet purposefully shifted so her foot reached Casey’s shoulder, and she started to rhythmically push against her. Casey removed the little sock that covered Lisbet’s foot and kissed the flawless pink skin that covered it. “Now’s a great time for not having words.”
“A perfect time,” Avery said, closing her eyes to preserve this moment in her mind. Their first full day as a family. If a word had been created to encompass all of the love she had for these two people, Avery was entirely sure she’d never learned
it. And equally sure she didn’t need it. The feeling was everything.
By Susan X Meagher
Novels
Arbor Vitae
All That Matters
Cherry Grove
The Lies That Bind
The Legacy
Doublecrossed
Smooth Sailing
How To Wrangle a Woman
Almost Heaven
The Crush
The Reunion
Inside Out
Out of Whack
Homecoming
The Right Time
Summer of Love
Chef’s Special
Fame
Vacationland
Wait For Me
The Keeper’s Daughter
Friday Night Flights
Short Story Collection
Girl Meets Girl
Serial Novel
I Found My Heart In San Francisco
Awakenings: Book One
Beginnings: Book Two
Coalescence: Book Three
Disclosures: Book Four
Entwined: Book Five
Fidelity: Book Six
Getaway: Book Seven
Honesty: Book Eight
Intentions: Book Nine
Journeys: Book Ten
Karma: Book Eleven
Lifeline: Book Twelve
Monogamy: Book Thirteen
Nurture: Book Fourteen
Osmosis: Book Fifteen
Paradigm: Book Sixteen
Quandary: Book Seventeen
Renewal: Book Eighteen
Synchronicity: Book Nineteen
Trust: Book Twenty
United: Book Twenty-One
Vengeance: Book Twenty-Two
Anthologies
Undercover Tales
Outsiders
You can contact Susan at [email protected]
Information about all of Susan’s books can be found at
Friday Night Flights Page 48