Chapter 68: Making Plans

August/September, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

The following week was a blur. Work was busy, and I put in extra hours. Dany was down to 30 hours and that didn't help the workload, and it was Penny's last week as well. I went to karate three nights to make up for missing Saturday, and I made calls to start planning the wedding and honeymoon. Everything was going well, but there was one sore spot — neither Kathy nor I could get Bethany to really talk to us. By Friday, Kara and I had told all of our friends, as had Jessica. We talked to her together each night on the phone, and I knew that she and Kara had had a couple of private talks as well.

The one sad point of Friday was that it was Penny's last day of work. I took her to lunch at a diner on Hyde Park Boulevard so that I could talk privately with her.

"I guess this is it until May," she said at the end of the meal.

"You need to focus on schoolwork," I said firmly. "And finding a boyfriend! But school is more important."

"You had to go and get engaged, didn't you?" she complained. "As of tomorrow, I don't work for you!"

"True, but as you say, I'm engaged."

"And you promised Jessica that you would behave, too!" she mock-pouted.

"I did. Would you want YOUR fiancé to have sex with a cute sixteen-year-old girl?"

"No!" she giggled. "But I want YOU to have sex with ME!"

"We talked about this, Penny!" I said.

"Remember what I said about the rings!" she said with a smile.

"I'll worry about that in six years!" I teased.

"I really do like working for you. I'll miss being with you, and I don't mean in bed."

"I'll miss you, too. You can come over on weekends if your mom says that it's OK."

"Thanks."

We walked back to the house arm-in-arm and finished our workday. When she went home, she gave me a kiss on the cheek as always. Surprisingly, so did Dany. I chuckled and shut down my computer and went to make dinner.

"Where do we stand?" Jess asked during our call that evening.

"I reserved the country club, and the travel agent reserved flights and a suite at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm," I said.

"I called a few photographers, a couple of florists, and a company that organizes music," Kara said.

"When you get the quotes, select the ones you want, and then we'll send them to my dad," Jessica said. "I'll trust both of you on those things. There is something we didn't discuss, and that's bridesmaids and a best man."

"We'll talk about the ceremony when we're with you, Jess," I said. "But I was thinking we'd dispense with that tradition. I also don't want anyone to give either of you away. You don't belong to your dad, Jess. And Kara, you never belonged to your dad!"

"That works for me!" Jessica said. "I never liked that part of the wedding. Nobody owns me! I'm curious, who's going to be at the Justice of the Peace with us?"

"I figured that we would ask Dave and Julia to come as witnesses, because we need two in Illinois. Otherwise, it's just a legal ceremony. The real wedding, if you will, is on Sunday."

"Did you talk to your professor?" Jessica asked.

"After this call, Kara and I are going to the Woodlawn Tap to have a drink with him. He's there pretty much every Friday night. I checked with my neighbor Bart, who's a friend of my professor, and he said Mark is supposed to be there tonight."

"Then I'll let you guys go! What time tomorrow?"

"Just before noon. That gives you the morning to do homework. We'll come home Monday around noon so that Kara can do her homework."

Kara smirked, because the homework that she wanted to do was make her video. Conspiring with Elyse, she'd managed to get everyone to go to Indiana Dunes for a Labor Day outing, though Bethany would be in Lake Geneva with Andrew. Kara was going to tell Jessica the real story face-to-face, as she felt telling her over the phone wasn't a good idea.

"See you tomorrow!" we all said, and we hung up.

"Shall we go find Mark?" I grinned.

Kara and I left the house and walked the six blocks to the Woodlawn Tap. I scanned the room and saw Mark sitting with Bart Nichols, as well as a couple of other men. We walked over to them.

"Steve!" Mark exclaimed. "I wondered if we'd ever see you here. Grab a seat! And who is this stunning young woman?"

Kara and I pulled up chairs.

"This 'stunning young woman', as you put it, is Kara Blanchard. One of my fiancées."

The look on the four men's faces was priceless.

"Isn't that taking the harem concept just a bit far?" Mark asked, trying mightily to stop laughing.

"Maybe, but I'm actually not joking. Kara and I are going to marry Jessica Wilton. Jessica will have the actual marriage certificate, but they'll be co-wives, equal in every way."

"Oh, stop pulling my leg!" he laughed.

Bart looked at me strangely, then said, "Mark, I have a sneaking suspicion that he's not kidding."

"I'm not," I said. "We're completely serious. Bart, you can ask Penny. She knows all about it. She was even with me when I put in the order for the rings!"

"A few things just fell into place," Bart said. "I couldn't figure out why Penny kept talking about three rings. I figured she meant an engagement ring and two wedding bands. And she kept mentioning the two girls, but I assumed it was the Maid of Honor!"

"This is a new one on me!" Mark said.

The other two men, apparently also professors, looked on with curiosity. A waitress came by and Kara ordered vodka and I ordered bourbon.

"I have another one for you, Mark. We'd like you to do our ceremony. Not the legal marriage — we'll have a JP for that. But I couldn't think of anyone better to officiate than you."

"I could do both, you know. It'd be pretty simple. That would save you running to a JP."

"That won't cause any trouble for you? Or with the state?"

"I don't see why it should. So long as we keep things separate, and you only have one marriage license, then there's no issue. What did you have in mind for the ceremony?"

"We're working on that this weekend. But it won't be traditional vows. We'll write our own. Probably a mix of stuff we think up: stuff from a Hindu wedding we went to, and stuff from a pagan ceremony we were involved in."

Bart laughed, "Well, that pretty much sums up UCC theology!"

"It does, doesn't it?" Mark laughed. "Sure, Steve, I'll do it. When?"

"December 15th at Arrowhead Country Club out in Wheaton."

The waitress brought our drinks and set them on the table and I handed her my credit card.

"I'll put that on my calendar! If you can get a copy of the service you want to do at least a couple of weeks in advance, that would help."

"That we can do."

"Steve," Bart said. "Not to pry, but Penny said that your friend Jennifer is pregnant."

"She is. That pagan ceremony I mentioned was when Jennifer and her girlfriend Josie married. They wanted a baby, and I agreed to help," I grinned.

"OK. Now the craziness has even exceeded my ability to contemplate it. At least sober!" Mark said, waving over the waitress.

"Scotch! A double!" he told her. "Beer is just not going to cut it!"

She took orders from the other men for beer and left. Kara and I were peppered with questions by all four professors. The other two turned out to be a philosophy professor and a theology professor from the University of Chicago, and they had quite a few questions, mostly for Kara. That didn't surprise me, given that she was willingly going into this relationship as a wife, but without the paperwork.

"Will these relationships all be public?" Bart asked.

"None of us is going to hide anything," I said.

"I can't WAIT for the first neighborhood meeting after the details get out! Hyde Park is progressive, but this is going to raise eyebrows, even here!"

A lanky, light-skinned black man walked up to the table.

"Bill, do you have a minute?" the man asked.

"Steve, let me introduce you to the new director of a program I'm involved in," Bill Schrempf, the philosophy professor, said. "This is Barack Obama. He's leading the Developing Communities Project that the parish I'm a member of is involved in."

"Nice to meet you," I said, standing and shaking his hand.

"Barack, this is Steve Adams and his fiancée, Kara Blanchard," Bill said.

"Nice to meet you both."

Bill stood up and walked away with the man.

"He's what, my age?" I asked.

"Never met him before," Ron Goetz, the theology professor, said. "He must be new to the area."

Bill came back alone a few minutes later and apologized for stepping away.

"Barack is a good kid. Kind of green, but a good kid," Bill said.

To me, he'd seemed a bit stiff and stand-offish, but it was hard to judge based on that brief interaction. We went back to our conversation, and it drifted into talking about my business and Kara's classwork.

"So you started late because of your dad's death?" Bart asked.

"That's right. My mom needed me, and then I had some personal issues to deal with. I had originally planned to come to Chicago three years ago to be with Steve."

"You should take my World Religions class," Mark suggested.

"How are you and Staci doing?" I asked with a grin.

"She's moved in with me, but I'm pretty sure you knew that was happening."

"I did. I'm glad you guys didn't get into any real trouble."

"Me too!" he grinned.

We ended up staying at the 'Tap' until about 11:00pm and then walked back home.

"I noticed something this week," Kara said, as we lay in bed together after a vigorous lovemaking session.

"What's that?"

"You are calmer, more thoughtful, and happier than I've ever seen you. And the only person you've had sex with since you and Bethany broke up is me. Elyse did ask if she could borrow you next week, and we agreed on Tuesday night. I would have said Monday, but Josie and Jennifer want you to spend the night. And six months from now, you're going to be a dad!"

I nodded. "And working backwards from what you said at your mom's house, you want to be pregnant sometime around October of your Senior year."

"Yes. And if we have a girl, which I hope we do, we're going to name her Birgit," Kara said.

I kissed her softly, "Thank you."

I slept soundly with Kara cuddled next to me, looking forward to the next two nights when both of my girls would be with me. I also looked forward to a night in December when we'd begin our joint honeymoon.

On Saturday morning after breakfast, Kara and I packed our bags and headed to Indianapolis.

August/September, 1985, Indianapolis, Indiana

"What's this?" I asked, as Jessica handed me a box immediately after we walked into her apartment.

"You have to open it and find out, silly!"

I did and broke out laughing as I pulled out a stuffed bear that was similar to, though slightly different from, Kara Bear!

"Kara told me I needed to get one for you. Take her home and put her with the other two."

"So that Steve, Kara, and Jessica Bear can be together?" I grinned.

"And eventually, Steve, Kara, and Jessica can be bare together!" Kara giggled.

"Just out of curiosity," Jessica asked, "are we doing that on our wedding night? Or waiting until we get to Stockholm?"

"I'll leave it to you girls to decide. I'm fine either way."

"I think it needs to be in our new bed that we're going to buy," Kara said. "But we'll have to get the timing right because I don't want to sleep there before Jessica, you, and I make love."

"So, our wedding night it is!" Jessica grinned. "That means going easy on the booze, Steve!"

"One other little detail," I said. "Your first time."

"It has to be with both of you," Jessica replied. "We'll figure out the details later, but it has to be all three of us."

I nodded, "We talked to Mark last night, and he's going to do both ceremonies. We'll do the three-way one first, then sort of sneak aside with Mark and Dave and Julia for the legal bit. It'll be pretty short."

We talked through all the plans and arrangements that had been made so far, with Jessica and Kara both keeping detailed lists that they compared as they updated them. When we finished, Jessica made lunch. After we finished eating, we went to sit on the couch. Now, Jessica and Kara sat on either side of me, rather than next to each other.

"I talked to Doctor Barton. After he got over the shock, and I explained things to him like I did to you, he made the comment that it sounded exactly like something I would do! A unique solution to a vexing problem, so to speak. And thanks for the ring, by the way. It makes it easier to fend off the med students, especially with a number of them knowing who you are!"

"They don't want to piss off Doctor Barton by hitting on my fiancée?" I grinned.

"Exactly."

"I didn't get hit on all week," Kara said. "I think that's a first since I got to IIT!"

"What's the plan for the afternoon?" I asked.

"Well, we should start working on our ceremony, but I'd rather do something else!" Jessica declared.

"And what's that?"

"I have never had a make-out session in my life," she giggled. "It's time to start!"

"With both of us?" Kara asked.

"Absolutely!" Jessica exclaimed.

I stood up and extended my hands. The girls got up off the couch and we had a three-way hug. I kissed Jessica softly, then Kara kissed her, and then Kara and I kissed. The second round of kisses were gentle French kisses, and the third round, the kisses were deeper and intense.

"Whew!" Jessica gasped when Kara and I broke our third kiss.

"How far do you want to take this, Jess?" I asked quietly.

"I think that's enough for today," she said. "Otherwise we're not going to make it until December 15th!"

"Are you sure you want to wait?" Kara asked.

"That's what our future husband thinks, and, believe it or not, I think he's right. I read the Kama Sutra about slowly working towards the ultimate event, and I like the idea. Let's talk about the ceremony instead."

We spent the next few hours trying to map out how we'd do the service. Kara and I talked about both Anala's wedding and Josie and Jennifer's sunrise vows. Jessica had a copy of the vows that her church used, as well as a Book of Common Prayer that she'd picked up.

"You know, the only thing we're missing here is the Qur'an," I joked. "But it really doesn't have anything I think we can use."

"I'm one-eighth Cherokee," Jessica said, "and we don't have any Cherokee materials! I do remember one thing my great grandfather talked about, and that was that the bride and groom would wear blue shawls or blankets, and then they would be replaced by a single white blanket. That would be some very interesting symbolism given what we plan to do AFTER that wedding ceremony!"

"I like it. I also like the three rings, as well as the binding of our hands," Kara said. "Though we'd have to figure out how to do it for all three of us."