The War at Home | Adult F/F Romance [COMPLETE]

Part VIII (new)

Jordie was not the woman she had been before the War, but she knew who she was. She was Jordana Morgan Freemantle, the daughter of a war hero and marchioness. She was a mother to two beautiful kids for whom she would do almost anything. She was a soldier and healer. She was a woman who loved women. Tonight, she was a friend, something she hadn't been terribly good at lately. Romana deserved better than fair-weather chums. Jordie could be better.

Romana answered Jordie's knock dressed for home in charcoal trousers and a festive knit twinset belied by her bloodshot eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest to repel the chill blowing through the door. Light from the porch gas lamp reflected off the Spanish flowers decking the silk scarf tied around her hair.

"Shouldn't you be at a party?" Romana asked, offering Jordie no quarter. Cordial, grudgingly so. Jordie shifted on her cold feet. She'd been in the open air only a couple of minutes and her toes were already going numb in her heels.

"There's nothing interesting happening elsewhere tonight."

Romana peered over Jordie's shoulder to take a gander at the empty street. "How did you get here? I doubt Elliot thought to bring you." Her opinion of Jordie's husband had diminished. She and Jordie were in agreement on the sort of man he was.

"No, I took a taxi." Jordie hugged herself, wishing she'd resisted Elliot's suggest that she wear a silk dress with a mink stole in favor of a wool coat. His desire to show her of had trumped her desire to stave off hypothermia. "I wasn't going to walk. I'm not that fond of you," she teased.

Romana was skeptical. "Pity. I'm that fond of you."

"Romana." Jordie gathered her courage. She didn't want to fail or lose. There was too much to lose. "I don't care what anybody says about you."

"I care enough for you and me."

Jordie leant on the door frame, peering down into Romana's forlorn hazel eyes. "Say you'll let me in."

Romana's jaw firmed. Thought petite she was fierce. "Why should I? It isn't as if I have anything you want."

She has no idea , Jordie thought. Romana had infiltrated her every waking thought from the moment they met, and Jordie wanted her to stay forever.

"You're wrong. I miss you, Romana." Her voice broke. Her feelings heaved in her stomach. Guilt and affection and remorse. Romana had branded Jordie from the inside and her absence left a scar. "And... and I think you miss me."

"I hardly know you," she said, but her voice faltered.

"I hardly know you, but I know I like you, and you're good to me."

Romana's throat worked swiftly. Her mouth quirked, and she growled in irritation, swatting at her welling eyes. "Unbelievable. Has anybody told you you're irresistible?" Her words smacked of accusation but her lips were smiling.