Breaking New Grounds

by Amy DeMeritt

  “I don’t have a choice. Jaime and Symone are still working on the dance movie with the squad. Our schedules won’t allow us to care for her. I hate the idea of her getting on a plane so young. She’s only going to be a week old when you leave. Is she really going to be ok?”

  “Medically speaking, it’s recommended to wait at least two days after birth, but there are no standard regulations on when a baby can fly. The biggest concern is airborne bacteria since a newborn’s immune system is not very strong. We hired a private jet, so the risk is much lower than if we were traveling on a commercial flight.”

  I take a deep breath, then bend down to kiss Eerin on the forehead before I lean against Shannon. She wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek.

  “I’m sorry I won’t be there to help you put her crib together.”

  “It’s ok, sweetie. We’ll take care of it, and when you come home, you’ll come home to a nursery packed with little babies to love on.”

  I smile with fresh emotion filling my eyes. “I love babies.”

  Shannon giggles and kisses my lips again. “I know, sweetie. We do too.”

  “When we get home, we have to take new family portraits and do a little photoshoot of Eerin for the family album. Will you please fill out her page as soon as you get home?”

  “Yes, sweetie.”

  “And take a picture and send it to me.”

  Shannon’s eyes tear up as she nods and kisses my lips. “I will. We’ll order her moccasins to match her siblings too.”

  “Yes, she needs those. Did we order her the custom crib liner with Jade’s picture she painted of our totems for us?”

  “Yes, Madison ordered it. It’s going to take about three to six weeks to receive it, so we’ll have to use a store-bought liner till it arrives.”

  The SUV pulls up to the front entrance of a rental hall attached to a nice hotel. I kiss the side of Shannon’s neck before lifting my head off of her shoulder.

  “I wish I knew more about Janell to be able to answer the questions I’m sure we’re going to get from our family and friends in there. This is going to be exhausting, isn’t it?”

  “Probably. But we’ll get through it together as a family.”

  ***

  With a deep exhale of fatigue, I turn the baby monitor screen on by the bedside and watch our babies sleeping for a few moments, even though I just left their room.

  Awenasa wraps her arms around me from behind, and while she trails soft kisses up the length of my neck and over my ear, she pulls my necktie loose and begins unbuttoning my shirt. As she pulls my shirt out of my pants, she turns me to face her and glides her hands over my abs to wrap around my sides and pulls me flush against her. I swallow hard and grab her bare hips as I look down at her beautiful burnt sienna skin glowing in the dim bedroom lighting. She has removed her dress and she’s only wearing a modestly alluring silk and lace black bra and panty set.

  “It’s time to relax and get some rest, puppy.”

  She pushes my suit jacket off of my shoulders, and Jaime takes it to put on a hanger. She removes my tie next, which Sam takes to untie and neatly rolls it to put in my tie drawer. As she presses her lips against mine and pulls me into a kiss, she pushes my shirt off of my shoulders, then unbuckles my belt and pulls my pants apart. I kick off my shoes, and after she pushes my pants off of my hips to pool at my feet, I kick them aside.

  Awenasa runs her hands up my sides and around my back to release the hooks of my bra. As she pulls the bra off, Sam’s familiar hands slide inside my boy-short underwear to push them off and she kisses me squarely between my shoulder blades.

  Leaving us breathless from her incredible kiss, Awenasa pulls away to look in my eyes and caresses my cheek. “Come lay with us, my love.”

  She and Sam take my hands and pat my ass, encouraging me to climb onto the bed with the rest of our wives. I crawl across the bed and under the covers that Symone is holding up for me. As I lay back, she drapes her gorgeous milk chocolate toned and firm body over mine and I release a deep sigh of relief.

  “It feels so good to be in bed.”

  Sam lifts the covers and lightly taps Symone’s thigh, so she lifts it off of mine and Sam lays down between my thighs to rest her head on my stomach. Awenasa snuggles in on my other side, laying her head on my chest, then she and Symone start running their hands through Sam’s blonde, almost white silky straight hair.

  I look over Symone’s shoulder at Jaime, Shannon, and Madison snuggled up against each other in a train laying pressed front to back with each other. Madison is closest with her front pressed against Symone’s back. She gives me a loving smile and reaches over Symone to wiggle the tip of my nose.

  “You look so sleepy right now.”

  “I’m exhausted, but my mind is racing.”

  Sam runs a hand over my abs as she gives me a few light kisses, and asks, “What are you thinking about, baby?”

  “Too much. I don’t even know how to focus on a single thought right now.”

  Sam’s lips continue to paint my abs, the center of my breasts, and my hips, while she runs her hand over the inside of my hip and my side. As she’s lowering her head to the sensitive space below my belly button, she quietly asks, “Anything we can do to help you relax?”

  I release a deep groan of pleasure as she firmly sucks my skin on the inside my hip and at the top of my bikini line. Just before Awenasa pulls me back into a kiss, I see Jaime roll over onto Shannon and Madison pulls on Symone’s hip, having her turn over. I smile as my mouth is filled with Awenasa’s toothpaste sweetened tongue and she starts massaging my breasts and kneading my nipples.

  Sam’s hands and mouth paint their love over my abs, hips, and thighs. She works slowly and softly, as if she’s kissing delicate flower petals and doesn’t want to bruise them. It’s invigorating and marvelously in contrast to the firmer touch of Awenasa’s hand on my breasts. My body and mind literally feel like they are unwinding like a rope that’s bearing a heavy weight and is slowly being cut, one thread at a time, till the braids fray and flail apart, then the rope snaps, releasing it from the burden completely.

  As Sam’s warm tongue glides up the full length of my center, a shutter ripples through my entire body, indicating the first solid strand in my metaphorical rope has cut through completely. The impact forces my head back, breaking my lips from Awenasa’s, and I release a long quiet moan, joining the beautiful sounds of our wives making love to each other next to us.

  Awenasa smiles down at me as she caresses my cheek, and says, “I love you, puppy.”

  “I love… you… Oh…” I gasp as my body shutters again from Sam’s wonderful worship between my thighs. I grab Awenasa’s ass, and between panting breaths, I ask her to, “Come up here.”

  She gives me another brief kiss, then sits up and straddles my head to hold onto the headboard. I run my hands up her smooth muscular thighs and over her thick sculpted ass, pulling her center down against my parted and moaning mouth.

  Thread by thread, my mind and body continue to unwind in the passionate and tender touch and embrace of my wives while we make love to each other. In a haze of heavy breathing and moans, we paw at each other with such longing that it’s as if this is the first time that we’ve made love as a full family in months instead of days. The seven of us entwine and bring each other to climax multiple times, melting the stress of the week out of every fiber till we crumble to the bed entangled, panting for air, and unable to move.

  Madison places a weak hand on my cheek, turning me to face her. Even in the dim lighting, her gorgeous bright green eyes are radiant and her full lips are curled in a sweet smile.

  “You finally look relaxed and happy for the first time in days.”

  I nod as I tilt my head enough to peck her lips, and breathe, “I feel pretty amazing right now. I love all of you. Thank you for being so supportive and wonderful. I can’t imagine a life without…”

  My jaw immediately tenses as my eyes suddenly flood with
tears and a small sob bounces painfully in my throat.

  “Oh, sweetie.” Shannon runs a hand over my chest to rest on my collarbone and kisses my tightly pinched lips. “Please don’t keep allowing what happened to Janell to poison your beautiful excitement you have for pregnancy. All of us still want more children. We need you to be happy and excited about that, not fearful.”

  Sam climbs over our wives to lay down on top of me and she firmly kisses my lips and wet eyes. “After Maddi and I graduate, I want to start trying to get pregnant, even if Maddi decides to wait so she can start her singing career. I don’t want you to be tense and scared. I’m already going to be both of those things. I want and need you to act like a goofball when we find out I’m pregnant.”

  “Why are you going to be tense and scared? If you’re scared, you don’t have to. I don’t want…”

  She kisses my lips, cutting me off, then wipes her eyes and mine, wiping away our tears. “I was scared before Janell and Eerin even came into our lives. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of the morning sickness because I hate throwing up. I’m afraid of having horrible hormonally driven mood swings that make my wives hate me because I’m already prone to mood swings. I’m afraid of vain things like gaining weight, swollen ankles, and stretch marks. I’m afraid of many things, but dying isn’t one of them. Two of my wives are incredible healers, and the rest of you are so attentive and loving that I don’t have any fear that you all won’t do everything possible to keep me healthy during this. I know it’s possible for anything to happen, but the odds are in my favor and that’s what I’m focused on. Kayla, it has been my dream to have children with you since we were dating in high school. Please don’t take this dream away from me by succumbing to this fear. You have been drilling it into me for four years that I have to stop thinking about and posing ‘what-if’ scenarios because they are toxic. Please, baby, I need you to get this out of your head. I need you to be excited about me getting pregnant.”

  I release a deep sob as I tightly wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her sweet slightly sweaty neck. “I’m sorry. I love you so fucking much, Sam. I do want to have more babies with all of you. I want you to have a wonderful pregnancy and I promise I’m going to sort this out. I promise. I’m going to be your dependable goofball. I promise.”

  Sam releases a laughing sob and kisses my shoulder. “I love you, Kayla.” She lifts her head and kisses my lips and wipes my eyes. “Time to stop worrying and get some sleep.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  My heart is bursting with pride and I want to be the first to get my arms around Madison and Sam, but I think if I was to push past their teary eyed, bouncing mothers, they might actually body slam me. I laugh a little as Eliza gets Sam in her arms and rocks her side to side as she kisses her daughter all over her face, and Susan similarly gushes over Madison. After a couple of minutes of the mothers hogging them, their fathers give them hugs and a single kiss on their foreheads, then the rest of us are finally able to give them hugs and kisses.

  As Sam throws her arms around the back of my neck, she pulls me into a brief passionate kiss, then pulls away to look in my eyes smiling.

  “I’m so proud of both of you. You were beautiful up there receiving your diplomas.”

  “Thanks, baby. Oh, Candi!”

  Candi bounces over with a giant smile on her face and her parents and Carmen tailing her. After wrapping her arms around both of us, Candi playfully pushes Sam off of me and pulls me into a tight hug. I scoop her up for a moment and kiss her cheek.

  Her long blonde hair is gently blowing in the breeze, her light brown eyes are glistening with happiness, and her creamed honey toned cheeks are tinged with a light pink from recently crying. She looks really beautiful.

  Sometimes I can’t believe we were able to remain such close friends with how things started off with Candi and Carmen. Before Madison and I met Shannon and decided to try being a family, we had a threesome with Candi, then a foursome with Sam when she showed up on campus to try to win me back. Then the next day, I fingered Carmen for the rest of them to watch in the alley behind the diner that Carmen worked at. We haven’t been intimate with them since, but they have become two of our closest friends and are now managing our merchandise business.

  I’m really happy that graduation is not a goodbye for us; it’s a gateway for us to actually have more time together. With them freed from their college obligations, we’ll be able to have them travel with us more. Which will help with Candi’s travel blog she started a couple of years ago that hasn’t quite taken off yet because she hasn’t had enough time to travel because of school.

  As I set her down, she giggles, and asks, “Did you see me trip on my gown when I got my diploma?”

  I feign ignorance, shaking my head. “No, you looked very graceful.”

  “Yeah, as graceful as a baby deer standing up for the first time.”

  “You played it off very well. You’re coming back to the house to celebrate, right?”

  “Do you really have to ask? I have some people I want to talk to, but we’ll be there.”

  “Kayla!”

  Whitney leaps forward and throws her arms around me as Candi is narrowly sliding out of my embrace to avoid being tackled by Whitney, making all of us laugh.

  “Congratulations. Did Chris decide if he and his parents are coming for the party?”

  She nods as she looks around on her tiptoes, saying, “Yes, they’re coming, if I ever find them again.” She looks at me again, then pulls me back into another tight hug and kisses my cheek. “God, I’m going to miss you so much.”

  Whitney was my roommate for my one and only year of college. We weren’t close till she started having problems with her boyfriend, whom I ended up having to protect her from. Which landed me in the hospital with broken ribs and fingers and a really bad black eye. We have become very close, like family.

  “I’m going to miss you too. I’m going to miss being able to throw together impromptu barbeques and movie nights to be able to see you. I hope your new employer can handle me pulling you out of work for frequent vacations.”

  Whitney laughs and kisses my cheek. “I don’t know about ‘frequent’, but we’re definitely going to see each other as often as I can manage without being fired.”

  I wave a flippant hand with a cocky grin. “I’ll just buy the company for you, then no one can complain about how often you take off.”

  “Right.” She laughs hard and shakes her head. “I don’t want to buy this company. But I’ll keep the offer in mind for when I decide I want to go into business for myself.” She winks with an affectionate smile. “You can be my sugar daddy then.” She giggles and leans in to whisper, asking, “Do they still call you that?”

  I laugh hard and lick my lips as I shrug a shoulder. “No, not really. Sam does sometimes, but it’s not common anymore. But seriously, if you ever need anything, a car, a house, a fancy vacation, a sack of money to follow your dreams, a bodyguard, whatever you need, you let me know.”

  “You forgot snuggle buddy.”

  “Ah, yes, we can’t forget that.”

  She grins with misty eyes and leans in to hug me tightly. “I’m really going to miss you. I don’t want to drift apart.”

  “Neither do I. If you ever feel like that’s happening, please let me know. Our schedules are so insane and I know they’re going to get worse, at least for the next couple of years. I don’t want to accidentally neglect our friendship. If I ever do, tell me so I can fix it.”

  “I will. Your old friend is watching. I think she wants to talk to you.”

  She releases me and nods behind me. I look over my shoulder and my eyes lock with Shane’s, who’s standing about fifteen yards away with her parents and some friends. I take a deep breath and slowly walk towards her and she meets me halfway between our groups.

  “Congratulations.”

  She blushes as she needlessly tucks a short strand of her pixie blonde hair behind her ear. “Th
ank you. You, uh, have been in the news a lot. How is the baby?”

  My body tenses defensively, as if Eerin is here and I need to protect her from Shane. But Eerin is at home with my family and I know Shane would never do something to hurt a living, breathing baby.

  “She’s really great. She’s healthy and she’s a sweetie.”

  “That’s good. I’m sorry about what happened to her mom. I bet you wish you stayed home that day.”

  My jaw tenses and my eyes narrow as frustration fills my chest. “No, I’m happy I was there to help her and that I’m going to be able to give her daughter a good life and a loving family. I feel honored and blessed that the spirits brought me into their lives.”

  Shane looks down and her shoulders shake while she inhales deeply. She shakes her head and looks up with tears brimming in her eyelids.

  “I will never be able to understand you. One of my cousins got into some trouble with drugs a few years ago and the family had to decide who was going to take her baby till she cleaned her life up or the state would have taken custody of her. My family fought about it for months, trying to guilt the others into taking the baby. My grandparents ended up with her because no one else would take her. I think most people are like that though. But you are so different. Even seeing how upset you were,” she looks around to make sure no one is close by, “after what I did, I didn’t fully believe you would have preferred it the other way. You know, no pill. But now, I believe it and I feel so sick to my stomach from it. Kayla, I’m so sorry. I really am.”

  I really want to argue against her assumption that most people would handle that situation the same way her family did with her cousin’s baby. I want to rip apart her assumption that I would have preferred never to have met Janell and Eerin. I want to drill it into her that just because she and the people closest to her would do something so heartless as to turn their backs on a defenseless baby does not mean most people would do the same. But I can’t. I really don’t want to rehash this with Shane and become emotional or angry with all of these people around us. I am all too aware of the fact that people have been watching us all day, taking pictures, and even recording our interactions, as they are now. So, even though my blood is boiling, I have to keep my cool so the secret of what Shane did to my family remains a secret.