"Dang right it was," shouted Hogan. "That and the fact your house was nearest to the depot."
Blue stroked his mustache then gave a grudging nod. "All right.
I"ll give you that."
"And didn"t you then manage to get called away on business, so that I was left all alone and unprotected when the notorious h.e.l.lcat arrived?" She shot Zee a coy glance that made her grin.
"When you put it that way . . ." Blue smiled and put his arm round Jenny, who clapped her hands together in delight.
"Was it love at first sight?" she asked.
"No indeed," said Christie at once. "In fact I thought Zee was the most terrifying woman I had ever met."
"Ha! Terrifying," called out Hogan. "That"s Brodie all right." Zee glared at him and he held up his hands. "Don"t kill me, Deputy. I"ll come peaceable."
Christie ignored this by-play. "I soon changed my mind though. I came to think she was merely the most impudent and forward woman I had ever met." Her words were greeted with catcalls and laughter.
Zee arched an eyebrow in mock outrage.
The goodwill coming from their guests was palpable now, and Christie felt suddenly at ease. This was her home; she was among friends; the love of her life was standing beside her, holding her hand.
344.
"But the real clincher," she continued, "was the flower bulbs she brought me all the way from Yuma. What could I do after such a romantic gesture but follow her to Benson?" She gave an eloquent shrug. "My goose was well and truly cooked."
Zee pulled Christie toward her and gave her a hug. "So was mine, darlin"," she murmured in her ear. "And I wouldn"t change a thing."
"A toast," yelled Sister Florence. "Everyone, fill your gla.s.ses."
A mad scramble for bottles and gla.s.ses ensued, and when the chaos had turned to order once more, a sea of smiling faces and raised gla.s.ses met them. Christie and Zee exchanged a glance and reached for their own gla.s.ses, which someone had thoughtfully topped up.
"To Zee and Christie, Happy Anniversary," chorused their guests.
Reflected in Zee"s eyes was a love and affection that more than matched Christie"s own. Smiling, she clinked her gla.s.s against Zee"s.
"And many more to come."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
Barbara Davies was born in Birmingham, England, twenty minutes after her twin sister. She grew up in the Midlands, managed to sc.r.a.pe a BA from York University, worked in computing in Surrey, then moved to Gloucestershire where she"s now a writer and a book reviewer for Starburst.
Barbara published her first short story in 1994. Since then, more than forty of her stories have appeared in various genre magazines including Marion Zimmer Bradley"s Fantasy Magazine, Electric Spec, Khimairal Ink, Here and Now, Byzarium, Rage machine Magazine, and Neo-Opsis, and in several anthologies, among them F/SF Volume 1. The readers of Kimota gave one of her stories their 1999 Best Story Award.
Her Website is books from Bedazzled Ink.
Nuance.
K. Galarneau.
Loss: Out of the Darkness...Into the Light.
Look for it Winter, 2006 Khimairal Ink Magazine Dragonfeather Books A. Casey.
Dragon Drool Top of the Key.
end.