8.13.2018 / 4:22 p.m. Title: Snapshots: Anthology of a Life Well Lived
Author: Kimberly21570
Fandoms: Guiding Light / All My Children
Pairings: Olivia and Natalia / Lena and Bianca
Disclaimer: The characters of Olivia and Emma Spencer, Natalia Rivera, Phillip, Lizzie, and James Spaulding are owned by CBS/TeleNext and Proctor & Gamble. The original characters of Sutton Keller, and Isabella Mia, Marissa, and Ariana Spencer-Rivera and Dylan Morgan are the property of this author, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This chapter's title comes from Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1.
No copyright infringement intended with regard to Guiding Light, CBS/TeleNext, Proctor & Gamble, AMC, ABC/Disney, or any other entity. The dialogue and story content in these scenes are original. Written for fun, not profit. All other standard disclaimers apply.
Much thanks to my friend WickedWanda926 for the read-through when this update was first completed. I've made a few changes since then, so any mistakes are solely my responsibility.
Rating: Chapter 7 is rated PG-13, though this story will eventually reach NC-17.
Synopsis: It's a stroll down memory lane for Olivia and Natalia, Lena and Bianca, and their friends and family, as two of our favorite couples' daughters prepare to enter into wedded bliss, in a double wedding… of sorts…
Author's Note: Pay particular attention to the transitions in time, as this chapter contains flashbacks.
Snapshots: Anthology of a Life Well Lived
Copyright September 2012
"What's past is prologue, and the world awaits."
— Lisa Mantchev, Eyes Like Stars
Chapter 7.2—What's Past is Prologue:
Emma & Sutton's Dorm Room, University of Michigan—Tuesday, December 17, 2019, 2:30 a.m. Central Daylight Time
"You should totally come home with me for Christmas break," Emma declared.
Her wavy chestnut tresses pulled back in a messy bun, she was dressed in a pair of comfy gray sweatpants and a classic navy U of M t-shirt, leaning back against a pillow on Sutton's bed like she belonged there. Sutton's right leg was draped across her lap, the foot settled in her hand as Emma put the finishing touches on glittery purple toenails.
"Oh, I should, huh?" Sutton intoned. The idea was intriguing, but it also made her nervous as hell. Emma's family seemed so… normal; and that wasn't something she was accustomed to experiencing.
"Absolutely," Emma confirmed. Lifting Sutton's foot, she blew lightly on the wet polish, earning wiggly toes and a giggle in response.
"Won't your moms be weirded out, having a stranger in their house?" Sutton sounded really uncertain. She'd only met the women twice—freshman move-in day and the day of the Big Game over Thanksgiving weekend. She liked them a lot, and they seemed to like her. But this was Christmas. It was a family time. Not that she would really know much about that either.
Shifting Sutton's legs to the side to protect the fresh polish, Emma moved to her knees and leaned forward, locking her gaze on those striking blue eyes. "You're not a stranger," she whispered quietly, pressing a tender kiss against Sutton's full lips. She leaned back on her haunches then, and shrugged, "Besides, Mama loves it when we have a full house for the Holidays."
Taken a little off-guard by the kiss, Sutton felt her breath clutch beneath her breasts. It was a completely unexpected, and entirely pleasurable, reaction. Slowly, her mouth curled into a slight smile.
She blinked twice, and Emma offered a tentative smile in return. Admittedly, Emma was a taken a bit by surprise by the kiss herself. Not the desire for it to happen, of course. She'd been attracted to Sutton from the moment she set eyes on her. But the fact that she'd actually garnered the courage to make it happen.
Sutton bit her lower lip, and quickly sought distraction. She appeared to be mulling the offer over. Or perhaps she was freaking out about that kiss. Emma couldn't really tell, and that made her kind of nervous.
"Oh, and you can finally meet Dylan," she said, sweetening the deal. This idea had quickly become a necessity. "I feel like an ass for not introducing you the weekend of the Big Game."
Suddenly the pleasant feelings that inundated Sutton's body came to a grinding halt. She didn't even hear Emma's comment about feeling like an ass. "Dylan?" Her brow furrowed. She sounded confused.
"Yeah," Emma shrugged. And then she studied the expression on Sutton's face, her own expression turning to curious concern. "What's up with the face, Gorgeous?"
"I, um… I thought you two broke up?"
"Oh, that?" Emma said breezily. "Doesn't matter." She waived a dismissive hand to accentuate the insignificance of that fact. "His family always joins us for holidays. They're chosen family."
Chosen family.
It was a concept Sutton had heard of before, but never one that she had experienced in a personal sense. Family wasn't really her thing, chosen or otherwise. When she'd told Emma upon their first meeting that she had "one of those, myself," in reference Emma's mention of her own mothers, what she had purposely avoided mentioning was that her mother was an absolute train wreck. Always had been; always would be. And despite Sutton's valiant efforts, her sister Kelsey hadn't fallen very far from the tree. So if the family fate chose to thrust upon you was that fucked up, then why would anyone ever choose family at all?
At least that's how she'd felt until she met Emma Spencer.
Everything had changed the moment Emma came tripping over the threshold into their dorm room that first day, all bumbling words and klutzy movements. She was adorable in her clumsiness, and so damned beautiful that sometimes Sutton forgot to breathe. She had always been far more attracted to women than men, though she never acted on it. And on occasion a particular type of man could turn her head. Never the good type, that was for certain. She blamed both of those facts on her mother, and the endless parade of abusive pricks she dragged into their world. Each one was hotter than the one previous—and the hotter they were, the more dangerous, in every way one could imagine. She figured she was drawn to women in search of the nurturance she never received as a child—and that her pull toward dangerously attractive men was because she didn't deserve to be treated any better than her mother. It was a wonder hadn't chosen psychiatry over trauma.
"Chosen family, huh?" She said, as if wondering aloud.
Emma reached out, brushing tendrils of dark hair from Sutton's face before cupping a cheek in her hand. "Yes," she confirmed, her thumb gliding lightly against soft skin. "Chosen family… just like you."
Sutton's gaze flitted away. She always carried herself with such self-confidence, but in moments like this, she allowed Emma to see the uncertainty that lay beneath. "Why would you ever choose me?"
Spoken by anyone else, Emma would've viewed such a comment as a play for a compliment. But from Sutton, she understood otherwise. It hadn't taken long for her to understand Sutton, despite the walls she often built around her heart. That wounded part of her reminded her a lot of her mother before Natalia came into their lives, and that made Emma love Sutton all the more.
Reaching out, Emma gently tipped her chin, drawing those arresting blue eyes into her gaze. "Because you're fucking amazing, Sutton Keller," she said with affection. "Smart, funny, and so damned beautiful you break my heart sometimes," she whispered, admitting aloud things she'd been thinking for months now, and never found the courage to say.
"I am not beautiful," Sutton protested on a sharp laugh. Her entire life she strived for perfection. Never a hair out of place, a wrinkle in anything she wore. But beautiful was the last word she would ever use to describe herself, because more often than not, when she looked in the mirror, all she saw were the washed-up remnants of the little girl whose body her own mother traded for drugs. It was a wonder she'd survived those years; a miracle that she was here in college with a bright future mapped out before her. Her survival was a testament to her inner strength, her courage, and determination to succeed. But that's not what she saw in the mirror. No, she didn't see those things at all.
"Are you kidding me?" Emma couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You look like you just fell from the pages of a magazine!"
The expression on Sutton's face said she highly doubted that. "Me?" She shook her head, averting Emma's steady gaze. "No—"
"Yes, you," Emma gently reiterated.
A moment slipped past, then two, then ten, each one shrouding them deeper in silence. And finally, Emma reached out. "Hey," she whispered recapturing Sutton's attention as she nudged her chin with the tip of a finger. "Those things she made you do, they don't define you," she declared. "It was a role you had to play to keep yourself and Kelsey safe."
Tears glistening on long, dark lashes, Sutton sniffled as she nodded. "Logically, I know that," she said. "But that's not how it feels."
"I know, Babe," Emma said softly, as she stroked Sutton's shiny dark hair. And then she offered a wobbly smile. "Listen, I'm sorry for all this," she said.
"All what?" Sutton furrowed her brow in that adorable way that said she was confused.
"I never meant an invitation home with me to drag up all these painful memories for you," Emma explained. "I just wanted to share my family…"
Overwhelmed with emotion, Sutton gently grasped Emma's face in her hands, pulling in close, and a moment later, Emma's explanation was cut short by the sensation of Sutton's warm mouth brushing against her own.
Instantly, Emma felt her body react, the pounding of her heart echoing between her legs, and effortlessly she slipped her hands into those smooth dark tresses, losing herself in Sutton's kiss.
"Yes…" Sutton murmured softly as her tongue sluiced against Emma's lower lip, seeking entrance.
Willingly, Emma opened to her. "Yes, to what?" she moaned in inquiry when she managed a breath. Sutton's tongue was doing things to her she never imagined possible from a mere kiss. She couldn't even fathom what it might accomplish on other parts of her body, but she was more than willing to find out.
"Yes, to Christmas," Sutton answered breathily, her tongue gliding expertly against Emma's, teasing, tangling, twirling. "And yes to whatever happens tonight…"
Startled, Emma momentarily froze. Pulling her mouth from those perfect pouty lips, she whimpered at the loss as she met arresting blue eyes now glazed over with want. "Sutton, are you sure this is what you want?"
"I've never wanted anything more," Sutton whispered.
"I love you," Emma declared, knowing that it was true. "But I can't offer you anything more than sex," she said in full disclosure. "At least not right now."
"Hey, as long as it's good sex…" Sutton intoned, eyebrow raised.
Emma grinned. She knew that Sutton was deflecting, and she understood why. "The best you've ever had, guaranteed," she crowed playfully, giving Sutton the space she needed. And then she laughed, unable to maintain such arrogance. It wasn't her at all.
Sutton reached out then, her smile illuminating her eyes as her fingertips traced the contours of Emma's face. "I don't need any promises, Em," she whispered. "You've already given me so much more than I deserve."
The corners of Emma's mouth flickered into a tender smile, and she leaned in, brushing her mouth across Sutton's. "Someday you'll understand that you deserve the very best that life has to offer you," she vowed.
Tears filling her eyes, Sutton offered a wobbly smile. She wanted to believe her. Really, she did. But history told her otherwise. But right now, none of that mattered, because her fingers were tangled in Emma's hair, and she was kissing her again, this time with a fierceness that overwhelmed them both, in the best possible way. And moments later, as she allowed Emma to take control, effortlessly lowering her to the mattress, for the first time in her life she surrendered herself to the touch of the one person in the world she knew she could trust completely.
The Farmhouse of Love—Friday, May 11, 2029, 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time
"Dammit, Ariana, those are my jeans!"
The screeching pitch of Bella's voice as she claimed ownership of that unfortunate pair of blue jeans told Natalia this was going to be another one of those mornings. Ever their most cantankerous child, she could hear her clear as day all the way downstairs before she even left her bedroom, and that was never a good sign. Rolling her eyes, she sighed in resignation.
"Get 'em off now, before you stretch out the waist!" she demanded.
"You're such an ass, Bella!" Ariana retorted. "And I told you, yours are still in the dryer."
"Well, I know that can't be true, because my Levi's don't go in the dryer!" Bella barked. And then her feet hit the top of the staircase. "Mama, Ari shrank my good Levi's on purpose!" she bellowed.
"I did not, Mama!" Ariana insisted, as she bounded down the back staircase on her older sister's tail, her dark, shoulder-length curls bouncing as she moved.
It sounded like a herd of wild buffalo stampeding toward her kitchen, and Natalia wondered, not for the first time, why she ever talked Olivia into having another child, let alone three! Before she could finish her thought, she stood face-to-face with the squabbling siblings. They were rambling in unison, and Natalia simply waived her hand in the air. "Work it out yourselves, girls," she said in dismissal. "I have way too much prep work to do for Emma's shower this morning."
"Emma's shower. Emma's wedding. Ooh, everybody clear your schedules, 'cause Emma's coming home!" Bella said disdainfully. She flipped her mane of long, ash-blonde waves and glared at Natalia with those piercing dark eyes, daring her to react. "Emma, Emma, Emma! Why is everything always about Emma?"
"Well, right now, it's about Emma because she's the one getting married," Marissa answered cheerily, as she strode into the kitchen, her arms full with a box of table decorations for the shower. She looked exactly like Ariana, except that her dark wavy tresses were longer and pulled back in a casual hair tie, and the birthmark on her cheek was under her right eye, instead of her left—near perfect mirror images of one another.
Bella made a face at her. She wasn't sure which one of the twins she despised more. At fifteen, they were both equally annoying, and she could've easily lived life without either one of them. Preferably both.
Marissa had learned long ago not to play into Bella's games, and thus, she simply ignored her. "Where do you want these, Mama?"
"Oh, thank you, Sweetie," Natalia said warmly. "Would you mind taking them out to the SUV? I have to take a run over to the Beacon in a few hours."
"Sure thing," Marissa agreed. "You want them in the far back?"
"That'll be perfect," Natalia replied.
"Give me my jeans, Ari," Bella commanded yet again. "Before I wring your fucking neck."
"Isabella! Language!" Natalia chastised. She had mellowed over the years, allowing the girls to get away with a few curse words now and then, but there were still a handful of words she simply wouldn't abide—and that was one of them.
"Don't threaten your sister," Olivia said as she wandered into the kitchen in search of a refill on her coffee. The cursing from their pierced, tattooed seventeen-year-old hellion was nothing new, and so, unlike Natalia, she could easily ignore it. The threats were another matter. Something had changed in Bella a while back, but she refused to talk about it; and nothing they said to her helped. And now there were times Olivia wasn't exactly certain the girl wouldn't follow through on her threats.
"I told you, they're in the dryer," Ariana replied.
"And just go put on a pair of shorts," Olivia instructed. "It's too hot out today for jeans anyway."
Scanning Olivia's form up and down, Bella arched a pierced eyebrow in challenge. "You're wearing jeans," she said dryly.
"Do as I say, not as I do," Olivia countered, setting her mug under the spout of their coffee machine. "Good god, I just channeled my mother," she muttered under her breath.
Chuckling, Natalia smoothed a hand across Olivia's upper back. "It's the teen years, Honey. They wear even the best of us down," she commiserated.
Olivia snorted. "That's terrible," she said, despite her amusement. She pushed the sequence of buttons that would produce her next cup of perfect coffee, and prepared to wait not so patiently. Why she hadn't thought to install one of these treasures the moment she'd moved in with Natalia, she'd never know. But not for the first time, she said a silent thanks to Doris for the contraption. The woman was a fucking genius.
"But true, nonetheless," Natalia sighed. And the she reached over, pushing the button to turn Olivia's brew from regular to decaf. Her wife knew better, but she never behaved without prodding. "Bella, will you empty the dishwasher for me, please?" she asked, turning her attention to other tasks.
"But it's Marissa's turn," Isabella whined.
"Marissa is helping with table decorations," Natalia reminded.
"But Mama!" Crossing her arms over her chest, Bella stomped her foot in protest.
Once Natalia turned toward their testy teenager, Olivia reached over and switched her coffee back to regular.
"I saw that, Olivia Spencer," Natalia snapped uncharacteristically. "And don't 'mama' me, just do it, Isabella," she commanded. "I don't have time to argue this morning."
"Fine!" Bella huffed. She moved to the dishwasher, and within moments, began slamming clean bowls into the cabinet to the right of it.
Olivia paused momentarily, smiling to herself at the memory of her and Natalia bickering over where the dishes belonged all those years ago. And then, sensing Natalia was reaching the brink of her bullshit tolerance for the day, she switched the coffee back to decaf. It was worth a shot, but not worth pissing Natalia off.
"Jeez, what'd those plates do to you?" Marissa asked as she entered the through the back door, finding Bella still slamming dishes.
"It was your turn," Bella grumbled.
"I was helping mama," Marissa reasoned.
"It's always something, isn't it?" Bella mumbled beneath her breath.
"You know what, Bella, just get outta the way," Ariana interjected. She didn't understand what the hell had gotten into her sister, but she was sick of her incessant bullshit, and just wanted her to shut up. "I'll take care of it myself."
"Girls!" Natalia yelled, silencing the room.
Lamenting the loss of caffeine… and possibly their mutual sanity, Olivia moved across the room, where she wrapped her arms around her wife from behind, and nuzzled against her ear. "Once this wedding is over, I think you and I need a little getaway, just the two of us," she whispered, lightly nipping at her lobe.
Instantly, she felt the tension in Natalia's body drift away. Olivia's touch was really all it ever took to accomplish that.
"You have no idea how amazing that sounds," Natalia breathed, as she leaned into the solid strength of Olivia's body.
Olivia smiled into Natalia's neck, and then she kissed the warm skin beneath her lips. "Thought you might appreciate the idea," she murmured.
Turning in Olivia's embrace, Natalia draped her arms around Olivia's neck. "If I weren't so exhausted, I'd take you upstairs right now, and show you exactly how appreciative I am," she intoned.
Arching an eyebrow, Olivia leaned in, covering Natalia's mouth with her own. "God, I miss being young and full of energy," she lamented into their kiss, causing Natalia to chuckle before kissing her again.
"Ugh, would you two get a fucking room," Bella groused.
"Language, Isabella," Natalia reprimanded, begrudgingly tearing her mouth away from Olivia's.
"Uh, excuse me," Olivia retorted, her gaze stern as it locked on Isabella's. "Last time I checked, we own all of the rooms in this house. We'll do whatever we please in them, whenever we please…"
"Within reason," Natalia interjected.
"That's not what you said the night we…"
Natalia knew exactly where Olivia was headed, and it wasn't anywhere good. Swiftly, she shoved a piece of leftover toast into her wife's open mouth, effectively halting her comment in its tracks. "That was twenty years and four kids ago," she reminded.
"Look who I found on the front porch!"
The sound of Emma's voice as she entered the kitchen drew everyone's attention, and simultaneously five heads turned. And then there was the unmistakable sound of squealing teenaged girls as Ariana and Marissa bounded across the room and into Sutton's arms. They kissed her cheeks and squeezed her tightly as they jumped up and down in their excitement over her return.
"I have to say, this is the best place in the world to come home to," Sutton declared, a wide smile playing across her lips as she bounced along with them, an active participant in their delight. That had been her truth from the moment she first stepped foot in the farmhouse nearly ten years ago. She'd felt completely welcomed, accepted, and loved in a way she'd never experienced before, and that was a gift she would never take for granted.
"Lucky you," Bella said flippantly. The comment was under her breath, and she was halfway across the room, still slamming dishes as she put them away; but that didn't stop Emma from hearing it.
Glancing toward her younger sister, she offered a look of concern, only to have Bella turn away and run straight toward the back staircase the moment Emma locked onto her gaze.
Emma turned her attention to her mothers then. "What's going on with Bella?" she asked, glancing from one to the other in search of answers. She had to admit that the bleached hair, tattoo, and eyebrow and nose piercings had thrown her when she first arrived the night before, but she hadn't expected the behavior she'd just witnessed toward Sutton. Bella adored Sutton. Always had. So much so that she used to follow her around everywhere when they were home for a visit. It used to drive Emma crazy, because they never had five minutes to themselves when she was awake; but Sutton thrived on it, so Emma never balked outwardly.
"We don't know," Natalia admitted. Her face held an expression of helplessness. "And not for lack of trying, but she just won't talk to us."
Moving to Emma's side, Olivia wrapped an arm around her daughter's waist. "We… started noticing changes in her moods, hygiene habits, sleep patterns, things like that, about six months ago. And then the hair coloring started."
"I'm thankful it's just blonde now, because it was neon purple for a while," Natalia interjected. "Senior pictures will be coming up, you know. And family photos at the wedding."
"Right," Olivia agreed with a nod.
"The piercing was next," Natalia reported.
"Yeah," Olivia confirmed. "She has more than just the ones you can see."
Emma raised an eyebrow at that piece of information.
"And then she came home with that damned tattoo," Olivia sighed. Not that she was averse to tattoos or piercings—she had a few of her own; but this was her underage daughter, who was acting erratically and making impulsive decisions. "I'm still pissed at that place for letting her get piercings and a tattoo without our approval, but there's no way she'll agree to remove any of it."
Frustration rising, she paused for a breath, then continued, "To be honest, at first I thought the absolute worst: I thought she'd been…"
Olivia didn't need to finish the sentence. Emma understood. "I know, Mom," she said, as she gently rubbed Olivia's upper back. And then she waited for her to continue.
"Anyway, we asked her if anything like that had happened to her," Natalia explained. "But she swears that it didn't. And she hasn't dated anyone in quite a while, so we don't think it's a broken heart. So we just…"
Natalia's comment trailed off, and Olivia picked up the slack. "We're at a loss, Em," she sighed. She sounded tired and scared. "We don't know how to help her."
Releasing a slow breath, as she considered all that she'd heard, Emma nodded. "What does Bianca think?" she asked, knowing that one or both of her mothers had already consulted with her.
"That as long as she wasn't hurting herself or someone else, we should let it go, and just keep the lines of communication open," Natalia answered. "She'll talk when she's ready."
Emma nodded again. That sounded reasonable. "Maybe I'll ask her out to dinner this week, just the two of us, and see if she'll talk to me," she said thinking aloud.
A wobbly smile tipped the corners of Natalia's mouth, and she patted Emma's arm. "We'd appreciate that, Jellybean."
Laughing, Emma shook her head. "Don't you think I'm a little old to be referred to as candy?"
Natalia's smile widened, this time reaching her eyes as she gazed at her daughter. "You'll never be too old to be my Jellybean," she said fondly.
"Ditto to that from me," Olivia piped in, giving Emma a playful hug from the side. "Besides, would you rather we called you our little kumquat?"
Emma wrinkled up her nose. "Gross, Mom," she groused.
"Olivia, stop," Natalia chided on a chuckle.
"What?" Olivia shrugged innocently. "It's just a fruit."
An eyebrow vaulted. "You know I hate that word," Emma said.
Olivia just laughed, and went back for her abandoned cup of coffee. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my office," she announced, shuffling toward the living room.
Emma turned her attention back to Sutton, who was still fully engrossed with the twins. "What do you say we get you settled in? Then maybe we could run that load of shower decorations over to the Beacon, and pick up some Buzz Burgers for lunch on the way home."
"Oh, thank you, Baby," Natalia said appreciatively as she moved rapidly around the kitchen, gathering last-minute items that needed to go out to the SUV. "That would be a huge help."
Smiling, Sutton nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan," she declared. And then she glanced from Marissa to Ariana. "You girls wanna join us?"
An enthusiastic burst of chatter answered her question as the girls looked to their mother for permission. And once it was granted, Sutton found herself being dragged by both arms toward the guest bedroom just down the hall from the kitchen.
Emma couldn't help but smile at the way her little sister's adored Sutton. And then her smile wavered for a moment as she contemplated Bella. She could only hope that whatever was going on with her would be short-lived, and that the Bella she knew and loved would return to them.
Turning toward Natalia, Emma fought back tears that threatened to spill. "Just leave whatever else needs to go here on the table," she said. "I'll get it loaded when we're ready to leave."
"I will," Natalia said. "Thank you again. I hate that you have to do work for your own shower, but I really do appreciate the help."
"No problem, Mama," Emma replied with a bright smile. She leaned in, kissing her mama on the cheek, and then disappeared down the hallway after Sutton and the girls.
As she watched her walk away, Natalia was flooded with memories of nine-year-old Emma running down that very same hallway, excitedly exploring their farmhouse for the first time, and she couldn't help the tears that spilled from her dark, expressive eyes. Her little Jellybean was getting married, and she'd never felt so happy… and so sad… in the same breath, but she wouldn't trade those mixed emotions for anything in the world.
The Farmhouse of Love—Friday, May 11, 2029, 2:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time
"So when does Jordan get in?"
The sound of Sutton's voice drew Emma from her thoughts. Her arm looped through Sutton's, she was enjoying a leisurely stroll down toward the pond with her, after a lingering lunch with the family, thanks to Buzz's amazing burgers, fries, and shakes. "She's flying out of LaGuardia first thing in the morning; should be in around seven fifteen," she answered.
"What, the private jet was unavailable?" Sutton teased.
Emma laughed. Sutton knew that Jordan wasn't the private jet type, despite her family's wealth; especially when she was traveling alone. "Zach is in London on business," she offered. "He won't be back until late tomorrow."
"Mm…" Sutton hummed, finding no need for further comment.
"I'm really sorry for the way Bella's been acting," Emma said. "I don't know what's gotten into her."
Sutton nodded. "I heard what your moms said. Sounds like she's having a rough time," she said empathically.
"Yeah," Emma sighed. "I just wish I knew why."
"You're really worried about her," Sutton said. It wasn't a question.
"Kinda hard not to be," Emma shrugged.
Pulling Emma a little closer against her, Sutton gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "I won't tell you everything's gonna be okay," she said. "But I'll tell you I'm right here if you need me."
Emma squeezed Sutton in return. "You always are," she said affectionately.
"Ditto for you, Em," Sutton murmured against Emma's ear, before lightly kissing her cheek.
They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, and finally, Sutton broke through with a little humor to lighten the mood. "So when might I see that hunky man who's marrying you, and taking you away from me forever?" she asked, feigning despondency.
Grinning, Emma bumped her hip against Sutton's. "Dylan's not taking me away from anyone," she countered. "If anything, he's solidifying my family." She gave Sutton a pointed look. "And that includes you."
"Ugh. Semantics," Sutton moaned, but the grin that played across those pouty lips gave her away. "Anyway, when do I get to lay eyes on that sexy man-beast?"
"You're terrible, you know," Emma declared with a grin as she cast a sideways glance toward her companion.
"What's so terrible about appreciating a good-looking man when I see one?" Sutton reasoned.
"In case you've forgotten, he's spoken for," Emma reminded.
"Oh, I don't want to fuck him, Babe," Sutton said breezily. "I just want to ogle him for a while. I mean, have you seen that ass? And oh, Jesus, those rippling muscles?" she asked with a roguish grin, before separating her arm from Emma's to avoid the swat she knew was coming.
"Up close and personal, actually," Emma grinned as she swung playfully at Sutton and missed.
Sutton laughed, and grasped Emma's arm, looping her own through it again as they continued their walk, now along the edge of the pond. "He's good?" she asked, her tone turning serious.
Emma smiled, and squeezed Sutton's hand where it lay draped against her arm. She loved how they could move from bantering to seriousness in a moment's notice. It was a shift that came naturally for them. "He's good," she assured, thankful for Sutton's heartfelt inquiry. "He'll be at the Beacon tomorrow morning. His moms volunteered him to help with setup for the shower."
"I'm sure he appreciated that," Sutton chuckled.
"He really did," Emma confirmed. "You should've seen how excited he was."
Sutton chortled. "I can only imagine…"
TBC in Chapter 7.3…
