Reflections of Night and Day

Slipping away, Selene found her purse hidden beneath her clothes carelessly cast to the floor. She opened it then retrieved something small from its contents. For a lengthy moment, she gazed at what she carried, growing lost in thought.

"Selene?" Aurora started.

With a sigh, Selene looked up. She offered a small smile then crawled back onto the bed. "It's the letter. I think you should read it."

Aurora had that familiar knotting in her stomach. She had suspected as much. Taking hold of the letter, she softly kissed her lover's lips.

Their kiss was sweet and tender, but all too brief. Aurora had offered the kiss as a means of loving reassurance while Selene had returned it to grant the courage she sensed Aurora needed. Then tangled up in one another, they offered their support.

The auburn-haired woman opened the letter with trembling hands then quietly read aloud.

"I die, my little love, with very little to offer you except perhaps my hidden truths. The short life we've known together is not what we were destined to know. Ours is a pale reflection of night and day.

"There is so much to say, but I do not even begin to know where to start. I suppose every story must have a beginning and so I tell you ours.

"Once when I was only a girl, I fell in love. We loved in secret and during that time I knew a happiness I have never known. It was such a beautiful gift, but sometimes, little one, people grow jealous of gifts. Sometimes, my precious baby, people spurn what they do not understand and they do whatever they can to rob you of that gift, of that happiness. It was this way for me, for her... for us.

"I know that I am speaking in riddles. Even as I sit here and think of how best to tell you my family's secrets ---our family's secrets, both yours and mine---- I realize that even to this day, I don't understand. It is hard for me to then somehow find the words to make you understand it.

"I loved her so much. She was my best friend. She was my life. And, little one, she was my sister. I hope that as you read those words, the woman you have grown up to become does not shy away from what I've said or from the memory of your mother. I hope you see that the heart loves whom it loves and we are all susceptible to its might.

"There was nothing in this world I would not have done for her. She felt this love for me as well. She proved it each time she voiced my name. And yet nothing proved this love more than the way she fought for me and my honor after I had grown pregnant at much too an early age. The circumstances for how that pregnancy came to be aren't important. What mattered was that in her eyes, life was life and it was worth cherishing and defending. Against the terrible odds of a judgmental family, she did precisely that. She defended me and the lives I carried as if they were her own.

"We came together through those warring times as no one could have ever imagined. Then one day, she took me into her arms, into her bed and into her life as her not just her sister, but as her wife. She gave me a bracelet to symbolize this union. It was my most cherished possession. As we laid together with our two newborn daughters sleeping contentedly nearby, our parents found us.

"We were separated... never to be reunited again.

"I don't know where they took my wife. All I know was that I was whisked away to the Eastern coast. I was sixteen.

"I left the area almost immediately after arriving. Returning to my roots, I slipped into my childhood home and took you from them. We were able to get away, but I have no idea what has become of your sister.

"For two years, I have quite literally exhausted my body in my search and I think I am dying not of the damned disease the doctors say I am, but instead of a broken heart.

"It is strange, but as sure as I am that I can see you sleeping in your bed, I know that your sister rests close to her aunt, her mother, my wife. I know they have found themselves together as we have. My prayer is that someday you two, my beautiful twins, will find your way to each other as well.

"Seek her out, my little one.

"Find her with all you have. Do not let her be taken from you the way she was taken from me. Twice I've lost and twice I've died inside because of it.

"I love you. Always remember that.

"Your mother,

"Hunter Wolf"

Frowning, Aurora looked to Selene. "Hunter?" she asked.

Selene nodded her head sadly. "Yes, that is my mother's name." She paused, whispering, "Our mother's name."

Aurora sat up slowly, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. Her mind began to race. So long throughout her life, there had been a perpetual torrent of unanswered questions. Where did their family come from? Why had her mother never remarried? Why would her mother cry in the night for some mysterious Hunter?

Now the pieces to her life's puzzle began to come together to create a picture she did not entirely understand. Aurora felt an arm slipping over her shoulder. A body pressed itself tenderly to her back.

She reached her hand upward to lovingly hold a smooth forearm. Her head bent slightly to kiss the arm embracing her. Aurora lifted her head with a certain clarity returning to her glistening eyes. She turned her head to take in Selene.

Visibly written across Selene's face was a distinguishable fear. She worried that perhaps she should never had revealed the letter, that knowing that they were sisters might somehow cause her to lose the woman she craved so much. Her fears were silenced by the kiss to deeply claim her the innermost terrain of her heart.

Aurora broke their kiss tenderly. She rested her forehead against her lover's as her arms held the woman closely. "There is something I have to do," she whispered.

Though Selene was not sure what that great deed was, she nodded in understanding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door had opened only partially when a hand began to possessively grip the door. It held its surface then forced the door open with a panicked intensity.

A woman quickly stepped inside the foyer. Her face was loving and warm though it was blanched by worry. It had grown more slender than she had been only a week prior due to a fear of the unknown. The once blond hair which ended about her beautiful face was now a little paler with age. Her body was soft and inviting beneath the pale blue of the chiffon dress about her woman curves.

She held trembling blue eyes upon the young woman staring at the end of the foyer. "Aurora," she started in a throaty voice. "Baby, are you okay?" She rushed at the auburn-haired woman, crushing her to her body. "I've been so worried. What's happened? Why haven't we heard from you? You nearly scared your old mother into an early grave!"

Aurora wrapped her arms around her mother. She closed her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek. Her sniffling sent her already protective mother into a state of hyper-protectiveness.

"What's wrong?" her mother demanded. "Did someone hurt you? Aurora, honey, you're scaring me."

Smoothing her mother's back, Aurora attempted to sooth her mother's fears. "Shh, I'm okay, Mom."

She gently pulled away from her mother's embrace. Taking her by the hand, she led the way toward the living room. Aurora sat down on the plush couch with her mother, who was watching her with a hawk-like intensity.

"What's going on?" the woman asked.

"You told me once that 'Hunter' was not our family's real last name," Aurora started. "What is it?"

Mrs. Hunter shifted slightly. "Oh, honey, what does that have to do with---"

"Will you answer please?" Aurora interrupted gently.

Slowly blue eyes betrayed both their fear and their surprise. "All right," she rasped. "Our family's name is Wolf."

Aurora's shoulders rose as she drew in a slow breath. Her eyes shifted away from her mother to the woman coming to stand in a sleek black dress just at the edge of the room.

Mrs. Hunter followed the line of her daughter's eyes. She turned her head then let loose a loud gasp. Her hand came to cover her mouth. She rose with a painstaking slowness. Her body quivered like a frail leaf among a brutal wind. The tears which began to stream down her cheeks were hot but stung with a bitter cold.

Her free hand blindly reached out behind her. She grasped at the air desperately until tightly gripping hold of the hand reaching out to take hers. She held it with such intensity that her knuckles turned white.

Selene could not tear her eyes away from the beautiful woman in blue. Tears rose inside her eyes as she took a tentative step forward. She hugged her left arm, rubbing the ball of her thumb nervously against her skin. "Hello, Mother," she whispered awkwardly as she realized she had never uttered the words.

Mrs. Hunter took quick but weak steps forward until she stopped before Selene. Her eyes locked on the bracelet glinting in the dim light. She dropped to her knees overcome by her sobs.

Seeing the woman so crushed beneath her emotions, Selene lowered gracefully. She looked to Aurora with pleading eyes. She lifted her arms then stopped. Their pale warmth hovered in the air awkwardly, wondering what to do next.

Aurora wrapped her arms around her mother. She gathered her close, holding her very tightly. As she closed her eyes contentedly, she felt Selene wrap her arms around them both.

Mrs. Hunter cried with abandon. Her arms snaked outward to clutch Selene to her. She darted weepy kisses over long black hair. "My daughters," she breathed. "You're together again."

"Yes, Momma," Selene soothed. "Your daughters are together and we'll never be separated again."