---

Christmas Eve the previous year...

“I love you so much, Ter….You are my life…you rescued me…I was lost…you found me…I was broken…dear God you saved me…”

Joey moved up and began to kiss her wife’s neck and shoulders, biting and nudging and kissing softly. Tenderly, with so much love and wonder and thanksgiving, Joey turned her attention to pleasuring her wife. Soft, gentle hands caressed Terri’s body, once again touching her chest as if it were made out of fragile crystal, wanting so much to love and afraid of hurting or leaving her uncomfortable. Her hand moved further down until it found the soft mound. She softly ran her fingers through the hair, almost combing it with her nails. Gently she massaged her, touching carefully at first, then with increased but still gentle attention. Her head slowly lifted away from her lover’s face as she brought herself lower….kisses brought sensitive areas awake as she moved down Terri’s body. A small patch of skin, awash in feeling amidst the numbness, came to life with an almost spark…Terri moaned as her lovers hands gave way to kisses and licks…a tenderness of a different kind; responsive, eager, ready…she stroked her lover’s cheeks as tears flowed like a cleansing river after a storm as tension and worry and sadness vanished in a final, wonderful moment…

Another time, perhaps, and Terri would have felt guilty and even selfish. Joey was no longer responsive…she was sensitive in areas she had never really taken note of before, while old familiarity gave way to indifference as she moved closer to the final change. But here and now, Terri knew that what they just experienced was for Joey’s benefit as much as her own…Joey needed to feel important and that she was unselfish and loving and caring. Just like a birthday rather than Christmas Eve, only one would receive a gift that night, but the giver felt alive and happy and whole for the giving, as much as if witnessing a friend open a pretty package and being overjoyed at the look on their face.

Terri held Joey in her arms as the girl wept out of relief, the tension of the day melted as she kissed away Joey’s tears. Years of feeling unimportant and insignificant were replaced by feelings of belonging…and that Joey was discovering that she could love just as much as be loved.

---

Summer the following year...

"Joey? Sweetie...are you home?" Terri tossed her bag on the dining room table and walked into the kitchen. No usual aroma of cooking; she noticed the kitchen was nearly spotless, the stove empty of any pot or pan.

"Joey? Honey?" Terri walked back into the dining room. April and Lainey and the kids were over at Erica and Mark's for dinner and likely would be gone all afternoon. She wandered down the hall, almost like a child playing hide and go seek.

"Come out, come out wherever you are?" She chuckled at the playful mood she was in. Her outlook had become so much brighter lately, having found a new joy in the relationships she was developing with the people at Erica and Mark's church. As she walked down the hall, she almost tiptoed, trying to keep the playfulness going. Her lighthearted mood disolved quickly as she heard crying coming from their bedroom. She opened the door and found Joey sitting on the bed, looking at a letter she held in her hand.

"What's wrong, hon?" she asked as she stepped next to her lover. She put her hand on Joey's shoulder; Joey grabbed her hand kissed it. Terri felt tears on Joey's face as she kissed her cheek.

"I...Dale says she can't sign...just yet. I...I can't...." She put her head against Terri's stomach and began to weep. Terri kissed the top of Joey's head and stroked her cheek with her fingers.

"Oh, god, no...baby..." Terry was devastated, certainly for her own sake, but so much more for Joey. They had been looking forward to planning Joey's surgery, and this was more than just a huge setback.

"She thinks I haven't dealt with the abuse and....what....happened. She says I'm not ready." Joey looked up at Terri, almost as if it were her fault that Dr. Gorzelnick had denied their request.

"But didn't Dr. Arcola okay you? Sure...Of course...he had no problem. And Katie Kelly gave her recommendation. Why won't Dale okay it. Everybody thinks you're doing marvelously. What could possibly be the problem.

"She says I'm not sure if I'm doing it for you or for me....I don't know. This isn't fair. I told her I wanted to please you, but I never said that was the reason.

"I know, I understand where she's coming from, but she's not listening to you. Maybe if we set up an appointment together? We've been working with three doctors for nearly two years, and with one psychiatrist and our therapist giving their blessing I'm sure we can convince her." Terri tried to put on a brave face; it was confusing as to why she had been denied.

"What does she say in the letter?" Joey looked at her and tears cascaded down her face and onto her lap.

"She says that she's reluctant to okay surgery; that she feels we're living out an O'Henry story, whatever that means."

"I know what she means, but she's wrong. I understand, but she's got to listen to me." Terri shook her head, but she wore an expression that didn't seem hopeful.

"I...I wanted...to...please you." Joey stammered through her sobs.

"I know, Joey, I know." Terri's eyes filled with tears. No matter how many times they had this discussion, the outcome seemed to come to the same conclusion. She failed in her attempts to assure Joey that it wasn't important how things worked between them...it was the love they shared...the deep respect that each had inspired in the other, and the devotion that each had as well.

"Babe...I know you do, but if you never changed...if suddenly you changed you mind, or it became impossible, it would make no difference to me. You are my girl, and I love you more than I have ever loved another human being. Please know that no matter how things turn out, you have brought me healing and new life, and I love you, okay?" Terri stammered over her own words as her sobs matched the intensity of the woman she loved.

"You....you... gave up....you could have..." Terri had forgone breast reconstruction. Joey had demonstrated to her exactly what she had tried to show Joey; that the bodies they wore; the fleshy clothing, as it were, had become unimportant as they derived immense acceptance and love from each other. Love that was completely unlike anything either of them had ever known.

"I guess Dale is right then," Terri laughed, but there was no humor but the mood had become sober and bitterly ironic. Like the couple in the Gift of the Magi, both of them were willing to sacrifice what they wanted for the benefit and love of the other, save for the fact that their deference toward each other had been perceived as a detriment rather than the supreme example of selfless love. That the surgery would take place, they had no doubt. Hopefully soon, but Terri needed Joey to know that the two of them were complete just as they were. Whatever took place from then on would be a confirmation rather than a change as they learned just how beautiful they were.

"Hold me?" Joey looked once again into Terri's eyes. It wasn't a plea per se; Terri would be there for her in every way no matter what. More of an acknowledgement that Terri was exactly whom Joey had been meant for, and she for her.

"Always, my heart, always." Terri said as she pushed Joey back on the bed gently. Their sobs were soon replace by soft crying and the sounds of kisses and coos.

"I love you, Terri," Joey said as she wept. "I want to be everything I can be for you. I love you so much."

"You are everything I've ever wanted in life and then some. I'm the luckiest woman in the world. I love you." Terri said as her tears fell like a soft shower on the garden of Joey's soul.

"I love you."

---

Angel of Mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWel19vTMZU

 

---

Previously:
 
"I guess Dale is right then," Terri laughed, but there was no humor; the mood had become sober and bitterly ironic. Like the couple in the Gift of the Magi, both of them were willing to sacrifice what they wanted for the benefit and love of the other, save for the fact that their deference toward each other had been perceived as a detriment rather than the supreme example of selfless love. That the surgery would take place, they had no doubt. Hopefully soon, but Terri needed Joey to know that the two of them were complete just as they were. Whatever took place from then on would be a confirmation rather than a change as they learned just how beautiful they were.

"Hold me?" Joey looked once again into Terri's eyes. It wasn't a plea per se; Terri would be there for her in every way no matter what. More of an acknowledgement that Terri was exactly whom Joey had been meant for, and she for her.

"Always, my heart, always." Terri said as she pushed Joey back on the bed gently. Their sobs were soon replace by soft crying and the sounds of kisses and coos.

"I love you, Terri," Joey said as she wept. "I want to be everything I can be for you. I love you so much."

"You are everything I've ever wanted in life and then some. I'm the luckiest woman in the world. I love you." Terri said as her tears fell like a soft shower on the garden of Joey's soul.

"I love you."

---

In Dr. Gorzelnick's Office - Joey remembers:

“It’s really okay, Joey. Your mommy and daddy don’t mind. And you know they wouldn’t lie.” Joey’s namesake, Joseph, his father’s younger brother, was sitting on Joey’s bed. Joey was standing in the middle of the room, wearing one of his sister’s party dresses.

“It’s a game we can play. Just you and me; a special game; I promise I won’t tell anyone.” The layers of deception were being formed, almost like bricks carefully and skillfully put in place by a master mason. The next brick was put into place.

“Now you can’t tell anyone either, then it wouldn’t be our special secret.”

“But…” Joey began to say, but his uncle cut him off with soft words.

“Really, Joey, It’s okay. Your mom says she thinks you’re pretty. Don’t you want to make your mom happy?” Joey would have done anything to make his mom happy. His father was a gruff impersonal man who rarely gave his son attention, and his mother doted on him and his sister both.

The wall of secrecy grew higher as Joey’s uncle built up the lies by mixing them with just a little truth.

“Remember Halloween? She said, just look at my little Girl Scout.” The incident was meant to be entirely silly and fun, they had thought, but his uncle was like a hawk looking for a stray field mouse.

“Do you know what little girls do to be nice?” Joey wouldn’t have known; no child would. His uncle took him by the hand and led him to the bed. Evil became sugar-coated that day, and many days and months to follow. What started out already horribly as innocence lost continued as the child became twisted and warped, through no fault of his own

---

Dr. Gorzelnick's office -the present:

"Yes, we're all familiar with the story, Joey. That's just the point. It seems that your need to be a girl is somehow confused with your abuse. That you've always acted as a girl to please someone...to fulfill what they wanted. Isn't that right?" Dale didn't believe that for a second, but she wanted to make sure Joey was clear about her needs as a woman, irrespective of Terri, however important that was otherwise.

"But...that...that's...just it..." Joey put her head down and began to weep softly. Terry went to put her hand on Joey's shoulder to comfort her but Dale waved her off. It was absolutely essential for their relationship that Joey reach her own conclusion about her feelings about herself. Otherwise, both of them would be playing a very tiring game for a long time deciding who was whom; Joey needed to say who she was for both their sakes.

"It wasn't like that at the beginning." Joey had begun to talk about this in her time with Dr. Arcola and Dr. Kelly both, but always shut down when it came to describing times before her uncle molested her. There was a key piece to the puzzle that needed to be found. A piece that when placed in the the context of the molestation would finish the picture so to speak.

"Mommy found me... I...I was ten. She had gone to Aunt Carmen's to pick up some clothes from my cousin Danny...he was older...hand-me-downs." Even at that moment, nearly fourteen years later, she still suffered the shame of want and neglect. Her dad spent most of his take-home on hunting and fishing, and Joey never had new clothes.

"Go on...it's okay...you're here now, Joey, right?" Like many of us who've experienced trauma, Joey had a tendency to lapse into thinking...perseverent thought...almost obsessing about the past. Dale was working with her as seeing herself as a survivor rather than a victim.

"She came home early because Aunt Carmen forgot she was coming and had gone out. I was in Amelia's room. She always had nice things. Aunt Bella used to give her really pretty things for her birthday. Mommy came in and I was wearing...www...." Joey began to cry. Once again Terri went to comfort her, and once again Dale raised her hands slowly in caution. Terry half smiled and shrugged as if to say, "Oops..I forgot..Sorry."

"Shh...she....I was ...weaaarrring Amelia's confirmation dress. Ihhhh...it was white....like a we..wedding dress." Joey shook her head, as if in argument with some inner demon. Another "ghost," as Dale had put it. After a few moments Joey lifted her head; her crying had subsided.

"'There's my little girl,' Mommy said. It was like she knew already." Joey snuffled and continued.

"She came over and hugged me. 'Then it's okay? You don't mind?'" Even then, Joey was in the moment. She hugged herself, almost duplicating the hug she had gotten from her mother. Her face began to light up, as if she were a child on her birthday.

"She hugged me and kept kissing me over and over. 'Mind? Of course not...you're my little girl, honey, It's okay,' she said, 'Mommy loves you....Mommy loves you.'" Joey turned her face to the side and buried her face in the back of the sofa.

"Joey...who else knew?" Dale already knew the answer, but she wanted Joey to say it herself.

"Nobody! Nobody knew! Just me and my mom," she cried. It was almost like she was protecting the memory.

"But that didn't stay that way, did it?" Dale shook her head, wondering...no...becoming repulsed at what she already knew.

"No...Mommy thought it would be fun...for Halloween...it was fun..." Joey sobbed as if to plead for the permission she had never needed.

"Yes...it was fun...what was fun, Joey?" Dale looked over at Terri; both of them had heard the next part of the story, and the saddened look on their faces anticipated Joey's answer.

"I dressed up as a Girl Scout...Amelia's uniform....it was fun." Joey began to sob.

"What happened, Joey...why are you crying." It almost seemed cruel to ask the question; everyone knew why she was crying. Why ask the same question again?

"Because Uncle Joey...made me...you know what he did...He hurt me..over and over and over. Because he...' Her voice trailed off. She had gone from sad to angry in a heartbeat.

"Because he what, Joey...what did he do?" Dale cringed when she repeated the question. The breakthrough was coming, and she was damned if she was going to let a ghost get in the way of Joey's healing.

"He raped me...and Daddy caught him and he blamed me...He fucking blamed me...I hate him I hate the fucking bastard. He fucked me and I get beat by my fucking father...why...fuck .... I hope he fucking burns in hell. I hope they both burn in fucking hell" She began hitting herself in the chest, as if to punish herself for the horror. One more opportunity to take responsibility for something that was inflicted upon her. Another reason to hate herself... to repeat the mistakes of the past...to believe the worst about herself. But she stopped after a few seconds and looked at Dale and then at Terri, as if to plead her case.

"I didn't do anything wrong....I fucking didn't do anything wrong. He took the best part of me....and threw it away...And I gave the rest of it away for free. No more...no more. I'm not the one who did something wrong here. I was a little girl and he fucked me...him.. not me...not me." She turned and looked at Terri, who was looking at Dale, who simply nodded, blinking back tears of her own. Terri opened her arms and pulled Joey close to her. The girl fell into her and rocked back and forth, sobbing bitterly and saying over and over,

"Not me...not me...not me...I was a little girl...he had no right....not me....not me."

Dale picked up the clipboard in front of her and looked at the letter she had written in anticipation of the work she knew would get done.

"I am in agreement with both Dr. Arcola and Dr. Kelly, and find that Josephine Katlyn Carlucci is a fit candidate for Gender Confirmation Surgery. Procedure should be scheduled at the recommendation of Ms. Carlucci's attending surgeon, and should proceed at their agreed convenience. I remain, respectfully, Dale Gorzelnick, MD, PsyD"

She signed the letter and placed the clipboard on the coffee table in front of her and blew out a breath.

Next: A Day of Kisses

---

Before the Dawn
By Evanescence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adrGTcPCH4o

 

---

Previously:
 

"I didn't do anything wrong....I fucking didn't do anything wrong. He took the best part of me....and threw it away...And I gave the rest of it away for free. No more...no more. I'm not the one who did something wrong here. I was a little girl and he fucked me...him.. not me...not me." She turned and looked at Terri, who was looking at Dale, who simply nodded, blinking back tears of her own. Terri opened her arms and pulled Joey close to her. The girl fell into her and rocked back and forth, sobbing bitterly and saying over and over,

"Not me...not me...not me...I was a little girl...he had no right....not me....not me."

Dale picked up the clipboard in front of her and looked at the letter she had written in anticipation of the work she knew would get done.

"I am in agreement with both Dr. Arcola and Dr. Kelly, and find that Josephine Katlyn Carlucci is a fit candidate for Gender Confirmation Surgery. Procedure should be scheduled at the recommendation of Ms. Carlucci's attending surgeon, and should proceed at their agreed convenience. I remain, respectfully, Dale Gorzelnick, MD, PsyD"

She signed the letter and placed the clipboard on the coffee table in front of her and blew out a breath.

---

Please note: this episode features some flashbacks from the Providence: the Valley series.

A few months later, at the hospital after surgery:

"Welcome back, sweetie." She looked up to see her lover's eyes filled with tears as she gazed down at her.

"Ohhhhhh...owwww." She tried to raise herself out of bed, but no strength and increasing pain pushed her softly but firmly back down.

"I know, honey...I know." Terri leaned closer and placed a cold washcloth on Joey's forehead and began to wipe her face. She dabbed gently around the eyes. There was something almost sacred about Joey's tears, and Terri wanted to preserve them as long as possible.

"April is in the waiting room with Diane. Lainey's home with the kids; she'll be by later." Terri leaned closer and kissed her wife on the lips like a doting mom.

"Mmmm...mooommm." Joey's eyes were filled with tears in anticipation of the answer more than pain at that moment.

"No...Honey...." Terri shook her head only after Joey's head tilted back with eyes closed. Joey's mother wouldn't be coming; the anaethesia still wearing off. Susan Carlucci had died years ago, a brain aneurysm exploded after one too many slaps to the head from Joey's dad. Her dad refused to hold even a memorial service and had her remains donated to the local hospital.

"She....I'm her ...little girl." True enough; Susan had treasured her child as much as she could, but years of abuse from her husband left her unable to reach out after Marco kicked his erstwhile daughter out of the house. Joey's eyes began to flutter and Terri kissed her on the forehead.

"Sleep, babe...I love you." She squeezed Joey's hand and sat down in the chair next to the bed. Joey fell back into sleep, but it was not a restful sleep at all.

---

Years before:

It was a nice summer day when Marco Carlucci came home in the middle of the afternoon when his boss let everyone off early after the company picnic. He came home to find his son dressed in his sister’s clothing. The child was reaching over to unzip his uncle’s pants, when his father yelled. Joey’s uncle feigned sleep, and acted as if he was horrified and disgusted by the boy’s behavior. Marco believed his brother and beat the child with his belt until welts appeared on his legs.

“You little faggot; you whore!” The words echoed throughout the house, but not loud enough to drown out the wailing of the poor child. And like we’ve seen elsewhere, the crying was loud enough to startle the neighbors, but not nearly important enough for anyone to intervene.

That it went on unabated for years would be an understatement. Joey finally left the house on the eve of her sixteenth birthday with nothing but an old dress of her sister Amelia's and a brooch that her mother had gotten from Joey's great-grandmother. It might have seem odd that she was short haired and wore the dress over her tee shirt and jeans, but it was more of a 'fuck you' statement since her father stood on the porch of the house and cursed her as she left.

---

Only after years of abuse with one failed connection after another (they could never be considered relationships), she finally found a family; first with Lainey and April and the kids, but then with Terri. A wounded soul herself, Terri was the most giving and forgiving person she had ever met. They were oddly attracted; at least they wondered what drew two dissimilar people together. Really, it was their uniqueness that drew them close. Both had suffered the pain of rejection in their own way. And both of them had been nearly irreparably harmed by physical pain and disfigurement. That Joey's disfigurement was from birth so to speak made no difference

The truth was that both saw each other through accepting eyes. Joey saw Terri's malformed chest, not as a disfigurement so much as a disappointment and heartache for Terri; a reason to feel close and supportive to a new friend. Terri saw Joey's boyish (truly) body as no more than a phase she was going through like a growth-spurt or the change a girl goes through passing from pre-pubescence all the way into womanhood.

Separately they had been viewed as almost the human counterparts to the playthings on the Island of Misfit Toys, only they were misfit women. Never accepted apart from a few people; and certainly struggling for self-acceptance, together they made a perfect fit. They loved each other from almost the start and their love had grown stronger with each passing day. Now, for at least one of them, some might have believed, healing had come; the girl was now whole and complete in a sense. But what of the other woman? What about Terri?

---

Months before:

Terri O’Hara was convinced that Joey was the best thing ever to happen to her, and she was right. What she was also convinced of, or rather had been convinced of, is that nothing else good would come to her. She was rebelliious and headstrong, according to her parents.

“You are a disappointment to us,” her mother had said.

“No daughter of mine…” her father had said frequently, with him filling in the end of the sentence with almost everything she had chosen to do. Her relationship with her former girlfriend April had been a major source of contention and strife, since her family didn’t believe her when she said she was ‘different.”

“It’s just a phase you’re going through; just like with that Canderlero boy you dated,” her mother chided her.

“Mom…boys were a phase. I’m gay.” She had challenged her mother in front of her sibliings, and that would never do.

“No…you’re not…you’re being stubborn as always. It’s just about getting back at us…You’ll see.” Her mother raised her voice and pointed at her.

“Why is it always about you and Daddy? Can’t you see that this is who I am…I love April.” That wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t false either. She felt connected to April at the time, and as they both said, the sex was great. But there wasn’t any love in the truest sense. Oh they loved each other as much as two folks can who are incapable of committing and are self-absorbed; that she would discover after they broke up.

“You don’t care about our feelings. You’re so selfish!” Her mother said. “You’re breaking your father’s heart.” That Mr. O’Hara was incapable of feeling to begin with made no difference. That her parents were more interested in their social standing made no difference. Status and not their daughter was what mattered. It would have been painful enough to be abandoned by family, but then the other shoe dropped.

---

“I’m sorry, Ms. O’Hara, but that’s what we’re faced with.” Even with an excellent medical plan, Terri was dealing with prohibitive medical expenses after her mastectomies. Her insurance had been cancelled due to a clerical error in her HR department and neither they nor the insurance company was willing to compromise. So she was caught in the middle with no way of paying for reconstructive surgery.

“You can think about getting it done later when your insurance problems are solved,” the doctor said sympathetically. She wanted to help, but she was booked solid for several months. She wanted to provide the services for free, but her lawyer reminded her that she had just finished paying her final premium for malpractice insurance, and the cost for the following year was going to be over six hundred thousand dollars annually. She tentatively penciled Terri in for November, and since it was only February… Terri ended up moving back to her home town, where she reconnected with April and met April’s new family and in turn, met Joey.

---

At the hospital in the present:

“Terri….Terri….” Joey screamed. Terri jumped up and leaned over the bed as Joey awoke from the nightmare.

“Oh….oohh.” She cried as the pain returned.

“I’m here, honey. It’s okay.” She started to think about that old 10CC song, The Things We Do For Love, and then she corrected herself.

“You’re okay, honey…and the doctor says everything went well…You’re finally where you need to be.” Terri realized that while it was probably something that Joey had thought about in regard to their relationship, the SRS was absolutely for Joey’s benefit. She really understood why many people had taken to renaming it Gender Confirmation Surgery…there was no reassignment, since Joey had been a girl…now a woman…all along. The surgery was the final key in addressing the need to make the inside and the outside of the woman match.

Joey fell back into a more restful sleep; owing mostly to the hand that held hers. Terri looked upon her wife and began to cry, not angry or sad tears, but tears of gratitude and joy. She recalled the moment of revelation as she discovered just how much she was capable of actual love.

---

At home, months before:

It was late afternoon. She didn't expect anyone to be home. April had decided after much self-debate, not to return to UPS, and instead assumed much of the responsibility of the financial end the store, with Lainey and Diane still handling the customer interaction. When not at an occasional play date, Deedee still spent a lot of time at the store with her parents. Terri had finally finished her degree, and was working at Second Chances Animal Shelter and Veterinary Hospital as a Vet assistant.

So Joey was completely surprised when she stepped out of the hall bathroom after her shower, only to come face to face with Terri, who was standing in the hallway in her own robe, expecting to take a late afternoon shower before dinner. Joey’s robe had fallen open and she felt naked and exposed. She looked into Terri's eyes, and found herself less anxious as Terri smiled. Then she looked down at herself and began to cry, mostly out of embarrassment for the moment, but somewhat out of inadequacy as she considered her "lack." Not at all feminine, she was boyish and "flat," leaving her to feel not at all like the girl she had become.

Terri looked at her and picked up her anxiety and shame immediately. She smiled once again, saying nothing, but her eyes began to mist up. She reached over and held Joey's hand. Then she took both their hands and placed them on Joey's chest over her heart. She took her other hand and stroked her cheek while continuing to smile and cry. She lifted Joey's chin and kissed her cheek, and said,

"It's okay, I understand."

Joey's expression was one of wonder and sadness; she didn't understand why Terri would cry. She was about to find out, and this moment, like others we've seen, would be transformational for both women.

Terri took her hand off Joey's chest. She opened her own robe, revealing her own lack. She took Joey's hand and placed both of their hands on her own chest over her own heart. A chest that was no longer feminine, but flat and scarred. She took Joey's other hand and placed in on her own cheek. She leaned forward and kissed her once again on the cheek and said softly,

"It's okay; we're really not so different, are we?" She kissed her once again on the cheek and closed her robe. She smiled once again through her tears and walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

---

At home, a few months after surgery:

They lay in bed. Terri stroked Joey’s hair, and kissed her tears.

“I’m so sorry…I….” Joey looked apologetically at her wife and wept bitter tears.

“Shhhh….shhhh….” Terri continued to kiss Joey as she cooed softly, like a mother comforting a child after a nightmare. It wasn’t a nightmare, but it felt like that to Joey.

“I…I….wanted…it….special….Terri…I’m so…sooo.sorry.” She buried her face in Terri’s hair.

“It is special, honey….” Terri choked back a sob. Both of them were well aware that things would be different after the surgery, and they could only hope that things would continue to improve. But Terri needed Joey to hear what she had to say.

“N…nnnnothing has changed. Nothing will change but my love for you…it will grow and become even more precious…dddo….do you understand?” Terri wept even as she kissed the tears from Joey’s face.

“I love you….I love you so much….it’s alright….shhhhh….shhhh.”

Their lips met and the passion grew. No need for anything else; the kissing wasn’t just merely sufficient or a substitute for what was not yet possible. It was beautiful and tender and sacred unto itself; no need for anything else as they fell into each other, their souls mingling and comforting and coming more alive than ever before. A love of providence; two misfits who became a match; a marriage made in heaven as some might say.

“I love you,” they cooed together; an odd but completely harmonious union of tenor and alto almost sung, tenderly and softy with much love. Con grande amore.

---

Kiss from a Rose
words and music by
Seal
As performed by Katherine Jenkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mBE9MAtAA0