by Amy DeMeritt
“I wanted to take your name.” She pouts and crosses her arms on her chest, making me smile and laugh a little. “You still can. I mean, polygamy is illegal, so I can’t legally marry all of you, but name changes aren’t hard to do.”
“So, is she just going to move in with us? Are you even going to ask Shannon if that’s ok?” I exhale and drop my head again. Shannon lifts my face and leans forward to gently kiss my lips. “She is welcome to come live with us when she’s ready.” I smile and pull her into a hug. “Thank you. I love you so much.” She runs her hand through my hair and squeezes me closer. “I love you too, sweetie.”
“Are we going to get a chance to get to know her, like I did with Shannon?”
“I’m sure she would be fine with talking to all of you, but you have to be nice.” Sam pouts and looks away for a moment before looking back at me with slightly narrowed eyes. “Why are you singling me out as someone that will be mean to her?”
I laugh a little and look at Madison and Shannon, both of whom are looking at Sam with bemused looks, as if they can’t believe she needs that explained to her.
“Maddi and Shannon have already given me their support and haven’t fought me on this at all. You’re the one ready to leap through this computer and capture me in chains to lock me up in a tower, baby.” Madison and Shannon release a small giggle and Sam sticks her tongue out at me. “Excuse me for not liking the idea of your love being diluted even more.”
My jaw falls open and I feel like she has just slapped me in the face.
“What do you mean, ‘diluted more’? When do I make you feel like you get less from me than you should?”
She shrugs her shoulders, but doesn’t say anything. I cross my arms on my chest and sit back with anger welling up inside. She stares me down and tries to give me a hard stare, but then her look softens and she exhales and looks away, shaking her head.
“Fine, you don’t make me feel like I don’t get enough of you, but what if it happens when she moves in with us?” I groan and throw my head back in my hands. “God, I wish I could fucking take ‘what if’ out of your goddamn vocabulary. If I don’t do it now, then you have to trust me that I’ll never neglect you, Sam. You just need to trust me.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke? You want me to be able to trust you when you’ve had a wife all this time and never told us or at least told us that you’re in love with another girl that you may or may not have a chance with?” I frown and look down, feeling justly scolded. “I know I messed up, but I never really lied about anything or kept anything else from you. Did I seriously lose your trust?” I look up and Sam tries to look mad, but she shakes her head and looks down for a moment, before looking in my eyes. “No, I still trust you. I’m just really mad.”
“Will you be able to forgive me?”
“Eventually, but I want to stay mad at you a little longer.” I pout and lean forward some. “Why do you want to be mad at me?” She smiles a little and shrugs a shoulder. “Because, I like the extra attention you give me when I’m upset with you.” I frown and narrow my eyes at her. Before I can say anything, Madison says, “Sam, knock it off. That’s not fair. You can’t pretend to be mad to take advantage of her feelings like that for your own gain. That’s not love; that’s being selfish.” Sam blushes and looks down in a shameful way. “Why did you have to fall in love with a psychologist?”
“Excuse me? Don’t you love me?” Sam looks up and smiles really big. “Yeah, I love you, Maddi, but its Kayla’s fault that I love you.”
“So, loving me is a bad thing now?” Sam laughs and shakes her head. “No, I’m just trying to be funny.”
“This is Sam’s defense mechanism when she doesn’t like something. She’ll pick on you even when she doesn’t mean it, just to try to make light of the situation to make herself feel better about it. It’s how she tries to chill out. Sometimes, she’s just really mean, and sometimes she’s playful. Right now, she’s trying to be playful.”
“Brat.” Sam grins at Madison and puckers her lips. “I love you, baby.” Madison makes a “mm hmm” sound and sits back with her arms crossed. “Love you too, brat.” Sam laughs a little and then looks at me again. “Why couldn’t you tell us this when we were all together?”
“I didn’t know till we were on the plane coming home. I was sitting there playing back the whole day and then it hit me what I had done. I don’t regret telling you I want to marry all of you, but I was worried about what Awenasa would say. I told her everything and she told me she wasn’t upset with me and then made a couple comments that hinted at wanting to be together. She’s been doing that since you broke up with me, but said I had to wait till the summer to know what she meant. But this time she decided to tell me.”
“So, she felt threatened.”
“No, that’s not why she told me.”
“Then why did she tell you now, right after you told her that you want to marry us?” I exhale in frustration and unlock my phone, bringing up the conversation with Awenasa. “This is what she said when I asked her why she decided to tell me now. ‘Because, I could tell how torn you were between all of us. You were holding onto hope in us when you didn’t know if you should or not. I felt guilty about letting you feel so confused and torn like that. I wanted to surprise you in the summer with the news, but I just couldn’t keep it to myself. The excitement of it was getting to me too. I just had to tell you.’” I lock my phone and look back up at Sam, waiting for her to say something.
“You said earlier that you tell her everything and that she knows everything that’s been going on. What kind of things do you talk to her about? Do you complain about us to her?” I laugh and shake my head. “You know, I think you’re going to school for the wrong field. You should be an interrogator for the government.”
Madison and Shannon giggle and Sam gives me a stern look with her arms crossed. I smile at her and shake my head.
“I don’t complain about any of you, ever. I don’t have anything to complain about. Even when you’re being a brat like this. She knows everything that happened that brought us to this point. I’ve told her about stuff we do together, like making cupcakes with Shannon and Maddi, doing the lanterns – she really liked hearing about the lanterns and Shannon’s explanation behind it.” I glance at Shannon and she’s smiling affectionately at me. “I told her about us cooking together, snuggling and watching movies, dancing together, just pretty much everything. I sent her a couple clips of Maddi’s concert. She said you’re beautiful and have an amazing voice.” Madison smiles really big and her cheeks blush a little. “I told her about us carving pumpkins for Halloween and handing out candy to the kids instead of going to the party at Josh’s house. I told her about what happened with Maddi’s parents, making the dance video, and then the stuff that happened between us in the woods.”
“When did you have a chance to tell her all of that? How did you talk every day when we were pretty much together the entire time?” My face blushes and I rub the back of my neck nervously. “Sometimes when I was sitting with all of you, or when I’d go to the bathroom or if I got up earlier than the rest of you. When we got back from the airport and were sitting around the fire, I told her what happened at the airport and that we had to go talk to Maddi’s parents the next day.”
“Were you talking to her before we came out and watched the sunrise with you?” I smile and shake my head. “No, I didn’t even have my phone with me. I was sitting there thinking about all of you and how close we are and how happy I am with all of you. I was really happy we had survived our first major test to our family’s strength. That’s when you called up to me asking what I was doing.”
“What else do you talk about?”
“Everything, like I do with all of you. We tell each other about our day and we talk about memories and stuff.”
“Do you tell her our secrets?” I smile and shake my head. “If you’ve told me something in confidence or that I don’t think you’d appreciate being shared, I don’t share
it.”
“When can we talk to her?”
“I’ll have to ask her when she’s available.”
“Will this be the last one?” I smile and laugh a little. “Yes.” Her eyes narrow and her lips pucker in a challenging way. “What if one us meets someone we want to add?”
Shannon and Madison exhale in frustration and I just stare at Sam, not saying anything. Sam stares me down for a full minute with no one saying anything. I grab my bottle of water and take a sip before looking at her and I shake my head.
“No. This family is closed to five. If someone meets someone new, they have to decide who they love more and who they want to be with the most. We’re not adding anymore women to this family. The only additions will be children, lots of children.” Sam smiles and she puckers her lips at me. “Ok, Daddy.” I smile really big and laugh a little. “You really are a brat, you know that?” She laughs and shrugs a shoulder. “You love it. Does she know we call you Daddy?”
“Yes.”
“What does she call you?”
I blush and grin, looking down. Madison and Shannon giggle and Madison lifts my face to look at her. She gently caresses my cheek and kisses my lips.
“You don’t have to tell us, baby.”
I smile and pull her back into a kiss. She grants me access to fully kiss her and she puts so much into it that I feel like I’m being pulled into her and I’m suddenly on the edge of my seat and slip off. Madison pulls back and giggles as she catches me under my arms.
“Damn, that was an amazing kiss, Maddi. What are you trying to do to me?” She smiles really big and nips my bottom lip. “I love you too, baby.”
I smile really big and sit back in my chair.
“Are we good?” I look at Sam expectantly and she nods once. “Yeah, you didn’t make me hate you.”
I smile really big and she laughs a little as my anxiety and stress melts off of me.
“Thank you. I really do love all of you more than I can explain in words.”
Chapter Seventeen
After my last class, I came over Shannon’s to try to study and get some homework done before she and Madison got home, but I ended up falling asleep. I’m awoken by someone pulling my textbook off my chest. I open my eyes and see Madison sitting next to me with a cute little smile on her face.
“Hey, baby. How was your day?”
Before I answer, I scoot over some and motion for her to join me. She smiles and lays down next to me with her head on my chest.
“It was long. How was yours?”
“Same. I’m really nervous about finals. A couple of my professors are trying to cram in a bunch of last minute stuff that we’re not even going to get to go over in class at all before the final.”
“I have that in one of my classes too. That’s what I was reading over in my biology book when I fell asleep.” Madison lifts my shirt some and she starts absentmindedly tracing my abs. “You do that a lot, baby.” I laugh a little. “Yeah, I’ve never been a fan of studying.” She looks up at me with a grin and I smile really big. “Well, except when you help me study. That kissing technique of yours is amazing.”
Madison laughs a little and places a hand on my chest. Her eyes catch my necklace and she smiles and lifts the silver hawk charm and looks at the detailed braiding of the cord.
“This is nice. Is it new?”
“Yeah, Awenasa made it for me.” Her eyes get big. “She made this? It’s beautiful. Did she make the cord?”
“Yeah, she made all of it. One of her uncles is a silversmith and he helped her make the charm.”
“That’s really impressive.”
“Yeah, she is.” Madison giggles a little and kisses my lips. “I know you hate when Sam asks you ‘what if’ questions, but I want to give you the answer to one I know you’d never ask me.” I nervously toy at my bottom lip and she smiles and nips my bottom lip free from my teeth with her own teeth. “If that one weekend never happened, and it was just the two us till she told you that she was ready for a relationship, I would still give you this and not make you choose.” I smile really big and squeeze her closer. “I know you would, Maddi. I love you so much.”
“I love you too.” She pulls back some and kisses my lips, before laying her head back down on my chest. “We really should be studying right now.” I squeeze her closer and she releases a small content moan. “I don’t want to. I’m comfortable with you laying on me.”
“You’d stay like this forever if we let you.”
“True.”
“Maybe just a small nap. I’m really tired.”
I run my fingers through her hair and rub her back and shoulder, making her purr against me. I kiss her head and she snuggles in tighter against me. Just as I’m starting to fall asleep again, I hear Shannon come in. She comes around the corner and plops down on the other section of the sectional sofa with her head in her hands.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” She looks up at me and shakes her head before rolling over and turning her back to us. I squeeze Madison’s arm and she sits up a little dazed. “Let me up, Maddi.”
She looks between me and Shannon and quickly gets up. I walk over to sit down next to Shannon and try to gently turn her, but she stiffens and won’t turn over. I lay down and wrap my arm around her.
“Can we get you something, baby?”
She shakes her head and entwines her fingers with mine, pulling my arm more tightly around herself. I kiss her cheek and shoulder a moment before glancing over at Madison. She looks worried. Madison comes over and lifts Shannon’s feet to cradle in her lap. While I hold her in my arms, Madison rubs her feet and legs. Shannon releases a deep exhale of air and tightens her grip on my arm again. After several minutes of just holding her, Shannon shifts in my arms to face us and takes a deep breath.
“Our annual reviews started. I was pulled into a meeting before leaving work today because they had some questions about my relationship with a previous patient.” My heart starts racing. She looks at me and blushes a little. “Did I get you in trouble?” She smiles a little a shakes her head. “You didn’t do anything to get me in trouble, sweetie. Apparently, they went through the patient reviews and comments and they loved what you had to say about your stay and the care I gave you. They asked my supervisor for more details on what you went through and what I did to help you. Well, I guess she made a comment that she thinks it’s cute that we ended up together, and they didn’t like that. They wanted to know if it started while you were in the hospital and if I abused work hours to have a relationship with you.”
“So, what’s going to happen?” She shrugs a shoulder. “I don’t know. My supervisor gave me a rave review, but they’re looking more deeply at my work from that week. I guess if they think I was abusing my work hours to be with you, then I might be placed on warning or something, but I really don’t know.”
“Is there anything I can do or someone I can talk to?” She smiles and kisses my lips. “No, sweetie. This is my fault and I’ll have to deal with whatever happens.”
“No, it’s not. It’s my irresistible sex appeal’s fault.” I smile broadly and they laugh. “Well, that definitely didn’t help at all. I’m not upset with you or regret what we did. I’m just worried about what their decision will be. They really scrutinize pretty closely in annual reviews. We had a few girls that were let go last year because they took too long of breaks.”
“I feel terrible now. Did they tell you when you’ll know something?” She shakes her head. “It could be a few days or not till after the new year. I’m pretty sure I was always on time punching back in from my breaks and lunches. I’m just not sure if they will question the extra time I sometimes lingered in your room when I was taking your vitals or bringing you meals.”
“How can they possibly be upset with that? Those were such beautiful moments. My baby was falling in love with me and it was so beautiful to watch.” She smiles really big and kisses my lips. “I loved watching you fall in love with me too.”
/> “So, worst case scenario, how bad could it be?” Her smile fades and she shakes her head. “I really don’t think they’d fire me, but it’s a possibility.”
“God, that night just won’t stop ruining people’s lives.”
I stand up and head to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. As I’m closing the fridge and twisting the cap off, Shannon and Madison enter the kitchen. After I take a drink, Shannon takes the bottle from me and sets it on the counter. She takes my arms and wraps them around her waist, before wrapping hers around my neck.
“Whatever happens, it’s not your fault, sweetie. You never tried to hold me up or keep me from getting back to work. Any delay I had in getting back to work is on me. I really don’t think they’ll find anything. I think I’m just upset that the investigation is taking place at all. It’s just insulting because everyone knows my work ethic. Plus, it feels like my sexuality and relationship are being judged and scrutinized, which really irritates me because its none of their business.”
“I’m still going to feel responsible if something happens. I’m supposed to take care of you, not get you in trouble at work.” Shannon smiles and presses her lips to mine, holding them against mine for a few moments. “You’re just too sweet sometimes. You’re always trying to shoulder blame and responsibility for others so they don’t have to feel the weight of their actions, but this is my weight to bear. Please allow me to show responsibility for my own actions.” I pout and she smiles and kisses my pouty lips. “No.” She giggles and kisses my lips again. “Please, Daddy?” I smile and pull her closer. “Still, no.” She slightly squints her eyes with a challenging smirk. She smiles broadly and laughs a little before saying, “Chief Dancing Wolf-Slayer, may I have permission to slay this wolf on my own?” Madison and I laugh and I shake my head. “You’re adorable. We’ll face this wolf together, baby.” She smiles and kisses my lips. “Ok, I’ll accept that. I’m going to go change out of my scrubs and then I’ll make dinner.”
She tries to pull back, but I don’t let go of her. She smiles and giggles a little bit. “Are you going to let me go?” I smile and shake my head. She smirks and coos in my ear, “Please, Daddy?”