Be My Queen (15 page)

The phone rang. Mrs. Raleigh had to pick Travis up and take him to Austin's house. She sighed. "I really liked this. Don't wait for Diego to come back to visit me."

Lavender smiled. Diego was glad she got along with Patrick's mother. Too bad his mother wasn't so easygoing.

*~*~*

Lavender cuddled against Diego. They were alone for the moment in Diego's friend's mother's house. She wanted his hands on her. They could even make out on the couch, if she was certain they'd notice when the lady of the house returned.

She turned in his arms and kissed him. His response wasn't as enthusiastic as she'd expected. Maybe he didn't want to risk being caught. She pulled back, but he tugged her close again and she forgot about the world outside him arms. He wound her up nice and high, then just held her close. "Any more, and we'll need the bedroom."

She ran her hand down his side. "What's stopping you?"

He laughed and kissed her. "I don't know. I like you very well in my bed, but I enjoy you other places as well."

"Like the viewpoint and the beach?" She'd enjoy him there, too.

"And shopping, and talking to Mrs. Raleigh, and watching movies at Patrick's. I like you for more than sex."

Good. "Thank you."

"That's why I got you the forms to change your name."

She leaned back to look at him better. What did legally changing her name have to do with anything?

"I want…" He took a deep breath. "You are the queen of my world. I don't want you to be embarrassed to show your ID card when you travel to see me."

"You want me to change my name for selfish reasons?"

He sat up and pulled her onto his lap. "My goal is to marry you. Tiny steps are still steps."

She leaned back against him. "I can't marry you, you know. That
M
isn't going to change."

He kissed her ear. "So, we aren't technically married under the law. No one else will know that it's just a domestic partnership. We can have a big church wedding, anyway."

He dreamed a big dream. "Do you want a church wedding?"

"My mother will. Even if I married a man, she'd expect flower girls, candles, lace, and a big feast. Our wedding colors can be purple, lilac, and white."

Diego had a way of lifting her up, just to drop her again.

"You know I can't afford that." She couldn't afford more than her day-to-day expenses.

"Mom will pay for it. She'll even let you make some of the decisions. If your heart is set on something, bring it up early, or tell me, so I can. She doesn't try to steamroll people. It just happens."

He wasn't painting a very pretty picture of his mother.

"But if you don't care, leave that part up to her. She's good at organizing stuff, knows everyone, and she likes to help."

This was a waste of time, dreaming about getting married. It would never happen.

"Let's fill out the forms." He handed over her purse.

"Why?"

"Humor me."

That wasn't a satisfactory answer. She got out the envelope. He opened it up, laid the forms on the coffee table, and plucked a pen from the cup by the telephone. "Birth name."

"Why?"

"Please. The
M
is easy enough to ignore if the picture and the name match. I know a woman who didn't realize that her driver's license had an
M
, not an
F
, until her fiancé pointed it out after she'd been driving for fifteen years."

Lavender bet that woman got her
F
much more easily that Lavender would ever get hers.

"Please, my love."

Lavender sighed and gave in. She filled in her birth name and date, her address, phone number, and the name she'd used since she was a child. "I don't want to have my name in the paper and go in front of a judge."

Diego got on his knees in front of her. "Won't having 'Lavender' on your ID card make you feel better?"

A hundred times better, a thousand times. But she was still going to have to go public. That scared her more than anything.

He held her hands. "Many people get their names changed. If someone gives you a second glance, that's because you are gorgeous and they can't keep their eyes off you. Even if you hate the whole experience start to finish, it will be over, and you can move up to Oregon with me and get your new ID in your name, not one you don't use."

"You always see the bright side." The tunnel looked so long and dark ahead, but if she did make it through and Diego was right about people not noticing the gender, she could take sewing or makeup classes like Jessica had taken. And have a real job that made real money and not be stuck living in the same house until she was as old and bitter as Miss Magnolia.

He kissed her palms. "I don't need to close my eyes to see you by my side at one of my mother's parties, hanging out with my friends, in my apartment, in my bed. We'll get a little house and plant flower beds by the picket fence. And you can kiss me at the front door on my way to work."

Lavender closed her eyes and saw it, but she saw babies clinging to her skirts and she would never have those. Tears welled in her eyes. She needed that future so badly. "Take me to bed."

Diego put the forms and her purse in her lap, and picked her up as if she weighed much less than she did. He set her gently on the bed and locked the bedroom door with the chest. Then he made careful love to her. She loved ever touch, every caress. She had so little time with him. "How am I going to live without you?"

Diego rubbed his cheeks against her breasts. "I don't know how I survived without you. Promise to spend Christmas with me?"

"Yes!" She needed this moment, this night, to last forever. And if it couldn't, she wanted a repeat as often as possible.

*~*~*

Diego poured batter into the waffle maker. Mrs. Raleigh looked up from the magazine she was sharing with Lavender. "I would have thought Patrick would spend more time with you, since you came all the way to see him."

Diego nodded towards Lavender. "I don't think I wasted a second."

Mrs. Raleigh patted Lavender's shoulder. "I don't think you did. I think he did. I'm going to call him up and make him come over."

She went to the phone. Diego carried his coffee mug to the breakfast nook and slid in beside Lavender. She was so beautiful with the morning sun cascading around her. "Do you mind?"

"If you spend the day with Patrick?"

"If
we
spend the day with Patrick."

She leaned against him. "No. Because I'm going to see you for Christmas and he isn't."

His grin was so wide, his face ached. But he couldn't stop.

*~*~*

Lavender enjoyed every minute of Saturday, even going where Jessica and Patrick wanted to go and doing what they wanted to do. This was her last day with Diego. She didn't care if the women around her were dressed better or talked better; no one could be happier.

After sunset, Diego took her back to the beach and they walked side by side. Jessica and Patrick followed behind. Lavender ignored them. If they hadn't wanted to be here, they could have gone home. Patrick sighed loudly. "I think we'll be heading back."

"Okay." Diego turned. "Call me some time."

"Hey." Patrick crossed his arms. "Come back with us. We can watch movies all night at my place."

Diego grinned and pulled Lavender against him. "Maybe next time. Tonight, I'm going to take my girl somewhere quiet and make sure she doesn't forget me."

Lavender leaned into Diego. She would never forget him. "Maybe next time you could come visit us."

"Us?"

Lavender set her hand over Diego's on her stomach. "I'm moving in with Diego."

"When?"

Diego kissed Lavender's neck. "Not soon enough."

Lavender turned in his arms. "Patience."

And she kissed him. When they came up for air, Patrick and Jessica still hadn't left. Why wouldn't they just go away? She rested her head on Diego's shoulder.

"Hey man, you've spent your whole vacation with her," Patrick said. "Bros over—"

Diego stepped away from Lavender and covered Patrick's mouth. "You finish that sentence and you won't be welcome in my home."

"Or my bed." Jessica whapped Patrick with her sandals.

"Hey, no harm." Patrick wrapped his arms around Jessica. "I didn't mean it."

"Then you shouldn't have said it. Thank you, Diego, for visiting us. It was nice to meet you, Lavender."

Lavender nodded. Jessica wasn't all that bad, especially compared to Patrick.

"Thanks for having me." Diego hugged his friends, then wrapped his arms back around Lavender. "Goodbye."

He turned and walked Lavender down the beach. Behind them, Patrick asked Jessica what Diego could possibly do on the dark beach. Jessica sighed and called him a dunce. What had he done with her the night before he left for college? Patrick said, “Oh!” and shouted luck to Diego. And they left, finally.

Diego walked away from the water and laid the blanket on the sand. He sat on it and held up his hands. Lavender sat on his lap. She held him close. "I don't want this night to end."

He buried his face in her neck. "Neither do I."

If not for the other people on the beach on this Saturday evening, Lavender would seduce Diego right here. She was going to miss him so much that her heart ached, even when she tried not to think about it. "I love you."

Diego grinned. "I'm glad. My week here wasn't a failure."

She rolled her eyes. "That isn't why you came."

"It was. I just didn't know it." He rolled her over and kissed her breathless, almost making her forget how soon she'd be alone.

*~*~*

Diego didn't want to sleep. He didn't want to waste one moment of his time with Lavender. He buried his face against her perfect breasts. "I don't want to leave."

Lavender laughed. "You'll miss my breasts."

"And your smile, and your voice, and your warm body next to mine." He snuggled closer to her.

"Good."

"Good?"

"Yes. You won't forget me."

"I'll never forget you."

She kissed the top of his head. "Tell me where we are going to live."

He explained his little apartment, and the neighbors, and the furniture that he'd gotten from his parents, and the stuff he'd scored at Goodwill. She rubbed her hand down his arm. "I'm glad."

"Oh?"

"That you don't live in a fancy place full of new stuff."

"So's my bank account."

She laughed. "I think I'll feel comfortable there."

"I hope you do."

"I'll feel comfortable wherever I am with you."

Diego heart burst with joy and he shared his pleasure with her. Tomorrow was coming too quickly. He needed to make the most of every second.

*~*~*

Lavender bustled around Mrs. Raleigh's kitchen, making a meal Diego would remember. She poured eggs into the warm pan. Diego set his chin on her shoulder. "The next time we eat breakfast together will be at my place."

She turned in his arms. She didn't want to think about the months they'd be apart. What if the distance was too much for their fragile relationship? Why couldn't she be content with today? When had she started needing forever?

Diego patted her back. "Christmas isn't that far off. In three months, you'll be standing in my kitchen as we make breakfast." He kissed her neck. "Should I be on the lookout for a frilly, white apron or do you prefer the more practical ones?"

If he was looking for the perfect apron, he'd be thinking of her. "Can an apron be practical and pretty?"

"Purple gingham with giant pockets?"

Mrs. Raleigh opened the dishwasher and removed the plates. "I don't think I've ever seen a purple apron. Or purple gingham."

Lavender bit her lip. She didn't want to send him on a wild goose chase.

"I know purple gingham exists." Diego held Lavender close. "A friend of mine made a rainbow Dorothy dress, from
The Wizard of Oz
, when we were in college."

Lavender stepped back and checked the eggs. "Friend?"

Diego smiled. "Ex, but we only dated a week, and she's been with her current girlfriend for years, so yeah, friend."

Mrs. Raleigh grinned. "Are you friendly with your exes?"

"Yes."

That was not a good enough answer. Did that mean the breakups were mutual? That they said hello when they happened to meet? Or that he went out of his way to hang out with the people he'd dated? Was he friends with them right now?

She scraped the pan and broke up the eggs. Diego kissed her ear. "I love only you."

He’d better.

*~*~*

Diego set Lavender's bags by her front door and pulled her into a hug. "I miss you already."

He needed to hold her forever, but if he didn't leave in the next five minutes, he wouldn't get home in time for sleep, and he wasn't going to function at work if he missed sleep two nights in a row. Lavender had been too precious to sleep away their time together, so he'd waited to fall asleep until she had, somewhere around three in the morning.

She tilted her head up and stole his breath with a delicious kiss. Christmas couldn't come soon enough.

"How long are you going to stay for the holidays?"

She grinned. "That depends."

"On what?"

"On you." She ran her hand down his chest.

"What will you require, my queen?"

She tilted her head, exposing her beautiful neck. "I'll think of something."

"Do, my love, and let me worship upon the altar of your soul."

She lifted an eyebrow. The door opened and her friends tumbled out. Good. Goodbyes were easier with company. This goodbye was both painfully long and much too short. He was tearing out his heart.

He got in the car and drove away. At the corner, he looked in the rearview mirror. She wasn't waving, but she wore her mysterious smile. He took a mental picture of it for his soul to remember. If something happened between now and Christmas, if they never got together, if she never moved in, he wouldn't ever love anyone the way he loved her.

*~*~*

Lavender lay on her bed. She had so much to do to make up for her week of neglect. She hung the dresses Diego had bought her. He seemed so far away, almost like he'd never existed at all, save for the giant hole in her heart.