A Twist of Fate

by Donna Raider

  Yes, Leah Cross knew the affect she had on her wife and reveled in the control she had over her. Mika had the exact same control over Leah.

  Most of the time everything they did was foreplay for the night to come, touching at dinner; whispering in meetings, even their text messages.

  “Here we are,” Mika pulled their car into Leah’s parking place in front of city hall. “I’ll be right across the street if you want, uh, need me.”

  “Lunch,” Leah smiled as she leaned over to kiss her goodbye.

  “Yes, please,” Mika said hoarsely. “I’m starving already.”

  ##

  Mika almost had dinner on the table when Leah and Richie burst through the front door, doubled over in laughter. “…and then Emily got hung in the tree and the fire department had to get her down,” Richie finished his story.

  “So, how was the driving lesson?” Mika raised an expectant eyebrow.

  “Great,” Richie smiled. “Mom is really a very good instructor.”

  The priest grinned, always happy to see the bonding between her wife and son.

  “He didn’t run over anything,” Leah hugged Richie quickly, cognizant of the fact that he was now a teenager and shunned prolonged hugs. “I felt very safe with him.”

  Richie beamed, basking in his mother’s praise.

  “Is Emily working with you, too?” Mika inquired.

  “No, she said that’s Mom’s job. She’s right. Mom has always taken care of the important things in my life.”

  “Smart woman,” the priest smiled. “You two run upstairs, wash your hands, get comfortable and be back here in ten minutes. I’ll have dinner on the table.”

  ##

  “Oh, my, gosh, this is wonderful,” Leah fluttered her eyes, as she slowly slid her fork from between her glorious lips.

  “What is this, Mika?” Richie asked between mouthfuls.

  “Chicken Tetrazzini,” Mika answered, forcing herself to pull her eyes away from her wife’s antics with her fork.

  “Where did you learn to cook such a heavenly dish?” Leah smiled seductively, leaning toward Mika so she could see down her blouse.

  “San Francisco,” Mika said hoarsely. Clearing her throat, she continued. “I spent a few years in the city,” she explained, pleased that her family liked the new dish she had introduced to them. “The cook at the church taught me to make it.”

  “San Francisco,” Richie squeaked excitedly, “isn’t that on the other side of the United States?”

  “Yes, it is.” Mika laughed. “Although most people think Chicken Tetrazzini is an Italian dish, it was actually invented by the chef of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco sometime in the very early 1900’s.”

  “Wow! I would expect it to come from Italy or Sicily,” Richie laughed. “You know Sicily is the home of the Mafia.”

  Mika was surprised the boy knew about the Mafia. “Have you studied the Mafia in school?”

  “No, we never study anything as interesting as that,” Richie grinned. “I learned about it on the internet. I would love to go to Sicily. It sounds incredible.”

  The only thing incredible in my world is your mother, Mika thought as she tried to keep her eyes off her wife. She had changed into jeans and a low-cut pullover. When Leah leaned toward Mika, she saw that brunette had on no bra.

  “Maybe, for your graduation present we can go there on holiday,” Mika licked her lips, trying to replace the moisture that seemed to have disappeared. “They have an interesting way of combining their restaurants and bras… ah, uh, bars…bars.” She corrected her Freudian slip hurriedly, blushing furiously.

  Leah smiled wickedly and took another bite of the delicious offering Mika had made her. God, how does she make a fork look so sexy? Mika swallowed, trying to remove the lump that had formed in her throat.

  “That would be awesome,” Richie exclaimed. “I can help with the dishes.”

  “You go on upstairs and do your homework, sweetheart.” His mother smiled her wonderful smile at him. “Mika and I can finish up here.”

  The boy scurried upstairs, happy to be relieved of kitchen duty.

  Mika pulled her wife to her feet and held her tightly. “I really am your sex slave, aren’t I,” she asked seriously. “You toy with me mercilessly.”

  “Yes, dear,” her throaty reply sent shockwaves throughout the priest. Leah pressed her lips against Mika’s. There was nothing demanding in her kiss, just a slow, languid movement of the soft pleasure she brought to Mika’s mouth. Mika moaned, fighting the urge to carry her upstairs and collect on the promises Leah had been making to her all day.

  After they finished the dishes, Richie came downstairs announcing that he had showered and finished his homework. It was still too early to go to bed, so they all moved to the game room where Leah read her latest novel and Richie played chess with Mika.

  Richie had won the state junior division in chess but had declined the opportunity to advance to the national level. The experience of New York was still fresh in his mind. Mika was thankful her son had turned down the trip to Orlando, Florida. She had an innate fear of her wife wanting to go to Disney World. Mika shuddered to think of how many “lands” would go up in smoke, when Leah saw Disney’s version of the Evil Queen: Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Adventureland, all up in smoke.

  The bad treatment their family had received at the hands of the paparazzi in New York had made Richie shun any kind of public appearances outside of their town. Richie recalled the screen saver Isaac still had on his laptop. When Isaac showed him the screen, he had thought it was cool. The saver was of a very sexy, barefoot woman dressed only in tight jeans and an open blouse standing with the door half open. Just behind the woman was another gorgeous woman dressed in a full black slip on all fours, crawling across the bed. Looking down the slip one could almost see to the woman’s navel. He remembered his comment. “Man, Isaac that looks like a promo for an X-rated movie. Oh, my, God, that’s my Mom!”

  “Oh, my, God, that’s my Mom!” His own words still echoed in his ears. He had almost thrown up in his own mouth. He wasn’t embarrassed by his parents. He had learned, at a young age, how things could be easily twisted to look bad.

  Isaac left his laptop in Richie’s room last night. Richie didn’t even bother removing the screen saver. The picture was all over the internet. No telling how many people had that screensaver.

  “Son, it’s your move,” Mika, jarred him from his thoughts.

  “Oh, sorry,” Richie made a stupid move that allowed Mika to checkmate him.

  “Are you okay?” the priest asked him softly, not wanting to disturb Leah.

  “Have you seen the screensaver on Isaac’s laptop,” Richie whispered. The priest shook her head, no. The boy motioned for the Mika to follow him upstairs.

  Richie quietly closed the door to his room then pulled Isaac’s laptop from his desk drawer. Mika watched in disbelief as the sexy photo of her and her wife filled the screen.

  “Emily has just the half showing only Mom on her cell phone,” Richie growled. “It comes up when Mom calls her. Of course, the only time Mom calls her is about me.”

  Mika groaned loudly. She hadn’t seen this picture. Somehow, the good folks of their town hadn’t shoved this one in her face. All of them had learned a lot from their New York experience.

  “What are you two doing,” Leah opened the door.

  “I was just showing Mika something on my computer,” Richie said as he closed the laptop. “Did you finish your book?”

  “I did,” she smiled. “I just came in to hug you good night. I think I am going to bed now.”

  “I will be in shortly,” Mika said. “Richie and I are discussing something.”

  Mika took Isaac’s computer. She wanted to show the picture to her wife. She didn’t want her to be blindsided with it at a meeting or public gathering.

  Mika was sitting with her back against the headboard of their bed when Leah slipped into bed. “Have you seen this?”
she blurted out as she shoved the laptop in front of Leah.

  “Yes,” she said truthfully. “It is a rather good picture of us, don’t you think?”

  “Except it looks like you’re shacked up with someone else,” Mika huffed.

  “Priest, I do believe you’re jealous of yourself,” Leah purred.

  “No, I don’t like that others will think you would cheat on me. Even more than that, I don’t like the world looking at your…ah…breasts.”

  “I can fix it,” Leah smiled. She waved her hand and every copy in the world of the image changed. It now had Felix the Cat standing in the doorway and Betty Boop crawling across the bed.

  Mika threw her head back and roared with laughter. Thinking how shocked the sheriff would be next time Leah called her. “That is wonderful,” she laughed again. “You have such a great sense of humor.”

  “Hum,” Leah purred, as Mika leaned down to kiss her. Leah took the laptop from her hands and placed it on her bedside table.

  “Now,” Mika slipped her hand under Leah and moved her on top of her. “I believe it is time to make good on those promises you have tantalized me with all day.”

  “Queens don’t make promises to sex slaves,” Leah laughed wickedly, “They just do what they want with them, and you have no idea what I want to do with you,” she whispered as she flicked off the lamp.

  “Show me, My Queen.” Mika’s body trembled with anticipation. She could no longer control her desire for Leah.

  ##

  The week leading up to the bowling tournament seemed to fly by. With a flood of visitors from other towns and parties in every establishment that could handle them, the mayor and priest were infinitely busier than usual. Their stolen lunch hour, their only opportunity to see each other during the day. Tuesday night Cranky Leah made her appearance and put an end to their private trysts.

  Delilah had declared Thursday and Friday school holidays so their bowling team could practice and rest. The tournament started Friday morning and would end Saturday night with a dinner dance and awards ceremony.

  Frederick had hired Mary and the other displaced women at the convent and the church to help him and Kathryn at the bowling alley. The women were happy to be included in the festivities and to earn extra money.

  Leah closed town hall Thursday and Friday to allow town employees to participate in the long weekend’s activities and Mika gave her staff the two days off.

  The priest and mayor entered the diner on Thursday morning and were pleased to see the establishment doing a booming business. Although diners were waiting for a table, Ruth had kept theirs open for them. Mika guided her wife to their booth with her hand on the small of Leah’s back.

  “May I see your phone?” Mika smiled innocently at her as she slid into the booth. “Watch the sheriff.”

  The sheriff was sitting with Delilah, two tables away, facing the couple. The priest tapped Emily’s name on her wife’s phone and waited as her ringtone for Leah blared Black Magic Woman by Santana.

  The sheriff scrambled spastically to locate the phone and silence the ringtone. Her eyes widened as she saw the image of Betty Boop pop onto her screen. When she glared at the priest, Mika simply held up her wife’s phone, smiling gleefully as she acknowledged the sheriff’s angry stare.

  “Black Magic Woman ,” Leah growled in a low, raspy voice, giving the sheriff a scathing look of disapproval.

  “Oh, Emily,” Delilah squealed, “where did you get such a darling picture of Betty Boop? I love Betty Boop. Can I have that for my phone, too?”

  The sheriff stomped over to the priest’s table. “I don’t appreciate you messing with my phone,” she hissed in a low voice, not anxious to share her moment of embarrassment with the diners.

  “I don’t appreciate you having a picture of my wife, in a compromising position, on your phone,” the priest growled back. “What kind of person does that?”

  The sheriff stomped out of the diner, leaving her mother to pay the bill.

  “Sometimes, you can really be so bad,” Leah kissed her wife, “and I love it.”

  “I see you are upping the stakes of competitiveness,” Ruth grinned as she placed their coffee on the table. “This should be one heck of a tournament. You know Emily is on my team, right. Don’t be doing things to throw off her game.”

  “Ruth,” Leah almost whispered, “Have you seen the screen shot she had tied to my ringtone. “And Black Magic Woman, is she ever going to let me live down my past?”

  Ruth laughed at the mayor’s incensed reaction. “Yeah, I’ve seen it and heard it. Poor fool can’t seem to let herself get over you. Just one more strand in the hair coat she wears for what she did to you.”

  The priest shook her head, feeling guilty for antagonizing the woman. She would apologize to Emily.

  “Oh, good my relief worker is here,” Ruth grinned. “Don’t forget we have the practice lanes in an hour. Tomorrow it gets real.”

  ##

  Mary greeted the mayor and priest when they arrived at the bowling alley. “Everyone is so excited,” she exclaimed, trying to hide her own joy at being a part of the activities. “Max is coming over as soon as he closes the shop. He’s enjoying watching our teams practice.”

  Gloria Thomas arrived a little late, but their other teams gathered right on time for their lanes. “Okay, guys,” the sheriff rallied all the bowlers. “Our town’s reputation is on the line. Let’s keep the trophy in our town hall showcase. I am sure that will make our mayor happy.” Everyone cheered and went to their respective lanes to practice.

  All the teams hung around in the alley to scope out their competition. As dusk approached, Max showed up to observe. He wished he had joined a team when they were forming and asked Leah if he could be on a team next year.

  The mayor was pleased with the progress Max and Mary were making and assured the man, he and his wife could be on a team in the future. Max was slowly getting more comfortable with the former queen and soon realized the mayor was in no way like the wicked queen. He had personally seen her level entire villages in a jealous rage over Delilah. It encouraged him to see the change in her. It gave him hope that he could truly gain control of his temper and jealous tendencies. He loved his wife very much and didn’t want to lose her because of his insane imagination.

  Max watched the mayor and priest interact with one another. It was obvious they worshipped each other. Their constant brilliant smiles at each other and subtle touching; their whispered words followed by slight blushes were a joy to observe. He knew that he and Mary could have the same loving relationship if he could control his jealousy. There was no doubt in his mind that his wife loved him.

  “We had hoped the café would be open this weekend,” Frederick told Leah as they watched the other towns’ bowling teams practice. “Looks like it will be Christmas before we can actually serve serious food, but in the meantime, we have cold drinks and pizza.”

  “What more could we want,” Richie laughed as he and Emily joined the group at Leah’s table. The boy high-fived the priest, “Way to go, Mika,” he laughed. He had heard about the priest’s antics with the sheriff’s cell phone that morning. Of course, Isaac had whined when he saw the Betty Boop screensaver on his laptop. Richie was thrilled when he learned the sex-kitten photo of his mother had totally disappeared from existence. He suspected that was his mom’s handy work. He should have shown it to her sooner but had been afraid of her reaction. There was the chance she would short circuit the entire internet.

  The boy ordered pizzas and drinks for their table and waved Amber over to join them, as they scouted the competition.

  Leah laid her hand on her wife’s leg as she leaned over her to steal a bite of her pizza. She jerked back a little as she felt the static electricity coursing through Mika’s body. She noticed Mika was having a hard time sitting still, bouncing her leg and tapping her fingers on the table. Leah frowned, knowing there was nothing she could do to help her.

  “You need to get rid
of some of that energy,” Leah whispered in Mika’s ear. “You’re worse than a Chihuahua on meth.”

  Mika burst out laughing. “I think I’ll walk home,” she whispered.

  “I will walk with you.” Leah smiled. “Emily can bring Richie home.”

  Richie overheard their conversation. “I can drive the car home,” he volunteered. “I’d really like to stay here for a while.

  “I don’t think so,” Leah responded quickly.

  “Oh, let the kid drive your car,” the sheriff butted in, “I’ll follow him home. I promise not to turn on the emergency lights or run the siren.”

  “Promise you won’t give our son a ticket for driving without a license.” Leah raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

  “I promise,” Emily grumbled, astounded that Leah would even suspect such a trick.

  Mika held Leah’s coat as she slipped into it, then pulled on her own. Leah linked her arm through Mika’s elbow and snuggled up against her as they stepped out into the cold October air.

  As they walked, they discussed the bowling tournament and visiting dignitaries from the other towns who were competing in the tournament.

  “Mary and Max seem to be getting along great,” Mika looked down at her wife, “I know you have gone out of your way to work with them. That’s very kind of you.”

  Leah blushed slightly. She didn’t know why, but any praise from her wife always made her feel a little self-conscious. “Gloria says Mary has really blossomed now that she isn’t living in constant fear of Max going off on some tangent,” she volunteered. “Gloria deserves a lot of credit for her work with the couple.”

  “Yes, Gloria said Mary was going home with Max tonight,” the priest frowned slightly. “I hope that works out okay.”

  A light snow started falling and Leah hugged Mika’s arm tighter between her breasts as she pushed her body as close to the blonde as possible. Mika put her other hand on top of Leah’s, leaning down to kiss her hungrily. She was still tingling with the desire stirring in her body.