Chapter 28: Preparations. Parents. Discovery

Owen looked on, “This is a big problem in some way?”

“The biggest,” Alice said. “They have no idea how we live or how we’ve loosened up. They don’t know about Pam or Heather, and certainly not about YOU, my loving boyfriend.”

Dave added, “It’s even more than just that they don’t know. It’s what is likely to be their extreme and severe disapproval of every aspect of how we live these days, and I mean EXTREME.” He was practically shouting in his nervousness.

Owen said, “Pam and Heather could come to my place for a couple of days.”

Dave and Alice both laughed. “It’s impossible to hide what’s going on. Look around. Everywhere you look you see small influences from each one of us as individuals and as a collective. The books on the bookcase, the painting by the foyer, the coats in the coat closet, the hats on the rack, a pair of gloves on the credenza by the door, the mail that comes for each one of us, labels on old magazines, Matthew’s toys scattered all over the place, and on and on. Everywhere you look you see the integration of four people who live here, and then there’s even your influence here Owen.”

“How am I connected here?”

Dave laughed with some irony in his voice, “Go look in the guest room. You leave clothing that’s your size and your brands of male cosmetics here, for instance. You and Alice have your own set of sex toys in the bedside table.” He laughed at their horrified look.

“You know about those?”

Dave laughed harder at the obvious answer to the question.

“What do we do?” Pam asked.

Alice paced to and fro in the living room for one circuit. She looked up and announced to everyone, “We do nothing! We continue just as we are.”

“Where are they staying?” Heather asked.

“Not here,” Alice said insistently. “There’s no room, and Owen you are requested to stay over with us during their visit. You are the official resident of the guest room. Pam and Heather live with us and sleep in our bed. I will also let it be known that you are my boyfriend. You can tell them as much or as little about your regular life as you want, or you can just be the guy that gave me three tattoos.”

Owen nodded, “I can stay, but I have some appointments here and there I have to keep from before lunch on Monday until five o’clock, even though it’s a holiday. When are they arriving?”

“Tomorrow, Sunday about two o’clock. My mother told me that my father wanted to get an early start because of the long drive from Memphis. They’ll be lucky if they can get my sister moving before eight o’clock, so I think it’ll be more like three or four providing they stop for lunch, which they will. My father happens to know the location of every Cracker Barrel restaurant within a thousand miles of their home.”

The five of them sat and strategized about how to handle the arrival and the revelations that needed to be made. Alice was twitching so much that Dave broke up their meeting for a while and took her for a walk.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Dave asked her.

“They’d disown and shun me for the rest of my life,” Alice said. “I’d maybe cease to exist as far as they were concerned.”

“How do you think they’d treat our children – their grandchildren? Matthew?”

“Maybe as non-entities?”

Dave said, “Oh, come on. You know your mother is nuts about grandchildren. Every time we’ve seen them since we got engaged, she’s talked about ‘HER’ grandchildren that we’re going to deliver to her.”

Dave went on, “And how do you think your sister will think about our lifestyle?”

Alice actually chuckled, “Ah, comic relief. At first, Julie will totally freak out. She’ll pull out her broom and fly around the room backwards, yelling incantations and curses. Then, the whole idea will intrigue her so much that she’ll want all the lurid details, and soon after that she’ll be won over and be glad that I’m the one attracting my parents’ scrutiny and not her. In the end she’ll be a pal and advocate.”

“Can you live with all those worst-case scenarios? I can, even if they shun you totally.”

“It’ll make me sad, but yes. I would hope that over time, especially when I hatch a baby or two, that they’ll at least tolerate whatever we’re doing at the time.”

Dave squeezed her hand, “Now, an even more important question for you. Are you sorry that you loosened up – that you followed Dori’s advice and discovered your sexuality and changed your life in that direction?”

Alice stopped in her tracks, “NO! Not a single millisecond in my new life and not a single atom of my body has any regrets about what we’ve done and what we’ve become or how we live. I love the people we’ve brought into our family. Mostly, I love you and I’m so thankful that we agree on these things and whom we share our life with.

“I know it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. We’ve felt our jealousies and tensions and anxieties, for instance over my relationship with Owen, but I think things have settled out. I confess to worrying about you and Pam, and then you and Heather, but now I love them, too, and they love me I know. We’re a big polyamorous family, and then we have our friends that we can be intimate with and also share things with. We have the best life ever. I feel more loved now than ever before in my life.”

“Good,” Dave said. “Whatever is said, whatever insults or curses or spiteful words you hear, just remember that, and remember that I’m by your side and that I love you more than everybody else in the world put together. I am totally committed to you and to keeping you whole. If they get so unbearable that you can’t stand it, just say the word and I’ll throw them out of the house and we’ll never see them again. I am one hundred percent on your side – our side.”

“They’ll hate you and think that you led me down the primrose path. They’ll try to blame you.”

“I have broad shoulders, and I like walking along that path with you and our friends.” Dave laughed.

Sunday, at three thirty-three in the afternoon, the Waldorf’s car pulled up at the curb. They couldn’t pull into the driveway because of the other cars parked there. Dave suspected that fact alone would set a negative tone on their visit, especially with Alice’s father, Myron. He took in a huge breath of air, and then headed outside to greet them. In the foyer, he found Alice counting to twenty very slowly before she went out.

The initial greetings of Myron and Elsie seemed to go smoothly. There was minor mention of the low level of communications Alice had with her family these days, but that got glossed over with discussions about what to bring into the house and what to leave in the car. Julie greeted everybody, and then just hung out and watched what was happening. She wore a somewhat dowdy long-sleeve dress with a hemline below her knees, and buttons up to her neck, despite the relatively warm weather – certainly warmer than Ohio.

Alice girded herself as the first suitcases were set on the ground from the trunk of the car. “Mother, Father, I’m afraid we don’t have room for all of you here. Julie is welcome to crash on the living room sofa, if she wants, but we don’t have any available beds for all of you.”

Elsie looked puzzled, “Why ever not? I thought you had two guest rooms.”

Alice tightened her sphincter muscles, “Oh, we do, but they’re occupied by other guests that stay with us. They’re kind of members of our family now. Come in and we’ll introduce you. We did book you a suite at the Carlyle Hotel just two miles from here; Dave checked out the accommodations this morning and they are very nice.” She tried to sound accommodating and eager to see them.

Myron stood tall and puffed out his chest, “Am I to understand that you don’t have room for your own family?”

Dave intervened, “We just think you’ll be more comfortable in the suite. The house is always a buzz of activity from early in the morning until quite late at night. It’s not the most soundproof place. Matthew, who you’ll meet, often awakens in the night and makes a lot of noise. Moreover, the people staying with us have all of their possessions in our spare rooms. This is their home; they’re not just visiting for two or three days.”

Myron harrumphed, and put the suitcases back into the trunk of the car. He mumbled, “All right, let’s just see who these other people are.” He was obviously concerned about what his daughter was up to.

Alice led her parents and sister up to the front door and inside. Heather was working on her university reading list at the dining room table even though classes hadn’t started. Owen sat watching an NFL football game on the TV in the family room. Pam was in the kitchen helping with a large dinner for everyone. She looked very domestic and wifely.

Owen muted the TV and came to greet Alice’s parents. He was exceptionally cordial, commenting on how tired they must be after the seven-hour drive. Pam and Heather both came forward for introductions, too. The greetings were saccharine.

Alice explained that Pam traveled quite a bit in connection with her engineering consulting work to the utility power industry, and that Heather was just experiencing a major life change as she prepared to start classes the next day at the nearby university. Heather volunteered that she had been kicking around low-paying jobs and then got a dose of motivation to go back and get her college degree. She smiled at Owen and the family, and noted she’d gotten a scholarship.

About that time, Matthew ran into the room and up to Alice. “Aunt Alice, Aunt Alice, Rocky the squirrel is on the television again. He’s my favorite cartoon character.” He turned and raced back out of sight to the other TV they set up for him in the far corner of the family room. Alice didn’t even have time to introduce him. She just said, “That was Matthew.”

Myron and Elsie’s mouths were agape. Julie’s face betrayed monumental curiosity and interest. She was still trying in interpret what was actually going on.

Left unspoken was the role that Owen, Pam, or Heather and Matthew played in the Prentiss’ ‘family’. The words had been spoken a couple of time – these people were referred to as part of the ‘family’ – but how they fit in had not been explained.

Dave kind of helped solve that when he offered up a tour of the house. “The last time you were in this neck of the woods, we were in our old house over on West Wind Drive. As you can probably see, this one is a lot larger. We moved from 1,200 square feet to about 3,000 square feet in this house, plus we have a large patio, pool, and Jacuzzi, as well as a two-car garage. Come and let me show you quickly, although it’s a little too cool to use the pool or Jacuzzi.”

Julie bonded right next to Dave as he led her, Myron, and Elsie out onto the pool deck, pointing out various features of the yard, landscaping, and backyard accoutrements. He brought them back into the house at the far end of the bedroom wing, taking them down the hall back to the main living space.

He gestured into one room, “This is the room Pam and Heather use for their clothing and as a dressing and makeup area. It has an ensuite bath, which is nice if we’re all going out or getting ready for work or in Heather’s case school.

“This next bedroom is pretty much Owen’s room. He does have a condo downtown, but prefers living with us as his intentional family ... and this next room is the master bedroom. Of course, we knew you were coming; it’s not always this neat. And then, here we are back in the living room and dining area. The other side of the house is the family room you saw, laundry and garage. Matthew has captured the TV in the family room for the afternoon. There’s a large storage room over there, too. We could use a lot more closet space.”

Elsie observed, “I only saw two beds – one in your master bedroom, and one in what you referred to as Owen’s room. Where do Pam and Heather sleep?”

Alice had taken a large inhale of air anticipating a question like this. “Why with us, of course? They’re part of our family.”

“Excuse me?” Alice’s mother’s voice rose an octave on those two words.

“Mother, the five of us that you have met are a polyamorous family. We live together – by choice and intention, because we love each other.”

Dave heard Julie’s low whistle behind him and the utterance sotto voce, ‘Cool.’ He almost broke out in hysterical laughter. Inside, behind his cool exterior, he was rolling on the floor laughing his ass off and kicking his feet in the air in comic relief.

Myron started to sputter, “You ... the five of you are ... you ... what... ?”

Elsie said in an insistent voice, “Explain yourself, Alice.”

Alice shrugged. She refused to be drawn into the role of a bad child. She said, “Poly means many, as in more than two in this case, and amorous means loving, so polyamorous mean many people loving each other. Because we feel that way about each other, we also live together under the same roof. We are very harmonious together. A harmonious and loving family life is very important to all of us.”