The Women of Dauphine by Deb Jannerson

Author:Deb Jannerson [Jannerson, Deb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, NineStar Press, lesbian, religious conversion therapy, ghost, paranormal, institution, Young Adult, coming-of-age, lgbt, New Orleans
ISBN: 9781950412884
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2019-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

“SO, HOW WAS church?”

“How do you think?” I chuckled nervously, and, without further ado, I pulled the gift, in crumpled wrapping, out of my bag. “I say we have a merry Christmas anyway, Gem.”

“What’s this?” She bounced off the bed and pulled the small item from my hand.

I took a deep breath and spoke through the knot in my throat. “I tried to find something worthy of you.” Gem was beginning to look misty-eyed, herself. “I found nothing, and all the ideas I had relating to your past were sad, of course. I knew you wouldn’t care about the money, anyway. You would want something personal.”

I nodded at her to go ahead and open it. Gem pulled out the bracelet I had woven, with hearts in every color of the rainbow and both of our names in red. “I know it’s kind of childish, but I wanted something you could always keep with you, and that didn’t have to show…because if it did, my parents could see it floating, right?”

“I’m not sure.” She smiled, twirling it around in her hand. “But it’s adorable.”

“Have a seat.” Gem situated herself on the bed and I tied the gift around her ankle, letting it fall beneath her boot before I met her eyes again. “Merry Christmas, love.”

Gem kissed me hard, one hand weaving through my hair, pulling lightly, the other around my waist. I could not remember, even the next morning, which of us had pushed or pulled the other onto the bed first, but by the time we fell onto my comforter together, I knew that night, that chilly, Christmas night, would be different from our nights of cuddling. I knew we were both ready to move forward and our love for each other would move us there organically.

Afterward, as I lay in her arms thinking of all we had to look forward to, she murmured, “This is the first time I’ve been naked in decades. I think I’ve been hiding from my human body.” Though unsure of what she meant, I wept at her bittersweet words, and we fell asleep in a heady cloud of emotions, holding each other tight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.