To my fans: This chapter is not about sex, it is a chapter about the pain of separation. It is a chapter about surviving that separation, and it is a chapter about the joy of life changing events. It is necessary to set up the sex in chapter seven.
Separation:
4:12 a.m. I'd been watching those numbers change since I woke at 2:00, unable to stop thinking about saying good bye to the only person, male or female I'd ever fallen in love with. Was it just sexual? Was it just that she had shown me the beauty of Sapphic love?
5:11 a.m. The birds were singing outside and the sky was just starting to brighten. Dawn. Was that a sign? The beginning of a new day; a new life; a life without her?
5:32 a.m. I can't do this. I slowly eased out of bed and went to the bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I wondered if I woke her; if she would be there when I opened the door. I dressed with one eye on the bedroom and for several minutes I sat at the table, my mind about to explode.
I found a pen and some paper and wrote her a letter.
My dearest Maggie,
I know I'm hurting you by saying goodbye this way but I'd only hurt you more when I fell apart in the morning. I hate saying good bye anyway and saying it while I look into those beautiful hazel eyes as my heart broke into a jillion pieces would not be pretty.
Please know that I have never been so loved by anyone. The sex was so sweet and wonderful but I found myself falling in love with you. Weird huh? Straight innocent Wendy Severenson fell in love with a bisexual wood nymph and now she has to go home with a broken heart and get on with life in a homophobic backward world.
I won't hold you to your promise to be together within six months. Oh, I know you'd keep it, it's just that life gets in the way some times. Oh god, I know that better than almost anyone.
Be kind to yourself and remember me with love just as I will always remember you.
I have so much I want to say but if I get started, I'll just start crying again.
I love you, Maggie, and always will. I have one request. I know I gave you my phone numbers but please, darling don't call for at least a week. I need some time to work my way through the breakdown and heartache
I have to go now or I won't leave at all and I can't allow that to happen
Goodbye, darling and thank you for opening my eyes and my heart.
Wendy.
I wiped away the tear stains and left.
It was 6:09 when I slipped out the door. I walked slowly, almost tiptoeing away from the cabin but once I put space between us I ran. I ran like hell, nearly blinded by tears that would not stop. How many times did my heart tell me to turn around?
A solitary pick up slowed and then stopped. Three men; loggers. Oh god, I didn't need that this morning.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine."
One of them jumped from the truck and approached me...Butch. Oh god, not now, not again.
"Jump in. Wendy. I'll ride in the back. No one is going to hit on you, I promise. Maggie gave us hell and that is one woman you don't cross."
I finally surrendered and for the next ten or fifteen minutes, we rode in silence, I turned away from them and tried to hide the deep sobs.
"You and Maggie have a falling out? Darren asked.
I shook my head. "I have to go home. I have to leave the light of my life here and go home to a crappy job in a crappy, judgmental town."
"Why not quit and move close to Maggie?"
"Reality bites," I replied. "I have responsibilities, I have bills that are past due. I came up here for peace and quiet but then Maggie found me. I fell in love. Hard. Now, I'm back where I started only now I have to try to hold a broken heart together."
"Man, you really fell for her didn't you? If it's any help, you changed her too, Wendy. She loves you and she's never allowed herself to be committed to anyone. I know she's hurting."
"Take care of her Darren. Please."
"No problem," he promised.
When we got to the cabin I ran in to throw myself on the bed. I was still there when I heard tires on the road, heading my way and when they went on past , l became a woman obsessed. I cleaned and packed, determined to get away before she found me and tried to stop me from leaving.
I stopped at a diner much later for coffee and a bagel, but drove the rest of the way non-stop
2.
She respected my wishes for the most part but on day five, I got a package. It wasn't from her, or at least the return address wasn't hers. Very sneaky.
I stared at it for a full day but I finally gave in and ripped it open. That was a mistake. A hand carved wood nymph tumbled onto the floor. It was about six inches tall and so beautiful. I held it to my chest and bawled. I kissed it so often, it was stained by my lipstick and tears and I didn't care. It was on the pillow next to me as I slept and on my desk as I worked.
That night, I picked up the package to throw away the wrappings and was surprised when something wrapped in tissue bounced off the table and onto the floor.
"Oh god," I cried," please, Maggie, don't let this be a ring, and it wasn't. It was heart shaped locket on a gold chain and quite obviously a period piece from someone's estate or collection. About two inches long, blood red, it opened to reveal a picture of my lover and the date we first met.
A single piece of paper fluttered out so I picked it up
"The mate to this piece is against my breast as I write, but it's your picture that fills it. I love you."
"Maggie, you bitch, that's not fair."
I held it tight to my chest but then I unbuttoned my blouse and pulled my bra cup over my breast and placed it against bare flesh as I dropped to the couch to cry.
"Oh god, Maggie, I miss you so much."
When she finally called, I tried to keep it together but only made it for about five minutes.
"I'm sorry, babe," she said. "Should I wait another week?"
"Don't you dare," I replied. "You don't play fair. Maggie the wood nymph is sitting here trying to get my attention."