Chapter 42: Wounds and Healing

Nudism was easy for me. I guess I was a bit of an exhibitionist and knew I had nothing to be ashamed of when compared to anyone else I knew in my generation. My vanity speaking. I desperately wanted to stay attractive for Hayden and Marilyn. Desperately.

I’d just turned forty years old.

“With all the changes happening in the Big House now that Brian is recovering, why don’t you move over with me?” Dinita asked. “I’ve got this lovely new home and plenty of room. I know that once Angela starts med school she’ll need a retreat where she can study and rest undisturbed but until then, I’m just rattling around in here alone.”

“I do feel like we’ve been inhibiting the casa a bit since we’ve been staying there. Especially with Hayden there. Now that he’s had to go back to work, I’ve been thinking we should move to a hotel or something,” Marilyn sighed. “I’d hate to become the same burden to you, Dinita. I just can’t go home until I know Brian is recovering.”

“I don’t think it will be a burden and the person who could inhibit me hasn’t been born yet,” she laughed. “As long as you understand that I run around naked in my home, you are welcome to stay.”

“Dinita, you’re a treasure. Thank you,” I said. “I tend to run around naked a lot as well and it embarrasses the kids.”

“They’re envious,” Marilyn laughed.

We moved. Dinita kept her house warm enough that by the second day both Marilyn and I had joined her in nudity. Of course, we all dressed when we were going out of the house. Marilyn and I were still rotating our presence in Brian’s room. Dinita worked in the emergency room at the hospital. But once we walked through her door, our clothes just fell off.

We didn’t consider how that would affect Hayden when he arrived Friday night.

“Just come in, Hayden,” Dinita said. “There’s no need to knock while you’re staying here. We have dinner just about ready. Or breakfast. I just got up and will be leaving for work in an hour or so.”

Hayden stumbled walking into the room. I was almost certain he’d seen Dinita nude before but apparently it was a little much to see his wives in the altogether as well. We gave him a hug and he gripped our asses firmly.

“This is going to be hard,” he said.

“Oh, I hope so,” I laughed as we kissed.

“Do we need to take you to the bedroom before dinner?” Marilyn teased.

“I ... um ... wasn’t really prepared for this. Do I need to ... you know?”

“When in Rome, Hayden,” Marilyn replied. “Come to the bedroom and get undressed. We need to hurry so Dinita can get to work.”

It didn’t really take long to get Hayden settled down. The atmosphere at Dinita’s house had let us completely ignore the nudity. Hayden was a mature man, and after the initial shock and a few sidelong glances at Dinita, settled in comfortably.

Of course, after Dinita left for work, we ravished our man. By the time she returned the next day, we were all at the hospital to visit Brian.

The next few weeks were difficult at best. Brian blamed himself for Lexi’s death and the injuries to the others. That terrible article about him didn’t help. He refused to let any of his clan visit him and tried to limit our visits as well. Marilyn and I took turns spending a couple of days each week in Mishawaka with Hayden. The stress was making us all weary.

Through it all, even with her ridiculous work schedule, Dinita was a huge comfort and good friend. Even Hayden found that he could relax into her hugs without embarrassing himself. Though even with the occasional reaction, there was nothing to be ashamed of. We were in our forties and still sexually very active. I think sometimes Dinita craved the physical attention as well.

That became apparent the weekend Brian finally came home and Dani ... We were certain she was pregnant, even though they refused to confirm it. Finding the two of them curled together in his chair, his hand lying on her stomach ... even with her jaw still wired closed and bandages on her face, they were beautiful.

I don’t know if it was relief, joy, celebration, or just acknowledging that our son was alive and a new spirit was entering the world, but our weekend took an unexpected turn. The four of us sat with a glass of wine after dinner. Marilyn curled up on Hayden’s lap in a reflection of the way we’d seen Brian and Dani. I held out my arms and after hesitating a moment, Dinita curled up with me. We hadn’t really talked about what we were doing but it seemed so natural to all lean in together and share the warmth and intimacy of the moment. When Hayden and I kissed, Marilyn reached over and kissed Dinita. Her arm around my shoulders squeezed more tightly. She simply progressed from Marilyn to Hayden and then to me. The kiss was sweet and open. Her hand brushed my breast and Marilyn pushed it more firmly toward me. I opened to her lips and tongue more fully. My hand dropped between Marilyn and Hayden and I felt him harden. Marilyn caressed Dinita and claimed her lips from me.

We might have made love right there on the sofa but we are adults. We sought the comfort of a bed. Before the night was over we had tasted her nether lips as well and Hayden’s penis had been in her mouth. We didn’t progress straight to intercourse but by the end of the weekend we were all sated and relieved. And Sunday night we three returned to Mishawaka, promising Dinita that we would be back the next weekend and would love to stay with her.

I could give all kinds of explanations for why we let Dinita so casually into our relationship. It was obvious to all of us that she was not going to marry us but that we shared a certain bond that went deeper than just running around her house naked.

Perhaps it was the fact she’d been in the emergency room when Brian was brought in. That her hands had staunched the blood while doctors worked feverishly to save his life. That she believed he was as much her son as he was ours. That bond held us together and let us share the healing with each other. The celebration of life.

We tried to get down to the ranch once or twice a month, always staying with Dinita. And life was pleasant. We could do without the excitement of the past spring. I got a new job as secretary at the elementary school. Marilyn was finally made circulation manager when her friend Cary moved on to a big newspaper in Fort Wayne. Hayden was secure in his job but it seemed like it was becoming more stressful as much of the company’s production was moved overseas and the South Bend facility became strictly sales.

The trips south became more and more therapeutic and the birth of Brian and Dani’s daughter, Xan, on New Year’s morning did incredible things for all of us. She was the sweetest little girl I’d ever seen, even though she was a tiny baby and stayed small. Just holding that little girl gave a sense of blissful peace to any of us who had the privilege. Of course, by that time, Doreen was obviously pregnant and we began to wonder how many children would populate the earth fathered by Brian. It was a year and a half before Liz and Rhiannon both popped out babies at the same second. Celeste Rose Frost and James Kenneth Swift were inseparable. It was obvious to everyone that Doug’s family and Brian’s family were intertwined.

But that September of 1995 was also when trouble started back in Mishawaka. I was working as the principal’s secretary when a woman I didn’t know walked past my desk and muttered ‘Whore’ at me. It was too quiet for anyone else to hear but it shocked me so that I sat stunned to silence. I wondered who this young woman was and why she had cursed at me.

It didn’t take long for me to find out generally who she was. Miss Lancaster was a new second grade teacher. I shuddered to think of impressionable minds in her classroom. She was blonde and slightly overweight. Perhaps a couple of years older than Brian’s group.

There was no question, however, that she felt I was the scum of the earth. I had no idea why.

I just kept my head down and did my job.

Then the whispers started. I caught more than one curious glance my direction. The disdain on the blonde second grade teacher’s face when she looked at me could be felt across the playground.

Then a parent lodged a complaint. I didn’t know who it was. Principal Mackey called me into his office.

“Anna, have you been hanging around bus stops when school is out for the day?”

“Mr. Mackey! I don’t even leave here until four. By then the buses have all finished their rounds.” What the hell was going on? I had an instant flash of the blonde teacher calling me a slut after school the previous week.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” he growled. “One of our second graders’ parents came to me with a complaint that you were a dangerous influence on our children and were just lying in wait until you could trap one.”