Chapter 3: In a Family Way

Aaron and Shelby, assisted by Martin, had a baby girl – Linda Jean. She was born ten days after Susan delivered.

This time the exchange in the hospital room went a little differently. The same group of obstetrical nurses were present after the birth. Sitting around in Shelby’s room were Aaron, Dave, and Martin.

The nurses brought Linda Jean into the room and paused looking at the men. They recognized Dave. One said, “I don’t suppose you’re the father of this one, are you?”

Dave and Aaron pointed at Martin, “He is.”

She brought the baby to him and said, “Ah, so you’re the husband.”

Martin shook his head. “Oh, no. I’m not. Aaron is the husband. He pointed at Aaron just before accepting the small bundle of joy into his arms.”

Shelby laughed and said, “Well, there was a small chance that Dave was the father, but the timing kind of worked in Martin’s favor.”

Aaron was obviously happy with the situation, so the nurse backed off from further speculations.

Three weeks later, Kat and Sean had James Leonard Marbury.

As Dave arrived to visit, he saw the same three nurses in Kat’s room. This time as they brought the baby back to consort with the visitors they paused. One asks, “OK, which is the husband and which one is the father?”

Dave volunteered, “Different people again. I might be the father, but more than likely it’s Mike here. Sean, there, is the husband.”

Mike got to hold the baby.

The nurse said, “You guys must have an unusual neighborhood.”

Grace came in behind them and laughed, “They do. I live there, too. I’ll tell you about it on break ... if you’re lucky.”

Dave brought Holly to the hospital in labor the next day. He held her and went through the birthing process with her as he’d promised. Zoe Faith popped out in the middle of the afternoon right on schedule.

Two of the nurses he’d come to know were in the delivery room. They raised their eyes to him several times. He pointed at himself and said, “Yes, father.” The nurses rolled their eyes.

One nurse asked, “Husband?”

Holly smirked despite her washed out appearance, “Not married.”

Four weeks later, Wendy was the one in the obstetrics bed, looking gorgeous as ever, but wiped out from the delivery process as Willow Rae Connor arrived.

This time Grace came in with two of the other nurses that Dave recognized.

One nurse said to Dave, “Let me guess, you’re the father but not the husband.”

Dave nodded, “Possibly. We’re less certain on this one.” He pointed at Dev, “He’s the daddy.”

Dev took the small bundle of baby in his large arms, his tattooed biceps bulging as he accepted the small package. Dev looked dangerous, as usual. If there were ever a protector of this small child, it would be Dev. Dave thought of the first few dates Willow would have when she became a teen, and the boys showed up to confront Dev with their plans for his daughter. He laughed at the mental movie.

Twelve days later, Alice waddled into the hospital accompanied by Dave and Pam. She was quickly whisked away in a wheelchair, prepped and soon delivered John Forrest Prentiss.

This time as Grace accompanied the three usual nurses into the room, Dave stepped forward from the circle of friends visiting the new mother.

Dave said, “I am the father AND husband, at least we think so.”

The nurses laughed as they put the baby boy in his arms. The cutest one of the bunch spoke, “I’m Mya. We heard about your Circle from Grace. I can’t speak for the others, but I’m jealous of what you’ve put together. It sounds wonderful, but I can’t believe it’s as great as it sounds from Grace.”

Alice had eight visitors standing around her bed. In perfect synchronization, nine people said, “It is.” The nurses reeled back. Grace laughed.

Grace told them, “You have to experience it to believe it. The babies will change everything, but we’ve assembled the greatest group of people that all love each other and take care of each other. It is a heaven here on earth.”

Joan Paige lay in Dave’s arms. Julie had spooned up against Joan with Heather behind her. Holly lay on the other side of Dave with her head on his other shoulder from Joan’s.

Joan said, “This is pretty nice.”

“The nicest,” Dave said. “I love all of you.”

“We love you.”

Julie reminded the group, “Alice comes home tomorrow. She gets preferential treatment.”

“Of course.”

Joan teased, “I guess I’ll have my time in a few months.”

There was a long silence as Dave and the women digested her comment.

Dave finally said, “Would you care to clarify exactly what you mean by that.”

“You’re going to be a daddy again, maybe around Thanksgiving.”

“You?”

“None other. I’ve courted you. You said it was okay, if you recall. I wanted to be certain of the parentage. I’ll get Dale to do the next one.”

Dave sat up and looked at Joan as she stretched out next to him in her gorgeous naked splendor. There was enough light in the room to see the exotic shadows and curves of her body as it continued to glow from their lovemaking that ended only a few minutes earlier. He bent down and kissed her.

“I love you, Joan Paige. I’m happy that you’re happy with your condition.”

She volunteered, “So far, I haven’t had any morning sickness or nausea. I just felt ‘different’, so I got a kit and that tested positive, and then I got that test validated by more sophisticated means. Dr. O’Reilly is sure making money off of this intentional family. We should negotiate a group rate.”

Dave chuckled, “I’ll go with you to see him and see what we can do. We need to do that with a pediatrician, too.”

Joan said, “I had some other interesting news today, as well. Brian goes on trial on April fifteenth.”

Dave snorted, “Ah, the ides of the month. I wonder if he’ll meet his maker that day the same way Julius Caesar did?”

“Maybe not, but the ADA we met is going to start to roast him.”

“He has a criminal defense attorney, who’ll try to turn it all back on you, you know.”

“Yeah, I should start to get my head in gear about this.”

“You’ll be called to the stand for sure. I mean some of the key evidence the prosecution is presenting mostly came from you: the tapes from your counseling sessions out in Austin seem to be the core.”

The worst stuff came out while I was under hypnosis or sodium pentothal. I can’t comment on those interventions except to say that I underwent them. Someone from the clinic has volunteered to come to Sarasota to testify as to their efficacy and such, as well as the veracity of the tapes.”

Dave said, “I think both techniques have been validated in the court system many times before this. I’m sure the ADA will have those citations on hand to buttress his case.”

“I’ll mention that to him. I have his email.”

Dave said, “The more important questions for you will be why you let yourself succumb to Brian’s browbeating and abuse? You seem so strong now. What was it about that period of time in your life that made you susceptible?”

“I’ll think about that.”

“He’ll drag the Circle into the trial, too.”

“On what basis?”

“That you were really nuts for a while. He wasn’t emotionally abusing you; he was trying to get you to be rational again. He’ll paint a picture that the Circle is not a reasonable activity, and he was only trying to nudge you back to the straight and narrow.”

Joan was thoughtful. “I’ll have to think about what to say if that comes up that way. Just so you know, I saw the Circle as salvation from what had been happening. Yes, it became a magnet, but that’s why.”

“Remember that. Your whole sex life will come to the fore, as well.”

“What about Brian’s affair with Amanda Tyler? What about his books on psychological warfare and his checklists?”

Dave speculated, “His lawyer will find some basis to dismiss all of that; to trivialize it and make them worthless pieces of evidence that have no relevance to the case.”

“Hmmmmm.” Joan got thoughtful. “What happens if he gets off?”

“We move forward with the civil case if you want. The standard of proof is lower in that setting. More than likely, there won’t be a jury, only a judge or tribunal of judges.”

The next few months are going to be interesting.”

The group sex frequented by the Circle all but ceased to exist.

Mostly mothers, and an occasional father, mother-in-law, or father-in-law, or combinations, started to arrive with each new baby. Moreover, they would stay and mill around the Circle with their new grandbaby in tow, usually in some kind of expensive new tricycle carriage if not in their arms.

Elise knew that Alice’s parents had no intention of coming to see their sinful Florida daughter’s child - their new grandbaby, so she took it upon herself to be the surrogate mother to Alice. Alice liked Elise, and was glad for the extra pair of hands for the two weeks that Elise visited. By the time she returned north, Alice had healed and been able to reassume the reins of baby care.

Elise also made nice with Shelby’s mother who appeared at the Circle for the first time. Doris Wynn was about the same age, but had been exceptionally naïve about how Aaron and Shelby lived. Elise had at least figured that much out, particularly after she learned that Martin was the father of that baby.

Doris had heard all the right words, but she hadn’t put them together and thought about the implications of what they meant: polyamorous, cohousing, diversified housing, sharing, commune-like, nonexclusive, non-monogamous, loving, sharing and so on.

Shelby admitted to a few of the Circle members that she had purposefully been a little vague and slowly introduced her description of her lifestyle to avoid the inevitable bomb shell explosion.

The shock nearly sent Doris to the hospital.

Shelby’s mother had arrived a few days after Elise. She watched a steady stream of men and women, neighbors, come and see her daughter. They each seemed so close to her, usually kissing and hugging her with such affection. Shelby obviously felt similar love for them, even the men – especially the men.

What tipped the balance was when Martin and Sasha appeared on her first weekend there. Martin swooped in, and definitely played the role of father to the baby, picking up Linda Jean, doing all the goofy baby talk, and snuggling and coddling the baby to him.