Chapter 4: New-Family and Friends

May, 1985

We’d just finished putting away the last of the groceries when there was a knock on the front door. Greg and I answered it to find ALL of our families had caravanned over and were standing together. Even my brother Bob and Jamie’s brother, Billy, had come.

We welcomed everyone inside and the girls joined us in exchanging handshakes, hugs and kisses. (I got a VERY nice, chaste kiss from both Jamie’s and Mary’s moms. So did Greg and from MY mom too!)

“Eeew”, Billy exclaimed after seeing all the kisses going around.

Greg and I started laughing which set off a giggle fit amongst all the women.

When the laughter ended, I gave everyone the nickel tour of our new house.

After touring the bedroom/office areas, we went to the laundry room (still empty) and the 3-car garage. All the dads were impressed with the garage, because it was 1½ cars deep and had both an outside entrance to the side yard and to the house. When we went out onto the patio, everyone commented on the size of our backyard.

The dads all grinned and my dad said, “We’re glad to see that you listened to us. If you boys would like to give us a hand and follow us out to Bob’s van, we’ll give you our first housewarming gift.”

We all went out to Bob’s van where we found a large oval patio table (that would need some assembly) and eight matching patio chairs. Everyone grabbed something and we walked around to the patio and quickly set it all up. Just as Greg and I finished putting the table together, the four dads came around the corner with four very nice outdoor chaise lounges. Everything had matching cushions and it was obvious that this stuff didn’t come from K-mart.

Mary and Jamie looked very intrigued and said, “This is EXACTLY what we wanted to get! Thank you so much! How did you know that this was going to be one of the first things we wanted to buy?”

Everyone was looking at my dad and grinning.

Mary’s mom, JoAnn said, “Lenny just had a feeling that with the nice weather we’ve been having, you guys might like this.”

Since everyone now had a place to sit, I wanted to fix everyone something to drink. I instantly remembered that we had JUST put the beer and everything in the refrigerator and nothing would be cold yet.

It was like my dad had read my mind.

He suggested, “Why don’t you and Greg go out to my car and grab the two coolers we brought. We had a feeling you wouldn’t have anything ready, since you just got the house today, so we went ahead and brought something to drink.”

Greg and I trotted out to my dad’s car and brought back the coolers containing beer, wine coolers and soda. Once everyone had something to drink, we sat back and numerous conversations ensued.

The women liked the fact that the kitchen was separated from the great room/living room by a breakfast bar, that allowed anyone cooking to be involved in the activities. I told them that was one of the first things that Mary liked about the place.

All of the dads asked us if we were planning on fencing in the backyard.

Greg and I looked at each other and I said, “Yes, we’re seriously thinking about it. Especially, since the backyard is so big and we would only have to be fencing two of the three lot lines. We ARE talking about nearly 200 feet of fencing though, and we definitely want a privacy fence, something like our neighbors here.

Dan (Greg’s dad) asked, “Have you kids thought about putting a pool in?”

I said, after looking at two sweet, hopeful smiling faces, “Not yet, but, it might be difficult since the backyard isn’t very flat. And there’s quite a slope down off the patio.”

Dan smirked, “Charlie, Greg come on now! An architect and a construction major, are you trying to say the you two can’t design a layout that would work?”

(The girls were REALLY smirking now, and the gauntlet had been thrown down for Greg and I.)

Greg and I looked at everyone’s challenging expressions, then looked at each other, exchanged a ‘high-five’ as we both exclaimed, “Game on dude!”

Our fiancés were just beaming at us. My brain was already in overdrive, while Dan reminded Greg about a pool they’d put in a few years back with almost the same landscape conditions.

He said, “Don’t be afraid to get someone to do the dirt-work FOR you. A good Bobcat operator would make short work of this. If you want, grid out the yard with string and I’ll bring over my level and Lenker rod so we can do a quick topo. (Topographic Survey) That way, Charlie can design something really nice. You do know what I’m talking about, right?”

I gave him a serious ‘Duh’ frown and said, “Yesss! It’s just that this won’t be easy or cheap.”

All the dads just grinned and said in unison, “We know! ... That’s why we’re giving you a check for $10,000 ... JUST DON’T SPEND IT ALL ON THE POOL!”

The four of us were floored, and we looked at each other in shock. We rushed to our parents with hugs and kisses. After a few minutes, Paul (Mary’s dad) surprised us further. “I’ll bet we know more about you kids than you know about yourselves. And I’ll bet you have no idea how proud of you we all are.”

Ted (Jamie’s dad) told us that the check they gave us was more than double what they had given all of us combined for our education. The pride in his voice was strong. My dad (Lenny) told us that none of us had ever been in trouble with the law or in school, with the exception of ‘speeding tickets’. (We were all blushing ‘Guilty as Charged’!)

Mom (Nancy) then really stunned us. “And we have a feeling that you guys are somewhat embarrassed about living together. We don’t want you to feel that way. If we (pointing to the other parents) had known each other back in the day, WE might ALL be living together! I wish I’d had someone around when Lenny had to go out of town for business. With Charlie and Greg’s chosen professions, there will be times THEY will have to be gone. As a mother, it will be comforting to know that Mary and Jamie WON’T have to be home alone.”

JoAnn (Mary’s mom) added, “Please don’t miss-interpret what we mean. If something happens and you have to go your separate ways, we’re not trying to try to push you into living together. We just want you to know that we understand what you might be thinking and are totally behind whatever you decide to do.”

The four of us got teary-eyed and began hugging each other. Mary regained her composure and looked at each of our parents.

“You can’t imagine the relief that the four of us are feeling right now! We’ve talked about living together and we purposely DIDN’T set an end-date. We get along splendidly, and now, knowing how you truly feel, I’m hoping things work out and we can all be like family.”

Jamie hugged Mary and looking at the parents told them, “The day we told Mary and Charlie that we couldn’t get the apartment, they invited us with open arms and open hearts.”

Greg added, “Charlie has been my friend for two years. He’s been my BEST FRIEND since the second Saturday we had breakfast together. Even the day he met his ‘soulmate’, he remembered our Saturday breakfast and invited me to join Mary and him. That’s when I met MY SOULMATE and words can’t express the gratitude I feel for his friendship and caring that made that possible. I’m looking forward to doing everything I can to make this house our home.”

I smiled at Greg, “Just having you and Jamie here with us is what will make this house a home my friend. You both know how much you mean to Mary and I and now, we’re all in this together.”

The parents were nodding in support of the current plans of more or less permanently co-habitating.

The conversation switched to our upcoming job situations. Jamie was scheduled for a second interview with a youth psychiatric facility in Aurora and Mary was scheduled for an interview with a large accounting firm right here in St. Charles. Greg and I were all set, both of us having jobs with the companies we had interned with.

Greg and I told his dad that we were going out tomorrow to get the materials for the fence and would get the yard ‘lined-out’ for the topo. Dan told me how to draw up the map to write the elevations on.

(I had done something like this in school, so I knew what he was talking about.)

Dan said that he felt the survey would only take an hour if I had everything ready. Then he said he’d stop by after work to help us.

We called out for pizza for dinner then we all enjoyed the weather and patio furniture. After we finished dinner, we thanked our parents for everything and promised to have another party to let them see how their ‘gift’ was spent.

After our little party, the four of us decided to kick back on the patio and have a few beers and wine coolers to relax. (They left us the coolers!)

For some reason, the girls appeared to be somewhat fidgety, like they really wanted to tell us something.

Greg picked up on it just like I did and after a few awkward minutes he just looked at the two ladies, “Okay, out with it.”

Mary sheepishly looked at him. “What do you mean?”

I looked at both of them and told them, “You two look like you have something you want to say. You know we love you, so, out with it already.”

Mary took a deep, unsure, breath, “We don’t really know how to tell you, so could we just SHOW you?”

I looked at Greg then both of us said, “SURE.”

With that Mary and Jamie stood up and began kissing each other. Sensuously. Romantically. Sexually!

Greg and I just about fell out! I wondered if they wanted each other more than they wanted us. Greg looked like he was even more stunned than me.

When they broke the kiss, they saw the expression on our faces and looked like they were about to cry.

I immediately felt bad for them, realizing just how much courage it took for them to show us their little secret.

“What does this mean? Are you two lesbians?” Greg asked.

Jamie was misty-eyed, “No, not at all, but we are bisexual.”

I looked at Greg with a somewhat puzzled look on my face.

Mary hugged her then said, “We were just hoping that you might accept our relationship for what it is. We don’t want to have to hide our love for each other from you guys anymore.

Jamie said, timidly, “That was the first time that we’ve kissed since our first date with you guys. Please don’t hate us?”

And with that Jamie started sobbing.

I thought about Beth and what she said about ‘Inclusive’ love. Wouldn’t this apply here, too? Of course it would! But I needed to talk to Greg alone, first.

I turned to the ladies, “Well, does that mean you want Greg and I to be lovers too!?”

Mary could tell by the look on our faces that, THAT thought was a complete non-starter.

She looked at Jamie and Jamie said, “No, we don’t necessarily want that at all.”

Greg and I just looked at each other and then asked them to excuse us for a few minutes so that we could go inside and talk. The girls looked anxious but nodded for us to go.

Once we got inside, Greg grabbed each of us a beer, then asked me what I thought.

I told him I wasn’t sure what to think. But, that I was sure that their Sapphic relationship wasn’t going to compromise their relationship with us. I could tell that Greg was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the whole idea of Mary and Jamie’s physical expressions of love for each other.

He asked me if I thought that it meant that we were somehow not satisfying them sexually. (Greg seemed overly anxious about that idea.)

I told him I didn’t think we had anything to do with their feelings for each other. I asked, “Knowing this, do you still love Jamie?”

Without hesitation he replied, “Hell yes! I guess as long as they don’t expect you and me to engage in any ‘lip locks’, I don’t really have a problem with it. I knew that they were best friends, BUT...” He then looked at me with a crooked smile. “No offense Bud, but I AIN’T doin’ the ‘nasty’ with you!”

I instantly discovered what beer felt like going through my nose!

Laughing, I said, “Greg, do you remember about a year and a half ago, during one of our Saturday breakfasts, you said it looked like I just got laid? And I said that some of us just get lucky?”

He was nodding.

“Well, the reason I never went into detail was because I promised the lady that I would never disclose our secret. What I’m about to tell you IS a secret and I need you to promise me that it won’t go any farther than the four of us.”

He nodded yes.

I then told him the entire story about Beth.

I explained what she said to me about “inclusive” and “exclusive” love and how I felt it applied to all four of us. I explained how Beth and her husband never shared lovers and indeed never wanted to know about them. I then explained that in many cases of an open relationship all of the parties involved actually did fall in love with each other and basically shared everything. I could tell that Greg was listening to my every word, trying to absorb and understand what I was telling him.

I said, “Just out of curiosity, how open would you be to that kind of relationship with the four of us? Barring you and me and, well, you know.”

He furled his brow a little, then looking me right in the eye asked, “You mean like, me having sex with Mary and you having sex with Jamie?”

I told him, “Yes, something like that.”

We both took another BIG swig of beer and thought about that for a few seconds.

Chapter 5 »