Chapter 53: Commitment and Proposals

Ludicrous. That was what I felt about my situation with some of the women. I got a chuckle.

I was happily married to Crystal and we adored each other.

I was engaged to Carol and now we were talking about the kind of ceremony we could have that would be a wedding ceremony without crossing the line and position me as guilty of bigamy.

Carol was also my wife’s best friend and her business partner and lover. I doubted that there was anything that the two didn’t know about each other.

To further the preposterous situation unfolding before me, I was about to propose and hopefully become engaged to two other women: Elynn Ghent – who lived with me in Sarasota and working with my father; and Jean Muir, my AA and ‘wife’ in another city. She lived with me in our Atlanta condo, but was in Sarasota frequently to be with us and to make porn videos. Everyone in my Sarasota crowd loved both of them.

The ‘wedding’ ceremony would be a simple affair on our patio. At Carol’s request, it would not be anywhere near as ostentatious as the weddings that Ross and Trish, and Crystal and I shared. Yes, we’d have a minister of sorts, and we’d exchange vows. The ceremony would not be legally binding. I explained to Carol that I would fix up her legal rights with other binding documents so she had the proper liens on my estate when I got hit by the proverbial bus.

The ‘wedding reception’ would be one of our regular Saturday parties, but with a sit-down dinner and some live music early in the evening. Carol then wanted to make love to me in front of everybody, but didn’t care who went with who after that, so long as we were all happy. She was trying to keep it simple and not complex. That was in keeping with her personality.

I found a jazz trio that would play music straight from six o’clock when cocktails would start, through to nine p.m. when we decided we’d arbitrarily end the non-sexual part of the night. The trio could also play some simple wedding tunes that sounded nice. We would allow a half-hour for the uninitiated to clean up and leave.

Crystal signed up the same caterers that we’d used at our wedding. I signed up the trio. Derek confirmed that he’d bring his various playlists for later that night. Alice O’Rourke, my AA in Sarasota, ordered a large sheet cake for the event (I did want that sugary icing).

Daisy, who had started to hang out with all of us more, recommended a professor of religious studies at the university for our vows. He rated the ‘cool’ moniker from her. Upon meeting with him, Rob Buckman, I agreed. He described himself as a ‘New Age’ minister, and not affiliated with any organized religion.

Carol and I separately wrote our vows to each other, and then got together. That hour became one of the most romantic moments in our relationship to that point. I cried when I told her how much I loved her and shared the words that I written that came from my heart. I also cried when she read her words of love to me and then we cuddled together and reaffirmed all of them. Crystal also wrote some vows and pledges that were sweet and emotional.

As usual, I had verified that Carol still wanted the lifestyle that we’d shaped along with over fifty of our ‘intimate’ friends. She did, but we both affirmed that took nothing from our love for each other. We loved more than one person, but this was not a zero-sum game.

In a zero-sum game, if I give something to someone else, I have less to give to you. There’s only so much of that thing to go around. Carol, Crystal, and I lived in a ‘positive sum game’ in terms of the love we shared – and the sum kept getting bigger. The more people there were that we loved, the more love we had to give. I felt expanded and expansive compared to that day I met Crystal on the airplane.

Carol teased me regarding her dress. For a few days, she kept talking about a Nude Wedding. We would be ‘open’ and ‘transparent’ to each other, in a symbolic statement about our future together. I actually started to gear up for such an event, but then I found her looking at wedding dresses in a magazine entitled Bride. I figured she was taunting me.

The wedding would be a week before Christmas. We wanted to be ‘married’ for the holiday. Even with all the Christmas parties, once we announced the date, everyone in our group promised to be there.

While all that was going on Crystal, Carol, and I went to the local jewelry store and I spent a small fortune on two engagement rings. Carol had ‘borrowed’ one of Elynn’s rings, so knew the right size. I toyed with one of Jean’s rings and knew which finger joint to use as a gauge when we went to the store.

I invited all our ‘intimate’ friends from Atlanta to the ceremony. Jean wanted to come that weekend and do a short porn video with me, so we also set that up with Crystal Blue Photography. Connie and Bob had heard about all our Saturday parties and wanted to participate in one. Meg just wanted to be wherever the action was. We loved each other, and I thought that maybe she’d become another part of our family in the future.

Russ and Deke came to me one afternoon and offered to help in any way with the wedding service. I guess Crystal had also tipped them off about the coming engagements, so they added that to the fray. Since the two men had been with both my wife and the ‘bride’, and also with both my future fiancées in a sexual way, we all chuckled, but I could think of anything for them to do just then. I thanked them for their offer.

I did go to the dojo and got a thorough description of a training program for someone my age and with my goals about getting in shape and finding more of an inner peace. I was convinced and signed up for lessons twice a week when I was in town. I was issued a gi, and the white belt that they explained was for beginners. I had to start somewhere.

My first few lessons were more about stretching and starting to build muscle tone by what I’d been taught was an isometric method. Then the pain started. The pain was usually associated in some way with me suddenly transitioning from a standing or walking position to one lying on an exercise mat writhing in pain with the current situation. In between those end states, I’d been hurling through the air in some manner.

To make matters worse, my Saturday lesson changed from individual to being in a class with other white belt students. I was thirty-two-years-old and the rest of the class ranged between eight- and fourteen-years-old. Further, two of the dozen ‘kids’ moved up to orange belts after I’d been at this for a couple of months. I wasn’t progressing fast enough. My katas were ill-formed, badly timed, and inconsistent. I didn’t stretch enough. I wanted to compete with everyone.

A week before Christmas on a Saturday afternoon, my wedding with Carol took place.

The crowd of well-wishers and witnesses gathered around on our patio. Carefully timed, Carol in a beautiful knee-length full dress exited out house followed by Crystal, her matron of honor. I came through the hedge from Ross’s house wearing a tuxedo, followed by Ross, my best man and father. The four of us walked to an arbor that was set up beside the pool

Buckman, our minister appeared at the arbor just as we did. He greeted everyone, and then gave a short homily about the importance of tolerance and love in any relationship. His speech was touching and right on target for how I felt about what I was about to commit to.

Carol and I each did our vows with each other, and then exchanged wedding rings. I added a second ring on my ring finger, with Carol placing it next to the one I wore for Crystal.

Crystal came forward and read words that she’d written about her love for Carol and her joy in having her as her sister wife and lover. She was as teary as I was. They also exchanged rings.

Buckman kept the ceremony serene and in the spirit of love. He also didn’t breach the legalities that would have jeopardized my standing as a bigamist. Strange all that; I could live with multiple women, but I couldn’t marry them. The government has really fucked up a lot of relationships.

Carol, Crystal, and I presented ourselves to our audience as the ceremony ended. We bowed and then hugged and kissed our seconds. Buckman presented us with a beautiful framed certificate attesting to our ‘union’ (not a marriage). We placed it on display at the bar where others could see it.

At that point, the cocktails started. I guessed that we had around sixty or seventy people at the service. All our usual crazies. Only one or two were not fully initiated into the sexual side of things.

Alice O’Rourke was one of them, the office manager for the Sarasota office of Cyber Solutions. Alice was in her late thirties, divorced, had a late age teen that I’d never met, and was superb at her job. The local office was now up to about eighty people including some of the relocations from other cities. She was the only one from the local office to attend other than Harley, who was in school.

Early on, Alice figured out the crazy lifestyle of the company head. How? For one, I typically filed my expense reports with her for reimbursement. Kim and I were traveling together extensively at one point, and our cohabitation in motel rooms and over dinners was no big secret.

After that, she knew I lived with Jean, and wasn’t claiming any expenses for housing or meals. Then, I had Jean with me on a several trips, and the same phenomena occurred: only one motel room got used for the two of us. But then, I got the condo in Atlanta. Alice had called before or after office hours to catch me, and a few times Jean answered my phone. Several times, we were obviously still in bed.

Further, she knew Crystal was my wife, but Carol also showed up to have lunch with me. We would hug and kiss in a highly romantic way. One day, seeing the engagement rock on Carol’s hand, Alice asked her about who her fiancé was. The response, “Why Dave, of course,” also helped fill in the mosaic of what was going on.