Laid Bare Ch. 06

*****

Adele and Celia went to Tammy Peak's funeral the following year. Kimberly held herself together for the whole of the service and the graveside interment. She cried in Adele's arms later when they were alone at the Peak house.

Kimberly was close to becoming a young woman Adele thought. Her budding breasts were a little bigger and you could make out her curves in the simple black dress she was wearing, the hem a little high on her thighs than decorum would dictate for a funeral. Her long coltish legs were sheathed in expensive black pantyhose and the black low-heeled pumps she wore were not cheap. Adele was just happy that Kimberly finally had the money that she needed.

"So what now Kimberly? Where are you going to stay?" Adele asked.

"My aunt Bea has offered to take me in until I'm old enough to set out on my own," Kimberly dried her eyes with a tissue, her mascara had run.

"I think she is only doing it because I've got money now. She and mom hated each other and she's never liked me. I wish I could live with you and Aunt Celia," Kimberly forced a smile.

"I'm sorry but that's not possible but your Aunt Bea won't be able to touch your money," Adele changed the subject.

"As you know, at your mother's request, we have set up a fund to be administered by my law firm to be used for philanthropic purposes to help families genuinely affected by the mining of Bear Mountain. The rest goes into a trust fund, also administered by us, to ensure you are looked after," Adel reminded Kimberly that her money was safe.

"Your mother was smart Kimberly. There's a clause in the trust that says that if you do not attend college and graduate, you won't get the bulk of the trust until you turn thirty," Adele said.

"The colleges around here suck," Kimberly suddenly reverted to the girl she was.

"I'll talk to Child Welfare and see if we can't get you into a better college somewhere else, but someone has to become your legal guardian in the meantime, otherwise it's a foster home," Adele explained.

"Looks like I'm stuck with Aunt Bea," Kimberly replied.

"Look honey, just take some time to grieve and then concentrate on graduating high school with good grades and let Celia and I deal with the legalities," Adele took Kimberly in her arms again and hugged her.

******

Adele and Celia sipped coffee in their favourite coffee shop, talking about cases, fashion, cases, gossip, and cases. It was real lawyer talk.

"Hey what's the difference between a lawyer and a prostitute?" Celia suddenly asked.

"A prostitute stops screwing you when you're dead," Adele answered and Celia screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue.

"You know all my lawyer jokes," Celia whined.

"Yes darling but you keep telling them to me anyway," Adele reached across and took Celia's hand.

Celia looked down at their hands, their fingers entwined; both were wearing wedding bands on the third fingers of their left hand. Then Celia saw the time on Adele's Rolex.

"Shit we gotta go!" Celia yelped.

"Jesus!" Adele yipped when she looked at her watch.

They both struggled to get out the booth quickly, giving the three male layers sitting across from them a nice panty-flash. Adel dropped a twenty on the table and they were heels and asses out the door. Celia had parked her Jaguar, black of course, right outside the coffee shop and the three lawyers followed them with their eyes through the plate glass window and were rewarded with another panty-flash as they struggled to get in into the car.

"Why do you have to have this British birdcage," Adele whined struggling to put on her seatbelt.

"Because it exudes class and style and represents a nation that once ruled an empire," Celia said smugly, making the engine roar.

"A nation that lost an empire and the company that makes these cars," Adele replied priggishly.

"You don't even drive American, you drive a German import. They lost the war you know," Celia sniped back.

"Don't mention the war," Adele did her best John Cleese impersonation.

"Hey what is a BMW owner's most ardent wish?" Celia asked as she rocketed off the curb and into the traffic to an angry cacophony of car horns.

"A bigger penis," Adele hung on as Celia weaved in and out the traffic.

"I already have one and I'd like to get home alive so I can use it," Adele sniped.

Celia drove like she did everything else in her life... at a furious pace but with accuracy and accomplishment.

"There... we made it... nearly," Celia looked at her watch ignoring the stern glance she got from the mom volunteering as the parking warden at the school's drop off and pickup bay.

They both got out of the car and were delighted to see Kimberly come running down the steps of the school with her strawberry blonde hair flying behind her. She'd had it styled the same as Adele's. Celia noticed that the hem of Kimberly's skirt, which she was allowed to wear just above her knee, was now mid-thigh.

"God, she looks like you," Celia commented.

"But with your temperament," Adele reached for Celia's hand.

Kimberly flew into their arms and hugged them both tight.

"Hi mom; hi mom." she kissed them both on the cheek.

It never failed to amaze and delight Adele and Celia that at sixteen their daughter was not too embarrassed to openly show affection to both her mothers. She was also not ashamed that she had two moms, and every girl in the school knew that to make a comment about either of her mothers, especially Adele, would mean incurring Kimberly's wrath.

One particularly wicked girl who had made a snide comment about Adele being a trans-woman got taken out rather viciously by Kimberly during a lacrosse game requiring the bully to have three teeth capped.

Adele and Celia kissed their daughter and led her to the Jag, listening to her twitter on enthusiastically about her day.

"Did both my moms have a good day?" she asked as she settled into the back seat and buckled her seatbelt.

The parking warden looked over at Celia and gave her an angry stare. Parents were not supposed to get out their cars, they were supposed to just wait for their kids to clamber aboard and leave. Celia gave the volunteer mom a 'don't fuck with me' grin and the warden retreated.

"What happened to your skirt?" Celia asked as they drove away, looking at Kimberly in the rear-view mirror.

Kimberly blushed and began to tug at her skirt, pulling the hem down.

"Let me guess. There's a boy you like," Adele teased her.

"Does he know about the scissors I keep in my bag?" Celia chimed in.

Kimberly had been allowed out on her first proper date when she turned fifteen. Rumour has it that when the boy came to pick Kimberly up, Celia took him aside and pulled a pair of black-handled sewing shears out of her handbag and showed them to the boy. It's extrapolated that Celia told the boy she would use those very same shears to cut off the boy's penis if he put it anywhere near her daughter during the date.

Celia refuses to confirm or deny the rumour.

"Well there may be. See this new boy Tommy Bingham, he's so dreamy, well anyway Tommy..." Kimberly prattled on.

Celia turned to Adele and gave her a 'here we go again' look.

"So whose temperament does she have?" Celia turned her eyes back to road.

Adele turned in her seat so she could look at her adopted daughter; her heart swelled with love.

To this day neither Adele nor Kimberly has told a soul about what happened to Adele in that hunting shack in the Appalachian Mountain forest and they have never discussed it. It remains their secret.

The End

Finally: I hope you liked my story. After I finished writing 'Consent' I knew that I wasn't done with Adele and Celia, and who knows, maybe they will turn up again.

I apologise again for any errors in fact, misspellings and typos, I own them all. I wish to thank my research team of Google and Netflix and to those who criticise the plausibility of the plot lines, please remember that it is fiction after all.

Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

PS Coming up next we are revisiting our Cop Town Girl, Penelope Bishop.