"Settling down after a night of lovemaking feels almost as good as sex itself," Simone murmured into her lover's ear as they lay together, very late at night. They were lying in each other's arms, with that delicious, satiated feel about them after hours of passionate lovemaking. Their fingertips were tracing delicate patterns on each other's soft skin and they exchanged soft gentle kisses. They were both feeling very sleepy and were both deliberating just when to settle down to sleep. Lying like that might feel very sexual but they knew that one of them or both would wake up a couple of hours later with a paralysed arm or leg and neither wanted to back too far away from each other.
"So long as the sex comes first,"sleepily retorted Annabelle."I think I'd die without touching and tasting your gorgeous body and feeling you do the same to me"
"It's all your fault I'm becoming sexually insatiable," laughed Simone with a feeling of pride in herself. All the chaos and confusion earlier on felt light years removed from the way they felt now.
"Becoming?"came that inimitable laconic reply even though the younger woman's eyelids were drooping with tiredness. They shuffled round each other indecisively and and finally, it was Annabelle who rolled away so that her lover could slip into the contours of her body. This was an unusual move but both knew the reason why.
"I'll protect you darling," Simone whispered into the younger woman's ear as she rested her head on Annabelle's shoulder and cuddled her affectionately with her free arm, her fingertips briefly caressing her breasts.
"Then everything will be all right,"sighed Annabelle blissfully, feeling on top of the world. Simone could feel her lover's emotions through her own body and her senses. "Night night, sweetheart." Both women sighed in contentment, feeling wonderfully connected so they could slip cleanly into their slumbers through the night.
When Annabelle's eyelids fluttered open the next day, she was momentarily surprised not to feel Simone in her arms and then she realised that the slim arm curling round her from behind was her lovers as was the faint regular breathing on her neck and the feel of her body against her own. As all the events of yesterday came back to her mind she felt that, sure, everything had come right in the end but she bound by obligation to go one step further. As her active mind started to click into gear, she realised that this would be enjoyable for them both. In the meantime, she realised why Simone loved being cuddled from behind. It did wonders for her feelings of security and self worth on a glorious Sunday morning.
"Do you realised that, as from tomorrow, we can be living together legitimately, or at least the Moral Majority won't have a stick to beat us with?" questioned Annabelle as they ate toast and coffee at the dinner table. Simone was wearing a long green skirt and a t shirt while Annabelle wore a short white dress.
"When you're eighteen tomorrow, will you really feel different or will the mature woman I love only be one day older?" questioned Simone in a quizzical fashion which made Annabelle laugh.
"That's a good question. I know there are things I can do like be eligible to vote, sign credit agreements and practical shit like that but things don't suddenly change on birthdays. If there is one thing that made me grow up, it was falling in love with Marilyn- wherever she is right now- when I knew for certain I wasn't a child anymore. Meeting you and falling in love with you has really put me through changes. I like drinking tea for a start."
Annabelle's fast changing emotions and her perky ending was so like her love, Simone thought affectionately. A delightful smile spread across her faces which gradually faded as she looked far into the distance in the way that intrigued Annabelle.
"I'm not sure we'll ever be free from censure but who cares? My parents have been ominously quiet and we've also got to think through how we handle the graduation ceremony we're going to."
"Oh hell, I'd completely forgotten. I mean what sort of stuff happens? How do I get hold of that gown and stuff," Annabelle said in a sudden flurry of emotional panic.
"Just relax darling. You forget I've taught at St. Theresa's for quite a few years. I always got involved in organising details for the classes I taught like the conscientious teacher I am. You leave it for me to work out the practicalities though I know you need to have input on it. Our point of contact is Father Harris. I'm pretty sure he's on my mobile phone list. That's our way in to secure you our place in the graduation ceremony," Simone replied in confident tones, a broad smile on her face.
Annabelle looped her harms round her lover's shoulders and kissed her in gratitude at her thoughtfulness. It was obvious that both of them had organising minds.
"So when do we phone him? I mean what's the best time of day? You know his routines best,"asked the younger woman as she rested her hands on Simone's shoulders. The shade of anxiety in her voice was audible to the fair-haired woman's sensibilities. She knew that Annabelle wanted her to phone straightaway but Simone considered she should move cautiously but surely.
"Schools finished so he'll be having a quiet time right now. Give him half an hour and I think he'll be clear and we'll have our best chance."
The crestfallen look on the dark-haired woman's face denoted her faith in the older woman's wisdom. She started turning a few things over in her mind.
"You told me the other day that Father Harris was the only one who knew about you and Amanda's communion wine heist," began the younger woman in terms which drew a grin from Simone. She carried on in a slow contemplative way of speaking as her thoughts unfolded. "He even knew about your feelings for me. That makes him real smart. I always figured him out as this kooky old man who told weird sermons but his weirdness wasn't like dogmatic bible thumping intolerance. I guess I couldn't figure him out at all but you knew him better? I mean we need to know who we're dealing with."
"He always had faith in me," replied Simone, her blue eyes and soft complexion expressing her emotional certainty in sure-footedly walking the mental high wire."I remember talking to me when I was feeling restless and couldn't figure my life out. He told me once, ' maybe the best thing is to not try and figure it all out.' In other words, trust your instincts."
Annabelle's soft smile showed how these few simple words expressed her own view of the world. She indicated to Simone to continue.
" He told me that I was always his favourite and that I stood out from the crowd. I really didn't think so but him telling me about the wine heist was his way of telling me that he still thought very highly of me. He also told me that the trouble about being in his position was that he knows everything."
"Trouble, that's interesting," observed Annabelle, her face alight with interest, having hung on every nuance of her lover's words."My mother would never think that way."
"Which is why I somehow think he wouldn't deny us your proper place at the graduation so long as we are properly respectful,"Simone concluded, a dreamy look of reminiscence in her eyes. A trace of her sounded like the teacher she was at St Theresa's except for her careful use of the word 'us' not 'you.' This wasn't lost on Annabelle
"In other words, we don't come over too gay," she said flippantly and added, on seeing Simone's disappointed look."I know Simone. I know we can't be spontaneous and loving and that's going to be the deal Father Harris will drive with you."
"I remember that conversation very well. It was after that first erotic dream I ever had of you," Simone added fondly.
"What's that? You bitch," Annabelle retorted playfully. Her eyes were gleaming with mischief, her whole being vibrant with insatiable curiosity as she shot round the table to Simone's side."You never told me of that. Now I've got to know. You talking dirty will be such a turn-on."
"All right," Simone said giggling helplessly as she realised what she'd done. She knew that it was a minor manifestation of her tendency to keep closed in that life with Annabelle was fast dispelling. "Let's go to the settee and I'll tell you the story and then we'll wash up and deal with the dirty clothes mountain that's piling up in the washing basket. The younger woman wasn't displeased at the outcome since doing housework with Simone was a relaxing enough experience. She curled herself around Simone's slim body and waited for her to speak.
"It was just after you came into my bedroom wanting to talk about your ingenious story about first date etiquette and made a pass at me that you really got under my skin. I remember lying in the bathtub, letting my mobile go onto record so I didn't have to talk to Michael that I went into the chapel, complete with rosary beads. I was sitting in the front pew trying to get my thoughts together. The candlelight was gentle and soft and glowing and I'm sure it triggered the thought of you silently coming up behind me. You were wearing tight cut jeans and a low cut sleeveless white top. I was wearing the same green T shirt and long green skirt as I'm wearing now. I felt you sitting beside me and, this time when you put your hand on my thigh, I didn't flinch. In fact, I let you, I wanted you- to slide your hand down my leg, reach below the hem, I was in fire inside. I loved the sensuous feel as your hand slid up my leg. I started to feel damp inside as I waited for your fingers to penetrate me. At last when you touched me, I turned round to kiss you and you had disappeared. I was all there on my own and, of course, that pushed me up against my feelings of guilt and my responsibility as a teacher."
"Oh bummer, just as things were getting good. Too bad I wasn't there and I didn't know anything about it. I know darling," Annabelle's voice softened as she saw that her humour was misplaced."I know now just how tough a time you had in coming out. I'm just so happy everything's come out right in the end."
"Telling you the story here and now makes me feel good that I had a disobedient imagination and it prepared me for living my life right now. It also makes me want to get laid- very soon," added Simone with pure lust edging her voice.
"I thought you'd never ask," Annabelle replied seductively, joyfully thankful for her lover's increasing forwardness and that no barriers lay between them except the clothes they wore.
A couple of hours later on, they'd whisked their way through cleaning the dishes and the washing cycle had ended while they'd been doing a bit of housework. Simone rustled up a washing basket and clothes peg bag out of nowhere while Annabelle marvelled at a recess of this house she hadn't known about. She followed Simone into a small back room where the washing machine was housed and noticed the back door.
"I'll open the washing machine door and you give me a hand to scoop all the washing into it," Simone said quietly to the expectant woman. This was a side of life Annabelle had never known about. Where she'd lived before, a silently moving maid had quietly disposed of her dirty washing and replaced it in her wardrobe without her ever thinking about it. Eagerly, she scooped in knickers, a couple of Simone's bras, her pairs of loose fitting trousers and her own beloved denim jacket.
"This job becomes less glamorous after you've been doing it a few years. Still, I've never been given real help before and it's you who's with me ," observed Simone drily to begin with. She quickly softened her tone as she realised that she sounded like a kill-joy. Her lover's sometimes child-like enthusiasm for what was under her nose was something she should learn from.
"So what happens next? I'll open the door," offered Annabelle. Simone was grateful that she didn't need to use her third arm as she brought the full washing basket through the door. In the back was a small neat square of grass with a washing line running between two posts. At the end of the garden, a wooden fence separated the garden from the outcrop of rock that was the nearest part of the cliffs that were stacked up behind them. The original builder of the beach house, Annabelle observed, had used every spare inch of natural geography to tuck in their dreamhouse to its location.
"We need to leave space on the left. I've stripped our bed earlier on and the sheets right at the bottom of the heap,"Simone said casually."I think our sheets were a bit overdue for cleaning," she added with a meaning look upon which Annabelle did her inadequate best to look innocent. Of course, their nights of lovemaking couldn't help but leave its mark.
Looking back on it, Simone marvelled at the way she could loop a pair of trousers on the line and two pegs appeared from out of nowhere or where Annabelle's jacket was hung just right to dry, she pegged it in position. It was this simple, unselfconscious working together that made this mundane job pass so effortlessly. The sun was shining down upon them both and time passed in in an extraordinarily pleasant way. Finally, Simone pulled out the bedsheets and called out to her lover.
"Give me a hand to fold the sheet in two. Grab two corners and come forward to meet me."
Neatly anticipating Simone's need, Annabelle moved forward and placed the corners in Simone's hands. A smile spread across the fair-haired woman's face as as she swept up the sheet and flopped it on the line, Annabelle was there with the pegs. She couldn't have conceived of Michael doing this job with her and, even if he had, he would have infallibly dropped his corners just when her own grip was temporarily unsure. As Simone pegged her red bra in position and cleared out the last of the washing, she put her hands on her hips with satisfaction and met the younger woman's happy grin. Companionably, she draped her arm over Annabelle's shoulder.
"I think we've just earned ourselves a nice hot mug of coffee."