Chapter 56: Epilogue: Part 2: Album Time/Important Conversations

“Now, where was Manny with ... ah, I see. This was when Allison first started to really show, and we started getting bombarded with questions about the twins’ genders ... and this one is Allison during the last trimester during one of Cosette’s barbecues.”

“That’s you there sis, right? With that adoring, almost reverent look on your face as you’re staring at her belly?”

“I ... yeah, that’s me. I have a thing for pregnant women.”

Kara grinned. “She can worship me as much as she wants to. Goddess knows I need the reminder that this” she gestured to her belly “is just as beautiful and desirable as the me in that photo.” She glanced at the spread on the page. “Birth photos are coming up in case you don’t want to see the gory stuff.”

“You included those too?”

“Childbirth is a beautiful thing. Messy, sure; painful, certainly. But it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I suppose Mamá. You were there too sis?”

“I wasn’t about to miss the birth of those two!”

“Vanessa was the third person to hold Petra; I got Isa first. And as the other half of that page shows, she was here helping Allison with them for as much of their first few months as she could get away with.”

“Mamá, do you mind if I skip ahead a little? I need to see something.” Maria shook her head; Miranda carefully took the album and started to leaf through it rapidly. “It all makes sense now. They’re not random children belonging to a lover...”

“I was ‘Mama’ in everything except name. There really wasn’t another option.” She turned to look at her mother. “If I may interrupt this for a moment Mamá?” Maria nodded her head. “When you threw your chancleta at Papá earlier, what were you thinking when it looked like it might hit Kara instead?”

“That it had to hit him, not her. The same sort of thing that I sometimes need to think when he tries to dodge one in mid-flight. Why?”

“Do you see that pillow on the floor there?” Miranda added. Maria nodded her head. “Can you see what happens if you think really hard about it coming to you?”

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure what that will accomplish.” She and Miranda watched with baited breath as the pillow slowly began to rise off the floor, then float toward them. “How...” Maria started to say as it abruptly tumbled back to the floor.

“Try it again Mamá.” And this time, I’ll help. Vanessa watched it start to rise again, it’s path a bit more wobbly when it started to move. No, silly pillow ... toward her, nice and level. Kara grinned and Miranda gasped as it stopped wobbling side to side and flew quickly right at Maria, landing square in her lap. “That’s what Miranda and I thought. Mamá, you’re telekinetic.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can move things with your mind alone. That’s why your chancletas never miss.”

“But it was so much easier the second time.”

“I helped. I inherited that gift from you. Watch.” Vanessa spotted a small doll lost in a dark corner of the room and focused strongly, dropping it in Kara’s hand. “I’m pretty sure that one is Petra’s.”

“You’re right. I’ll give it back to him in a little bit.”

“How were you so sure I had the power too?”

“Kara can see people’s energy and read their auras; her mother does it all the time. Allison’s foresaw a number of things that have come true...”

“Things that my mother saw years before I could. With her, if she had a ‘feeling’, you could trust that more than most people’s promises. So it makes sense if she has kind of a weak form of the ability, you’d have a version that’s either very powerful or very accurate.” Possibly both?

With practice perhaps. That’s a huge part of what gave our moms the edge the have. I’m not sure mine can even turn it off.

That doesn’t sound fun.

I’m pretty happy where my ability is now, honestly. I don’t need it to get any better at this point.

Maria turned the page. “We missed so much of this sis ... because you were afraid of how...”

“Like you would be too. Most of us seem to think our parents would respond to some of our decisions more poorly than we wanted them to.”

“Even my grandmother surprised us. After all of her awful words she was still at the big family celebration.”

“I judged my Mamá and Papá too harshly when I was growing up too” Maria started, pointing to a picture of the four of them “and did not expect them to them to accept a boy from Ricardo’s family. There was something of a rivalry between us and them. I, being young and foolish, did not realize it was mostly friendly. So I was surprised when Papá gave Ricardo his blessing on the first ask.”

“Did that resolve the rivalry?” Kara asked.

Vanessa’s laugh sounded in unison with Miranda’s and her mom’s. “Not at all Mamí. The rivalry is part of what makes family reunions so entertaining. Speaking of...”

“Let me talk with my Tía first; she’s the matriarch for the time being. Although not for much longer if my older sister is correct.”

Allison glanced at Vanessa, then back at Maria. “How old is she?”

“Ninety-five. She has lived a very full life and has many great grand-children. When she does pass on, the party will be many days long and well remembered.”

“Party? After the funeral?”

“Matron`, they are one and the same. Will we be sad that she is no longer with us? Of course. But that is secondary to celebrating her life. Hence the three day party.” She glanced at her mom and laughed softly. “Maybe four. Depends how long the neighbors allow it to keep going on for.” She turned back to her mom. “Who would be next?”

“Our Tía. She is the most likely to either accept your relationship or ignore what the church has to say about it. No ... the bigger challenge would be the government accepting it. I am not aware of anyone trying to pass a bill like ours there.”

Maria grinned. “Ah, but you are wrong on that. It has not passed yet, but a bill was proposed about a year ago. It should have enough support in the next five or six months I think. I will call my Tía tomorrow.” Vanessa watched her mom turn to Kara and Allison. “I know that the men are often hesitant to talk about the pains of their pasts, but unlike my husband I pay attention the news. What came of the situation with his father?”

“I may not know quite as much as they do, but I’ll share what I do know. His sentence wasn’t quite as harsh as it could have been.”

Allison nodded her head. “He got his sentence commuted for good behavior a few years ago. I think the prison’s AA program helped a lot with his head clearing as quickly as it did, and that’s the only reason our request to let him be at the family wedding was successful ... as far as I can tell anyway. Things got a little ... tense after that though.”

“Oh?”

“See ... his invite was a request of Kara and myself ... not Manny. He was ambivalent about the idea then, but I knew if he wasn’t there, Manny would regret it later. Two years later I would have been proven right. But, that’s not why things got tense. Vanessa probably remembers the surprise his Aunt Eileen dropped on us that first dinner together” she nodded her head “that ownership of the house had passed to her as Manny’s new legal guardian. She gave him the choice to keep the house for our own use or sell it and add the funds from the sale to our, also surprise, living expenses account.”

“Surely you kept it.”

“No, we didn’t” Kara started “for several reasons. We wouldn’t have had the income to deal with the upkeep and repairs the house needed, we were in the process of preparing an apartment we could afford, and ... there were simply too many negative memories trapped in those walls for Manny’s well being. So she hired a contractor to repair the damage his father had done to it, and by the time we were done with the renovations to our apartment, our personal bank account was considerably more healthy. No...” she paused for a moment as a kick from the babies spread through them “the tension happened because his father wasn’t told about the sale until Manny was willing to actually talk to him again. He was not happy about that decision at first.”

Maria nodded her head. “I don’t think anyone would be. Not when surprised like that.”

“That cut off visits for a bit. But he came around when his lawyer reminded him that he forfeited his rights to the house when he committed the crime.”

“That’s only a small part of it to be fair, my muse. I think he realized that the loss of the house was providing for his son even if he couldn’t, and that the only memories there left for him were negative ones. Do you remember the first visit he allowed after that?”

Allison nodded her head. “He cried for ... fifteen minutes straight? And when we could get him to speak again, he was sad that he’d lost the last pieces of her when he destroyed the photo albums. We were all fortunate that Kara’s folks saved as many of them as they had years prior.”

“The album we gave him the following visit was the second album I’d made from the dozen or so Mom recovered. The first is sitting safely on that shelf” Kara pointed to a bookshelf near the portrait “he was so grateful that he hadn’t lost that through his own stupidity. I only wish I could have made one the same size, but prison rules required me to keep his considerably smaller. Still, his reaction made it seem like it was made of solid gold.”

“Memories are our most cherished keepsakes. That has always been true.”

Miranda nodded her head. “Sí Mamá.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t have a harder time at the wedding to be honest.”

Maria cocked her head. “Porque?”

“Our relationship was a reminder of what could have been for our moms. And if that had happened, we might not have existed at all.” How’s your conversation going Sweetheart?

Right, Darling. “Kara and I are going to join Manny and Andy in the backyard. You two are welcome to join us if you’d like.” You, Honey ... don’t really have a choice.

I could see as much in your eyes. It’s a nice enough night for a little bit of naked time outside. Not too long, mind you.

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. The shields are driving me crazy! Race you both out there!

Vanessa watched a pout appear on Kara’s face as Allison dashed out of the room. “No fair! You already have an advantage over me!” She stood up as Vanessa took the album from her mom and put it back in its place. “Get back here!”

“They are like two children, no?”

“Sí Mamá ... and they will keep me young too. Are you joining us?”

“Oh, I’d love to ... but I want to spend more time with my new grand-children more. And your father probably needs a bit of help too.”

“Sis?”

“There is no way I could get away with this at home. I’d be crazy not to take the opportunity.”

Vanessa grinned and headed toward the back door. Just Miranda, my loves.

Vanessa stepped outside into the crisp, autumn air. “Play nice you two.” She turned to Andy, sitting cross legged under the tree. “You wanted to talk to one of us?”

“Yeah. I sometimes wonder what it might be like to be a guy, and ... well ... how ‘it’ feels to you three. I asked Emanuel, but he can’t really explain it.”

“By ‘it’ do you mean ejaculation?”

“Yes.”

“Kara or Allison would be the better person to ask. I just experienced it for the first time myself last night.”

Allison grinned, sitting down next to Emanuel. “It’s interesting. The building sensation leading up to it is similar, but the orgasm itself is so different. The pleasurable feelings are way more localized, and ... I’m not sure how to put this actually.”

Kara sat down next to Andy. “It all comes out in ... waves basically, leaving you with a pulsing feeling as each shot explodes out of you. It’s super intense, and I can understand way better why there’s only so much playing Manny wants after he’s cum. That, and the buildup feels much more abrupt.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well ... I suppose the best way to put it...”

“Let me Mamí. My orgasms kind of build slowly, but steadily ... like an ocean wave growing taller and taller as it moves toward the shore. If I’m trying to pay attention to it specifically, I can generally tell how close I am to the wave breaking and crashing. Manny’s though ... feel the same kind of good for awhile until the pressure begins to build much more rapidly. And the difference between the point of no return and that build up comes very quickly.”

“You haven’t experienced an edged orgasm from him yet Honey. If you want intense, that’s intense.” And way easier to pull off when you can feel that you’re right about to hit the point of no return.

Miranda’s eyes grew as wide as Andy’s. “How so?”

“It’s about as close to one of yours as most guys can get” Emanuel started “constantly being stimulated right to the edge, then your partner letting off a little bit ... always aware that any moment they could easily let you cum but you can’t know how many more cycles they have in mind to torture you.”

“It’s sort of like those orgasms where your partner just keeps touching every other erogenous zone, but refuses to actually bring a finger close enough to finish the job...” Kara paused, licking her lips in a slightly predatory way “only you know exactly where they’re going to stop to continue the teasing. And when they finally decide it’s time, that pressure has been building for so long that all you can focus on is the release. Being able to do that to one of your partners is a powerful feeling.”

Vanessa stifled a giggle as Andy shot the same predatory grin at Miranda. “Oh no ... you’ve given them ideas.”

“And you’ll thank us for it later, sis. I promise.”

“Then, once I’ve given you the ride of your life, you can do the same for me ... after enough recovery time.”

“Now you know how I feel” Emanuel began, a grin coming over his own face “only I have three partners who want that kind of experience.”

“Speaking of experiences ... how does sex feel for you?”

“I assume you mean the penetration part of it.” Andy nodded their head. “Well, take the feeling of a dildo or vibrator being used on you and kind of ... invert it. Most of the direct pleasure is felt through the head, but the warmth of your partner is still a wonderful feeling.” Vanessa watched him figure out the blank look on Andy’s face. “You don’t know that feeling? A dildo or vibrator, I mean.”

“So far only Miranda and Vanessa know, but ... I don’t. I haven’t even had a finger up there yet.”

“If I may ask” Kara started “why?”

“That sort of thing happens to women, and I don’t want to anyone to think that I’m a woman ... at least, that was my reasoning until today. Now I’m not so sure I was correct.”

“Speaking as someone who’s had it both ways” Allison replied “I can sort of understand where you’re coming from. Being the one doing the penetrating does feel like a very masculine thing. But just because one of us is the receiver doesn’t mean we’re being passive.”

“Far from it. We choose to ride Manny or one of the strap-ons fairly frequently, and when we do, we’re the ones in control of the situation. Even if we’re not though, there’s plenty we can do to be an active participant during some kind of penetrative sex.” Kara looked around at each of them. “Besides, it could be argued by some that I’m more masculine than Manny much of the time.”

“And honestly” Vanessa started, a gentle smile on her face “as a friend of ours wisely told me a decade ago ‘fingers are fingers, regardless of the sex of the person they belong to; it’s the people you love that determines your identity’ ... or something like that. The body part or toy doesn’t matter...”

Nessa, Honey, I don’t think that’s quite the right thing to be saying at the moment. “To be more accurate ... when gay men have penetrative sex, one of them needs to be the reciever. Does that make him any less masculine?” Andy shook their head. “And I remember some lesbian couples from the LGBTQ+ club in college who swore by their favorite dildos. Yet that didn’t make them bi.”

Andy glanced at Emanuel. “Have ... have you ever...”

“Nope. Entirely because I am not interested in having something up my ass.”

“Here’s the other thing” Vanessa began “I’ve had both the ‘fakes’ and the real thing enough times to say that even the most realistic dildo doesn’t feel like an actual penis. They can come pretty close, but there’s a warmth they can’t copy.” She glanced away for a moment, then back at Andy. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what you do with the people you care about most, so long as it’s consensual and not actively harming one of you. The ways you choose to have fun with those people don’t change your true identity unless you want them to. That’s something I learned from these crazy folks.”

Wait ... your confused journey from long ago doesn’t mesh with what you just said Honey.

I learned over the years of figuring out where I really belong that labels like straight or bi, man or woman, or masculine or feminine doesn’t really change who you are. I chose the label of ‘bi’ because it fit what I learned about myself, just like I eventually learned that ‘poly’ was appropriate too. But the physical fun we had wasn’t what led me to make those changes.

“If that’s so, then why did it take so long for you to bind yourself to them?”

“I was struggling with a different kind of label ... not ‘poly’ or ‘bi’ or anything like that. I felt like an outsider, or a third wheel, and it wasn’t because of anything I was doing with any of them. Allison or Kara can confirm ... I’ve had sex with either or both of them numerous times over the decade. That didn’t bother me. What did was the idea of being ‘the other woman’, the home breaker who shatters relationships because she’s greedy. And that was an idea that I got from the world around me, not from them.”

Allison nodded her head. “Many, many, glorious times ... we made it very clear from the very beginning that if one of us needed our arrangement to change, the people involved in said change would know before anyone else. Vanessa knew from an early stage that we cared deeply about her.”

“If there’s anything we’ve all learned ... the hard way ... over the years, it’s that the only people whose opinions about our identities matter is our own, and the people we choose to make important parts of our lives. My awful aunt’s view of our relationship isn’t important, especially considering what her selfishness has done to my uncle. Nor is anything Allison’s grandmother might say. We’re the ones that matter.”

“So if I wanted Miranda to use one of her dildos on me, or ‘hypothetically’ wanted to feel what an actual penis is like for myself...” Andy paused, glancing at Emanuel.

“For the former, the only people who can reasonably make decisions about that are you two. As for the latter, have your own fun first, and really discuss it over. Then approach the person you might be interested in.” Who is me. Totally me...

It’s partially my fault. I talked up how considerate and gentle of a lover you were my ‘first’ time, and how good you made me feel. But if you’re really not interested in the idea, you have every right to say no. Allison and Kara nodded their heads. If doing so means a happier, healthier Andy, I’m all for the possibility.

“Wait ... I said...”

Allison shook her head softly. “Andy, no one uses ‘hypothetical’ the way you did and actually means it. And if you were trying to be subtle with that ‘glance’, you failed utterly. Emanuel’s the one you’d need to convince.”

“You three aren’t opposed to the idea?”

“We’re poly. And both you and Miranda know our rules for new people.”

“But” Vanessa added “only if you two are sure that’s okay for you. No amount of fun is worth risking your relationship.”

Miranda nodded her head. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Mommy!”

“And that signals bed time. I’ll get them ready, but...” she looked at Andy “you might be called to read a story.”

“I’d love to.” They watched Allison walk towards the open door. “By the way, there’s something ... calming and empowering about this place. Specifically the tree.”