Chapter 59

The second night of her honeymoon on Koufonisia, Sarah Parrish Masterson-Stone had leapt naked into the Devil’s Eye and emerged from the wine-dark waters reborn. Raised in the Haderite faith in a town so small no one used its name, she’d known the moment for the sacrament it was. Bobbing in the moonlight and gesturing to her husband to join her, tears of joy mingled on her cheeks with the salty ocean water from the submerged cave with the diabolical name. It marked for her the moment she truly shed Sarah Parrish and became a Stone.

It wasn’t a bright dividing line, of course. It had taken more than two years from the first night she met Guy Masterson-Stone to reach the moment she found herself married to him, enclosed in his arms, and floating in the warmth of the Aegean Sea. Each day of those two years felt like it had brought a new transformation - shedding yet another chain she’d let be wrapped around her by people who loved her and loved God, but believed God’s love came with a set of impossible conditions, each of which weighed them down a little more. That magical night, having shed so many metaphorical chains along with her literal clothes, Sarah had thrown herself off a cliff, slipped the surly bonds of Earth, and flown for the first time.

Tonight, standing thirty stories off the ground, looking down on Times Square - the center of the city at the center of the world, Sarah felt that same weightlessness as at the apex of her leap, but it kept going on and on. It had started with a tingle and an idea so wild she would never have shared it with any man but Guy Masterson-Stone, her husband, a Stone, and a man born and raised in Green Mountainside Montana where the sort of things that she’d been raised to believe were never done were in truth done with great regularity and enthusiasm.

The idea had come to her fully formed on the first evening after Nick, Pilar, and the others had returned from Australia. Some time after midnight, the four of them had been up on the roof of the Loft gathered around a table, the first time they’d all been together since the weekend of her wedding. After two weeks of flying all over the world engaging in acts that Sarah had been raised to believe would stain her soul forever, Pilar radiated such intense sexuality and happiness that it had been impossible to look away from her. She looked like a fallen angel who’d enjoyed the ride so much that she couldn’t wait to go again.

She was everything scared young Sarah Parrish had been too afraid to want for herself and exactly what Sarah Masterson-Stone hoped to become. They’d met at the beginning of summer and struck up a small friendship then, but both of them had been through a transformation in the interim and Sarah found herself falling madly in love with her sexy Latina cousin.

Nick had gone through a similar transformation, albeit less dramatic. Some of the hesitation he’d shown in Montana had faded away, but left behind a remarkable humility that made Sarah feel like the two of them were kindred spirits. It wasn’t the wretched, forced humility the church had tried to beat into her head, but the honest, open humility of two people who could be honest about how little they knew and couldn’t wait to learn it all. Nick had just started dabbling in wine, something Sarah only had a few months’ advantage over him on, but he listened to her intently when she shared what she did know. Before his previous trip, Nick had never been overseas and he spoke with unabashed enthusiasm about the places he’d been, making them come alive until Sarah found herself almost homesick for Asia and Australia. It let her speak unselfconsciously about how much she’d enjoyed Greece and his follow-up questions suggested he was already planning to see it for himself.

Guy had been the perfect gentleman that night - by his own standards of gentlemanly behavior. He’d flirted as outrageously with Pilar as she flirted with him and no more so. He’d taken no offense at Nick’s flirting with his wife and his comments had implied any attraction Nick felt was entirely her due. What sane straight man wouldn’t want her?

The whole evening had wound Sarah up until she couldn’t wait to drag Guy back to their borrowed apartment. It had the same effect on Guy and the sex that early morning was as intense and vigorous as any they’d ever had.

Afterwards, Sarah had lay prone on the bed naked and panting. Knowing she would only have so much time to talk before she or Guy fell asleep, she didn’t wait for her heart to stop pounding before asking, “What would you think about approaching Nick and Pilar?”

Guy didn’t need her to explain what she meant. He’d grown up surrounded by all kinds of polyamorous families and helped his family host any number of swap parties at the ski resort they ran in Green Mountainside. “The last time we talked about that, you said you’d like to get used to being married for a while before we tried anything.”

“I’ve gotten used to it with startling alacrity.” With Guy’s sweat cooling on her back and his seed still hot between her thighs, Sarah was comfortable that he wouldn’t misunderstand. “I am Mrs. Guy Masterson-Stone and you can’t get enough of me.”

Guy chuckled. “True, but that won’t stop me from trying.”

“I know.” Sarah stretched, extending her spine like a cat until Guy stroked her back.

“You know I’m up for pretty much anything - including taking things off the table if they’ll make you unhappy.” Guy rolled on his side to meet her eyes.

“I know. And right now, the only thing that’s going to make me unhappy is waiting longer than I have to before I get my laughter-silvered wings.” Sarah said.

Guy stroked her hair. “That’s from a poem, isn’t it?”

Sarah nodded. One of the things that had made her fall in love with Guy early on had been his encouragement to talk about poetry, a subject on which he was nearly wholly ignorant. “High Flight - one of the ones I considered quoting in my vows.”

That got a smile. “And how do you get your laughter-silvered wings?”

“By shedding the chains of supposed-to-be and becoming who I really am. And who I am now is Sarah Masterson-Stone of the Green Mountain Stones.” Sarah answered.

Guy considered that for a long time before responding. If he hadn’t been looking right at her with his eyes open, Sarah might have thought he’d fallen asleep. Finally, he said, “I can talk to Nick.”

“Is that the best approach here?” Sarah asked rhetorically. Even she had learned enough about the dynamics of these situations to know it wasn’t. When Guy didn’t answer immediately, she added, “I’ll talk to Pilar.”

She said it easily, but found herself hesitating, missing several opportunities to talk the next day and finally forcing herself to send a vague text the next day - enough that Pilar might take the choice of where and when to talk to her out of Sarah’s hands.

Pilar chose the end of the most rigorous dance class Sarah had ever taken up to that point. While Sarah had long been proud of the shape she kept herself in, Pilar’s class on “hip hop dance” had pushed her limits, leaving her sweat-drenched and panting. She was still catching her breath when Pilar said, “Your text said you wanted to talk to me about something?”

Sarah nodded and took a long swig from her water bottle while she considered the situation. Arwen and Chesa were chatting quietly to each other as they left the studio. The rest of the class was made up of professional models Pilar knew through work. They looked to be getting ready to head out as a group, but not fast enough to wait for privacy. Lowering her water bottle, Sarah said, “I have got to grab a shower after that. Walk upstairs with me?”

Pilar handed Sarah a towel, smiled, and nodded. Work crews had been on the second floor day and night when she and Guy first arrived in New York and the new setup was proving extremely popular. Lev and Max worked together in the gym. A man Sarah didn’t immediately recognize led a game of what Sarah assumed was Dungeons & Dragons in another room. Foot traffic in the hallways kept Sarah from saying anything too private until they were in the stairwell.

Finally, she managed “It sounds like you guys had a great time flying all over the world these last few weeks,” then winced at how lame it sounded. They’d already talked at length about the trip.

Still, Pilar smiled. “We had a superlative time. Most of the travel I’ve done has been for work and I only get to see as much as the job requires.”

Sarah could feel the blush rising up her neck, but paused just a moment before pressing forward. “You had a few days to meet people at Green Mountainside, right?”

“When we came out for your wedding?” Pilar asked, got a nod and proceeded. “We did - not as much as we would have liked, but some. I’m hoping we’ll get back there.”

Having reached the next floor, Sarah opened the door and looked around. The residential hallway was blessedly empty. As she stepped out, she turned to Pilar. “Still, you were there long enough to see how people...”

She paused just long enough that Pilar offered, “Behave like Stones do anywhere there are more than a few of us?”

Sarah gave a faint smirk. “I specifically meant the wife swapping, but yeah, that in general.”

Pilar nodded and smiled. “That’s what I thought you were getting at. It must have been quite an adjustment for you, coming out of ... somewhere in rural Louisiana, wasn’t it?”

“Mather Parish,” said Sarah. “It was definitely a bit of culture shock. I never really fit in growing up and thought I was pretty liberal-minded, but I never expected to find a whole bunch of good, sweet, God-fearing people parading their wickedness around out in the open like that.”

Pilar laughed even before Sarah realized how judgmental that might sound. “I was fifteen before I spent any real time around the family. There are a core of New York Stones just like that and, even after I’d been warned what to expect, it still blew me away the first time I saw a married couple and their Third out in public like it was the most normal thing in the world.”

Sarah reached her borrowed apartment and ushered Pilar inside. As she did, their bare shoulders brushed past each other, sending a frisson up her spine. Until that moment, Sarah hadn’t really thought about the reality of being alone in her apartment with Pilar when she asked the question she was gearing up to ask. She’d liked Pilar from the moment they first met and known she was a beautiful, sexy woman. But the Pilar who’d come back from a trip around the world with Nick was a magnetic sex goddess. Everyone was drawn to her just like everyone was drawn to Nick. For a moment, Sarah lost her nerve. What hubris was it that let her think she and her husband had anything to offer these two? “I’m going to get some more water. Do you want anything?”

“Water would be great.” Pilar fanned herself with her hand. Even though she’d been leading today’s class, she had a thin sheen of sweat on her face and decolletage and her hair was damp.

While the sweat did nothing to dim Pilar’s sexy aura, it did remind Sarah that her cousin was still a mortal flesh and blood woman. She walked over to the refrigerator, taking two calming breaths as she went. As she turned around with a bottle of water gripped in each hand, she asked, “Would you and Nick ever consider swapping with me and Guy ... like for a night or something?”

“Absolutely.” Pilar took one of the bottles from Sarah’s hand, cracked the bottle open, and took a swig. “That is ... assuming Nick doesn’t trip over his own feet and refuse.”

Sarah frowned. “You think he might do that?”

Pilar walked past her into the TV area. “It’s possible. Nick’s concerned about how quickly he’s acquiring new lovers and the complications that come with them.” She glanced down at the leather couch. “Is it all right if I sit here? I’m kind of sweaty.”

Sarah laughed and walked past Pilar to sit on the couch herself. “Be my guest. I’m ten times as sweaty as you, but it wipes right off leather.”

Pilar sat at the middle of the couch, slid off her trainers, turned, and tucked her legs under her body so that she was facing her cousin. “Are you two thinking it would just be one night?”

Sarah slid out of her own shoes and turned to face Pilar, her back against the arm of the couch. When she tucked her legs up under herself like Pilar had, their knees almost touched. “If Nick’s worried about complicating things...”

Pilar leaned forward and laid a hand on Sarah’s bare knee, raising another little thrill. “Nick would tell you himself that he doesn’t really know what he wants yet. Let me introduce the idea to him when the time seems best and we’ll figure out what he really wants. Tell me what you want.”

Sarah nodded, lowered her head, and took a deep breath. It seemed like a question she should have answered in her own mind before having this conversation, but she had to admit, “I really haven’t thought beyond one night. We’re headed back to Montana pretty soon. Maybe we could just try it once and see where it goes from there?”

“That could be nice.” Pilar offered.

Sarah had grown up around enough church ladies to know when “nice” wasn’t meant to be a good thing. She considered her cousin thoughtfully. “You have something else in mind?”

Pilar nodded thoughtfully. “Forget about the sex for a minute. You and Guy like me and Nick, right? Regardless of where this conversation leads, you’d like us to be in each other’s lives?”

“Absolutely.” Sarah laid her hand on Pilar’s still on her knee. “You’re ... God, I don’t know where to start. We’ve only spent a few hours together, but you’re already two of my favorite people in the whole world.”

Pilar’s face broke into a wide grin that should have looked incongruous on such a sexy woman, but it radiated such joy that Sarah found herself grinning along. “We really like you guys, too. You’re the kind of friends Nick and I need in the family.”

That surprised Sarah enough that she didn’t filter her next words. “Why would you need us? Guy’s doing all right for himself, but I’m just...” She gestured with her hands, knowing the next words would come out wrong, but unable to stop them. “I’m just a rootless girl from Louisiana who got lucky.”

Pilar shook her head and patted Sarah on the knee. “You and Guy are young, ambitious, and well-connected. Once people know you’re friends with Nick, they’ll want to do you favors in the hopes of getting a chance to do him favors. But, they’re also going to want to do you favors because you’re gorgeous and he looks like a cowboy that stepped off the cover of a romance novel.”

Sarah blushed and lowered her eyes. Somehow, taking an earnest compliment was still harder than talking about wife swapping. “I’m nowhere near as pretty as you are.”

Pilar leaned in, caught Sarah’s chin in one hand, and lifted her head until their eyes met. “Sarah, I’m professionally beautiful. It’s what I do for a living. And I don’t just model. I scout for other models. When I call someone beautiful, it’s a no-bullshit matter of record. And you are categorically gorgeous - blonde hair, blue eyes, long tan legs, amazing curves. You’re an American dream. I’m more niche.”

“But you’re sexy as sin,” Sarah protested.

“That’s learned behavior.” Pilar gave a wicked cat-like smile. “I’m in a place where I can afford to be fearless and I intend to take full advantage of that for as long as it lasts.”

They’d made some small talk after that and might have spent the whole afternoon together if Pilar hadn’t had an appointment uptown. As Sarah walked her cousin to the door, she found herself embracing Pilar, holding her close, drawing in her scent, and then kissing her on the mouth. It wasn’t a deep kiss, more a seal on the deal they were making between them.

Two evenings later, Pilar was knocking on the apartment door. When Guy answered, she held up a bottle of prosecco. “Can I come in?”

“Please.” Guy gestured her inside and went to the kitchen. “Are we celebrating?”

Pilar glanced at Sarah, who gave a faint nod, not entirely sure what she was agreeing to. “Nick and I would like to invite you two to be our first official swapping partners on the night of Friday, September 4th, 2015 if you do so accept.”

Guy laughed and Sarah wrapped Pilar in an enthusiastic hug, lifting her momentarily off the ground. Until that moment, she hadn’t admitted to herself that she’d been worrying Nick would reject her. Pilar laughed and hugged her back. “That’s the night before Hamilton, by the way. We’d also like the two of you to host the Friday-night meet-and-greet with us.”

Sarah turned and looked at Guy, who was taking champagne flutes down from the cabinet. “Are you sure? We’re not really the party hosts in the family.”

“We’re sure. We want people to know you’re our friends.” Pilar gave Sarah one more squeeze before letting her go.

“We would be honored.” Guy held out an arm as Pilar approached and she stepped into a powerful hug.

Pilar handed him the wine bottle, which he opened and poured three glasses from, handing one to each woman. “I assume this is for a toast?”

Pilar smiled and raised her glass. “To the start of something beautiful.”

They touched glasses and drank. Pilar sat on one of the high chairs by the kitchen island. “So, have you two thought about what you want from us?”

Guy and Sarah exchanged a puzzled look. Before either could speak, Pilar laughed. “I’m not asking for specifics about the night to come. But, we still owe you a wedding present and, as you are now our very special friends, it should be a very special gift.” She sipped her wine, then added. “Nick likes to do things for his friends. The more you let him do for you, the more he’ll like you. And this is an excellent opportunity to make us all happy without it feeling like quid pro quo.”

Sarah looked at Guy and willed him to take the lead on this. He seemed to get the message. “There was one thing we discussed, but it’s not a ... thing exactly.”

“Nick is good at providing things ... even things that aren’t thing.” Pilar smirked into her glass. “He’s got a whole team for making impossible things happen.”

“My sister Pru ran away from home while we were on our honeymoon,” said Sarah. “She was eighteen by a few hours, so it was her right, but I’m worried about her. I’d like to know where she is and to let her know she’s welcome to come live with us in Green Mountainside if she wants to.”

Pilar snapped her fingers. “That would be perfect! You saw how Nick moved Heaven and Earth to help your other sister. He wants to help everyone and having it be a wedding present is the perfect excuse.” She looked up at Sarah. “How many sisters do you have?”

Sarah winced inwardly. Pilar had hit on a sore subject. “Eight - and three brothers. There are twelve of us all together.”

Pilar laughed. “Are they all as pretty as you and Annie?”

Sarah considered the question. “As a professional, you’d have to be the judge of that, but I think so. Everybody says Pru’s the prettiest, though.”

Pilar considered that for a second. “Do you think she’s in any trouble?”

“I don’t know. She’s a smart girl, but pretty naive.” Sarah admitted.

“Maybe you should tell Nick about her tonight ... like now.” Pilar suggested.

“That’s a good idea.” Sarah put her glass down on the counter and hugged Pilar fiercely. She didn’t mean to kiss her cousin, nor was she sure who decided tongues should be involved, but it was over quickly - just enough for a declaration of intent.

She found Nick in the fourth-floor game room and told him about Pru. An hour later, he had a team working on finding her and promised Sarah she would know as soon as he knew anything. It wasn’t until she was hugging Nick in gratitude and thinking about how the next time he held her like that, things might progress much farther that she remembered she’d left her husband alone in their apartment with a gorgeous, sexy woman she’d given him permission to have sex with. She rushed back.

Guy sat at the kitchen island with his reading glasses on, his laptop open to a spreadsheet. Sarah looked around, “Pilar left?”

Guy nodded and looked up. “Pretty much right after you did, why?”

Sarah walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. “I thought you two might ... I don’t know, get started?”

Guy turned to wrap one arm around her. “I’ve been told that a good rule of swinging is to not introduce any unplanned surprises. It can still be a rude shock to come home and find your husband in bed with another woman.”

“I suppose it could.” Sarah rested on her husband’s knee. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Guy gave her a rakish smile. “You can tell me all your secrets.”

Sarah laughed. “I imagined it and it was pretty hot.”

“Me and Pilar?” Guy raised an eyebrow.

Sarah nodded. “She’s just so unflappable most of the time. I’d like to see her lose her mind over my husband.”

Guy kissed her and everything was forgotten but the two of them for a while. That night and for many nights afterward, their sex was primal and intense, each thrust of his body inside of hers a fresh claim on her flesh.

The morning after Pilar’s announcement, they lay in bed, limbs and sheets in a tangle, Sarah’s head on her husband’s shoulder. He stroked her hair and said playfully. “So ... you and Pilar. Is that ... something?”

Sarah shrugged against him. “I don’t know. I think everybody’s got a thing for Pilar.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think everybody gets to kiss her like you did,” Guy pointed out.

“You will ... for starters.” Sarah reminded him.

Guy chuckled. “I got the sense that things didn’t go as far with Diantha as it looked like they might...”

“I don’t know if she wanted them to, but she didn’t push for it.” Sarah stretched out. “Being with Diantha felt really good and I liked the attention. But, I think we were both happy with what we had. I like her a lot.”

Guy nodded and stroked her hair. “If you wanted some alone time with Pilar...”

Sarah raised herself up on one elbow to look down at her husband. “Guy, are you offering to double-swap with me? I’m not sure Nick would go for that.”

Guy laughed. “You don’t know that. He might have a thing for cowboys ... but I have to admit that Pilar is a better match for my own tastes. I just didn’t want you to think I was keeping score. While we’re in New York, surrounded by New York Stones, if you wanted to experiment...”

Sarah considered the idea for a few seconds, then decided there would be time enough for that sort of thing in the future and that she liked the idea of their first night with Nick and Pilar being special. After a brief and frank discussion, Guy had similar reservations, but for different reasons.

Even so, it was like an invisible switch had been thrown somewhere. When Sarah had first proposed propositioning Nick and Pilar, she’d imagined that, once everyone decided they were up for it, it would happen within the same day. Instead, without even talking to Nick about it, the world shifted.

The morning after celebratory drinks with Pilar, April Snow-Stone was knocking on their apartment door. She and Guy had been added to the list of people April had been commissioned to “outfit” for the Hamilton weekend. With Pilar’s admonition that Nick would like them better if they accepted gifts from him, Sarah suppressed any reservations she might have and, after having dozens of measurements taken, found herself describing her fantasy dress to her artistic cousin.

The afternoon of that same day, Sarah received a call requesting her presence in the game room for a debriefing on her sister Prudence’s whereabouts. It had been less than twenty four hours since Sarah told Nick about Pru, but she’d already been located and a couple of field agents dispatched to the area to make sure that the situation remained stable.

In Sarah’s mind, it was a uniquely absurd situation that only Pru could get herself into and one with a lot of potential to go wrong. Sarah felt a little bad about the idea that the SSCS agents would be spying on her sister, but much more relieved that there were professionals keeping bad things from happening.

“They’re like guardian angels for hire,” Sarah wondered to Nick as Tanvi slipped out of the room on another of a seemingly endless stream of tasks.

“They’re pretty much whatever-I-need for hire. Gold-plated concierge service is very addictive.” Nick gestured to the single-page fact sheet Tanvi had prepared for Sarah listing addresses and contact information. “I’m glad this worked out. I would have hated to find out something bad happened to her.” Then, he frowned and added, “Or worse, I guess.”

“Oh, this isn’t bad.” Sarah gestured with the sheet. “I’m just happy she landed on her feet. Heck, I’m not even sure she’s going to want to come to Green Mountainside with us when we show up and offer.”

“You think she might want to stay in New Orleans?” Nick suggested.

“Maybe. Pru was always a city girl with the bad fortune to be born in the middle of nowhere,” Sarah said. Then, as an idea came to her, she bit her lip and added, “I don’t suppose I could impose upon your generosity any further?”

Nick chuckled. “You can certainly ask. This wedding gift was awfully easy to accomplish so far.”

Sarah gripped one wrist behind her back with her other hand and batted her eyes at Nick while rocking back and forth a little. Undoubtedly, he knew she was hamming it up, but it gave her a surprisingly strong thrill to know she could probably ask for the moon right now and he would do his damnedest to give it to her. “Do you think you could come down to New Orleans with us after this weekend and offer to let her stay here at the Loft for a while? Green Mountainside might not tempt her away from New Orleans, but New York might.”

Nick laughed. “Sarah, you do know what sort of things go on around here, don’t you?”

“I’ve heard all sorts of rumors and am looking forward to creating a few new ones before I go,” said Sarah, her voice prim to the point of parody. ‘As far as I can tell, those sort of things only happen to people who really, really want them to. After all, Annie’s been here for months and she’s only moderately more interesting now than she was back home.”

Nick hugged her, still laughing. It was the first time they’d touched more than casually and, as Sarah melted into his arms, she felt the solidity of him all around her. Something that had been abstract and unspoken between them suddenly felt real and immediate. She found herself wondering if Guy would be upset if she changed her mind in situ about when things should start between her and Nick.

She knew in that moment that, if Nick made a move, she’d respond willingly. But, he didn’t make a move and the moment passed. She rested her head on his chest. “You know, Annie and I have six more sisters after Pru. I might spend the next decade asking you to help them out as they get old enough.”

Nick shrugged, not letting go of her. “I guess we’ll just have to see how that goes.”

That night as they were lying naked in bed together and drifting towards sleep, she told her husband, “I think I’m a little bit in love with Nick.”

Guy made an affirmative sound and stroked her spine. “Are you okay with that?”

She nodded against him. “I am if you are.”

Guy didn’t answer in words for a while, but his hands moved slowly over her skin in such a comforting and reassuring way that Sarah almost forgot they were having a conversation and dozed off. Finally, he said, “I hope Pilar’s right about the kind of relationship the four of us will have going forward. You being a little bit in love with Nick would be a good thing then, I think since I know you’re a lot in love with me.”

Sarah considered his words, her body completely relaxed against him. “Are you in love with Pilar?”

Guy gave a low, deep chuckle in his throat. “Pilar is the most ambitious woman I’ve ever met. She’s even worse than Opal.”

“She told me she expects us to be the kind of friends she and Nick need in the family. I didn’t really think too much about it at the time, but that sounds awfully political.” Sarah frowned faintly, remembering Guy’s earlier statements about family politics.

Guy kissed the top of her head. “Getting involved with Nick and Pilar undoubtedly aligns us with certain parts of the family and against others. That’s about as political as you can get.”

“I ... didn’t really think about that when I suggested we get involved with them,” Sarah admitted.

Guy smiled warmly. “I didn’t mean ‘involved’ in the Biblical sense specifically. Us sleeping with them isn’t going to change much politically. Nick’s already my parents’ landlord. We already asked him to help with Anne. And we already accepted his invitation to come stay at the Loft for weeks. This is just a continuation of an ongoing thread.”

“Still, I know you said you don’t want to be involved in family politics...” Sarah reminded him.

“I’m sure I didn’t say that.” Guy frowned. “Being at Green Mountainside, making the connections we make, sleeping with Opal ... I was deep, deep into family politics before I met you. I may have said I don’t want to play politics with my family, but that just means I don’t want to let the politics of things change how I see right and wrong. If I thought Nick and Pilar were bad people, I wouldn’t want to let their wealth and status make me forget that.”