Turtle Dove: A Lesbian Romance

by Marian Stack

  “Please excuse my tardiness. I was unaware that either of you had entered the estate grounds. Please allow me to alert the kitchen staff regarding your arrival, so they can arrange for something to eat while you enjoy your beverages out here on this most magnificent day.”

  “I’m fine Alexander…” he began with an easy tone to his voice. “I ate before I left the office. We had a luncheon meeting that was to be attended by…all…the members of the firm. And apparently one of our top members didn’t get the office memo.” He stated with caution, as he stared directly at his sister who had apparently returned to her private thought-filled happy place.

  “What?” She breathed out the unwanted conversational starter.

  As he reached for the decanter of fine vodka he began, “You know I love you right? And that I have only ever had your best interest at heart. But honey ever since your return, everything about you has changed. Now before you say anything.” He quickly continued because he could start to see his sisters’ twitching begin and that was never a good thing. “I mean this in the best possible way. In the beginning after you arrived back home safe and sound I had this strange feeling that something really good happened to you on that crazy trip. You actually seemed happy, now I come home to seeing you drowning your life in hard liquor in the middle of the afternoon, which by the way I have never seen before…so my dear sister what’s up. And please don’t let this anguish be about your zany fiancée!”

  Knowing that her brother has always been her strong shoulder of knowledge and compassion ever since their father had passed, she decided to let some of the story spill out, “Yes this mood,” she emphasised, “has something to do with Megan.” Then turning her body to get a full view of her brother, “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course, anything.” Noting the voice expression he purposely turned his body slightly to offer his full attention.

  As the questions flew out of her mouth she seemed happy about asking, “Have you ever been in love…I mean really in love?”

  His response seemed to have been spoken without giving it much thought, “Sis, you do remember that I have been married three times now.”

  “Exactly, now let me ask you again…have you ever been in love?” She took a generous sip from the remaining liquid in her glass, after repeating the difficult question.

  Allowing the age-old question to sink in, both siblings stared forwards at the beautiful scenery as they both fell into a state of quiet reflection, allowing time to pass without notice or care.

  “Excuse me, Mister Foster and Miss Foster.” The more senior of the two stated which in turned knocked both day-dreamers to respond with unprofessional remarks.

  “Jesus, never do that again!” Joe stated and then, “Forgive me, but you definitely took us both by surprise.” Then noticing the trays of food and the glass container full of olives, “Well done Alexander, you are very good at what you do. That will be all, again thank-you, and no more sneaking up on people.” His humorous voice rang with respect for his lead staff member.

  “I agree.” She stated as she skillfully indicated to the other young man standing next to her that the time for them to leave was now.

  Then reflecting back to his sister’s original question he finally decided to answer, “Ok… I’m now ready to respond to your out of the blue question, so if you want an honest answer, I will have to say no. I guess I fell in love with all of my wives, in the beginning at least, but I think after a while I didn’t want to be in love with them anymore. Something was missing and I never could put my finger on it…” and then after a slight dramatic pause he completed his thought. “In a strange way it seemed too easy to give them up.” His honestly force him to stand to straighten his body posture and to replenish his drink.

  Without so much as a single note of response, Blair continued to stare forwards, leaving both siblings to fade back into a marinating state of mind, regarding the age old question.

  And then suddenly and with little build up Blair announced, “Well I have.”

  “Recently?” Joe humorously inquired.

  “Yes, very recently.” Blair understood the path her brother was on.

  “Really?” He satirically questioned.

  “Don’t be a smart ass…yes very recently.” Then sadly as she heard her own words aloud, she very directly, as if shielding the pain from attaching itself to her body crossed her legs at the ankles and crossed her arms tightly across her chest.

  “But it can’t be. And before you ask, there’s just too many variables in this equation that would prove to be too difficult to overcome.” She completed her sentence but was unable to turn to look towards her brothers’ beautiful doe shaped eyes because she knew she would break down and lose all dignity.

  “But what if it could work? Don’t you think it’s worth fighting for? Don’t you think she’s worth fighting for?”

  “Oh Joe… I wish it was that easy.” Blair softly cried out as she reached for his hand that he had extended to offer comfort, which had found its way towards her chair.

  “There you guys are.” Megan’s over the top loud voice broke the deep conversational bonding between the loving siblings, forcing both adults to hind their visibly venerable emotional state instantly reverting back to their normal sophisticated personalities.

  “Blair darling, I’ve been looking for you everywhere…I want to talk to you and get your thoughts on what possible date you want to get married. I know you had said to wait but you do know that this delay is wreaking havoc with the event planners’ scheduling. Don’t you want our special day to be perfect?” Megan stopped walking and talking just long enough to take a breath but before she could begin again Joe decided to stop this line of questioning.

  “Megan, my sister remains in a state of healing from her dangerous adventure and you along with everyone else will wait until she is cleared by our family physician before you continue nattering on about your nuptials. Now, if you can go and complete whatever it was that you were doing before you came over here and removed us from our private conversation.” His command was set, as he turned facing forwards again he gathered up his drink from the table.

  He knew he was acting like a bastard but cared little for it, as the very recent conversation with his sister now confirmed his suspicions that his sister was making a terrible mistake regarding her engagement with this woman. Knowing that she was truly in love with another, but had little chance of enjoying it.

  Highly insulted, Megan looked towards Blair but received zero endorsement from her towards her brother in Megan’s defence. Mortified that Blair could remain in an almost comatose state while her brother spoke to her as if she was part of the household staff infuriated her to the point that she walked around Blair’s seating position and purposely placed her body directly in front of her boss, firmly taking her stance by stomping her feet into the plush grass and screamed out, “You were the asshole that sent her on that adventure!” And then instantly realizing the error of her tantrum, she quickly removed herself from the dangerous situation she had just placed her life style in and retreated back to the mansion.

  “That was fun.” Joe stated as he moved his drink to his lips, without making any apologies for his strong aggressive words.

  “You can be a real bastard sometimes.” Blair’s voice sounded exhausted and very confused, as she stood to follow her fiancée back up towards the house for the completion of the back yard drama.

  Taking a deep breath before entering their master bedroom, “Everything was just fine until your asshole brother sent you on that stupid rafting trip…that nearly got you killed by the way… and all you are doing is defending him. Why does he treat me like this? I have worked my ass off for that jerk and all he does is ride my ass. I’m fed up with his constant scrutiny. Doesn’t he realize the clients I have brought into the family firm?” And then before Blair knew what was happening, Megan’s’ temper tantrum released a full blow-out primordial scream, followed in rapid suc
cession by several items being hurled across the room towards the center of the spacious room.

  Knowing there was little she could do to stop this outburst and a little ashamed she had had a few of these outbursts herself in the past, she decided to wait for the furious energy to dissipate a little from the room before she spoke.

  “You are absolutely correct. Both my brother and I have treated you unfairly and I promise this behaviour will change.” Blair offered Megan a tight vanilla hug that lasted only seconds and then continued her soft apology. “Megan…my love, you can start the proceeding for the wedding and I promise I will be there. If you want my input… just ask, however before I left for that trip you said I would only get in your way…is that still the case?” Blair’s question was filled with disguised hope that her help wasn’t wanted or needed. Then not wanting to ask but did so anyway, “And Megan you also constantly talked about the penthouse before I left and now you never talk about the renovations or your need to leave this house for another place for us to live. Is that still a part of your…sorry our plan?”

  “Of course silly, I don’t need your help planning the greatest event this estate has ever hosted, but if you want to help?” She seemed to stop purposely to ponder on the question. “On second thought let me take care of every detail…it will be my gift to you.” She offered Blair a peck on the cheek and then turned away, with her closing remarks, “I’ll send the help to clean up this mess.” And then turning around at the door threshold she decided to answer the second part of her fiancée’s inquired, “And as for the penthouse…well you never seemed that interested in it so I have leased it out to a fellow colleague. She doesn’t seem to mind the left over construction details that will remain active for at least another several months…so all in all everything is being taken care of and you will never have to worry about stepping foot in that building again, which I’m certain makes you very happy.” Megan then disappeared from the threshold and rapidly walked away without continued discussion on this matter as the penthouse that had now become her private rendezvous place.

  “Till death do us part?” Blair mumbled as she looked at the mess in the room, hearing every word her fiancées just spoke but as per normal erased parts of the conversation sending it off to the useless place in her memory. And as for the penthouse she took comfort in knowing there would no longer be further arguments regarding moving from the family estate to the high rise in the city.

  And then unaware of her own slight endearing personality changes and after taking in a deep breath of much needed courage to continue on with her plans, post nine-day life, she began to clean up the glass on the floor.

  Turtle’s processing

  With the sudden forward jerking motion of the police cruiser, which was followed by the abrupt turning to the right as they began to drive into the underground garage of the Rynthorp police station, Turtles’ attached body positioning forced her body weight to first heave forwards and then quickly change violently by swaying to the far right pulling both her secured and locked arms and wrists that remained behind her back for the past several hours scream in discomfort.

  She felt as if her shoulder joints were being pulled to the point of dislocation from their sockets.

  Then as swiftly as the right swinging aligned itself, the vehicle sped into the semi-darkened underground, where she found her body being hurled up off the seat as the cruiser drove over the exceptionally high speed bumps that were purposely constructed to slow a vehicle down, that yet again only seemed to give the driver pleasure as he noticed in his rear-view mirror the winching pain on the face of the prisoner that was handcuffed in the back seat.

  “Ok you JB. I think you have made your point. Incarceration is a real joy. Now stop all this bullshit and slow the fuck down or I’m going to puke all over you. Really …who taught you how to drive…your blind grandmother?”

  “All work and no play. I’m just having myself a little fun. No harm in giving that young girl back there something to talk about to her new roommates.” The soon to retire police detective spouted ensuring that his voice was well amplified as he suddenly pressed his foot on the brake petal causing both his passengers to hurl forwards as the cruiser violently stopped in the prisoner designated parking stall, which was located next to the entrance doors.

  “And you are retiring… when…exactly?” The officer sarcastically remarked as he slammed the rear passenger side door shut.

  Pleased to be out of the confinements of the car, Turtle moved her paralyzed legs as best she could. She was so terrified that moving any part of her body was a mental challenge she was losing. She could feel the strong arms of the two men that were literally dragging her towards the police station entrance with relative ease.

  Then instantly after the doors were flung opened she caught the strong smell coming from inside the old station and did everything possible not to vomit. The horrible aroma filled her lungs with the stale air of cigarette smoke, coffee and years of vulgar bodies and actions.

  As her mind attempted to process her situation and keeping her gag reflex under control she was unaware that she was being ordered to sit only in a certain seat. “I said sit here… mountain girl.” The detective announced again, emphasizing his message by literally lifting Turtle from her sitting position by grabbing both her shoulders and tossing her like a rag doll onto the hard wooden well used chair that was stationed across from the processing cage that was positioned so close to the back of the chair that when her body’s momentum hit the seat of the chair her head flung backwards, striking one of the bars. Without any control over her emotions she began to cry after the sharp pain sparked the several head injuries she has recently endured sending her memories towards her reasoning for being in this situation.

  “Awe… look at the mountain girl crying because she hit her little head on the steel bar of the cage.” The officer declared to the empty room. Then as he took the three steps that placed his face inches from hers…”Get used to this kind of fun, you are about to be processed for murder, which means you will be on the other side of one of these cages for the rest of your pathetic life.”

  Turtle was stunned into silence. As she remained stone still on the chair waiting to be processed, the officers last words circled around in her mind, “The rest of your pathetic life.”

  For three hours she was left alone sitting on that hard wooden chair with her hands cuffed together in the torturous positioning of her right arm being forced to linger across her chest to the far left as far as it would reach, with her right arm being forced to hold all the weight of her left arm, forcing her shoulders to remain in an awkward painful position.

  And then suddenly as she felt she no longer could endure this kind of excruciating positioning another officer came into the station house. “What are you doing here, and why are you not inside that cage?” His question was more outward thinking than actually asking her to respond.

  But to Turtles’ surprise after the officer questioned her location, he simply gathered up the documents he required and left the room leaving her alone again. Afraid to call out to the departing officer she kept her mouth shut and continued to endure believing this kind of treatment would have to end sooner than later now that the other man saw her. So with only hope giving her strength she stared at the door wishing for the officer to return, but sadly only time was on her side. So as she stared forwards she began to mentally get control of her emotions. She started by closing her eyes and visually remembering every detail of her home and her mountain. And in doing so she began to feel her body settling down. She purposely began to ignore the painful numbness of her arms and shoulders by meditating on her blood flow by controlling and slowing her breathing. Including in this mind-over-matter meditation she had purposely exclude her thoughts from wondering back to Blair and the conversation she had with her, just a few hours ago. She knew that remembering would not allow her to remain focused regarding her current situation. Where she kept her thinking was more
on the positive side of this misunderstanding. She needed to remain calm, and focused, understanding that any sort of Blair’s memories would become an insurmountable distraction towards this tricky situation.

  Suddenly the door behind the reception area swung open again and a female uniform officer appeared. As Turtle watched the officer conduct her duties she noticed that not once did the officer look up towards her, but instead sat at her the desk and worked at her computer in an almost military fashion, only staring at her monitor screen, and her key strokes.

  Now even though Turtle was in a very precarious situation she was fascinated by how this group of constables conducted themselves. Never being in any kind of legal trouble in her entire life she was stunned at how she was being absolutely ignored, knowing full well all these officers must have realize her body positioning and how this distortion to a body must be excruciatingly uncomfortable. So as she attempted to process all what she was witnessing and experiencing she suddenly noticed the officer behind the desk stand and gathered a large ring of keys that were attached to some kind of wooden baton and saunter over to where she was being restrained. She also noticed other metal items in the officer’s hand but could not make out what they were.

  As the officer approached Turtle she decided to try to act somewhat normal by attempting to engage in a casual conversation. So as the officer began to unlock her handcuffs she first quickly glanced at her hands and noticing no rings of any kind she began, “Excuse me Miss. I was hoping that maybe you could offer me some information as to what I should be expecting. You see I’ve never been in any trouble with the laws before and well…” but sadly it became very clear very quickly that talking to this officer was a waste of energy, as all she heard was, “Keep quiet and stand up.” And then her hands were suddenly yanked away from the steel bar and with extraordinary speed they were re-attached, but this time to a long chain that was added to another linked chain and again much to Turtle’s horror she was now being shackled at her ankles. And then as abruptly as she was told to stand she now felt her body being pushed backwards forcing her to free-fall onto the chair’s seat, forcing her butt cheek to land awkwardly on the arm railing tipping the chair to the right, and if not for Turtles’ fast natural reaction both her and the chair would have hit the floor, but instead her body’s momentum forced the chair to land back on all for legs, allowing everyone to hear the crack of the legs as they hit the ground.