Vetted

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Do you think they will be mad with me forever?” she asked Fiona in a little girl’s voice.

  “They are angry now, but who they are angry with more, I don’t know.” When Allyssa looked up at her she continued. “They’re angry at me for corrupting you. They’re angry because I have provided you with an opportunity to pursue your own dreams and desires. They’ll be angry because you are independent of them. Going to the bank and emptying that account was a smart move on your part. Now they can’t take the money you earned away from you.” Allyssa had been annoyed that she couldn’t close the account because her parents were both on the account and she needed their signatures. She couldn’t even take her name off the account without them. “Baby, I’m here for you whatever you decide.”

  Allyssa had put the Jeep in gear and slowly backed out of the driveway, wondering if this would be her last glimpse of Regal Crest Gardens. She listened to Fiona whose advice she relished. She advised, she didn’t dictate, and in the past few days as they made the last of their plans, she enjoyed the closeness they had. First, she drove to a U-Haul center where they attached the largest trailer available to her newly-purchased hitch, which they installed. Next, they went to Fiona’s dinky apartment and packed her few belongings. She had lived simply for so long that they soon emptied the small place.

  “Gawd, steps and boxes suck,” Allyssa teased.

  “Well, I promise where we are going there are no steps, but there are plenty of hills.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing it with you,” Allyssa was suddenly serious.

  “You’re going to love it,” Fiona promised her, taking her into her arms for a spontaneous hug. She was taking this slow, as she had promised. They hadn’t been intimate, but touching was allowed and she enjoyed the kissing, they both did.

  Next, they headed for the clinic where Fiona was picking up the used truck she had purchased from their bosses. She had arranged a shipment and stocked the truck fully. Now the rest of the shipment would go in the back of Allyssa’s SUV and the remainder in the trailer.

  “Why do you need so much?” Allyssa had questioned as box after box, some of them quite heavy, were loaded by hand into the vehicle and trailer.

  “I can get this stuff in Oregon, but here I can get it at cost. I’m not established like Bruce and Chuck, so I can’t get the same wholesale pricing they can. Since they’ve been buying from their suppliers for years they get better prices than I would up there just starting out. When they heard my plans, we discussed what I would need to get started as well as for future needs and we ordered accordingly. We were all rather enthusiastic,” she admitted sheepishly with a wry little grin. “My savings have a big dent in them now,” she informed her wife, so that she would know where their finances were. “Some of these boxes have equipment, which is why I was glad your SUV had a hitch. I didn’t want to put this all in the truck and pull a trailer too. It’s going to be weird driving it with the camper on it.”

  “You didn’t say where you got that camper?” Allyssa asked as she took another box and packed it in the trailer.

  “I saw it on Craigslist. I can’t tell you how lucky I was that it’s as new as it is. The guy barely used it and just wanted to get rid of it. I was afraid it was too good to be true for the price. Then I worried we couldn’t get it on the trailer, but lo and behold, there it sits: attached, tied down, and bought and paid for!” She sounded so happy and enthused. “We had to cut out that one box,” she indicated one of the locking boxes, “for the black water, but we got it to fit.” It did look bulky on the bed of the truck box, but she had taken the added precaution of using strips from the camper store to tie it down in front as well as the locks to the bed of the truck. It was as secure as she could make it and almost exactly as she had envisioned it, if a little fancier than she had thought she could afford.

  Allyssa loved seeing Fiona so happy. She was sad at times about her beloved grandparents, but the idea of finally starting her own large animal practice enthralled her. Allyssa had a lot of ideas they had shared over the last few days as they finalized their lives here in Denver.

  “There’s a call for you, Allyssa, line three,” Babette told her through the intercom.

  Fiona exchanged a look with her and shrugged. She’d support whatever she had to do or say.

  Allyssa answered the phone, worrying who it was. She was surprised to hear her father’s voice. “Allyssa, I’ve paid the insurance on the car until the end of the year. Keep your payments up and inform them of your change of address. The rates will probably go down when they find you are out on a ranch in Oregon. I saw where you tried to close the account at the bank. I handled that for you with the bank manager who’s a friend of mine. You didn’t leave your forwarding address. I assume that was intentional?”

  “No, Daddy it wasn’t. It was just so awkward that we forgot. I’ll mail you a letter when I get there. We’re almost ready to leave.”

  “I’m sorry. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for you.”

  Allyssa couldn’t help herself and giggled at that. Fiona was passing by with a large box at that moment and her eyebrows beetled as she wondered who her wife was talking to with the giggle. “I’m sure it wasn’t, Daddy.”

  He smiled despite himself. “I hope you’ll be happy, Sweet Pea. I know it isn’t going to be easy for you and I would want to help that if I could. Please be happy.”

  “I will, Daddy,” she said sadly, knowing she wouldn’t see him for a while. Fiona returned from the trailer, heard the sadness in her voice, and squeezed her shoulder as she continued loading the trailer with the boxes. The first pallets were almost empty.

  “If there is anything you ever need, you call me, now. You hear me?” he ordered, almost sounding like the father of old, but something had broken and Allyssa didn’t know what.

  “I will, Daddy,” she said again, wondering at his tone. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Sweet Pea. Goodbye.”

  Allyssa felt bad knowing she had disappointed her parents. It was her life though and she had changed so much in the last year. They had wanted to squash her freedom in every way they could. They had wanted to keep her under their thumb and she wouldn’t, she couldn’t allow it. She returned to help Fiona with the last of the boxes from the first pallets.

  “You okay?” Fiona asked, concerned.

  “Yeah, my father just wanted to give me some last details. The insurance is paid up on the SUV until the end of the year. He also wanted to make sure I inform the loan company of my change of address and I should probably give them my new name.”

  “Your new name?” Fiona asked, confused, the box in her hand held there stiffly.

  “Well, shouldn’t I be Allyssa Herriot now?”

  Fiona shrugged. She hadn’t really thought of it. “That’s up to you.”

  “Don’t you want me to be Allyssa Herriot?”

  Fiona was secretly thrilled that Allyssa might want to take her name. She blinked for a moment. “I want what you want.”

  Rolling her eyes, Allyssa asked, “How about Allyssa Webster Herriot?”

  “That’s a mouthful.”

  Allyssa laughed, “Okay, then let’s think about Allyssa Herriot. At least I’ll be higher in the alphabet.”

  Fiona laughed with her, but she really was pleased that her wife—gawd, she couldn’t believe she was married—wanted to change her name to her own.

  “Allyssa,” the intercom went off again. They both looked at it in surprise as the blonde leaned over and pushed the button.

  “Allyssa here.”

  “There is a Carmen here to see you. She says she’s your sister?” Babette sounded like she doubted that.

  Allyssa laughed again as she pushed the button. “Tell her to come around back. We’re loading up the truck and trailer.”

  “Will do.”

  “What do you think she wants?” Fiona asked, curious.

  “Oh, you know. Hugs and kisses, well wishes, and kudos?
”

  “Really?” she asked, surprised, her eyebrows rising on her forehead.

  Allyssa chuckled at how easy it was to tease her wife today. “No,” she shook her head. “She has to get in her two cents before I’m out of reach and….” Just then her sister walked around the corner of the building and Allyssa’s tone changed. “Hi, Carmen. Come to say goodbye?”

  “Are you out of your mind?” she started in without preamble.

  “Gee, sis, it’s lovely to see you too. How are you doing today? I’m just fine,” she answered sarcastically, trying not to laugh as Fiona grinned at her, her back to the oncoming sister.

  “Don’t be smart,” Carmen snapped at her. “Do you know what you’ve done to Mother?”

  “I didn’t do anything to Mother and if you’ve come here to give me a piece of your mind, I don’t think you can afford to lose it.”

  That did it. Fiona was trying too hard not to laugh, so she went by her wife, squeezing her arm encouragingly as she passed and went to get another box.

  “You’ve greatly upset Mother. She can’t believe you’ve thrown away your life on this,” she gestured at the Jeep attached to the U-Haul trailer they were loading, “this...” she couldn’t find the word.

  “Adventure?” Allyssa supplied helpfully.

  “You’re throwing everything away!” she repeated, exasperated at her little sister’s impertinence.

  “What exactly am I throwing away?” she asked, reasonably. “I’m not welcome in my own home. All you people ever do is criticize or try to direct my life. I’m going to run my own life. I’m going to have my own dreams. I have a woman in my life that cares for me, about me, and wants me to have those dreams and to share them with me. So, what exactly am I throwing away?”

  “You know very well Mother expected you to marry some boy from the country club,” Carmen hissed at her, lowering her voice as someone walked by with a box to put into the trailer. She didn’t even realize that that woman was Fiona. She just didn’t want some stranger overhearing her berating her sister.

  As Fiona came around from the back of the trailer to reach for another box, Allyssa grabbed her arm and turned her around. “Carmen, you met my wife before, remember? Doctor Fiona Herriot, you remember my sister, Carmen?” she introduced them sweetly and formally.

  Carmen glared at the older woman, assessing her and finding her jeans and flannel shirt to be unacceptable.

  Fiona coolly looked at the sister, assessing her as well and finding her overpriced outfit, right down to her high heels, to be totally inappropriate. She wondered how she didn’t fall on her ass in the snow, however, she would play along for Allyssa’s sake. “Hello again, Carmen,” she nodded towards her. “I’ve got to finish packing up the trailer, so if you’ll excuse me?”

  “How could you do it?” Carmen hissed again as soon as the stocky brunette was out of sight.

  “Look, I’m trying to finish packing here. If you’ve come here to tell me my faults then you’re going to have to leave. I’m about to embark on the rest of my life, on my dreams, and my wife and I are obviously not welcome in your world. So,” she advanced on her sister slightly, her added height making her a bit intimidating to her older sister, “if you’ve come here to criticize me or my wife or my decisions in some sort of channeling of Mother then I suggest you leave. I’ll be sending letters to you all so you know when I arrive and what my address is. If you choose to respond, that’s your choice. If not,” she shrugged, “then I understand. You can either accept my choices or not. I won’t have you dictating them to me anymore. That time has passed.”

  “Well…I…well,” Carmen huffed.

  “Look, I’ve had twenty years of that. No more. If you want to have any relationship with me at all, it’s all on you and the choices you make,” she pointed her finger at Carmen’s nose. “But I won’t have Mother, or you in the form of Mother, telling me things like that anymore. I’ve had enough, and I won’t put up with it anymore!”

  “How dare you? You ungrateful...” she began, trying to put her sister in her place before she got any more uppity.

  “I dare because I’m an adult. I didn’t ask for your opinion. I didn’t ask for anything from any of you. You assumed and you are wrong. So, I dare all right, because it’s time that I did. It’s time that I get what I want in life and not what you people think I want. I never wanted any of those boys from the country club!”

  “But you could have had such a nice life with….”

  “I’m going to have a nice life with my wife!” she nearly laughed as Carmen cringed at the word.

  Carmen waited until Fiona, who had been listening unashamedly and loading the last few boxes, closed the trailer and locked it, passed to stack the pallets up on their sides against the building, and was far enough away not to hear her. “But her? She’s nothing but–.”

  “Careful there, Carmen. You say one bad word about my wife and I’m going to belt you! Yes, I will too,” she said as she saw her sister’s surprised expression. “That woman is wiser and better educated than Father or Mother or you with your useless college education. She’s studied longer and harder than all of you and she’s a doctor besides. So, don’t you dare get up on your high horse and criticize her in any way or I’ll let you have it.”

  Threatened with violence, Carmen was speechless. “Well, if you are going to be unreasonable about this….”

  “How in any way have I been unreasonable? I’ve explained my position, quite well I might add, and you object to it. Live with it. Have a nice life, Carmen. I don’t need you in mine and it’s obvious you don’t need me in yours either.” She turned to head for the back of the clinic where Fiona was standing. The wind had picked up again and it felt like it might snow any time. She had seen Carmen shivering and didn’t care.

  “But, Allyssa...” Carmen whined slightly and watched as her younger sister walked away.

  “Let’s get the last of our stuff,” Allyssa said to Fiona and they turned to go in the back of the clinic.

  “Allyssa,” Carmen called one last time and the two women turned to look at her for a moment. “I’ll write,” she promised.

  Allyssa nodded once, briefly before hauling open the door and letting her wife precede her into the building.

  “Are you okay?” Fiona asked, never having seen Allyssa be so forceful and commanding. She had known it was there, had seen her effortlessly handle cranky clients and their owners, but she had never seen her stand up for herself with her family. They had walked all over her for years and it was nice to witness her rebellion.

  Allyssa was shaking and not just from the cold. As she enveloped Fiona in a hug, she reached down to kiss her slightly, not really knowing how to do this. Fiona responded immediately, taking her into her arms, holding her, and comforting her with a deeply satisfying kiss. As it wound down she looked up at her young bride and asked, “Feel better?” The blonde nodded numbly and then tried a tremulous smile.

  “It will get better in some ways. They are still in shock and lashing out. I don’t know if they will accept this, but really, they have no choice. We are moving on and out of their reach. I’m here for you.”

  “They’re my family and I’ve never really known them. I’ve never fit in. They just want to keep me in line.”

  “They’ve bought into that whole middle-class bullshit of ‘this is the way things should be.’ This is their norm, but it’s not yours and it’s obvious it never has been. I’m here for you, baby and I’ll support you in your decisions,” she encouraged her. She had never felt so warm as she did at the words Allyssa had spouted at her sister, defending her, threatening violence. She hugged the younger girl closer, giving comfort with the warmth of her embrace and the heat of her body.

  “Thank you, Fey,” Allyssa murmured. “I’m so grateful to have you in my life. You make me feel brave.”

  Fiona pulled back slightly, so she could look up in her wife’s eyes. “You are brave. You are going off on this adventure wit
h me. I’m not promising a life of ease here. We’re going to work hard and make it our life though. It’s ours. Together. If you want me to tell those people off,” her head nodded towards where Carmen had stood outside, “I’d be happy to.”

  Allyssa grinned, leaning her forehead into her wife’s. “It’s us against the world, eh?”

  “You betcha.”

  “Thank you, Fey. I’ll eventually grow up and get all this.”

  “Don’t grow up too fast, my friend. I don’t want to be left in the dust. Whose gonna take care of me in my old age?”

  Allyssa laughed slightly as the brunette had intended. “You aren’t old!”

  “Someday I will be. I hope you are there with me,” she answered gently, leaning up for a kiss before letting her go. She seemed better.

  “What else do we need to get? I already got my things from the back room,” Allyssa asked.

  “Take this dog food and cat food. I bought these cases from Chuck yesterday,” Fiona told her, helping her pick up one of the large boxes which was heavy and then another for herself. Using her butt, she pushed open the back door. “Let’s put these in the back of the Jeep.”

  “The back is full of my boxes,” she pointed out as they walked towards the Cherokee.

  “I meant the back seat. Let’s put the seats down and stack the boxes on them.”

  They stacked even more boxes on the back seats once Allyssa had them down, providing them with a lot more cargo space besides the full back of the SUV and the nearly full trailer.

  “Keep this space open,” Fiona advised, pushing at the boxes to keep it clear.

  “What’s going in there? You have more boxes hidden?” She’d been surprised at the numerous cases of cat and dog food and thought perhaps Fiona was going to sell them out of her practice. She didn’t know … She had no idea what their destination looked like.