Chapter 19: A Baby, Horny Dads, Playful Wives

Edie, the pretty reporter from the Dayton Daily News, appeared nonplused. “You ... err, how can I ask this delicately ... you conceived a second child last night?” She looked between Summer and me about a dozen times in ten seconds.

Summer broke into a grin that signaled something naughty had happened. “Yes, exactly.”

“How do you know you’re pregnant? You can’t tell for sure for at least a couple of weeks.”

“I can,” Summer replied firmly. “I knew it the second he ... the second his seed touched my egg. I’m certain. I’ll confirm it in a couple of weeks.”

Edie wasn’t satisfied, “No, no. Say more. I mean you must feel different today than yesterday, describe that.”

Summer spoke softly, “Jim and I connected on many levels last night – mind, body, and spirit. We resonated on such a deep level I can’t begin to describe it in human words; we can almost read each other’s thoughts and feelings, and tell every cell in each other’s bodies what to do. Our bodies were so in sync with one another, so in touch, so vibrant together; we peaked together over and over. Lastly, and on that deeper level, Jim and I were in touch with each other’s souls. I do believe we are soul mates, the feeling is that strong. In other times and dimensions, spiritual dimensions, we are loving beings or entities; here we are those loving beings having a human experience – and that’s how I know we conceived.”

Edie turned to George, “And you’re happy with this situation?”

George broke into a big grin, “Ecstatic actually. We wanted to have two children, and now we will.”

Edie sputtered, “But ... but ... didn’t your wife sleep with Mr. Mellon a couple of years ago and last night?”

George sobered a little and then toyed with the reporter, “Oh, yeah. I guess he did.” He paused and got serious; “The issue is whether the ends justify the means. In this case, and with the personalities of the people involved, we each think it did. At the request of my wife and me, Jim made love to my wife. I love them both dearly. I wasn’t sure they’d fall in love, but I am over the moon that they did. I think it’s important to the mother and the babies to know that both their parents love each other. They do.”

“Aren’t you jealous?”

“Of what? Jim putting his penis in my wife and leaving his seed. Hardly. I’d be jealous if he tried to take her away from me. I’m jealous that I can’t sing and act like he can. But am I jealous they made love, no; I think that those times they made love and connected were some of the truly beautiful moments I could gift to my wife. To tell the truth, I hope there are more in the future. They’re both special people.”

I jumped in, “Edie, there’s an underlying philosophy we all share. We share a belief in the concept of polyamory – giving your loved ones the space to love more than one person at a time. We were that way before the request to impregnant came.”

Edie nodded for me to continue.

“Most people think of love as a zero sum game. If I love Crystal, I can’t love you without taking something away from Crystal’s bucket.”

Crystal slipped into the conversation, “But what we found is that the more people you love, the bigger all your buckets get. You end up with more love than you could wish for – and I’m not talking just sex, I really mean love.”

I spoke again, “I guess we reject that zero sum game assumption, and so far I can tell you our lives are all amazing. Besides the sex, I’m talking about all the other warm and romantic feelings that go along with love. In doing that, we disavow allegiance to the principle of monogamy – that’s the shorthand name for the zero sum game.”

Edie asked, “But if you’re with Summer, you’re not with Crystal. You can’t physically be in two places at one time.”

I responded, “Right, and that brings us to the principle of ‘compersion’ – a word that got coined because our vocabulary had nothing that stood opposite the word ‘jealousy.’”

I turned to my son who had been playing on the floor between all the adults. I spoke to Edie, “How do you feel when you see my son playing well with a toy?”

Edie answered, “Happy. Glad that he’s happy and content. I can see that he’s learning something, and exercising, and growing. If I were his parents, I’d feel proud at his accomplishments and excitement when he did something new, like learn a new word or walk for the first time.”

“Do you feel threatened because I spend time with him? Would you if you were his mother?”

“No, I’d be happy for the two of you.”

“Might you derive happiness from those times because I was happy and he was happy?”

“Certainly.”

I went on, “Well, now you understand compersion. Carry that over to my being with Summer instead of Crystal.”

She turned to Crystal, “You mean you were glad he slept with Summer.”

Crystal said, “Just as George said, I was full of joy that the two of them reconnected after being apart for so long. I’m doubly happy that it happened in such a profound way and with such great results.”

Edie asked, “Did you know ahead of time that they’d have sex?”

“Well, of course. They’d already made a baby. I didn’t necessarily think they’d make a baby, but I knew of the love they had for each other. Being together was a logical event.”

“That reminds me, when did Jim tell you about his child?”

Crystal thought a moment before responding, “I think it was when I met him in Missouri after he’d been to Ohio – probably about two or three weeks after he’d seen George and Summer. He was excited that he’d probably made Summer pregnant.”

“Who else knew?”

“I think my sister Ellen and Terry our agent were at the table when he told us.”

Edie asked, “And, no one thought that was a little unusual? I mean, by then, weren’t the two of you becoming more serious?”

Crystal said, “Well, yes, I loved Jim a lot by then; I felt he also was a soul mate to me as well. I was excited and happy for him. He even told me he’d fallen in love with Summer.”

“He told you he was in love with another woman?”

“Sure. I felt glad they’d connected on such a deep level. The way he felt about Summer didn’t take anything away from what I thought we had or have. Just like last night, I was happy for both of them. Summer had such a glow this morning when they got up; I could tell they’d made love again before coming downstairs.”

Edie’s eyes practically rolled up in her head. I could tell that Crystal was subtly teasing the poor woman with increasingly shocking statements. I guessed what was coming next, and Edie fell right into her trap.

Edie said, “What did you do overnight?”

Crystal said in a level voice, “Why, I was with George, of course. I didn’t want him to feel lonely.”

The pen and pad fell out of Edie’s hand again.

After we talked for a while longer about less controversial topics, we took a break. Summer and Edie took Little James by the hands and the two of them slowly walked him down by the lake and out onto the wide dock. The air had turned crisp overnight, the harbinger of an early autumn. James was walking, but not very well and not very far. Summer let Edie carry the baby back in her arms; James liked the attention of a new female.

Crystal and I helped George put out some snacks and opened some wine for everyone. George fired up his grill and prepared to barbeque some steaks. The sun rode low in the sky, and some clouds added to the sky to make a beautiful sunset.

When Edie reached the patio she shivered. I automatically reached over and put a warm arm around her shoulders, and she just nestled in and said, “You’re a warm body, and I bet it’s going to be cold outside tonight.”

The five of us ate dinner inside, and after dinner George got a fire pit going in the middle of the back yard. The women fussed over Little James and put him to bed, and then joined the two of us outside. Summer carried a baby monitor.

As Edie walked up with the other women, she said, “I guess I’ll be going. If I leave now I can get back to Dayton before one or two in the morning.”

We all spoke at once, Summer the most emphatic, “You can’t go; you’re staying with us. We can rearrange so you can be comfortable. Besides, you haven’t finished your interviews; I know you wanted to talk some more to Crystal. Come on, this is your ‘big break’ to interview two rising megastars about anything going on in their lives.”

I could tell Edie was torn between staying and imposing on the rest of us. Maybe I sealed the deal, “Come on Edie, stay overnight.” I patted the empty seat on the small outdoor sofa beside me. Somewhat reluctantly, she sat.