Snow Bound: The Complete Story (22 page)
"Ringing," she said.
There was a pause. "Madeline Henson?" Pause. "My name is Allison Crawford. I heard you speak last year at the symposium." Pause. "Yes, that one." Pause. "No, actually. I'm a friend of your Sarah's." Pause. Pause. "No, she's fine. She's with me right now." Pause. "Yes, that kind of friend. Is that a problem for you?"
It had never occurred to me to wonder if my mother was a homophobe. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to wonder.
"Yes, I just want her to be happy, too." Pause. "Yes, she's really fine. She's had a difficult winter, but she seems to be doing better." Pause. "No, not Arizona. My cabin in Minnesota." Pause.
Allison looked at me, holding the phone against her chest. "She wants to talk to you."
"Not interested."
Allison paused, looking down at me, but I closed my eyes. "You stopped petting," I complained. She began stroking me again.
"Ms. Henson, I'm not sure she's ready to talk to you." Pause. "All right. Madeline." Pause. "I'll ask her."
"Your mother wants to know if she has your permission to speak frankly with me."
"Sure, why not?" I said, a touch of sarcasm creeping into my voice.
"I can tell her 'no', honey."
I opened my eyes and looked at her. I reached up and pulled her hand with the phone in it to my mouth. "Tell her whatever you want, Mom." I shoved the phone back at Allison.
She kept petting me, calming me down.
"Yes, Madeline. It's really Sarah." Pause. "Describe her? Wild, red hair." She held the phone to her chest again. "Does she know about the personalities?"
I nodded.
"Eight personality facets that she calls by individual names." Pause. "No, not like that. Competent Sarah, Scared Sarah..." Pause. "Yes." Pause. "Yes, I believe she came away from that conversation rather upset. I wasn't there with her." Pause, pause, pause. Long pause.
"I understand, Madeline. I think this is something she needs to hear from you, not me. Please hang on."
"I don't want to talk to her."
"Honey, I'm asking you to trust me," she said to me.
I opened my eyes again and looked up at her. She was holding the phone to her chest and wearing a concerned expression.
"Allison would never hurt me."
"That's right."
I took the phone from her and rolled over so I could hold it against an ear. "Hello, Mom."
"Sarah," she said. Still no emotion.
"Are you having a happy mother's day, Mom?"
"I wasn't, Sarah," she said. "I was looking at pictures of you and crying."
"What? You've never cried a day in your life."
"Please come home."
I held the phone away and looked at Allison. Her expression didn't hold any answers. I put the phone back to my ear. "I am home, right here with Allison."
"Your Aunt Jen died two years ago," Mom said.
I avoided saying anything catty but instead said, "I'm sorry for your loss."
"Yes, well. I hadn't talked to her in two years."
I let that slide. I didn't want to hear about Aunt Jen. "Why were you so cold to me when I called?"
"I was trying very hard not to cry."
"You are so full of it, Mom."
"Sarah, I wasn't a warm mother. But I never, not once in your entire life, have lied to you. Not once. I always told you the cold, sober truth, no matter how cruel or harsh it could be."
"No, it was my job to lie for both of us."
"You never lied to me," she said firmly. "Never. Do you understand me?"
"That's the crappiest apology I've ever heard," I told her.
"I'm just getting started," she said. "Sarah, please come home."
"Mom," I said. "I am home. Here's Allison."
I thrust the phone at her. She took it from me. "Hello, Madeline," she said. Pause. "No, not really, but she's healing." Pause, pause. "No, Madeline, that would be a phenomenally bad idea. Right now what she needs is a safe refuge, and I am providing that for her." Pause. "No, of course not. That wouldn't be ethical or wise." Pause. "I'll talk to her about it, but it will be her decision." Pause. "Yes, I understand." Pause. "I'll tell her. Good night, Madeline."
Allison hung up the phone.
"Am I home?"
"Yes, honey."
"Kiss me."
And so she did.
About the author:
Julia P. Lynde lives and works in the American mid-west.
Julia is older than most of the characters in her books. She has blue eyes and grey hair. She enjoys hiking in the mountains (difficult to do in the mid-west) and hosting dinner parties.
Julia can be reached via email as [email protected].
Julia's other works include:
Novels
Emerging from traumatic events of her past, Shane is left dealing with newfound self-revelations until she seeks help from an unexpected quarter.
Veronica is a stunning and powerful businesswoman who knows what she wants and lives for the seduction involved in getting it.
Complicated doesn't begin to describe the results.
Rewind features graphic sex between consenting women and some light BDSM.
Pulled to the Dark: The Siriena Series Volume 1
:
Felicia Conner begins having recurring dreams of the woman who gave her a great new job. Night after night, Petra appears in her dreams. Petra begins to teach Felicia the wonders of the dream world she inhabits while Felicia begins to wonder how she can have such lifelike dreams night after night.
Petra welcomes Felicia to the world of Siriena, where the world may just very well be as it seems.
This complete novel of 95,000 words contains swords, magic, intriguing characters, an easy-to-hate villain and graphic sex scenes between Felicia and Petra.
Bidding War
(Coming Soon)
Pamela's friend, Samantha, is in charge of a bachelorette auction for charity. Sam is in trouble after a last minute cancellation of one of the bachelorettes, so Pamela demands to be allowed to help. The only thing is, she doesn't ask the right questions.
What ensues is at times funny, poignant, playful, and adventurous as Pamela learns a few things about herself, and about what it might be like to love the right person. Or people.
This novel of 84,000 words features warm, sometimes troubled characters, sweet and lovely dates, and perhaps a little bit of hot, graphic sex.
Novellas
Alexandra and Melissa are coworkers who entirely hate each other, each for her own reasons. One Friday night, Melissa desperately needs Alex to save Melissa's job.
Alex gives Melissa an offer: be her servant for a month or join the unemployment line, believing Melissa would rather take her chances than bow to Alexandra. Instead, Melissa accepts.
This 30,000 word novella (about 100 printed pages) features domination, submission, bondage, and just a touch of some hot sex.
Princess Meorie is kidnapped from the Norinian capitol, finding herself aboard a warship of Tendaria, a victim of treachery and dishonor. She discovers her captor is Dareena, daughter of the Tendarian queen, who intends to return Meorie to Tendaria to stand trial for war crimes of four years ago.
Dareena promises justice, but Meorie knows she will only receive vengeance. She is offered the choice of spending the voyage trussed like a turkey with an equally undignified delivery to the Tendarian palace, or she can accept a magical slave collar of obedience, to be removed upon delivery. She accepts the collar, binding her to obedience to Dareena.
As the voyage progresses, Meorie attempts to defeat the collar while learning how deep the treachery towards her has extended. She also finds herself falling in love with her captor.
This novella of 43,000 words, about 130 printed pages, is the darkest story Julia P. Lynde has written.
Shorts
"You wouldn't last two hours of my attention," Penny told me, turning it into a wager. Foolishly, I rose to the bait.
Bound in Arrogance features Veronica and Penny several years prior to the events in Rewind. It features light BDSM.
Succubus Volume 1
Emily's daughter has taken a bad path, and Emily turned to the fae succubus, Anita, for her own brand of help.
This short story of 9400 words features intriguing characters and some steamy female on succubus sex.
Madeline Burnet is out of work after ten years as the highly-skilled personal assistant to the owner of a luxury travel agency. During a job interview, she meets Karen Green. The job requires skills Madeline doesn't have, but Karen offers an unexpected alternative arrangement.
She needs a fake girlfriend to help her get through the holiday season. Madeline's affections are not aligned towards women, but she accepts for the money and the chance to make more contacts.
It turns out that being a fake girlfriend can be a very confusing job.
Holiday Escort is a delightful tale involving two very different women. This story is sure to bring pleasure to the reader.
Snow Bound: The Complete Story
Copyright 2013 by Julia P. Lynde
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.
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