Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

you." Daniel eyed it lying on his palm, close to that new gold ring Jacob had managed to get on his finger.
    "You must put it somewhere safe. Custom says no eyes but yours, no hands but yours, should come upon it."
    "That's a pity," Jacob said. "It's actually pretty, the way you wove it."
    "So we keep this safe from human hands," Daniel said slowly, "And the marriage lasts?"
    "Yes." Mihail smiled wryly. "Of course it is only superstition."
    "Do we have to keep it with us? Where we can see it?"
    "No. Some couples bury it in the ground under the roots of a tree, where the tree will grow over it and keep it safe. Hair lasts a long time and does not easily decay."
    "Hmm." Daniel thought about it and then closed his hand over the ring. "Come on, Trip."
    "What?" But Jacob followed him willingly.
    Daniel went to the rail and looked down. It was only a bay, the water calm and blue, but it held the salt of the ocean and had at least three hundred feet of depth below the hull at this point. "Like this," he said. "Hold out your hand, Jacob."
    Jacob did so, and Daniel pressed his palm to Jacob's with the ring between them. "Out over the side."
    "Are you sure?" Jacob allowed Daniel to guide their mated palms over the rail and above the water surface.
    "Safer than a tree, for us." For a moment they stood, hands pressed together, over the soft swells of the Atlantic. Then Daniel said, "Let go."
    As their hands parted, the ring fell. For a moment it floated on the surface of the water, catching little glints of sun in the interwoven silver and copper strands. Daniel reached for Jacob's hand again, and laced their fingers together, watching it. He wondered if he'd made a mistake. He wouldn't want it to wash ashore somewhere. But before he could say they'd better fish it back out, the ribbon saturated and began to sink. Slowly the ring of their entwined hair slipped below the surface. Another moment and it was gone from sight, heading downwards, carrying his love and Jacob's down safely this time, into deep waters.
    THE END

 
    Author bio: Kaje Harper grew up in Montreal and spent her teen years writing, filling binders with stories about what guys like Starsky and Hutch really did on their days off. But as life got busy, the stories began to just live in her head. The characters grew up, met, endured, loved, but rarely made it to paper. Serious authorship got sidetracked by ventures into psychology, teaching, and a biomedical career. And by the challenges of raising children.
    Then around 2006, when the kids were more independent, her husband gave her a computer she didn't have to share. She began putting words down in print, just for fun. Hours of fun. Lots of hours of fun. The stories began piling up, and her husband suggested it was time to try to publish one. MLR Press accepted her first book, Life Lessons , which was released in May 2011. Kaje now has several novels and short stories in print, including The Rebuilding Year , a contemporary m/m romance released by Samhain Publishing in March 2012. She currently lives in Minnesota with a creative teenager, a crazy little omnivorous white dog, and a remarkably patient spouse.
      Website
    ****

LOUDER THAN SIRENS, LOUDER THAN BELLS
    by KD Sarge
     

    Two young men stare at each other through a chain-link fence. They are holding hands through it; one has nail polish and lip gloss.

    Dear Author,
    When I first crossed paths with him at the library on campus, I didn't know what to think. Lip gloss, eyeliner, eye shadow, nail polish? Back in the small town where I grew up, a boy would have never dared to dress like him. When an assignment to create a video news segment from one of our professors places us both in the same group, personalities clash, and what started as fascination on my part turns into instant dislike, which he seems to immediately return.
    He's smart, quick-thinking, creative…but also snarky, moody, defensive, and basically the complete physical opposite of every guy I've ever been attracted to. And yet, despite the fact that I think he needs an attitude adjustment, and he thinks I'm just a backward country hick, I've quickly come to realize that sometimes the line between love and hate really is paper thin.
    P.S. An HEA would definitely be preferred to an HFN ending.
    Thank you! :)
    Harper

    genre : contemporary
    tags: first love; college; coming out; gay-for-you; enemies to lovers
    word count: 68,123
    Back to Table of Contents
     



 
    LOUDER THAN SIRENS,