Author's note
This chapter is a bit different from the rest. There's no hot sexy action, in fact there's no action at all. If that's what you're looking for look elsewhere. Rather this is a coda, an epilogue. I felt I had taken the story about as far as it could go but needed something to round it off, to provide closure.
So, here's the final part of Lisa and Judy's story. I hope you enjoy it.
L.J.
*
The months rolled by and Lisa and Judy settled into a steady routine living together, happy to share their bed and their lives. Christmas came and went with Lisa travelling back to Manchester to spend Christmas day with her parents, but she pleaded work commitments, and returned back to Bristol on Boxing day. It hadn't felt right, she loved her mum and dad, but she wanted to share the day with Judy. They had agreed to save their presents to each other until Lisa came back, but it just wasn't the same.
Christmas at her parents house had been a strain for Lisa. Firstly she wanted to tell them all about her new life but she had to hide the bit that had become central, the thing that made it special. Mum and dad were, after all, rather old fashioned and she didn't feel that the time was right to tell them just yet. Secondly she was worried about her dad's hacking cough which had got much worse, she really wished he'd give up smoking, and he seemed to wheeze with every breath he took. As she travelled back to Bristol she couldn't help being torn between her love for Judy and her love for her dad, if he was as ill as he looked then surely she should be near him.
February was hard that year, and March was no better. As the winter storms battered the house Lisa and Judy would snuggle down together beneath the duvet. It wasn't that the central heating was inadequate, it was just that, in such inclement weather, the warmth of a lover was far, far better than the warmth of a radiator, warming the soul as well as the bones.
Then came the fateful Thursday. Judy was reading and Lisa was watching a cookery show on the television when the phone went. Judy answered it but passed it to Lisa.
"Lisa, it's for you, it's your mum."
Judy watched in concern as Lisa face went white. Whatever the phone call was about Lisa hardly spoke, but she was shaking as she fought back tears and her face told half the story. When she was finished she put the phone down and turned to Judy.
"It's my dad, he's in hospital, they don't thing he's got very long."
"Right, let's go and pack, I'll drive you there," Judy spoke calmly.
"But... But, it's two hundred miles." Lisa couldn't believe Judy would just drop everything like that.
"I know where Manchester is, come on, he sooner we leave the sooner we're there. Let's go upstairs and pack." They went upstairs threw some clothes into a couple of overnight bags. Judy was very concerned, she'd never seen Lisa this close to the edge, she was obviously fighting back tears. She wasn't sure if they were going for a day or a week so she packed for the latter; better safe than sorry.
The M5 and M6 were mercifully clear of traffic as they drove through the night, even the stretch past Birmingham was not too bad so they made good time arriving in Manchester in the early hours of the morning. However, when they got to Lisa's parents house it was dark and unoccupied so they went on to the hospital and, after a number of enquiries, found Lisa's mum sitting in a waiting area, her face a picture of worry. As they entered she looked up, and seeing Lisa rushed over and hugged her.
"Oh, Lisa, Lisa, my little baby, thank heavens you could make it. It's not good, he's dying love, he's dying."
