Chapter 26

Dave's turn:

Sisters aren't supposed to die when they're thirty. There's an emptiness I can't begin to describe.

Also indescribable is the avalanche of thoughts surrounding Brindy and Carlita and me.

Went to Pat and Brindy's house, got the filebox with Pat's papers, met Gary and Carlie at the lawyer's office.

Short version? Mortgage insurance. House is paid off. Same thing on the car, what's left of it. Of course, insurance gives replacement value. Life insurance – a couple of policies. Brindy's listed as the beneficiary. Brindy's not going to worry about money for a long time.

Still, it's a sad ride home.

Brindy was silent for most of the trip. None of us were in a talking mood, I guess. Reality was sinking in.

Finally, Brindy spoke. "I guess we need to empty out the fridge. Perishables. The rest ... it can wait."

We went home, got an ice chest and some boxes and headed over to Pat's house. Carlita and I attended to the task at hand.

I heard Brindy sobbing. Carlita went to look for her, came back.

"She is face down in the bed. Dave, it is not easy for her."

I looked up. Pat's home. I had my own sob to add. Got Carlita wrapped around me. We finished unloading the fridge. Carlita got cleaning materials and wiped the interior down.

"Do we shut it off now?" she asked me.

"No," I said. "Worst thing we can do is turn it off. Just let it run. Let's go get Brindy."

We helped her pack up more clothes to get through the next few days and we left for home. My home. Carlita's home. And I'm hoping that Brindy finds it HER home.

There's no other way that I can see. Brindy's with US. I don't begin to understand what went through Carlita's mind, changing her from "MY Dave" and "Dave's Carlita" to this thing that popped up with all of us together. I thought maybe it was just a brain fart, and that we'd go back to Dave and Lita here and Brindy and Pat there.

Now there's no Pat. And Brindy, it has been explained to me, has no family to fall back on. Sure, I'm being all analytical. With the insurance money from Pat's policies and the money from selling Pat's house, Brindy could do a great start on her own, but that's just writing numbers on a piece of paper.

What's really apparent is that Brindy wants Dave and Carlita now. I need to get some time to talk with Carlita about this. I really want to know what she's thinking. But right now, I can't see us getting much time alone. Still, it's a goal.

We're home. I take care of unloading. Lita and Brin go inside.

Several trips later, I'm finished. Brindy hands me a glass of ice and a soft drink. "Lita says you like this stuff. Here. Come talk with us."

I need to learn to trust Carlita more. She's sitting there, still, demure, neat, looking like the same adorable creature that won my heart so fast.

"Dave, we need to talk about love and husbands and wives and families and how people live together."

My eyes darted to Brindy. "Yes, we need to talk."

"Dave, we need to know YOUR heart. You must be totally honest with us."

"Carlita Johnson, I am totally honest with you. What are we discussing?"

"I want you. You are my husband. I want you to want Brindy. She is my sister."

"You are my wife. Brindy..."

"Dave," Brindy said, "I cannot marry you. You are already married. But you said you and Carlita were married in every important way before we went to Texas. And Carlita is married. I cannot marry her, either. But here I am. I love the two of you."

Carlita slid beside her, took her hand, laced their fingers together. I remember the first time she did that to me because she turned those brown eyes to me and announced that she loved me with a finality that was almost scary. "I love Brindy also, Dave. And I know that you love Brindy..."

"So what are you saying?"

"I think Brindy should live with us."

I glanced at Brindy. She looked apprehensive. "I get the feeling that you mean..."

Lita's head bobbed. "You get to say 'no'."

I swallowed. She saw it.

"I do not think that 'no' is what you want to say. You are worried."

"It's just that three ... a triangle ... I don't know how that's supposed to work."

"It is simple, Dave," Lita said. "Just as you and I learned to live together ... you and I and Brindy will learn."

"Brindy ... a threesome?"

"Dave ... if Lita was single, I would happily live with her. If you were single ... You and me. Can you love us both?"

"I'm afraid you two might kill me."

"This is not about sex, Dave," Brindy said. "Is it, Carlita?"

"No, Dave, just as you and I are not just sex. You make me feel important and loved. That is the important part. Brindy is my friend, like the sister I did not have. There is room for her in my heart and I know that there is room in yours." She stretched her hand to Brindy. "Brindy, we need to propose to Dave."

I had two pairs of eyes looking at me, a pair of lively brown, a pair of cool blue, as the two of them knelt before me, Brindy following Carlita's lead.

"I see this in movies. A proposal on bended knee," Carlita smiled. "Dave, will you marry us?"

"Yes, Dave," Brindy followed. "Marry the two of us. We will live together and have fun together, and..." she looked at Carlita, smiling. "When we have babies, you will be the father to them because we will create them together."

"W ... wait ... have you two talked?"

Lita nodded. "We all talked – me, Pat, Brindy. You were to be father to all our children." She smiled slightly. "You were to provide sperm for them to be impregnated. At first it was to be given to a doctor for a clinic. But after ... I thought you could do them just as you would do for me. Now..." She kept her eyes locked to mine. "You have not answered our proposal."

"I will be husband to both of you."

"Good!" Brindy said. "Now help me up. This soreness is worse today."

Lita and I helped Brindy up.

"I have the stuff to make arroz con pollo," Lita announced. "I will be in the kitchen."

"Can I help?" Brindy asked. "I want to do my part."

"You are too sore right now. Dave will help you. I can do this. I will be back soon." Carlita's look told me that I was expected to know what was going on here.

She left. I turned to Brindy. "Can I rub something?"

"My neck. Lower back. Shoulders."

"Be easier in bed," I said.

Brindy looked at me like she was surprised.

"Lita, I'm gonna rub Brindy in the bedroom, 'kay?"

"Sure!" with a hint of giggle.

Not about sex. I massaged the areas she requested.

"Dave, are you SURE? I mean, you 'n' Lita ... like a perfect couple. Pat said so."

"I admit I'm kind of nervous, Brin," I said. "I love Lita to pieces. But she says..."

"She said it first. Her idea."

"So are YOU sure?"

"Me?" Are you crazy? I love Pat ... but I was jealous of Lita. At least a little bit. I ... when the idea of the four of us ... I almost made a puddle. Pat said that she really regretted that you and her ... best ever, she said." She sighed. "Don't get me wrong, me and Pat, she really rang my bells, Dave. But I ... really, not a very good lesbian. Bi. And apt to get excited by you. Lita, too, just so you know..."

"I didn't know much of this, Brin," I said.

"Did you know that Pat has ... had a toy she named 'Dave'?"

"No, I did not."

"She does. Surprisingly, it's just about exactly the same size and color." She winced as she rolled onto her back. "Not nearly as much fun as the real one, just so you know what I think."

"There are many things that you do not know, my Dave," Lita's voice said from the open bedroom door.

"And I suppose that I'm about to find some of them out."

"I don't want us to have secrets, Dave," Carlita said.

"It's kind of a biggie, though," Brindy said. "Sit down."

I looked at her, then Carlita. "Ooooo-kay..."

"You know that Pat and I ... for a year, before I turned eighteen."

"She told me that," I said. Pat had, in a private conversation after I'd seen Brindy move in with her and after Pat had pretty much accepted Carlita's place in my life.

"Before I showed up, Dave," Lita said, "They had a plan for you."

"They had a plan for me? Brin? You and Pat?"

"Yes. Pat and I had a plan. Pat could not marry you, but I could. We were going to draw you in with us and I was going to marry you, of course, depending on if I found you acceptable, but since Pat said you were acceptable, I sort of assumed..."

Carlita smiled. "And then I showed up and married you first."

"See, Dave," Brindy said, "Pat and I, we were going to be your wife and your sister, all living together ... that's what we discussed. And then you bring my angelic sister in and marry her."

Too much. I flopped back onto the bed. Carlita flopped beside me. That put me between Brindy and Carlita.

"See, my Dave," Carlita said. "We all talked about this. I knew where you were wanted."

"That did not make you jealous? YOUR husband?"

"At first, yes, but I love my sisters, so I keep my mouth shut and listen to how Pat loved you and I start to understand. The more we talked the more I understand that I am not the first one to LOVE Dave as hard as I do, and that I could love Pat and Brindy AND Dave ... But Dave is my husband."

"And we wanted Carlita to be your wife ... as you were married, it was as it was supposed to be. But that day on the boat, when we all ... Dave, I could be your wife, too."

"But Pat..."

"If Pat and I could get married, I think maybe we would have, maybe not. I am still nervous about that idea. I'm not a very good lesbian, and to tell you the truth, Pat wasn't either, not with a plastic dong named 'Dave'. But we wanted to be VERY close..."

"I was not sure I could do that, Dave. Then this. Yes, we can do this." She rolled towards me and kissed me.

"You two are kind of deceitful," I said.

"Why? Because we both LOVE you? WANT you?" Brindy spouted. "Exactly how do you think we should've handled you?"

"I dunno."

"Me also," Carlita said. "I do not begin to understand how to ask such a thing of a man."

"No," I laughed. "You just crawled into his bed and wormed your way into his heart."

She giggled. "Brindy would have done the same."

I rolled over and kissed Brindy. "You'd've hidden behind the seat of my truck and scared the crap out of me?"

"If it would make you love me."

"I love you, Brindy," I said.

"You'd better love us BOTH," she said. "I'm not here to take you from my sister."

"Carlita is always going to be my Carlita. Now you. My Brindy."

The bed jerked as Lita bounced out to check her cooking.

Brindy's hand reached around the back of my head. "Real kiss," she said. "Help me with the sadness."

Easy to lose myself in that face. The hand that's stroking my butt though, is Carlita's. I canot help the twinge of guilt. I guess I looked 'caught'.

"Kiss her again,"Lita said, nudging me towards her. As my lips met their eager counterparts on Brindy's rounded face, I felt Lita's lips working lightly on the back of my neck. I shuddered.