Kate stood watching. She loved to watch her wife. It was a school day, a Thursday at half past nine in the morning, not a normal day and time to stand and stare at Caroline. The last few weeks had not been normal though. Illness had swept through the school and whether it was adrenaline, willpower or something else, Caroline had managed to stay healthy. That was until the staff began to return, which was a signal to her body that it was time to rebel. Rather than illness, it was sheer exhaustion coupled with stress but Kate had convinced her to call out knowing the deputies and a nearly full staff could manage without her for two days.
Kate had driven Lawrence to school and then to the store to pick up some groceries. She arrived home to music playing so with bags still in hand, she stood at the door to the family room. She stood watching her wife and their daughter dance. She stood watching as Caroline and Flora quietly twirled around before the sounds of laughter filled the room. She thought her wife was beautiful but watching her with their daughter always made her heart melt.
"Are you going to come join us or just stand there watching?"
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
"I am, this is relaxing, mentally anyway."
Flora pulled Caroline's arm to regain her attention, "Mama, dance."
"Save a dance for me, I just need to put the cold items away."
She returned a few minutes later to find the dancing had ended and Caroline was now 'flying' a giggling Flora around the room. The blonde flew the toddler straight into Kate's arms where she held the child and peppered her with kisses and spun her around before stopping to give Caroline a chaste kiss.
The trio continued to play for the remainder of the morning before finally stopping for lunch.
Flora was at the age where she fought naps even though she still needed them. As they began to clean up from lunch, Kate suggested, "Why don't you take her into the family room to read and calm her down and I'll take her upstairs when I'm done."
It was only five minutes later when she walked in to find her wife sleeping. Flora was holding the book and 'reading' when she looked up at her mother "Mama sleep."
"Shhh, let's be quiet. We can go upstairs to read so we don't wake Mama." Once the toddler wiggled off the couch, Kate gingerly moved Caroline from a sitting position and placed a blanket over her before kissing her on the forehead.
Flora couldn't quite reach so Kate picked her up and she kissed her mother, "Night Mama."
Two hours later, Kate was busy packing when Caroline awoke to music playing softly. Groggy, she looked around the room, "wait, what happened?"
"Welcome back, you fell asleep reading to Flora."
"Did I?" Caroline mumbled.
"Nearly two hours ago. She is still sleeping but I suspect not too much longer."
"Will you sit with me?"
"Of course," said Kate as she went to her laptop to pause the music.
"No, keep it on," suggested Caroline. "Can you play the next song, providing it is…," still sleepy, she couldn't find the right word.
"Calm," suggested Kate, "no drum solo," as she played the next track before lifting the pillow and gently setting her wife's head on her lap.
Caroline smiled as she recognized the tune.
August 2012
Kate and Caroline were on their way to the weekly concert in the park near Kate's house. It had been less than two weeks since their first kiss. While they hadn't gone public, anyone looking hard enough would see the pair and their goofy smiles and might suspect something was going on between them.
"What is this week's concert?" Caroline asked.
"A modern take on the big band era, songstress, crooners, that sort of thing. I think you'll like it whereas all but three of the kids at school would complain they are being tortured."
"And you are confident I will like it?" Caroline teased as she accidentally on purpose brushed against Kate.
"You are the mother of one of the three and if you don't like timeless classics…hmmm, then I'm not sure we can be friends," Kate teased back.
They arrived early as they had the weeks before and set up a blanket and ate their sandwiches. Despite the increasing crowds and noise, the setting was idyllic and their time together magical.
Whenever a romantic song was played, Caroline seemed to notice all the couples sitting together, how they would smile at one another or hold one another or kiss one another. She knew she was far from ready for this in public, but she moved her hand a little, before letting her fingers creep slightly to brush her hand against Kate's. Their fingers remained touching for the duration of the concert.
After they arrived back at Kate's, Caroline nervously said "I think you wanted to kiss me earlier."
While that was certainly true, Kate wanted more, so much more but it was still early days, less than two weeks since their first kiss and less than four months since Caroline found out about John's affair. For some people, that would have been ample time to mourn their old relationship before moving on but she sensed it would be a longer process for Caroline so she would patiently wait and follow Caroline's cues.
Kate understood this was Caroline's way of saying she wanted to be kissed so she moved towards the blonde and smiled and asked rhetorically. "Did I want to kiss you? Do I want to kiss you? Well maybe, you know, in theory." She smiled again before moving her hand to the small of Caroline's back and pulled her in for a kiss.
Eventually, they broke their kiss and Kate turned on some music and left momentarily. Before long, she arrived back with two glasses of wine. She handed one to Caroline, making sure they brushed hands in the process before sitting beside her.
Caroline reached out and momentarily touched Kate's leg, "you were right, I enjoyed the music tonight."
"Did you have a favorite?" Kate asked.
"La Vie en Rose, I thought it was lovely."
"It was lovely, the whole day with you was."
"That day was perfect, except maybe, I would have liked a bit more than a kiss," said Kate as she flashed her eyebrows.
"You randy vixen. Knowing now what I didn't know then…if I had it all to do again…," smiled Caroline.
Kate squeezed her wife's hand, "we got there in the end. Did I ever tell you, 'La Vie en Rose' translates to life in pink, to see things through rose-colored glasses. When they played this song, it just seemed to be the perfect fit for the perfect day. I was so infatuated with you, still am."
"Mmmm, me too. What were you doing when I woke up?"
"I started to pack some books, got sidetracked and was looking at photo albums instead. I just got to the one my mum had made for us last Christmas." She leaned forward to pick it up from the table and handed it to Caroline.
"Aww, the picture of us at mum and Alan's wedding although I prefer the selfie we took in bed the following morning."
"And you call me a randy vixen."
"We can both be, it isn't mutually exclusive," said Caroline.
The pair continued to look through some of the pictures they'd seen countless times before. Kate holding Flora shortly after she was born. Lawrence laughing as Flora smeared mashed carrots on his mum. A family photo of the five of them, Kate's mum meeting her granddaughter for the first time and on and on.
"She has grown so much. I love the age she is now, but I miss some of the moments we had. Not the colic though."
"They grow up quick."
"I hear her," said Kate, "I'll be back."
She returned a few minutes later with Flora who looked a bit more asleep than awake. She looked at her wife who had fallen back to sleep, like mother, like daughter. "Mama needs some cuddles to wake up," as she laid Flora down on Caroline before pulling the blanket up over the pair and kissing her girls and quietly saying "I love my life in pink."
La Vie En Rose – by Edith Piaf – written (1945), performed live (1946) and released as a single (1947). English lyrics by Mack David. Piaf released an English version in 1950.
So many versions of this song. I don't speak French and find that version absolutely beautiful but I read the French lyrics reference 'he' whereas the English version references 'you' and since I made the assumption that Kate is fluent in French, I will also assume that she prefers the English version sung by Edith Piaf.