Real Love

by Jeanne Mccann

  Rhea’s long legs allowed her to catch Alicia, and she wrapped her arms around her, locking her tightly against her body, her lips nuzzling her neck. “I missed you, sweetie.”

  Sheri was laughing hysterically as Alicia squirmed in Rhea’s arms. “Now I’m going to have to take a shower just to get the smell off me.”

  “That was my plan,” Rhea admitted, as she carried Alicia out of the room. “See you at dinner, Sheri. Ted’s cleaning up back at your place. He’ll be here in about thirty minutes.”

  Sheri didn’t stop giggling until the two women disappeared from view. She suspected that Alicia was going to give up her objections rather quickly.

  “Rhea, what is wrong with you?” Alicia asked as she struggled to get away from her.

  Rhea carried her all the way into the bathroom before setting her on her feet and turning her around. Before Alicia could make another sound, Rhea covered her mouth in a hungry kiss, and she was turned inside out. “I love you, Alicia.”

  Alicia swallowed Rhea’s words as she allowed herself to be seduced. Haphazardly shedding clothes, Rhea moved herself and Alicia into the shower and turned the water on hot. They continued to kiss as Alicia scrubbed every inch of Rhea’s body before Rhea covered Alicia with soapsuds. Then Rhea rinsed her off and knelt down placing her face against her stomach.

  “I’ve been thinking about you all day, and I just needed you close to me. I love you, honey.” Rhea’s lips kissed Alicia’s blond curls as her fingers slid slowly into her. “I love touching you.”

  Alicia succumbed almost immediately, as her lover wooed her with lovemaking and words. Alicia trembled as an orgasm chased through her body. Rhea stood up and held her gently against her, her face pressed against Alicia’s as she whispered loving words to her. Alicia was completely undone by Rhea’s actions.

  “Let me love you now,” Alicia murmured as she reached down and parted Rhea’s thighs. Her fingers unerringly found Rhea’s pulsing center and teased her as her mouth covered Rhea’s. Her tongue tasted the familiar flavor of her lover, and she entered her deeply and stopped moving. Rhea’s body rippled around her fingers, and she began to move her hips. Alicia’s tongue probed her mouth as she began to move inside Rhea, filling her completely over and over.

  “Oh God, Alicia….”

  Rhea’s head fell on Alicia’s shoulder as she hung on while her body reacted. Alicia pulled her drenched fingers out of her lover and trailed them up her stomach before wrapping her arms around Rhea’s waist.

  “I love you, Rhea.”

  “Even when I come in smelling like sheep?” Rhea’s eyes told Alicia she was still teasing her.

  “Especially when you come in after working so hard. Rhea, you are one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. I love that you enjoy your life here, because I love mine. We ended up exactly where we’re supposed to be.”

  Rhea placed her forehead against Alicia’s and just held her as emotion made her heart pound. They both felt very lucky that life had turned out so wonderfully. They stepped out of the shower and dried each other off before getting dressed. They couldn’t stop touching, and their eyes kept locking on each other. Happiness engulfed them, and they smiled and held hands as they

  walked down the stairs to join Ted and Sheri who were sitting in the living room with Sophia and August.

  “Ladies, can I buy you a drink?” August inquired as they entered.

  “No thanks, August.” Alicia very rarely drank anything but a glass of wine.

  “Dad, I’d like a cold beer, please.”

  “Coming up, honey. Ted was telling me that you finished mucking out the sheep barn. You deserve one.” August had mucked out many a barn, and he knew how messy the job was.

  “Alicia didn’t appreciate the aroma of sheep,” Rhea grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

  Alicia snorted with irritation as Sheri burst into laughter. “I certainly didn’t appreciate it when you made me smell just as bad.”

  “She has no sense of humor, Dad.” Rhea teased her, and squeezed Alicia’s fingers.

  “I seem to remember Ted tackling Sheri in the horse barn two days before their wedding. She was covered with horse manure, if I remember correctly.” Sophia reminded her son and daughter-in-law.

  “Twenty minutes before we were to have lunch with my parents who had just arrived. They hadn’t even met Ted yet,” Sheri reminded everyone. “I was covered from head to toe with manure and all this big jerk did is laugh.”

  “It was your reaction, honey. You looked so damn angry, I couldn’t help but laugh. Even your parents laughed.”

  “And you remember what I did to pay you back?” Sheri turned to her husband, her eyebrows raised in warning.

  “Yeah, I remember,” Ted colored with embarrassment.

  Rhea started laughing as she remembered what Sheri had done to her brother. “Sheri, you have to tell Alicia.”

  “I waited for a full month after the wedding. We had just gotten back from our honeymoon in Tahiti. We were staying with Sophia and August until our house was finished, and Ted and I were in our room. I asked him if he would like to go swimming with me in the pool before dinner.”

  “That’s not quite what you said, honey.”

  “I promised him loads of attention in the pool,” Sheri admitted, a sexy look in her eyes. “What he didn’t know was that my parents and his were having a drink before dinner in the dining room. I convinced Ted that he would be more comfortable swimming without his trunks. He took them off, and then I slipped away from him and snagged his trunks and the towels and left him in the pool. He kept calling for someone to come get him something to wear. He

  finally decided to get out of the pool and sneak upstairs, but I had locked the door to the house. The only way Ted could get back into the house was to go out the outside door of the pool house.”

  “The one in front of the dining room?”

  Sheri’s eyes gleamed with mischievousness. “The very one. He tried to streak to the front door but both sets of parents caught a view of his very white butt as he ran in front of the window. Also, Mommo’s children were out in front of the house, and they caught sight of him running up the front stairs into the house.”

  Alicia was laughing heartily as were Rhea and Sophia. August couldn’t prevent the grin that stretched across his face. The look on Sheri’s parents’ faces had been priceless as they witnessed their son-in-law fly past the open doorway of the living room and up the wide stairs completely naked.

  “I was waiting in our room for him to remind him that I always get even. Needless to say, he was rather embarrassed at the dinner table.”

  “At least your parents knew you hadn’t got a pig in a poke,” Ted stated with a smirk.

  “Ted, I can’t believe you just said that,” Sophia chided him. Rhea and Alicia burst into laughter while Sheri blushed profusely.

  “So, Alicia, do you get even?” Rhea asked as she held Alicia’s hand in her own.

  “After what she did to Leann, how can you ask that question?” August grunted. “You’ll be lucky she doesn’t shoot your toes off.”

  The whole room was filled with laughter as Rhea turned and hugged Alicia affectionately. Alicia sighed as her girlfriend held her tightly. She had a family, an affectionate, fun family. “I love our family.” Alicia whispered to Rhea before pulling away.

  “They love you,” Rhea whispered back.

  CHAPTER 26

  The ranch ran smoothly during Sophia and August’s trip to Paris. When they returned, they brought back gifts for everyone and then resettled into their day-to-day activities as if they had never been away.

  The following week started out like any other, with Sophia and Alicia spending most of the day working with the horses. Sheri was designing some new jewelry at her home, and Ted and Rhea were out on the ranch moving a herd of sheep to another section. They expected to be gone for a couple of days. August was in his office completing some paperwork.

  Alicia c
ame out of the barn and saw some of the ranch hands’ children playing over by the garden fountain. She knew all of them well and enjoyed visiting with them. She walked over to speak to them before she went inside to clean up before dinner. As she got closer she saw something that almost made her sick. A coiled snake was within a few feet of a barefoot child. She broke into a run, moving quickly, and snatched up the unsuspecting child while kicking at the snake to move it away from the rest of the children. Alicia was wearing cowboy boots, but somehow the snake’s fangs caught her just above her boot. She moved away from the snake with the silent little boy and watched as it slithered off into the garden. The pain in her leg was already excruciating.

  “Lee, run and get Mommo for me, hurry.”

  She placed Lee on his feet and he took off for Mommo. He had seen the snake and knew what had happened. Alicia knew better than to run. She needed to slow the venom entering her bloodstream. She sat on the ground, stripped off her belt and tied it around the lower part of her thigh. She tightened it as much as she could, fashioning it into a tourniquet.

  “Alicia, what happened?” August and Mommo came bustling around the side of the house.

  “I’ve been struck by a snake.”

  August picked her up and raced back into the kitchen with Mommo in his wake.

  “Put her on the table,” Mommo demanded, as she pulled Alicia’s boot off and tore the jeans from her leg. The snakebite was already angry and red.

  “I’ve got the anti-venom.” August grabbed their first aid kit and pulled out a syringe and a vial while Mommo used a sharp knife to cut the bite larger. They kept anti-venom for just this purpose. Alicia bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain as August gave her a shot in the thigh and Mommo drained the wound.

  “Go get me some ice bags.” Mommo was hoping that they had stopped the venom’s movement in time. As it was, Alicia was going to have a fair amount of tissue damage. The fact that she had tied off the leg so quickly was in her favor.

  Alicia was getting sick to her stomach and her head was beginning to throb. “I don’t feel well, Mommo.”

  “You’ll feel better in a little while, daughter. Close your eyes and let us work.” Mommo was very concerned about Alicia. She was such a tiny thing and her body would have to fight very hard to combat the poison.

  “August, Mommo, the kids said Alicia was snake bit!” Sophia came flying in the back door.

  “Help us with ice bags. We need to keep the venom from circulating in her blood stream.”

  August and Sophia covered Alicia’s thigh with ice while Mommo plastered the bite with a special mixture. It was an aboriginal remedy that would suck the venom out of the leg. They wouldn’t know if it worked until much later. Now, all they could do was wait and worry.

  “I’m going to call Dr. Slokum and see how soon he can get here,” August announced as he touched Alicia’s pale cheek. She was out completely, her face beaded with sweat. It was a good thing she had fainted, because what Alicia was going to have to suffer was exceedingly painful.

  “She saved Lee’s life. He said she picked him up just before the snake struck, and it hit Alicia instead of him.”

  “Goddamn it! I’ve got to call Rhea. She needs to get back here.” August was angry and full of dread. You never knew how well someone would recuperate from a snakebite; death often followed. He felt cold fingers clutch around his heart at the thought that Alicia might not survive. He knew what it would do

  to him and Sophia, and it would destroy his daughter. They couldn’t lose Alicia. He wouldn’t allow it.

  “August, she’ll be fine. We’ll make sure of it.” Sophia hugged her husband as she tried to reassure them all. Her face was pale with worry.

  “I know, I know.” He strode out of the kitchen to his office.

  Abo, Mommo’s son, stepped into the kitchen and spoke a flurry of aboriginal words before turning and heading back out. “He’s going to notify the elder women about Alicia. They would want to be here to help.”

  “Of course.” Sophia was not surprised that they would want to be there. They had adopted Alicia as one of their own. “Can we move her to some place more comfortable?”

  “We can put her in the back bedroom.”

  “Mommo, I’ll go get a bucket of ice and more plastic bags. We’re going to need them to keep her temperature down.”

  For over three hours Mommo and Sophia took turns changing the ice bags on Alicia’s leg. They had loosened the tourniquet right after moving her into the back bedroom and had removed all but her underwear from her body. Alicia had done nothing but cry out in her half sleep as the antidote worked to combat the snake venom. Her temperature had shot up, and she was dripping wet. She shook alternately with fever and then with cold. August spoke softly to her holding her hand and trying to keep her calm. He prayed as he watched the tiny woman fight to stay alive. He hoped his prayers were heard. She had to make it. He wouldn’t allow her to die.

  Ted and Rhea were a good five hours away from the ranch house, and he knew they were driving their horses ragged to get back. The yard had slowly begun to fill up with ranch hands and aboriginal people, as word spread that Alicia had been bitten by a snake and was fighting for her leg and maybe her life. They milled about outside quietly, some praying, some silent, while others talked among themselves wishing they could do something, anything, to help the beautiful young woman they had come to love.

  Six and a half hours after the snake struck Alicia, Rhea tore into the house and down the hall to the bedroom, her eyes wild with fear and grief. She cried out when she saw how pale and lethargic Alicia looked.

  “How is she?” she stammered, throwing herself down on her knees next to the bed.

  “She’s holding her own, Rhea. We think we prevented most of the venom from entering her blood stream and she has had two doses of anti-venom.” Dr. Slokum stood next to the bed, taking Alicia’s pulse.

  “Then why is she so pale?” Rhea’s hand shook as she pushed Alicia’s hair buck from her face.

  “Her system is fighting the snake venom. She may have saved her own life by applying a tourniquet to her leg, preventing the poison from spreading more quickly than it did. She’s in for a rough night, though, and only time will tell what the final result will be.”

  “Goddamn it, do something for her!” Rhea raged, as she laid her head down next to Alicia’s and began to sob. “I can’t lose you, I just can’t.”

  “Rhea, we’re doing everything we can to save her. Mommo and the women from her tribe are here. They’re helping Alicia to fight the venom, too.” Sophia knelt next to her sobbing daughter. “You need to talk to Alicia and let her know we’re all here, and she needs to fight. She needs to hear your voice, honey.”

  Rhea’s tear streaked face looked up at her mother as she registered what her mother was saying. “Alicia, honey, it’s Rhea. You’re going to be okay, honey. I’m here, and I love you. Just listen to my voice, honey.”

  August brought a chair to his heartbroken daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder in support. His eyes were full of tears. Sheri stood next to Mommo and held tightly to her hand, and Sophia stood on the other side of Rhea. Ted watched in disbelief from the door.

  “Ted, can you and Sheri make us all some sandwiches and some coffee? We need to stay awake and take turns changing her ice bags and keeping her comfortable.”

  “Sure, Mom.” Ted took his wife’s hand and they headed toward the kitchen. Sheri stopped and turned into her husband as huge wracking sobs burst from her. “She has to be okay, Ted. She has to. I love her like my own sister.”

  “Shush, honey. She’s going to be all right. You know Alicia. She’s a fighter. She’ll get through this, I know she will.” Ted was praying very hard that he was right. It would break his heart if they lost Alicia.

  For over twelve hours, they took turns changing the wet sheets and replacing the ice bags that were keeping down the swelling of her calf. Rhea left Alicia’s side only to go to the bathroom.
And she spoke softly to her all night long as Alicia thrashed and fought against the pain and fever. Alicia’s cries of pain all but shattered Rhea’s heart, but she never stopped touching Alicia nor talking to her. At four o’clock that morning, Dr. Slokum announced that her fever had broken and she was sleeping comfortably, much to the relief of everyone in the room.

  “The swelling in her leg has gone down, and she seems to have fought off the worst of it. She needs to sleep, and if she wakes up we need to keep forcing

  fluids into her; otherwise, she’ll become dehydrated. She’s going to be fairly sick to her stomach when she first wakes up, so I would have something ready for her.”

  “She’s going to be okay?” Rhea’s voice was hoarse, her eyes bloodshot as she looked up at the doctor.

  “She’s going to have quite a recovery period, and I’m not sure how much damage was done to the leg, but she is going to be fine. She’s fought off the worst effects of the venom. Bed rest is a must, and I would watch that leg for the next twenty-four hours, but I think she’s going to be fine.”

  Rhea started weeping again as she laid her head down on Alicia’s chest that she could feel moving up and down in sleep. She couldn’t stop crying. Everyone left her alone in the room with the woman who meant everything to her.

  “Did you hear that honey? You’re going to be okay. I knew you wouldn’t leave me, I just knew it. I love you so much, Alicia. I’m so glad that you’re going to be okay. I couldn’t live without you. You’re my heart, and I couldn’t survive without your love.”

  “Rhea, what?” Alicia mumbled as she tried to speak, her mind in a jumble, and her body aching.

  “Don’t talk, honey. You’re going to be okay. You’ve gotten through the worst of everything. God, I love you.” Rhea face was awash with tears, her voice full of relief.

  “I’m going to be sick,” Alicia cried, as her stomach reacted to the medicine coursing through her system.

  Rhea held her as she heaved violently into a pan, then gently cleaned her face and gave her some water to sip. Alicia was barely aware of her as she fell immediately back to sleep.