Island Cultural Center

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  Brenda smiled and said, “First, get naked. Make sure he is watching if he wants to. Put on our bra and then our panties. Bend over as needed for displaying our assets before and during the ritual. Our husband examines us with his eyes, and hands if he feels the desire, and takes mental pictures to be replayed at his leisure throughout the time that we are wearing clothing.”

  Brenda picked up her dress and pulled it over her head.

  She turned her back to me and said, “As you put on your dress, give your man a chance to take part in this sacred moment of preparation by having him zip you or do some other little task to prepare you. When you are in your dress or other garments, but before putting on any footwear, turn and offer a kiss to him as a sign of thanks for how pleased you are with him and the life that he creates with you.”

  Brenda turned and kissed me sweetly.

  Lisa exhaled loudly and said, “Damn. The student becomes the master. Mistress Brenda, take me as a disciple, I beg you. Let me learn at your feet and follow in your footsteps. Your kung fu is very strong.”

  Brenda smiled and said, “Follow me little flower and we will discover the mountain together.”

  Then she nodded at Lisa’s dress and waited. Lisa grinned and imitated Brenda’s ritual and when I had zipped her dress she kissed me in the same way.

  Brenda laughed and said, “Lisa, how do you know so much about this stuff?”

  Lisa said, “The same way that you knew how to take my ritual so much farther than I did. I just know. Brenda, I love you. Thank you for not rejecting me.”

  Brenda and Lisa pulled on sandals as Brenda said, “Rejecting you? When?”

  Lisa said, “Well just now for one thing. When I told you how to dress. And earlier when Ronny was making love with you and you let me be here. And all afternoon while we shopped. And when we came here and we all moved in together. And in the shower. And at the store when I decided that I was going to come with you. All of that.”

  Brenda said, “I had no authority to reject you. The universe sent you here and it’s not my place to fight it. Not if I want to stay and be part of it. I could leave, but I can’t keep you away.”

  As we left the room, Brenda said, “This bra is really amazing. And Lisa, I liked the shower. I didn’t know how that would be but It was good. We will shower together whenever you want to.”

  Chapter 8 - Business

  The restaurant by the pool wasn’t crowded. Only one table was full when we arrived. The hostess seated us far away from the other diners, beside the pool. It was dark and inviting and cozy.

  We ordered iced tea and an appetizer and gave the waiter our food order at the same time.

  When we were alone, I said, “Girls, I want to clarify some things. Answer some questions. The answers are what they are.”

  Brenda said, “Ronny, take us wherever you want to go. Neither of us have questions.”

  Lisa pursed her lips in thought and said, “You know, she’s right. If you don’t want to answer questions, we don’t need to ask them.”

  I said, “That’s amazing and that’s why I need to answer these questions. The question is not so much what, but why. Why we don’t have questions or need answers. And then we will make plans. Tentative plans if not concrete ones. Here goes.”

  The waiter brought our drinks and I waited for him to leave.

  I said, “Here’s how it is. We are together. We are because we are. Brenda was sent here to find me. Lisa has been waiting for me and Brenda. Lisa, when you saw the thing that was forming between Brenda and me, you knew that it was time to join us. You had been watching me, and maybe even falling in love if we will accept that, but there was no family for you to be part of yet. Brenda came because she was sent. This morning she came to me and I accepted what was happening and told her what it was. That she was meant for me. That I would take her and care for her. Brenda, when Lisa saw it, she saw that she was part of it. So did I. Brenda and I talked about it as soon as we left the store. We knew that you had decided and that somehow you knew that it was going to be this way even without talking about it. You didn’t need an invitation from me. You had a ticket and that gave you a seat.

  Let me change the language for a few minutes. I’m going to say it again in a different way.

  The universe chose a life for me. It had a plan. It sent Brenda to find me. It had Lisa waiting for us to come to her. It tossed us into a bowl like ingredients in a recipe and mixed us together into something new and delicious. That’s the answer that I have to any of our questions.

  Now, some facts. We’re doing this. Lisa, Brenda told you that we were on our honeymoon. You knew that she was both lying and telling the truth at the same time. Now, we are all on our honeymoon and that’s just pure truth. I am going to marry both of you. We’re going to Vegas and getting it done. I tell you how that works when it becomes important. I am your husband and you are my wives and that’s the life we have to figure out. Where we live, where we work, what cars we own, all of that. It’s happening and I’m not going to ask if you are OK with it. If you weren’t, you would be somewhere else. I’m not forcing anything. Just accepting it and being honest about it.

  We can postpone those decisions about where we live and our jobs and things like that for a bit if we want to, but if you are worried about them, let’s do it now. I told Brenda this morning that if she had any old clothes that didn’t absolutely delight her that she needed to throw them out and never touch them again. That is a guiding principle for us. If some part of our lives doesn’t delight us, we throw it away. Any comments?”

  Brenda smiled and said, “When do we get started on what you said was the key important thing that you were really looking for?”

  I grinned and said, “You mean the sex?”

  She nodded.

  I said, “Right after dessert. But seriously, I’ve been intentionally holding back. It’s been…difficult and frustrating. I wanted to say ‘hard’ and that would have been the truth but let’s say difficult and frustrating. But for me, necessary.”

  Lisa jumped in and said, “Yeah, but not really. We want it but we want it to be right. This is permanent, isn’t it? This isn’t a fling. This isn’t a holiday affair. This is real. A commitment. A lifestyle. This is family holidays and where our mail gets delivered and doctor appointments and neighbors and friends and retirement accounts.”

  I said, “It is. All of that. And none of us wants to have sex without that stuff. I don’t. You don’t either. That’s why none of us consider ourselves sexually experienced, because we have limited ourselves in that regard to things that meant something. I was married to one woman for over 30 years. And I never slept around before, during, or since. Yeah, I touched Brenda to the point of real excitement, but that’s because we have a license for that much activity, if not for more just yet. We know what’s happening intuitively, but before we go ‘all the way’, we need to be explicit. Like adults. What I have done with Brenda, and Lisa too, just kissing, we could have done as high school kids. Some exciting experimentation and petting. I’m not sure that high school kids should go quite that far all the time, but come on, we did it. I was in college when I touched my first real live boobs but you know what I mean.”

  Lisa said, “I do know what you mean. I made my decision to follow you out of the store, even though I was afraid to really believe. You kissed me and I knew that my fate was sealed and that my life was bound to yours. But yeah, we need to be adults. My body knows what it knows. My brain needs to give us permission to do what we are going to end up doing anyway.”

  Brenda said, “So what do we do?”

  I said, “We continue to talk for a while. About all of those things that Lisa mentioned. Houses, cars, neighbors, jobs, and how the lawn gets mowed.”

  Lisa said, “Do you have a plan?”

  I said, “Maybe. But we do this together. I’ll tell you what will happen if I think that I know, and you tell me if I get it right.”

  Brenda said, “Fair en
ough. I don’t have much to say about it. I don’t own anything. I don’t have a job. I’m actually homeless. That’s going to be a great story. About how Ronny went to Kauai and married a homeless bag lady.”

  Lisa said, “I have a home and a job and things like that, but I can become homeless very quickly if that’s what I need to do.”

  I took a breath and said, “OK. Step by step. Brenda, will you marry me?”

  Brenda smiled and said, “Of course I will. I take you to be my husband now and always, for as long as we live and I accept and love Lisa as your wife and lover as well. Ooh. That felt weird. Good weird. Tingly.”

  I said, “Lisa, will you marry me?”

  Lisa said seriously, “I will. With honor. You will be my man, my husband, my lover, and my king. You and Brenda, forever and ever. From this moment onward with no thought of ever being with anyone else or apart from either of you. If you die first, Brenda and I will stay together and care for each other the way that you would have cared for us. I swear.”

  Brenda said, “Lisa, I will love you. I will. I mean it.”

  Lisa said, “I know.”

  I said, “OK. We’re engaged. But not yet married. Not just yet. There is a waiting and planning period for a reason. We have to make sure our goals, other than simply being together, are aligned.

  I plan to go back to Blythe. I have friends there and for several important reasons, I plan to go back.”

  Lisa said, “But well, how will that work? I mean, will your friends know about this and us and everything or what? Is one of us a sister as far as the public is concerned?”

  I said, “One of my friends is Brenda’s nephew. And I know his in-laws. The nephew, Dave, has a family of four. He and his three wives. And his father-in-law has two. It isn’t a cult. It’s just what happened to them the same way it happened to us. Part of the reason to go back is to get to know all of them and have their support and wisdom in this.

  So, Brenda definitely comes with me. Lisa, I don’t want a long-distance relationship. If I turn over in bed and don’t bump into you, something is wrong. I’m not commuting between you and California.

  Now, we could keep Lisa’s condo if she’s attached to it, but it sounds like it’s too small for us all to be comfortable there, even if we vacation here, and she says that it won’t really generate any income. Lisa, how do you feel about selling it?”

  Lisa said brightly, “Your wish is my command. But before we make other decisions, what is our financial situation?”

  I said, “I’m an author. My books make a living. I got lucky. I own my house in Blythe. I make enough for all of us to live on. We’ll need to cut back on some of my travel, but you girls won’t have to work in order to feed us.”

  Lisa said, “But if we work, do we get more vacations? I say that Brenda and I get jobs and we use that money for travel. I do love the islands.”

  I said, “Here’s a thought. Work for me. I can think of ways that you can increase our income without having to get a paycheck. If you have a job, we have money but you can’t take as many vacations as we’d like to because you would have jobs. We can work this out. Anyway, our financial situation is that we have enough to live on, but we aren’t exactly in a position to buy a yacht.”

  Lisa said, “Then selling our condo is a good idea. We bank the money and invest it and generate some passive income. It’s worth quite a bit if we can find a buyer.”

  I said, “Lisa, I think that you should give two weeks notice. Leave on good terms. You may not need a reference, but having friends here on Kauai won’t hurt. Brenda and I will extend my stay and wait for you to finish the time. After that, we’ll stick around for a few more days and then head back home and figure out our next steps.

  We need to go see the rental car place and get both of you on as drivers. Lisa, you can sell your car too. People would think that maybe we should keep both the condo and the car and use them while we’re here, and when we visit, but it will be much cheaper to rent for those times when we need them.

  When we get back, we’ll go to Vegas. One of you can be the one with a marriage license and the other will have a commitment certificate. It’s not a legal document, but we go through a ceremony and it’s certainly official enough for us.”

  Brenda said, “Um, do we even need that? Why bother? We already made vows and our names are already the same, so do we need anything more than that?”

  Lisa said, “I don’t. Let’s go down to the beach, strip off our clothes and do a baptism wedding. We wash off our old lives and come out of the water married to each other. That would mean the most to me. And the danger makes it real.”

  I looked at Brenda and she nodded her head and grinned.

  I said, “That does sound risky and fun. We’ll take care of the money stuff in my will so that everything goes to you two without any problems or questions. We’ll be getting our own medical insurance, so there won’t be a problem there either. But, one of you does need to legally marry me. In case someone is in the hospital or something. But really it has to be both of you. I’ll get a lawyer to set it up even if a marriage isn’t the way we have to go. Maybe I adopt both of you, I don’t know.”

  Lisa said, “That sounds like all we need to know. I sell my condo and my car. I move in with you in the suite. I give away or throw away anything I don’t need.”

  I said, “And that includes clothes. If you have something you love and want to bring, do it, but otherwise you get a whole new wardrobe. I insist.”

  Lisa said, “OK. I’d love that. I can get a lot of it at the store I work at. I get a generous discount. The owner is really cool. I’ve never met him, but he’s a great guy from what I can tell. I’ll toss everything tomorrow.”

  I said, “You’ll toss everything tonight. We have to wait for a few hours before we go skinny dipping, so we have time. You bag it all up and we clear out tonight. As much as possible anyway.”

  Lisa said shyly, “Actually, I hardly have anything. I don’t know why, but I’ve been clearing things out for the past year. And not spending any money. I have a lot saved up. I have a week’s worth of clothes because I do laundry every Sunday. I have enough dishes for one person. I have just enough makeup to fill a small toiletries bag. I hardly have more than you have with you. And, I have a suitcase that it will all fit in. We can leave the sheets, blankets and pillows. And no books. I have a laptop and a small tablet for reading. That’s it.”

  I smiled and said, “You really have been preparing for this, haven’t you?”

  She said, “I guess I have.”

  We ate our meal. No one felt like having dessert. After dinner, it was decided that Lisa would go start cleaning out her condo right away. She didn’t need to clear out everything, but she did want to get rid of whatever represented her old life. Brenda offered to have us go with her, but this was something that Lisa needed to do by herself. Lisa needed to be alone for this transition. She would go back to her place and then come to the suite when she was done. Brenda and I agreed to keep in mind that we weren’t “sealing the deal” until after our swim.

  The two of us went back to our room and I told Brenda to go ahead and change into a bathing suit. I told her to wear a one-piece suit and that she’d see why when we got to the beach.

  I sat down with my laptop and connected to the Internet and pulled up my cell phone provider. I ordered two new phone numbers that were very close to each other and the Sim Cards for the girls’ phones. We could keep the phones that they had for now, but I wanted new numbers on my account. We’d register them when the cards came. I chose rush delivery and closed the computer.

  Brenda came in and started undressing in the living room. She had me unzip the back of her dress and she stepped out of it and set it neatly over the back of a chair. She bent down and removed her panties, and then her bra, just like Lisa had told her to do. Laying them with her dress, she took up her swimsuit and pulled it on. The whole thing was obviously a show for my benefit and I loved every
second of it. She left the room and reappeared a minute later with my swim trunks. Motioning me to stand up, she removed my shirt and then my pants. I guess for guys, she thought that the order should be different. Laying aside my clothes and leaving me naked for a moment, she smiled and admired me.

  I wanted her so badly. I could certainly have her right now. The only reason not to was that we had told Lisa that we’d wait. If I told her that I had changed my mind, it wouldn’t matter much. I could do it if I wanted to. But if I did, and even though Lisa might accept it readily enough, there would always be the memory for both of us that I hadn’t kept my promise, even in something that didn’t matter all that much. I was a man of my word if nothing else. I could do what I wanted and what I wanted was to keep my word. It wasn’t even about keeping my word though. It was about violating the expectation that I had set. It would violate Lisa’s expectations and would cause her pain, even if only for a moment. In other circumstances she might welcome a change from what she had been told to expect, but not in this. I told Brenda what I was thinking and both of us were anxious for Lisa to come to us soon.

  It felt like if we even touched each other that we would drop our resolve and go at it. We’d find some way to justify it, of course. Maybe just some petting and kissing. Maybe just having her stroke me with her hand. Maybe she’d just practice kissing my penis and sucking on it a bit, just for practice. Even sitting next to each other was nearly unbearable.

  The only thing to do was to go somewhere public.

  I knew the route that Lisa would have to take to the room and Brenda and I hurried to get there and find seats at a well-lit table near the bar that served as a breakfast counter at other parts of the day. It was early and there were plenty of people around getting their complimentary Mai Tai for the evening. It took Lisa at least a half-hour to come down.

  She was surprised to see us down at the bar, but when we stood up quickly and told her to follow us, she didn’t ask questions.