As Simple As Black And White?

Dora's tear-streaked face looked at me. "Marrying?" she asked, wonderingly.

"Yeah, marrying. Isadora Cooper, will you marry me?" I asked seriously.

Expressions flashed across her dark face: Shock, disbelief, relief, wonder, joy. Finally, joy.

"YES YES YES!! FUCK YES I'LL MARRY YOU!!" Her shouts rang in my ears. Ouch. Her arms circled my neck and damn near strangled me. Ouch.

"There now, dear, better let go of his throat, Rory won't be much good to you after you've choked him to death," Aunt Vanessa chuckled.

*****

Yes, it was almost like magic. The price was revelation.

The magic? My saving Dora, and her loving me. Vanessa emerging from her shell - but she still didn't leave the house, not yet, maybe soon. We need just a bit more magic now...

Aunt Vanessa, my ward for so long, Dora's lover for so short a time, still had loss to deal with.

"I feel like I've been re-born," Vanessa said as we all sipped MexiCafé (Oaxaca mezcal laced with Chiapas coffee and heavy crema). "But we're born naked into the world, with nothing but our mother's blood covering us. And I'm only naked because of who I lost. I lost my darling O.J. and I lost our daughter Sandra." Vanessa seemed, well, not quite morose, but definitely down.

Dora looked up from her cup. "How long back was that, Vanessa?"

"How long? That was in... oh my, it's been thirty years."

"Thirty!?! So Sandy is all grown now? And she was adopted?"

"Yes, but I don't think they release adoption papers to birth parents, not without a court order or something."

"Well, we can look for her," I said. "There are online sites, ways to link children and parents who are searching. We can post notices. I can check with a lawyer, see how adoption information can be released. We can find her!"

Vanessa's eyes teared-up. "Oh damn, it would be so good to see her again."

She brightened. "Now we have a more immediate concern - how are the three of us going to live together, in how many beds?"

"Oh, we'll find a way work it out, you bet" Dora smiled.

And we did.

THE END?