As You Were (27 page)

“It didn’t go very far.”

Tru opened her eyes. “You mean—”

“I mean, I was in there with him, yes, and it started, but then I realized what I was doing...I felt awful, cheap, and guilty...I couldn’t do anything with him...
I kept thinking about how much I loved you and I couldn’t be with anyone else, even if I thought you had betrayed me.”

“So you didn’t—”

“No. Other than foreplay—touching, mostly—nothing else happened.”

Tru fell back against the sofa, relief washing over her.
He had not violated the woman I love...he had not had that part of her...
She was surprised by the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Brit turned on the sofa to face her, still holding her hand. “I remembered a lot of things, Tru. And I think whatever I haven’t remembered will come back, eventually...”

Tru sighed, a leaden weight moving off her heart.

Brit shrugged the blanket off her and spun on the sofa to straddle Tru’s lap, her hands going to either side of Tru’s face. She watched the shock pass over the other woman’s features at the gesture, as she looked down into her eyes. She leaned down and kissed her tenderly, and then leaned back to look at her as fresh tears made their way down Tru’s cheeks. Brittany brushed the tears away gently. “I want to show you what you mean to me, now—”

For a swift moment, Tru was elated, until she realized that maybe this wasn’t what she had hoped for. “Brit, if this is because of what happened...if you’re just trying to show gratitude for the Max-thing—”

“I remember you.” Brittany blurted.

Tru’s features shifted into a maudlin pinch. “You—”

“I remember you...” she whispered, leaning down again, her mouth so close, Tru could feel her breath on her own lips as she murmured, “I remember us...” She moved her lips over Tru’s faintly. “I remember the feeling of loving you...” She pressed her lips to Tru’s, and the kiss was interrupted by Tru’s sob. Brittany pressed her cheek to Tru’s, holding her tightly as the other woman cried for long, tortured moments of release, and Brittany shared in her tears, at last free of her own doubts.

Finally, Brittany leaned back again, using her sleeve to dab at both their faces. “I’m ready to make love with you, Tru.”

Tru drew a deep breath. “This is going to sound crazy, considering what you just
said. But... can I just hold you
...
for a little while?”

Brittany’s slow, knowing smile was warmer that the fireplace. “That’s not crazy. That’s about the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

The two of them stretched out on the sofa together, arms and legs intertwined, feeling the merging of their pulses, the warmth of each other’s bodies, and soon, they both drifted into exhausted, contented slumber, the fire casting dancing tendrils of orange and yellow on their serene faces.

Tru was brought out of her slumber by the sensation of Brit’s mouth on hers. She came fully awake inside the kiss and returned it with growing passion. The room had grown warm from the fire, though the flames were waning now, after their long nap. She broke the kiss and stared into her lover’s eyes. “Hold that thought. I’m going to feed the fire.”

“You’ve already done that,” Brit smiled.

She chuckled and wiggled out of her embrace to toss logs on the dying flames until they blazed to new life, then she lay down again next to her.

“I’ve missed you...
missed being close to you like this...” Brit murmured. They kissed, passion increasing, as Tru’s hands explored Brittany’s skin like new terrain, and Brittany responded by touching her back, unabashed by any former hesitation.

Tru slipped a hand inside the waistband of Brit’s sweatpants, found her wetness, and caressed her there, lovingly, as Brit gasped in pleasure. Sliding her fingers inside her, Tru watched Brit’s eyes glaze with desire as she stroked in and out; Brittany’s hips rose to meet the intensity of each invasion as she began to thrust into her with increasing aggression. Brit reached climax, clenching Tru close to her, whispering in her ear, “God—Tru—I—love you!”

“Oh, Baby, I love you too...”

After the waves ebbed, Brit quickly regained her passion and began to push at her sweatpants, Tru helping her pull them down and off, and then Brit kissed her with great desire, and coaxed her head down. “I want your mouth on me...”

Tru obliged, sliding down to taste her again, finally; the sweet nectar of love that had caused an addiction she had never known before Brit. She brought her to sweet release again, and no sooner had Brit recovered, than she pushed Tru over to her back, and returned all the favors.

Tru felt that nothing had ever been so searingly sweet. Not even the first time. This was new. They had fallen in love again.

She had so often prayed to have Brittany as she had been before that horrible night ripped this love from their hands. “As you were”—to borrow the phrase from their time in the Army. But this was better. It was not a need for the past, but an embracing of the present and hope, at last, for the future.

Epilogue

Two Weeks Later

BRITTANY FOLLOWED THE ARROWS IN THE SNOW to the barn, where she found Juts saddled up and waiting. A piece of paper dangled from a string around the horn of the saddle, and Brittany pulled it off.

Hi, Brit. You and Juts may join me and Wheezie in the clearing. Love you. Tru.

Brittany smiled, and shoved the note in her jeans’ pocket. She swung easily into the saddle and guided the horse outside and down the trail leading to the clearing.

Minutes later, she saw her—one leg crooked around the saddle horn, and perusing the wooded valley at the edge of the clearing.

Brittany reined up beside her. “Hi, you.”

Tru smiled. “How was your therapy?”

“Pretty good. Shrink says I’m making good progress, and the rest of my memory should filter back gradually. Even if it doesn’t, I think it’s safe to say I’m here to stay.”

“I thought I’d never hear you say that.” Tru shifted in the saddle to take in that lovely face she had dreamed about so many times when she was gone on an out of town gig. “I have something to show you.” She removed a large envelope from the saddlebag, and slid an official looking document from it, handing it to Brit.

“What’s this?”

“Look at it.”

Brittany saw that it was a contract. When she glanced through it, her mouth fell open.

“They signed me.”

“Oh Tru, that’s wonderful!”

Tru beamed. “After we get the CD finished, I’ll be going on tour.”

The light went out of Brittany’s eyes.

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry. This time, you’re going with me. I have an agreement with them. I can hire you as the official band photographer. I showed them some of your work.”

Brittany blinked and stared into the woods dumbly. “What if I’m not as good at it, now?”

“I saw the pictures you developed yesterday. You haven’t forgotten how to do it. I have complete faith in you.”

Brit took a deep breath. “Wow...Where are we going on tour?”

“All over the U.S. first, and then Canada I think. They are even providing us a big tour bus.”

Brittany smiled.

“So, will you do it? Will you go with me?”

Brittany surveyed the land, only small blankets of snow remained at the edges of the forest, and the sun warmed her for the first time since she re-entered her own life. “Absolutely,” she grinned. “It sounds like a blast.”

Relieved, Tru patted the horse and stared over at her. “You think you’re going to recover, huh?”

Brittany nodded. “Well, that little therapy session you gave me last night was very convincing.”

“And the night before.”

“Yeah. The night before that was great too...”

“...and the night before that...” Tru leaned out to grab Brittany’s saddle horn, placing a kiss on her lips. “It’s my professional opinion that you are still in need of further treatments.”

“Is that so? And am I to assume that you will be in charge of this therapy?”

Tru patted Wheezie on the neck. “Of course.”

“What if I don’t want to?” she tested.

“As you were,” Tru ordered.

Brittany smiled at her former lover, now made new by time and circumstance. “I’m getting there.” Her eyes fluttered in the direction of the house and then at Tru. “I’ll race you back.” She reined Juts around and prodded her into a run, and Tru followed.