by Neviah Wohl
Copyright © 2018 by Neviah Wohl (Editor)
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Some characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Title Page
Title: Essence of Path
Subtitle: A Collection of Lesbian Romance Short Stories
Editor: Neviah Wohl
Table of Contents
Copyright
Title Page
Marked At Heart
The Patient’s Plight
The Defense Attorney
Devilish Uncertainty
Marked At Heart
Description
Emma, a real estate sales agent in her mid-thirties, who lives in New York and in search of better chances at life, decides to visit her mom in Jackson, Mississippi for the holidays after much pestering by her mom.
She comes out of the closet about her sexuality to her mom, just at the right time.
She is grateful she opens up to her mom before she passes away due to terminal liver cancer, but she is also sad her mom did not tell her about being ill.
She heads back to New York where she meets the woman of her dreams, Jennifer, who appears in her dreams as a werewolf. She had several dreams with Jennifer in them while at Jackson. Jennifer marks Emma as her soul-mate after she spots Emma at a restaurant while she was out for lunch with her boss.
They get acquainted through work and falls in love.
*****
Sitting at the restaurant, waiting for her boss to show up for lunch, Emma checked her wristwatch and sighed. It had passed midday. She had been waiting for about twenty minutes already and she began to get frustrated, but she was also eager to know what her boss had to discuss with her that was so important he had the meeting outside the office.
“Is he trying to get in my pants?” she said with a frown on her face, and quickly looked around to make sure no one heard what she said to herself.
“He should better not try to be funny. I’m not into men, and he should have realized that by now,” she thought.
Looking around again just to keep her sight busy so as to take her thoughts off whatever reason her boss asked her to meet him at the restaurant. She spotted a blonde lady in red. She looked really classy.
Beautiful, she thought, as she was about to take a good look at her to have a mental picture. Then she heard her boss.
“Emma, I am so sorry to have kept you waiting, I was busy on the phone with a client and I lost track of time.”
“Oh! Don’t bother I have not waited that long,” she said with a smile.
“You look lovely, Emma.”
Emma smiled as Daniel sat in front of her. He signaled for the waiter and asked Emma to order. She looked through the menu and said, “I’ll have a steak salad and tap water.”
“Okay, and for you, sir?” the waiter asked.
“I’ll have what’s she’s having.”
Emma was not hungry. All she wanted to hear was what Daniel had to say, but she ordered anyway. As the waiter turned to leave with the red menu list, she remembered the beautiful blonde lady in red. She turned to the direction where she sat before her boss interrupted, but she was no longer there. With a frown on her face, she wished she had taken a good look at her. Her boss noticed the frown and said, “Emma, do you have somewhere you have to be at this moment?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“I thought I should ask,” Daniel said and sighed.
“I called you here to appreciate you, and also let you know you have been considered for another promotion. That is, if you double your previous sales in the next month.”
Emma was surprised and excited. She was promoted barely a year ago.
“I don’t know what to say, but I will definitely not let you down.”
“That’s the spirit.”
The waiter served them their lunch. They both ate in silence until Daniel’s phone rang. He looked at the screen on his phone without picking up the call. He looked up at Emma and said, “Oh! I will have to leave, I have another appointment.”
“All right Daniel, I’ll head back to the office from here.”
“Good, I guess I’ll see you there. Don’t forget to drop the file on the Malibu beach house on my table.”
Daniel signaled to the waiter for the check. He paid in cash, grabbed his jacket and headed out of the restaurant.
Emma stared at him as he left the restaurant and wondered if he really needed to give her the information at the restaurant. He could have easily privately called her into his office. Although Daniel had been one of the best bosses she had ever worked with, she was being careful. She didn’t want him to mistake her being nice for flirting since she had once been a victim of her niceness.
She remembered her relocation to New York just like it was yesterday. She moved to the city in search of better opportunity. She had become a licensed real estate sales person through Daniel’s firm and had excelled above her peers. Marketing came easy to her due to her creativity. Most of her colleagues attributed her success to her beauty and elegance, but she would always jokingly say, “It’s my fellow black brother, Obama, raining luck on me.”
She finished her meal and got up to leave. She turned back to see if the blonde in the red dress had magically reappeared. If only she could recognize her, she thought.
She got back to the office after lunch and could not bring herself to discuss with her colleagues what Daniel had just told her. She felt they might be jealous or have some sort of resentment toward her.
She arranged the files on her desk and went through the scheduled clients for the week. She loved her job so much, but always thought she needed a life outside of work. She had met so many ladies in her five years in New York, but none had been so important for her to have thought of proposing or even moving in together. She wanted more than the sex. She had begun to yearn for someone to love and to hold, until death do them part.
“A penny for your thoughts, my dear Emma,” said Lola. Emma smiled as Lola passed by. She had met Lola the first day she assumed duties as a sales agent five years back. She was Daniel’s personal assistant and rumor had it they were also friends with benefits before Lola met her soul-mate and got married.
Emma’s phone rang. It was her mom calling. Her mom wanted her to come home for the holidays. Christmas was just few weeks away and she had been pestering her all week just to get a response. Emma hated going home because it was the only place she could not be herself—the lesbian she was born to be. She had refused to let her mom know all these years she was attracted to females only.
She stared at her mobile phone’s screen like she was rehearsing what to say to her mom. She had run out of excuses for not coming home for the holidays. After about five minutes her mom called again. This time around she picked the call and told her, “Mom I’ll be home for the holidays. I’m at work now and a bit busy. I will call you when I’m home.”
She ended the call immediately without waiting for response. Her mom loved to talk on the phone for hours, not minding if she was at work or not. There was a time she almost missed her appointment with a client while on the phone with her mom. Emma loved her, but she would say at times that “mothers can be annoying at times.”
Office hours were over and she had no other appointment for the day. She took the subway home because her car was
faulty and she was looking to replace it. She was happy about the whole day especially the lunch with her boss. Now all she needed to do was to inform him about taking time off to see her mom. She then would not be bothered about rushing back to the office for any emergencies. She also planned to sort out all of her clients before taking off. She did not want to jeopardize her chances of being promoted. If not for anything else, she needed the extra cash that came with being promoted.
*****
It was 6:00 a.m. The alarm on her mobile phone rang, Emma jumped out of bed. Although her train was scheduled for 8:30 a.m., she preferred getting to the station an hour earlier. She had packed her luggage a night before along with the adorable flower vase she bought her mom as a Christmas present. Her mom loved to decorate the house with lovely flowers, but they were usually too much and made the whole living room looked clustered.
Although it would be nice to see her mom after so long, she still had her fears of her mom knowing her true sexuality—her love of women. She was all grown up now, but she still felt like a teenager when it came to her mom.
She remembered her sixteenth birthday party when she first kissed a girl. It was nineteen years ago, but she vividly recalled what had happened just like it was yesterday. It was a costume party and she had all her friends over. Her best friend, Sophia had sneaked in a bottle of red wine and they had gone into the closest toward the end of the party to have a sip. Sophia reached out to her and kissed her. Emma didn’t stop her. It felt right, despite it being her first kiss.
They dated secretly after the birthday kiss. Sophia would pass many nights at Emma’s house. Her mom had no idea they were sexually involved. She thought they were just best friends.
Sophia had moved to Canada to get her degree in soil science. Distance took its toll on their relationship and it ended. Sophia got engaged last year to a South African lady she met in Canada. Emma found out through Sophia’s social media account, which she would check once in a while to view Sophia’s pictures.
Emma got to the train station at about 7:30 a.m. and waited until her train arrived. While waiting for her train she had this feeling someone was watching her. She would look around intermittently, but she shook off the feeling after a while.
She saw a couple displaying affection toward each other, and she wished she had someone who she loved and loved her back. She had tried to find a serious relationship since she arrived in New York, but she just never met anyone her heart truly wanted.
The time quickly went by and it was time to board the train. Something in her hesitated, but she summoned her courage. It was time to let her mother know.
Her mom was the choir head at their local church for several years before someone else took over. She would always lead the campaign against the LGBT community. She would hate to see her mother disappointed in her, yet she had to be true to herself. If her mother truly loved her, then she would love her unconditionally.
It was going to be a long trip. She decided to sit close to the window. She needed to keep her eyes busy. It was a way for her to pass the time while on trips.
As she sat, she exclaimed, “Oh! No.” She had forgotten her camera on her coffee table. She loved to take pictures. It pained her to the bone. She had spent a fortune on the camera because the picture quality was beyond perfect.
She brought out her tablet and plugged in the earpiece to watch movies she downloaded the previous night. She had prepared for the long trip and had taken measures not to keep her mind idle so as not to think about what might happen when she finally opened up to her mother.
She would think about what it would have been felt like if her dad had stuck around. Maybe he would have understood and accepted her, but he left her and her mom when she was nine. The little she remembered about him was that he was very calm and extremely quiet. Her parents never had physical fights, at least not any she was aware of, but they did not seem too close or so in love. They just lived like housemates. She never really understood why her dad left. She never bothered to ask her mom because she did all her best to remove all traces of him from their apartment, Then she would cry at night and mention his name while soliloquizing. Emma just assumed asking about her dad might make her mom sadder.
While she concentrated on the movie, she had this feeling someone was watching her again. She raised her head up. This time, she was actually right. There was a man in front of her staring so hard at her, he didn’t realize she was looking back. She cleared her throat to call off his intense gaze. Then, he said, “Hi, I’m Dylan.”
“Emma.”
“So, I thought I should get acquainted with a few people, which includes you since it’s going to be a long trip. What do you think?”
“As much as I would love to get to know you, I’m quite into this movie I’m watching on my tablet. If you would not mind, I’ll like to get right back at it,” she said with a smile. As if the smile would make him feel better for turning down his hand of friendship.
“Oh! No problem. I am sorry to have bothered you.” He stood and went back to his seat. He was a bit embarrassed. He felt most ladies would jump at the fact that he wanted to be their friend. No one had ever turned down his hand of friendship.
Emma felt guilty turning down Dylan. She felt she should have at least talked to him for a while, but she just wanted to be left alone. She soon forgot the guilt as she became engrossed with the movie.
*****
It was midday and the train came to a stop. She waited on the train since she was not sure whether to get off the train or not. Her mom had told her earlier she would be waiting for her at the train station to take her home as her mom’s house was not too far from the train station in Jackson.
She was eager to see her mom yet reluctant to get off the train and was among the last set of people to leave the train. She spotted her mom almost immediately and walked toward her as her mom was looking the other direction.
“Lilly-ma,” Emma called out to her mom. She was not used to calling her “mom.” She got used to calling her the nickname everyone called her. Although on some special occasions she would call her “mom,” while a few people called her just Lilly.
“I almost didn’t recognize you. New York suits you. How was your trip?” Her mom asked.
“Awesome! Although it felt like it would not end,” Emma replied.
“I’m glad you are here. It has been too long.”
“Yes it has.”
Emma got into the car with her mom. On their way home, she flashed through most of her childhood memories. She missed being a kid. Nothing seemed to have changed in Jackson. It looked exactly the way as she had left it. The trip home was a quiet one, although she anticipated her mom’s home cooked meals.
On getting home, her mom handed her the house key and said, “You go ahead and open the door, and I will be right with you.”
“Okay.”
She had inkling something was just not right. Her mom loved to lead the way. She would have, on a normal day, told her to wait until she was through.
“Lilly-ma has definitely changed,” Emma said in a low tone. She looked back at her mom like she was checking to be sure she heard her right then walked toward the door.
Everything seemed too quiet, she thought. As she opened the door, she was startled by everyone screaming, “SURPRISE!”
She was definitely surprised and also thought it unnecessary. She wanted some quiet time, but she was grateful they came. She could only count five people she knew well. The others were her mom’s church members.
Everyone who visited left three hours later. It was time to be alone with her mom. She was sure her mom would want to hear her summarize the whole five years she had spent away in one night, despite their frequent phone conversations during that time. All she needed was dinner and a sound sleep.
During dinner she did her best to avoid any questions from her mom. She finished her meal and was about to start doing the dishes. Then Lilly called out to her.
“Emma, you need to rest, leave the dishes to me and get some sleep.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve cleaned your room. There are some clean sheets on the dresser. Your room is exactly the way you left it.”
“Thank you, you are the best!” Emma grinned as those words came out. “Good night Lilly-ma.”
“Goodnight, good to have you home.”
Emma blushed. She knew her mom was very happy to have her home. Thoughts of how much her mom worked to care for her while growing up flashed through her mind. She was grateful to have her. Though there were several times when they disagreed, her mom was still the best mom in the world.
She took a warm bath and grabbed her pillow as she got into bed. She began to reminisce on the time she spent in New York. She would have wanted to be a top-notch by now, but her mom was still proud of her and that’s all that mattered.
*****
“Don’t move,” a sweet feminine voice said. The feel of her fingers on her back gave her goose bumps. Then the fingers felt like the paw of her dog, the one her dad bought her for her fifth birthday after few seconds.
Emma turned, anxious to see her face. The light of the room was too dim. She could not figure out who it was. She was a mystery to Emma.
Emma felt her mystery woman’s nails on her arms. As she came up behind her, Emma could feel her breath against her neck and the warmth of her curves on her back.
She licked Emma’s neck, but she tried to free herself from her mystery woman’s grasp so as to take a good look at her. The mystery woman said in a low sexy voice, “Don’t fight it. You are mine and I am yours.”
“Let me see your face. Tell me your name, please” Emma said as her heart began to pound, she could feel herself getting wet from the touch of this woman she was so eager to know. She closed her eyes for about a second as she bit hard on her lip while she tilted her head backwards.
As she tried harder to see her face, almost immediately she bit Emma’s neck. It was a bit painful, but something about the bite felt right.