"She glued my drawers shut. Twice!"

"Lies," Robin whispered to Maryl. "All lies. Don't pay any attention to them. They've been drinking."

Maryl leaned back into her and turned her face up. "So none of it is true?"

Robin hesitated for effect. "It was self-defense."

"Was it now?" Maryl laughed.

"They aren't telling all the stuff they did to me! Trey took my lesbian underwear to school for show and tell. Bruce told everyone I was a transs.e.xual and took up donations for my operation. Julian sewed all of my pant legs shut and Eric used to put my hands in warm water while I slept to make me wet the bed. They were mean to me."

Everyone, including Maryl, was howling with laughter and Robin snorted in feigned disgust. She rose up on an elbow and surveyed them. "You all deserved it. Every bit."

Maryl rolled back and slipped her arm around Robin's waist. "Do you want me to believe that you were sweet and innocent?"

"Yeah."

"That you were tormented and persecuted by these ruffians?"

"I was!"

"Okay," Maryl smiled. "I'll try."

"At least someone believes me." There was some easy-going teasing, but Robin was only aware that her breast was touching Maryl's. "Do you want to go for a drive?" she asked softly.

Maryl smiled and sat up. "I should get back to camp. It's awfully late."

Robin's mother stood up and pulled Maryl into a hug. "It was wonderful to meet you, dear. Feel free to come back anytime and if those friends of yours turn out to be more than you can handle, we'll see that you get home."

"Thank you. By the way, where was Trevor that day?"

"In his crib napping. Exactly where I left him."

Robin kicked Bruce in the leg while Maryl was laughing and demanded his truck keys. "Not a word," she warned.

"It doesn't take a psychic to know what you two will be doing," he laughed.

"You're a worm, Bruce."

"And you're a tom cat on the prowl."

Robin ignored the catcalls from the campfire and guided Maryl to the truck.

"I like your family a lot," Maryl said over the starting of the engine. "They seem like really great people."

"I like to think so."

"You're close to them."

Robin glanced at Maryl as she drove slowly out of the campground and headed slowly up the hill. "We're closer now than we were as children. That was one of the best things about growing up: getting to know each other as adults and finding out that we liked one another. I only wish my dad were still here. You would have liked him."

Maryl was watching intently out the front window, relentlessly curling a strand of hair around her finger.

"Are you worried about your group?" Robin asked with some concern.

Maryl shook her head slowly. "Not really. There's a turnout on your side coming up pretty quick. Pull into it."

Robin spotted it a few minutes later and guided the truck off the road. She set the parking brake and turned off the lights and engine. It was very dark and Maryl was just a shadow. The ticking of the motor was almost the only sound. Robin whispered, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Maryl said in an equally soft tone. "Just listening to you breathe. I can smell you-like rain and fresh mown gra.s.s. My heart is beating like a bra.s.s band on the Fourth of July."

"Mine, too. I don't remember ever aching to touch someone before. It's got to be the nicest pain there is."

Maryl's voice was soft and low. "Come over here."

Robin turned her back to Maryl and slid towards her over the bench seat. Arms came around her and she lay back into them with complete trust. She slid one arm around Maryl's waist and the other around her neck as Maryl began to kiss her slowly. She seemed different in the dark and Robin let her set the pace. Their lips and tongues slid over and around and into each other in the most delightful fas.h.i.+on and it made Robin dizzy. She was aware when Maryl's hand slid inside her s.h.i.+rt to cup a breast and Robin ached at her touch.

Maryl ran her hand over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, content to feel them inside the cotton bra. She eventually reached around her and deftly unhooked it. "I want you naked," Maryl whispered into her mouth.

Robin nodded breathlessly as Maryl's fingers moved to her shorts. Willing to do anything she asked, it seemed only a moment and Robin was nude and kneeling astride Maryl's legs. They kissed deeply as Maryl's hands explored her in the dark-as interested in the structure of her back as in the texture of her inner thigh.

"Maryl," Robin gasped as her pa.s.sion thickened. "Do you know what you do to me?"

"Yes," Maryl said huskily. "I make you crazy. I make you hot." Her lips closed briefly on a throbbing nipple. "I make you need it."

"Please, Maryl..."

"Not yet..."

Robin did need it. She tried to get hands under Maryl's clothing and was diverted. She tried to rub her groin on Maryl's leg or hip and was held back. She tried to push Maryl's hands between her legs and didn't have the strength. She didn't think it was possible to be this aroused without coming, but Maryl was determined to take her time and Robin could hear herself whimpering. "Please, Maryl. Please, now!"

Maryl's mouth moved from breast to breast, licking and biting and sucking until Robin gradually stiffened at the unbearable pleasure she felt. It became too much and she shuddered through what felt like an o.r.g.a.s.m, but took away none of the pa.s.sion she felt.

"So beautiful," Maryl groaned.

Robin was frantic now and her teeth chattered helplessly as Maryl's hand slid between her legs. Fingers entered her and Robin dropped her head to Maryl's shoulder and began to rock on the heel of her hand. In only a few blissful moments, she began to come in slow, inexorable waves and she chased each and every one to its end.

"Oh, Maryl. Sweet Maryl." She wrapped her arms around Maryl's shoulders as she was rocked to and fro. "I don't even know if I can describe it."

"Sh. Don't talk, Robin. Just let me hold you."

Robin buried a hand in soft hair and relaxed. She was perfectly content to stay in Maryl's arms till daybreak. Her skin had ceased to exist where Maryl wasn't touching it and when the rocking came to an end Maryl sighed.

"Time to go, Robin."

"What about you?"

"Feeling you come like that was all I needed and we still have tomorrow."

Maryl stood in the dark and listened to the sound of the truck as it got further and further away. Knowing they would be together in the morning left her feeling peaceful and content. When the sounds of the night and distant voices were all she could hear, Maryl carefully walked through the night towards the flickering campfire. The entire group was sitting around the fire and their voices stilled as she approached.

"You guys should have stayed," she said brightly in hopes that it would diffuse any hostility. "They were really sweet people."

"I guess that means we aren't," Brooke grumbled.

"I'm just saying that you would have had a good time."

"I think something is going on," Linda said suspiciously. "You disappear every day-all day-and you just happen to get invited to spend the day with total strangers?"

"They invited all of us," Maryl said firmly. "You are the ones who didn't want to make new friends."

Kirsten eyed her carefully. "I agree with Linda. I think you met someone on the river and you don't want us to know. I can still tell when a woman is falling in love."

Maryl ignored the oddness of that statement and put her hands on her hips. "Is that what all of you think?"

Wendy ducked her head, but the others stared at her with a variety of emotions. Eva cleared her throat. "We think you arranged the...scenario...at the showers today. The truth is, if you have met someone, it's not really our business. But we are worried about you and we feel we have a right to express concern over your actions. We only have each other to count on up here and you are isolating yourself more and more from our support."

"We feel obligated to watch out for your safety," Noreen said gently. "If anything bad happens to you, we are the ones who will have to deal with it."

"When we accepted that responsibility," Eva said, "you accepted some responsibility, too."

Maryl knew there was truth in what they said. Something in her gut told her there was a flaw in their argument, but she couldn't find it. She opened her mouth to tell them about Robin, but Linda cut in angrily.

"We have a right to know where you're going and who you're with. You owe us that."

Linda's att.i.tude pushed all the wrong b.u.t.tons and her temper flared. "I have been very clear about where I've been. If you don't want to make friends, that's your business. I do. That's my business. The first time I went off alone, I invited every single one of you to go with me and no one wanted to. That's fine with me. But don't start whining now because you didn't go. If what you want is for me to hang around and wallow in pain with you-well, I'm sorry. I just can't do that. Not all day, every day."

"Not ever," Brooke accused.

"I resent your accusation that what we do is wallow in pain," Linda growled.

"I'm so sorry," Maryl snapped. She could feel her anger spiraling out of control and she desperately wanted to hold it back, but she couldn't stop. "Please forgive me for speaking so carelessly. I just have a hard time being nice when other people try to run my life. Especially when they aren't doing such a great job of running their own."

"That's not fair," Noreen objected.

"Neither is ganging up on me! I had a good time tonight, which none of you wanted to be a part of, and now I'm getting grief for it! You ganged up on me first thing this morning and now you're doing it again! How is that fair?" Maryl jerked backwards as Eva stood up and attempted to take her arm.

"Hey, let's calm down," Eva said anxiously. "There's no need for all of us to get upset. All we want is to make sure that you're safe."

"By letting this group dictate to me?"

"Not necessarily. Come on, Maryl. Come sit down and we'll work this out."

Maryl let herself be guided to the remaining lawn chair. She kept her back teeth firmly together in an effort to control her tongue, but she wanted to kick the fire around and scream.

Eva sat down and looked everyone over. "Let's not lose sight of the fact that Maryl is a grown woman and has proven that she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Our purpose is only to make sure she doesn't come to harm over the next day and a half." She turned her eyes on Maryl. "Now. None of us are stupid. You've met someone. We need your rea.s.surance that you are safe with her."

Maryl bit her tongue hard to keep anger from turning to tears. "I am."

"I knew it!" Linda crowed.

"That's enough, Linda!" Eva was angry. "You're making it harder for her to trust us and I won't have it. Whether she knows it or not, she needs us and you're deliberately antagonizing her. If you can't show some respect and understanding, go sit in the van till we're done."

Linda tried not to look defeated, but Maryl could see it. That Eva was willing to set Linda down told her that Eva's concern was genuine and she felt bad about getting angry.

"Okay," Eva said. "You've met someone. We can all see that you have feelings for her. Congratulations."

Maryl looked down at Wendy's hand on her arm and the first tear escaped.

"Does she make you happy?" Wendy asked in her soft voice.

Maryl's tears flowed instantly and she couldn't hold back a sob of longing. "Yes," she whispered. She put her head back and began breathing through her mouth to make herself stop crying.

"Did you meet her at the campground?" Noreen asked.

"No. On the river. By accident."

"But she was there today."

Maryl nodded as she got herself under control and wiped her tears away.

Kirsten leaned forward. "What about your feelings for Alaine? Pain doesn't just go away."

"Maybe not," Maryl agreed. "But after a while it becomes background noise and you can stop listening to it. Granted, what Alaine did hurt me, but I don't want her back. I stopped wanting her when I found her in my bed with those men. The hope that she was the one for me is fading slowly, but the wanting died in an instant."

"Why did you join our group?" Brooke asked.

Maryl thought it over. "I guess I wanted...permission to stop hurting."

"Good answer," Noreen blurted out. She barked a laugh, paused and started laughing again. "Permission to stop hurting. I like that." She shook her head and chuckled softly to herself.

"Does this new woman give you that permission?" Eva asked.

"Yes." Maryl reconsidered. "No. Being with her allows me to give myself permission."

Brooke frowned. "I think you're in denial."

Maryl sighed impatiently. "At what point does it stop being denial and become getting on with my life? It's been almost 4 months since I kicked Alaine out. Do I have to wait a certain amount of time? How much? Six months? A year? Three years? When do I get to say it's over and move on?"

Brooke spread her hands out. "I just don't think you've dealt with it yet. Not really."

Maryl felt exasperated with Brooke. "Why?"

"Well, you hardly ever talk about it and you never cry..."

"I cried plenty," Maryl admitted. "I just don't cry about it in front of you. I didn't realize it was a requirement."

"I'm just saying..."