Eliza & Lydia

T hey watched their three children as they played in the backyard. Their oldest was running around, holding a bubble wand and creating a bubble, pulling it through the air to make it bigger. Their kids were old enough now that bubbles didn't exactly excite them how they had when they were little, but every so often, they'd find a toy or a blast from the past in the garage or the basement, and they'd start playing with it. Today had been one of those days, and Eliza and Lydia loved when they got like this. Lydia had started it by making the soapy mixture since they'd only found the old bubble wand and not the bubbles themselves. Then, she'd blown a few bubbles into the windless afternoon. The kids had kicked it off after that, and now, their mothers were sitting on the back deck, watching them entertain themselves, laugh, and occasionally, get upset when someone didn't share. Some things would never change…

Eliza took her wife's hand and moved it into her lap, entwining their fingers. She looked over at Lydia, who was smiling at their kids, and thought about how years ago now, they'd been in the woods, trying to close a chapter in their lives and protect this very important thing they'd built.

They hadn't been sure where to hide their piece of the device, but after the ordeal with the strange man, they hadn't been eager to invite more danger into their lives, so it had been a simple plan, really. They'd gone to the cemetery, where her mother was buried next to her father, and, at night, they'd buried some of the broken pieces there between them. She supposed that if anyone knew about her family's connection to the device, they might surmise that some things could be buried there, but having the device already in three main pieces gave them the confidence that no one would be able to put anything back together.

On top of that, they'd kept a couple of small pieces for themselves. They were two basic pieces of corroded metal now, but to them, they were a part of their lives. These pieces had been at least partially the reason they now had what they had, so they'd had them melted down and mixed with some nickel. The jeweler had been confused, but he'd done as they'd asked and created two custom lockets for them to wear. The photos within them were different in each locket. Lydia had chosen a picture of their children and a picture of Eliza on the other side, and Eliza had chosen a picture of her parents with her as a young child and a picture of their three children and Lydia in the other. She often held it between her thumb and forefinger, rubbing it as a way to calm herself whenever she got nervous.

When the kids finished playing with the bubbles, Lydia told them to go in and wash up for dinner, which they hadn't started making yet. She knew the kids would just run to their rooms and spend some time alone for a bit before they'd call them back downstairs to eat.

Eliza went outside and down the driveway to check the mail, which was something she hadn't done in a few days since they typically only got junk and copies of the bills they already paid online. This time, though, there was an envelope with no return address. It had her name and her address handwritten on it, and the postmark was from Virginia. She grabbed the rest of the mail and carried it inside, finding her wife staring into the refrigerator.

"We have nothing to cook for dinner," Lydia announced.

"I highly doubt that," Eliza replied.

"Okay. I don't want to cook dinner. Is that better?"

Eliza laughed and set the mail on the counter.

"I can cook. What do you want?"

"The kids all want tacos."

"All of them? They agreed on one thing for dinner? How is that possible?"

"I told them that I want tacos, and they said yes." Lydia closed the fridge. "There was a debate if we do beef or chicken tacos; you should know." She moved into Eliza and placed her hands on both sides of her on the counter, trapping her between the counter and her body.

"Where are these children right now?" Eliza asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"Oh, one of them said she was going to take a shower, which means thirty minutes, at least. Another is playing video games with those massive headphones on. And I just caught the third one asleep on her bed. She got no sleep at that sleepover last night."

"That's just too bad," Eliza teased as she wrapped her arms around Lydia's neck. "Because I was so hoping they'd rush back downstairs and argue with me over that whole beef and chicken thing."

"I think we have at least fifteen minutes before one of them–"

Eliza cut her off with a kiss and reached for the button on her wife's shorts, undoing it and then unzipping them.

"Best not waste any time, then," she said and slipped her hand inside her wife's underwear.

"Babe, we're in the kitchen," Lydia noted.

"I'll be quick."

Lydia chuckled against her neck, but she let Eliza stroke her, building her up and then making her come as Lydia pressed against her body and tried to get her breathing back under control.

"I want to go down on you right now, but I know the moment I do, someone is running down those stairs."

"You know the one place they never go? It's nearby," Eliza suggested.

"Where?"

"The laundry room."

Lydia laughed, pulled Eliza into the laundry room off the kitchen, and closed the door that also locked behind them. Within seconds, Eliza's shorts and underwear were on the floor, and Lydia was kneeling on the rug in front of her. It had been a minute since they'd done this, had a quickie in a room that wasn't their bedroom, with the kids at home, and it was still just as exciting and always good. Eliza had to bite her lower lip when Lydia's tongue danced around her clit because her wife was trying to do that slow-build thing that Eliza loved.

"Babe, no time," she pointed out.

"There's time. Let me enjoy this." Lydia kissed her clit.

"I thought I was supposed to enjoy this," she teased.

"Pretty sure we're both supposed to enjoy this," Lydia shot back before she let Eliza enjoy every minute.

"Mom!" their son yelled.

"Shit," she muttered as Lydia stood up, bringing Eliza's shorts and underwear with her for Eliza to put back on.

"We're fine. We were just doing laundry ," Lydia told her as she wiped her mouth.

"You stay in here," Eliza instructed, pointing at her wife. "I'll distract him."

Lydia smiled at her and said, "To be continued tonight, in our bedroom, after they are all asleep."

Eliza winked at her, unlocked and opened the door, and went into the kitchen, where she found her son staring down at his tablet.

"Hey, honey. What's up?"

"Are we having tacos for dinner? "

"Yes, we are. Mom said there was a debate over beef or chicken."

"I wanted ground turkey," he offered.

"We don't have turkey. We have beef, and I think I have some chicken breasts that we can shred up a bit. That's fun, huh?"

Eliza walked to the sink and washed her hands, knowing he wasn't paying attention to her.

"That's not fun," he replied. "Can we just have pizza instead?"

"No, we're having tacos. And you're going to help your mom with dinner," Lydia told him as she emerged from the laundry room. "While I go wash up myself."

"Why were you both in there?" he asked, looking at the open laundry room door now.

"Because no one else in this house helps with the laundry," Lydia covered and walked by him. "I'll be right back."

Eliza winked at her and got dinner sorted.

After they'd all eaten and the kids had done the dishes, they retired to the living room to watch a movie they could all agree on. Another miracle. After that, all the kids went to bed, and Eliza went to clean up the living room and kitchen evening mess to give herself one less thing to worry about tomorrow.

"What's this?" Lydia asked, nodding toward the envelope in the pile of junk mail.

"I don't know. There's no return address," she offered.

Lydia went about opening the envelope while Eliza put a couple of glasses in the dishwasher.

"Um…"

Eliza turned when she heard her wife stutter a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"It just says, ‘It's done.' on it." Lydia held out a piece of paper.

Eliza took it from here, and it, indeed, only had two words written on it, but on the other side, there was an infinity symbol.

"Do you think–"

"It's from him, yeah," she said. "It's done."

"Meaning, he found it?"

"I think it means he destroyed it," Eliza replied.

"Damn. How did he do it?" Lydia asked.

"I have no idea. And I don't think he wants us to have any of the details."

"It's good that we don't know." Lydia nodded.

"Yeah," Eliza replied and sat down on the stool at the kitchen island.

"It's over," Lydia noted. "Really over now."

Eliza grasped her locket, rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger, and said, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked before she placed a hand on Eliza's back between her shoulder blades and rubbed.

"It's like I want to know more, but I also don't at the same time," she replied as she continued rubbing the locket.

"I know. Me too," Lydia shared. "I guess we just need to trust that he wouldn't have sent this if it wasn't finished."

"We don't even know him. Can we really trust that?"

"El, yes. I remember the look in his eyes that night. This thing, this project or whatever it was, cost him his family. He wouldn't tell us that it's over if it wasn't."

"Yeah, I guess," Eliza replied, still rubbing the locket. "We're safe now."

"We are, I think," Lydia said and pressed a kiss to the top of Eliza's head. "We should text everyone and tell them."

"Yeah," Eliza repeated. "They should know that there's nothing more to worry about, too."

"I'll take care of it."

"Thank you." Eliza looked up at her and smiled.

"I love you," Lydia told her.

"I love you, too, sweetheart," Eliza replied and kissed her wife.

◆◆◆

Two women stood unnoticed off to the side of the room. Eliza and Lydia couldn't see them, of course. No one had seen either of them in decades. But it was their love, their story, and their device that had brought all of these women together in one way or another. Neither of them could have predicted that their deaths would alter the purpose of the device, but neither of them was unhappy that it had done so. One of them turned to the other and smiled. Her brown hair was down, and her green eyes were aimed at the other woman's brown ones.

"My love, are you ready?"

"Always," Iris replied.

Daphne reached for Iris's hand and gave it a squeeze. Then, they turned around and walked until they faded away.