Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2005 17:51:22 -0500 (EST) From: "bgold49@myway.com" Subject: Chapter 12 - Choices THE DREAM By Donal/Gold (This Chapter takes place between "Getting Closer" and "The Day After" and deals with a dream sequence that Lisa has) As Lisa's eyes opened, she realized that Stephanie was still wrapped up in her arms. She looked at Stephanie and finally realized how much she loved this girl. Even though this was only the second time they had been together, Lisa had come to the realization that Stephanie was the one that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She knew they were only teenagers, but she knew what she wanted even at her young age. She sighed deeply, closed her eyes and fell back asleep. *** "Come on sweetheart, time to get up. Lisa, if you don't wake up, you'll never make it to work on time." Lisa woke up lazily, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and wondered where she was. She looked up and saw a very adult looking Stephanie staring down at her. "What did you say Stephanie?" "I said if you don't get your lazy ass out of bed, you'll be late for work!" "Okay, okay I'm getting out of bed. Don't be grumpy with me. This past week was murder on me. After staying late at work on Friday, and not being able to get with you until Saturday evening for dinner, I have every reason to be grumpy." "I know Lisa. But remember, working for one of the most prestigious architectural firms in Connecticut, definitely has its advantages. Since you started working for The Phillips Group, you've been able to do things with your life that some people only dream of. You or should I say, we, have our own house. You own a Lexus SUV and I own a Toyota Avalon. That's pretty good for people our age." Lisa was in the process of brushing her teeth and listening to Stephanie talk at the same time. She rinsed her mouth out and placed her toothbrush back in the holder. "I know sweetheart. Add to that our wedding is coming up in a few weeks and we have to get ready for that too!" Lisa padded over to where Stephanie was brushing her hair, wrapped her arms around Stephanie's waist and gave her a very tender kiss on the back of her neck. "I love you so much Stephanie. I still can't believe that we're still together after all of these years and that we're about to be married. To me it's been a wonderful dream for the last 10 years." Lisa said quietly into Stephanie's right ear. Stephanie placed her hair brush down on her dresser, turned around in Lisa's arms and stared into those blue eyes that she had fallen in love with when she was a 14 year old teenager. "I love you too Lisa. And you're right; this has been the most wonderful dream I could ever imagine. Having you in my life and now with the two of us getting married, it couldn't get any better." She gave Lisa a very tender but quick kiss on the lips. They broke the kiss quickly because Lisa had to get to work at Phillips and Stephanie had to get to the store because her mother was out of town with her father for the next few days at a Hallmark Convention in Washington, DC. "What time will you be home tonight, Steph?" "Well, if everything goes according to plan, I should be home around 6:00pm. Pam, Mom's manager at the store, should be in around 3:00pm. I have to go over the ad plan with her, which should take about an hour, and then I have to go over to the florist and discuss our floral arrangement for the wedding. I should be home right after that." "Okay. I should be home a little after that. I'm leaving work at around 3:00pm, but I need to go see Beth and Sally. Since they are going to be our Maids of Honor, we still need to go over some of the procedures. You know babe, I still can't believe that your sister and Beth have been married for three years now. Besides our parents, I don't know of any other couple that is so happy being married. I just hope that we can be that way." Stephanie walked up to Lisa and placed her arms around Lisa's neck very gently. "You know babe, we've been together for 10 years now. That first time I saw you when you walked into my parents house all those years ago, I just knew there would be no one else in my life. Even though I was only 14 at the time and just a young girl, the first thing I thought was, there's the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I also seem to remember the time when I surprised you on our one year anniversary. I snuck up behind you and covered your eyes with my hands and what was it that you said to me, oh yes, you said "Is it my lover Cathy". I gasped out loud but we also laughed at that one. You also told me that night, that you couldn't see yourself with anyone else but me in your life." While Stephanie had been talking about the past, Lisa remembered that incident and smiled inwardly. "You know Steph, you're absolutely right. I don't know what I'm worried about. Look I need to get to work and you need to get to the store. I'll see you later." Lisa gave her fiancée a very deep and passionate kiss and walked out the door. *** As Stephanie drove downtown to the card shop that she now co-owned with her mother, she started reflecting on the last 10 years of her life. After getting together with Lisa and consummating their love for one another, she and Lisa made a commitment to graduating from their respective schools at or near the top of their class. When Lisa graduated from Washington High, she graduated with the highest grade point average in her class with a 3.99 average. She majored in Architecture, which required quite a bit of mathematics, along with drafting and design. The reason why Lisa chose architecture as her major was because she loved creating designs and showing them off to Stephanie. Another reason was that there was a major security company coming into town called Brown Security and The Phillips Group was designing the building for them. The designs for the building had been shown in the local paper and when Lisa looked at them, she marveled at the angles the building was going to have when finished. Because of her grades, Lisa could choose any college in the country but she chose the University of Connecticut because they had a very good architectural department. During the first year of college, she chose to live at home while she waited for Stephanie to finish school. When Stephanie graduated from St. Francis, she also placed first in her class with a solid 4.0 average which surprised her tremendously. She chose to go into Business Administration, with a secondary degree in advertising. The reason for this was that a few years before hand, her mother had sat down with her and explained that she needed someone who knew advertising and business admin. and that she was hoping one of her daughters could become her new partner. This excited Stephanie to no end and from that day on made it a point to get the best grades she could. S Besides, the way she looked at it, since Sally had decided to become an IT Specialist like her dad, that left only her to help their mother out. When Stephanie entered the University of Connecticut, she and Lisa decided to room together for the entire time that they were there. It was an amazing four plus years at the University. They received their Bachelors Degrees, then went on and received their Masters. Again, both girls graduated at the top of their classes. Right after graduation, Lisa received a letter in the mail one day with a return address that said The Phillips Group. She was overjoyed at the prospect of working for one of the top Architectural firms in the state of Connecticut. What floored her most was the salary they were offering her; they started her in the low six figure range. Stephanie on the other hand, was going to be a partner with her Mom in the card shop but she was also bringing in a nice salary. Beth had chosen to become a Doctor, and had chosen Pediatrics because she wanted to treat children. All four of the girls had become very successful in their chosen careers. *** Stephanie had arrived at the card shop a little early, so she parked the car in the underground garage. She got out of the car, shut the door and set the car alarm. She got to the door of the card shop and opened it. She noticed that there was mail on the floor, so after quickly glancing at the mail, she made sure the door behind her was locked and went back to the office. After quickly scanning the mail for any bills or anything important, she walked onto the sales floor and made sure the store looked ready to open; she checked the shelves to make sure they were fully stocked with figurines, checked the card uprights to make sure everything looked neat, then she went back into the office and counted the drawer and made sure there was plenty of change for the morning shift. Since Stephanie still had about thirty minutes until the store opened, she started daydreaming about the past again. After a couple of years of working with her Mom and Lisa working with The Phillips Group, they both decided to purchase their own house. It was a beautiful house that looked like an old English Country House would; instead of aluminum siding, the house had grayish looking stones built all around the exterior of it. There was a large porch with a covering all around it, so when it rained the girls could go outside and sit on the porch and not get wet. Inside, there was a fireplace in the living room and family room. The kitchen was the deciding factor on purchasing it; in the center of the kitchen, there was a main island that had a stove built in. The refrigerator, freezer and wall microwave oven were modern and had a stainless steel front to them. It was a magnificent looking house. When they held parties, everyone was so enamored with the house that no one ever wanted to leave. The main bedroom where they slept had a huge king size bed. They both decided on the large bed because of the freedom that it gave them when they made love. All of a sudden there was someone knocking at the front door which brought Stephanie out of her daydream. Stephanie went to the front door, looked out and noticed one of the co-workers waiting for her to open up. She opened the door and let Marie in. Marie was their assistant manager and had been working for them for only one year now. She was amazing with customers and had the uncanny knack of knowing what the customer needed. Since Pam had been their manager for about 12 years, Pam had been talking about retiring and if she did, they were going to make Marie their new manager. Even if Pam stayed on as manager, they were trying to give Marie more responsibility because they wanted her to stay on too. After letting Marie in, Stephanie told her that if she needed her to call her from the office. Stephanie sat down at the desk, took out her Franklin Planner and started going over the wedding arrangements. *** As Stephanie was going through her planner, Lisa was at her desk at Phillips going over some plans that she had drawn for an expansion of Brown Security. Since Brown had been in town for about 9 years now and were very successful, they wanted to expand some of the building areas, which included their IT Department. Taking a short break from examining the plans, Lisa placed her mechanical pencil down and started daydreaming about the past, much as her girlfriend was across town. Lisa couldn't believe that it had been ten years that she and Stephanie had been going together. Like she told Stephanie earlier at home, it had been such a wondrous ten years that it seemed like a dream come true. Lisa though back to the first time she saw Stephanie, and smiled inwardly at the moment; as she looked at a 14 year old beauty that she had never met before, she felt her breath catch in her throat and had no idea what was happening to her. It took the one hand shake to realize what had happened between the two girls, it was Love at First Sight for them. Since then, they had become inseparable. It was like being joined at the hip; they were always seen together no matter where it was. After graduating from high school, they both went to college and graduated with top honors. Then Lisa getting her dream job and Stephanie working with her Mom was just fantastic. Then the night that she proposed to Stephanie was like magic; they were at the Four Seasons Restaurant downtown and Stephanie had just ordered her dessert, Strawberry Cheesecake with Whipped Cream. What Stephanie didn't know was that earlier in the day, Lisa had gone down to the restaurant to set everything up with the staff. When John the waiter brought out her Strawberry Cheesecake, there was another plate with it. On the plate was a note from Lisa to look up at the stage portion of the restaurant. When Lisa saw the note, there was a questioning look in her eyes but she did as the note asked her. There was a small musical ensemble there and they started playing an old Nat King Cole song "Unforgettable" one of Stephanie's favorite songs. Lisa got up and asked Stephanie to dance with her. Being unaccustomed to dancing in public with each other, made it a little uncomfortable at first but both girls got into It and when the song ended, John came out with a jewelry box and handed it to Lisa. Lisa then opened the box, got down on one knee and asked Stephanie to marry her. As she looked up at Stephanie, she could see the tears of joy running down Stephanie's beautiful face. Stephanie just looked at Lisa with love and said yes. Lisa got back up, placed her arms around Stephanie's waist, pulled her close and kissed her. Everyone that was in the restaurant at the time, clapped and wished the two girls congratulations on a beautiful future together. Both Lisa and Stephanie were so surprised that they didn't hear the band start up again. When they left the restaurant, they drove straight home. The rest of the night was spent making love to each other until dawn. Lisa was still thinking about the past when her boss, Michael came by. "Hey Lisa, are you daydreaming again?" "Yeah, it's hard not to, especially with the wedding coming up. I can't wait for it. You are coming aren't you?" "Of course I'm coming. I wouldn't miss out on watching my best employee getting hitched to her life partner. Besides, I've heard all about your house and can't wait to see it all fancied up for the wedding." He said smiling from ear to ear. "Well, I can tell you right now, that the back door of the house will be trimmed with a white awning and then roses all along the walk way up to where the reverend will be standing. Just wait, Michael, it's going to be gorgeous." Lisa said with a very wide grin. "Speaking of which Lisa, how is your fiancée doing?" "Stephanie is doing fine. Thank you for asking Michael. One of these days, I will have to tell you the story of how we met." "Knowing you, it's probably a very interesting story too!" Michael said to her as he walked away. As she watched her boss walked away, she started reminiscing about the past, which put a smile on her face. *** It was about 3:00pm when Pam walked into the store. Stephanie looked up from finishing up a transaction and smiled at Pam. "Good afternoon Pam. How have you been doing?" "Hey Stephanie. I've been doing pretty well. Just getting over a cold and I still have the sniffles somewhat. How has it been today?" "Actually, it's been very good today. A lot of anniversary cards sold, plus some of those Gargoyle figurines that we loaded down a couple of months ago are starting to sell very well." "That's always good to hear. Are you ready to go over those ads that you want to run for the store Stephanie?" "Sure, let's go back into the office." It took them a little less than an hour to go over the ads and to make any corrections to them, so that gave Stephanie a little extra time to get the ads to the newspaper so they could run them in time for the following weekend. After she got done at the newspaper, she then went to see the florist about the floral arrangements that she and Lisa made about a week ago. The florist assured her that everything would be the way they wanted. Stephanie looked at her watch and noticed that it was now 5:00pm. It was time she went home and started dinner. *** At about the same time that Stephanie was going over the new ads for the store, Lisa was leaving work to go over and see Sally and Beth. Lisa rolled up to their house about 30 minutes later, got out, stretched her legs and walked up their door. Before she could even knock on the door, the door flew open and Sally grabbed her and dragged her into the house squealing with excitement. "Lisa, Beth and I are so excited about the wedding. I'm so glad that you made us both Maids of Honor!" She hugged Lisa strongly as Beth was walking up to them. "Hey there Lisa, how's everything been going?" Beth asked smiling. "Well, let's see, there's work, the wedding, the florist, take your pick. Between everything that has been going on and trying to tie up loose ends at work so I can take the two weeks for the honeymoon, it's been very busy. Now, I guess we need to go over the plans for the wedding and the practice ceremony." All three young ladies sat down and discussed what Sally and Beth were going to be doing for the ceremony. The practice ceremony would be held two days before the actual wedding would take place. Lisa's older brother and his wife would be flying in for the ceremony a few days before the wedding. When her brother found out that Lisa would be marrying another woman, he really wasn't that surprised. Walter Jr. always had the feeling that his little sister was hiding something even though she really had never been aware of it. The moment Lisa called and told him about the wedding, he was so ecstatic for her, that Lisa was totally surprised by his reaction. She was happy but surprised. But what really surprised Lisa, was that Walter Jr.'s wife, Lynn, was also very accepting of the fact that Lisa was gay. Evidently, Lisa's brother told her that his wife had been involved with a girl when she was younger, just as Lisa had been. But then she met Walter and fell in love with him. They had been married for 8 years now and we're still very much in love with each other. Lisa couldn't wait to see her brother and his wife. It had been too long between visits. After two hours of going through the ceremony and planning on who would sit where, Lisa realized that it was time to get home because Stephanie was preparing dinner for them. "Okay you two, I've got to get home. Stephanie is making dinner for us tonight. Before I go though, I need to ask you a very important question. How do you two stay so happy in this marriage?" Beth and Sally looked at each other, smiled and gave each other a little peck on the lips. "I guess I can answer that question for you Lisa." Sally said. "Do you remember the time when Beth was practicing for that martial arts tournament and we had that argument because we didn't talk out our problems?" "Yes, I definitely remember that. I also remember that Beth won that tournament and gave you the credit for her winning it. I also remember that we didn't see either of you for a whole day after that." Lisa said laughing. "Well, what Beth and I learned from that experience, is that we now talk about everything, regardless of what it is. If there is something bothering one of us, we sit down and discuss it. If there is something bothering the both us, we sit down and talk. That's the secret; talk about everything. Oh yes, we also make love constantly." Sally said with a smirk. "Well, at least THAT hasn't changed. Stephanie and I are almost as bad as the two of you but not quite. Thanks for the advice. It's time I got home." Beth and Sally walked Lisa to the door letting her know that both her and Stephanie would have a very successful marriage. Lisa thanked them and got into the Lexus and went home. *** The next few weeks flew by and before Lisa and Stephanie realized it, their wedding day had arrived. The house looked perfect; the florist outdid themselves by lining the aisle that the girls would walk with roses. All of the parents chipped in and help decorate the house. It was perfect. Lisa and Stephanie were upstairs getting ready for the ceremony when their Mothers walked in to see how they were coming along. Lisa turned around as her mother walked into the room, "Hi mom. How are you doing?" "I'm a nervous wreck. I don't know why because I went through this with your brother years ago. You would think that I would be used to this. I guess with you it's a little different. I thought you would be walking down the aisle with a young man. I would have never thought that you would be marrying another woman. I'm just glad that it's Stephanie that you're marrying honey. For the last ten years I have watched the both of you grow into beautiful women with careers and a life. I have seen the way both of you treat each other and your father and I are overjoyed that you're both very happy with each other." Lisa's mom padded over to her, hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh Mom, I love you and Dad so much for all of the support that you have given me over the years. I don't think I could have made it without the two of you." Lisa started to cry a little and realized her make up would run if she continued to cry. She kissed her mother back and smiled at her. At the same time that Lisa was talking to her mother, Stephanie's mother had walked into Stephanie's room to see if she was doing okay. "Hi sweetheart. How are you holding up?" "Actually Mom, I'm doing quite well. Nervous, but excited." She looked at her mother, walked over to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Mom, if you only knew how much I love you and Dad. You both have stood by me and supported me when I needed it. Do you remember the first time that Lisa and I saw each other?" "Yes, I remember honey, why?" "Up until that time, I always thought that I would meet a nice boy, settle down with him and have kids. But the first time when I looked into Lisa's eyes, I just knew that would not happen. When I looked into her eyes, my breath caught in my throat and it seemed that time stood still. I fell in love with her right there. I never told you this because I figured you would think I was nuts." "Stephanie, I realized that you were in love with Lisa when I saw the two of you stealing glances at each other over the dinner table that night. I realized then that you and Lisa would probably remain together for a long time. I just didn't realize it would be for life." Her mother's eyes started tearing up. "I'm just glad that you found the person you were meant to be with the rest of your life and I'm happy that it's Lisa. Now come over here and give me hug." Stephanie walked over to her Mom, gave her a big hug and a kiss. "Well, I think it's time the two of you brought yourselves downstairs so we can get this wedding started." After their mothers went back downstairs, Lisa and Stephanie both walked out of the rooms at the same time. They smiled at each other, intertwined their fingers together and walked down the stairs to meet their fathers for the walk down the aisle. As they descended the stairs, they looked at each and told each other, that they loved each other. They saw their fathers at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them. Both fathers beamed when they saw their daughters come down the stairs. Lisa's father put his left arm up so she could put her right arm through his. Stephanie's father, put his right arm up so she could put her left arm through his. As they walked through the door, the music started playing. All of their friends were there; Amber brought Mary, whom she married the year before; Lisa's boss along with his wife was there; Beth and Sally were up front waiting for the two of them. As the fathers brought them to the front, they gave theirs daughters a little peck on the cheeks before they stood back. The Reverend started the ceremony by asking who was giving the girls away and the fathers stated they were. The Reverend continued by asking if there was anyone there who objected to the ceremony and since there was no one that did, he continued. "Lisa, Stephanie, I understand that you both wrote something for each other. Go right ahead a read what you have." The Reverend told them. "Lisa, from the first time that I gazed upon those blue eyes of yours, I just knew that you were the person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. You took my breath away then and you still take my breath away now. I love you with all of my heart and always will." Stephanie finished up by placing the ring on Lisa's ring finger. She looked up at Lisa and saw the tears falling from her beautiful face. "Stephanie, the first time that I saw you, my breath caught in my throat. Every time I look at you now, you still take my breath away with how gorgeous you really are. You are my best friend, my lover and my soul mate. I will always love you." Lisa placed the ring on Stephanie's ring finger and looked at her. There were tears falling down Stephanie's gorgeous face. As the Reverend announced the couple, something started happening to Lisa. Everything started to fade away; first the Reverend, then the house with all of the guests, Sally and Beth were the next to fade and finally Stephanie faded away. Lisa couldn't believe this was happening. What was going on? *** Lisa woke up suddenly, drenched in sweat. Where was she and how did she get here? She suddenly realized that a 14 year old Stephanie was still wrapped up in her arms and she remembered; they had made love last night and fell asleep in each others' arms. Wow, what a dream that was! It felt like everything really happened. She would have to remember to let Stephanie know about the dream when she woke up. As Lisa was laying there thinking about the dream she had, she realized that she couldn't live without Stephanie. She was hoping that Stephanie felt the same way about her. Suddenly Lisa felt movement in her arms and she saw Stephanie staring at her with what could only be described as love in those beautiful Hazel eyes of hers. They both smiled at each other gave each other a very tender kiss. "Lisa, what's wrong?" Stephanie said as she saw tears in Lisa's eyes. "Nothing's wrong Stephanie. I'm just so happy that we're both here and together." Lisa then proceeded to tell Stephanie about the dream she had. When she got done telling Stephanie about the dream, all Stephanie could say was that she hoped that everything would happen just the way Lisa dreamt it. They both gave each other another tender kiss and drifted off to sleep. Any comments would be welcome. krazydog@juno.com bgold49@myway.com Copyright Donal/Gold 2005