A Girl Called Sami Ch. 25

"I'm not finished," Sami said to Ali, which stopped Ali's words.

"Look, if I'd had my way, those Navy Seal teams would've stayed and gone hunting; killing those mother-fuckers who would destroy the City, wiping them all out, cleaning house forever; but, that didn't happen and we have to deal with it, we have to make sure 'they' don't return the City to the gangland that it was, before Katrina, and if people like you two turn tail and run, then shut off the lights as you leave town, because then 'they' will win," Sami expounded with vehemence.

"Go to the Islands, buy your home there, spend a year's sabbatical there; regroup, rethink your paths, do whatever you have to do, but don't fucking tell me that you're bailing out because if you do, you'll have to find somebody else to clean up behind you; I won't do it," those words a shock to both Lynn and Ali.

"I hitched my wagon to yours," Sami said, looking at both the girls with fire in her eyes, "and I didn't do that just so that you could abandon your dreams and desires, and leave it all behind; either we're partners in this thing, or we're not, and if we are, then we're in it all the way, or not at all."

Lynn opened her mouth to say something, but shut it again as if rethinking what she was going to say.

"And, one more thing; the idea of a shop in Maui? It's a good idea, an idea that will work and make us all a lot of money. You don't want to deal with it right now, okay, I get that too, but let me handle it, let me worry about it, 'down the road', but don't toss it to the curb; I will make it happen, in its own time, so let me deal with it, when the time is right," Sami said further, her insides shaking with the emotions that were churning within her.

"I'll watch over the big house while you two go back to the Islands; I'll alternate between the Quarters and the big house, I don't care, I will handle it, but turn tail and run? Then I'm fucking out of here, and forever." Sami finally concluded, drained from her tirade to these two women that she loved so much.

Silence filled the room now, silence and the tears that were forming in their eyes, forming in the eyes of all three of these women.

"Sami," Ali said first, "Sami, do you really understand our need, mine and Lynn's, to establish who, and what, we are to each other? Do you really understand that, as much as anything, we need to do our art..." Ali's voice trailing off to silence, not quite sure, herself, of what she was trying to say.

"Of course, I get it, Ali; that's what I've just said. Take some time off, go live in the Islands, but don't dump your trash on me just because I can handle it. If you two don't care, if this is nothing but a folly for you both, then I don't need that in my life and I'll move on," Sami answered, her voice shaking with emotion, her eyes spilling her tears onto her cheeks.

Silence once again filled the room; the three of them looking to each other with love, of that there could be no doubt to even the most casual of observers.

"We don't want to lose you Sami, not to the gallery, and most importantly, not to our lives," Lynn finally said, sniffing back tears as she said it, "you've become so much a part of our lives now, and we love you too much to lose you."

Ali simply nodded in agreement with Lynn's words.

"You'll really care-take the house, for a while?" Ali asked Sami as she reached with both of her hands to grasp Lynn and Sami's hands.

"As long as I need to, but only if I have your word that you'll return every few months or so, either of you, or the both of you, and that you won't abandon the dream," Sami said, squeezing Ali's hand in return.

Standing, Lynn went to the sideboard and poured Scotch for her and Ali into a couple of tumblers, returning to the table to refill Sami's now-empty glass, as well. Raising her glass to her two loves, Sami said, "I'll drink to it, if you will."

Raising their glasses to each other, the three of them saluted each other and drank a toast to themselves.

Putting down their tumblers, the three of them hugged each other as their tears finally gave way to the cries that had been building inside of their souls.

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After a couple of hours more, they hammered out a plan to accommodate Sami's demands and one that would also work for Lynn and Ali. Kissing them both, Sami returned to her apartment and, to Ramona, who had been studying for her spring finals while waiting for Sami to return.

"I was starting to worry a bit, baby," Ramona said when Sami walked into the apartment.

Silently, Sami took Ramona's hand, lifting her from the couch where she had been studying, and pulled her up the stairs, gently, but pulling her, nevertheless.

Sami was a woman possessed and Ramona was to reap the benefits.

Sami had Ramona and herself naked in a nano-second, and lustfully, almost savagely, she made love to Ramona with an intensity that Ramona had not seen before. But afterwards, after that first orgasm was out of the way, Sami and Ramona's love-making became tender, sensuous, but tinged with a hunger.

Lying on top of the sheets of her bed, Sami stared down at the sleeping form of her Nubian Princess, smiling at the sight of her beautiful body, still slightly damp from the sweat of good sex.

Quietly, Sami stole from her bed, grabbed a short wrap and silently padded downstairs. Finding her bag on the counter, Sami retrieved the half-joint that she had stashed and her cell phone; she quietly opened the door and sat at the patio table in the courtyard of the apartment, the fragrance from the Magnolias and Hibiscus wafting in the air.

Sami mouthed the joint, lit it, and sat back to enjoy the cool night air of Spring, finding comfort from the soft glow of the muted city lights that reflected off of the low-hanging clouds. The air was still, the stillness that presents itself, just before a thunderstorm; the sounds of the Quarters were faint, almost non-existent at this time of the morning.

Picking up her cell phone, she took the last hit from her doobie, swallowing the roach afterwards. She had left the phone off during her meeting with the girls, and needed to check it for messages.

Turning her phone on, and checking her call log, her latest call was from a number that she didn't recognize, and she had a text message waiting for her, from the unrecognized number. Punching up her messages, she opened the text;

Sami, please call me at new number. We need to talk. Charlene

Sami stared at the message for quite a while, as her mind filtered options. Letting out a breath, Sami punched in the number...

"Charlene, its Sami..."

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Author's note

To my faithful and loyal readers who have stayed with me and 'the girls' through this trilogy, saying thanks is not nearly enough, but it's what I have, so, Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, and the depths of our soul.

I'm going to take a bit of a break for a while and recharge the batteries of my own soul and spirit; but know that my thoughts will include all of you, and you know who you are, lol.

Peace and love, children; we're all that we have, and we need to care for each other.