Page 17 of Don't Leave Me

“Of course. Anything.”

When Cheryl looked at her in confusion, Diana stood, walked to a little desk they had for Cheryl’s writing, and pulled open the bottom drawer where she’d hidden a modest ring that she had planned to give her once they were in their first house. She moved back to Cheryl and got down on one knee.

“I know we can’t do this in a church, but before we do this, I want to be your wife in every way possible. Lily will be the officiant. We’ll ask the bar to host us. Our friends will be there. We’ll share our love with the people who accept and love us for who we are, and when Lily has the baby, you and I will become mothers. I want to be your wife when that happens, Cheryl. I love you more than anything. I’ve loved you forever already, and I’ll love you for all my lives. Will you marry me?”

Cheryl smiled down at her and said, “Yes, I will.”

CHAPTER 30

1970

“Don’t stop,” Diana said as Cheryl pushed inside her. “We don’t have long. He’ll be home soon.”

“I rang Lily and asked her to keep him for another hour,” Cheryl replied to her wife.

“You did, did you?” Diana chuckled, so Cheryl pushed in again. “Oh, yes!”

Their first visit to New York City had been going incredibly well. They had five days in total before they’d return home, and Cheryl had wanted to make every moment count. Simon had been excited to come to the city at first, but when he’d arrived, he’d been a little shy, with so many people walking around, seemingly always busy and with somewhere to go. They’d taken him straight to Lily and Sandy’s Brooklyn apartment, where he had a chance to see his birth mother for the first time in a few years, along with Lily’s wife. Of course, they all called each other that, but nothing was on paper. On paper, Simon was the adopted son of George and Cheryl. On paper, the house they lived in was owned by the two of them as well, while the home that George and Henry lived in was owned by Diana and Henry. It had been the best plan for all four of them and had allowed them to avoid rumors and issues for seven years.

Lily had given birth at the hospital, and after nineteen hours of labor, Simon had entered the world. Lily had held him for a moment but had requested not to hold him again. She’d said it would be too difficult to give him up. George and Henry had been at the hospital with them as well, and hours later, once Simon was cleaned up and given a clean bill of health, Cheryl and Diana had finally gotten to hold their son. Lily had moved out of their new house a mere weeklater. Sandy had picked her up, and off they’d gone. Cheryl knew how hard it had been for Lily to give up her son, so she understood Lily asking them not to visit or have her visit until she was ready. When Simon was three, Lily had come to their house by herself and had spent a few days with him, but other than that one visit, they hadn’t spent time together until this trip. To their son, Lily and Sandy wereAuntLily and Aunt Sandy. They weren’t sure how much he understood as a six-year-old going on seven, but they’d started talking to him about how things that happened at home should stay at home from an early age.

When they’d first arrived, Simon hadn’t remembered Lily, so it had taken a moment for their shy son to open up, but once he had, they’d all had lunch together, and he played with a few of the toys Lily and Sandy had bought for him. Since it was their first time there, they’d done some touring around the city, showing Simon all the sights and enjoying them themselves, but today, Lily had asked if she could take him to lunch and to the Central Park Zoo by herself. Cheryl and Diana hadn’t had a moment to themselves in what felt like years, so they’d happily agreed and returned to their hotel room.

“God, that was amazing,” Diana said when she finally came down from her orgasm. “How is it that we’ve been together for all these years, and every time we do that, it’s still just as good as the first time?”

“Our first time was a mess,” Cheryl replied with a laugh before she kissed Diana’s nipple. “It took me forever to make you feel even a little bit good.”

“No, it didn’t. I felt good the whole time; trust me. It took us both a minute to makethathappen, though.”

“Well, we’re clearly better at it now than we were that night.” She rested her head on Diana’s shoulder.

“You know, sometimes, I think about Isabella and Maria,” Diana shared.

“I know. So do I. I think about all of them, really. All thirty-four couples.”

“That we know of,” Diana replied and kissed Cheryl on the top of her head. “But I was thinking about the two of them because I finally saw their wedding this morning.”

“You did?” she asked and ran a fingertip over her wife’s still-hard nipple.

Diana nodded and said, “I knew they got married. I had the feeling. I’ve never seen it until today, though. I know you haven’t, either.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“In the 1600s, a Spanish princess and her servant married in the basement of a church. Our own wedding anniversary is coming up, and we got married in a basement bar.”

“I suppose we did. But what’s your point, my love?”

“When will we be able to get married out in the open?”

“Oh,” Cheryl replied.

“It’s 1970, and Simon isn’t even my son on paper.”

“Simonisyour son in every way that matters,” Cheryl returned. “And he’s mine, too. He’sourson, Diana.”

“But you’re not my wife on paper, either… I guess I just want to know about the future versions of us. Will one of the couples be able to finally be who they are out in the open, fall in love out in the open, get married, and have it be legal? Will they be able to adopt a child together so that if something happens to one of them, the other one doesn’t losetheirson?”

“Are you worried about that?” she asked as she shifted to look down at Diana. “That something would happen to me?”