Chapter 19

The wedding was three days away when Richard decided he'd waited long enough for Brenda to bring him his money. We had Phil, Claire, and Thelma staying with us over the Christmas holidays.

It was Phil who answered the front door, after Richard's loud banging interrupted a small family meeting we were having. Not knowing who he was, Phil led Richard into our living room. That's when all the fireworks got started. Richard started right in, yelling at Brenda for her failure to bring him the money he needed to borrow.

Joyce got up and tried to get him to calm down, but Richard began shouting at her and calling her names too. I had been sitting on the end of one of the sofas when Richard came in, and stood up as soon as he started haranguing Brenda. I think I shouted at him to stop yelling at Brenda, but as soon as he called Joyce an "Ugly bitch", I started for him. The only thing that prevented me from attacking him was that Phil got to him before I did. It took only about a second before he'd taken Richard down to the carpet, and had him in some kind of submission hold, with his wrist bent back at what looked like a very uncomfortable angle.

"You better chill out in a big damn hurry, pal. You can't come barging into people's homes and start acting like some kind of a nut case." Phil was applying pressure to Richard's elbow as he spoke, and Richard was already pleading with him to ease up on it, grimacing from the pain he was feeling.

"Oow! Let me go! Brenda, tell this clown to let my arm go before he breaks it." I watched as Phil increased the pressure and the angle of the bent wrist. Richard started howling even louder when he did. Phil looked at me, making it clear that he wanted me to tell him what I wanted done with Richard.

"If he hasn't apologized to Brenda and Joyce in thirty seconds, break his wrist and elbow, Phil. I've warned him before about speaking to people like that." I said it loud enough to be heard over Richard's loud complaints. As soon as I said it, Richard started apologizing to them both. Joyce acted as if she couldn't care less about what he'd said to her, but Brenda was crying, and seemed visibly shaken up by the occurrences of the past few minutes. I didn't know if Phil would follow my instructions or not. The way I was feeling, I would probably do it myself, if he didn't want to. Richard made it unnecessary, by immediately launching into apologies to them both. When he was done apologizing, Phil released his hold on him and stepped back just enough to let Richard think he was again free.

"I just came for my money, Brenda. You said you'd lend it to me." Richard was rubbing his wrist and grimacing as he spoke. I noticed he wasn't using a threatening tone with her now though. I spoke to him then.

"I told you I had enough money to let you get caught up on your rent, Richard, but you slammed the door in my face. Why should Brenda loan you money after you called her all those names?"

"This isn't any of your business, Kenny. Brenda's my sister. She knows I was just upset. She knows I didn't mean anything by it." I saw Phil's arm raise up, and come down, opened, against the side of Richard's jaw. He dropped liked he'd been pole axed. I think he was more dazed and surprised by it than anything else. He didn't appear too hurt by it. "What the Fuck was that for?" Richard had turned his head and was staring right at Phil when he said that.

"Sorry, kid. I was just upset. I didn't mean anything by it." Phil offered Richard a hand up, but Richard stayed where he was. He looked like he was ready to cry. Phil just smiled, and stepped back again. I was already impressed with him before this, but it made me feel better knowing he could handle himself.

Everyone stared at Richard, sitting on the floor and looking over at Phil.

I was reaching in my pocket, and counting out a thousand dollars. I moved over to Richard and offered him the money. He turned and looked at it before scrambling to his feet, and grabbing it out of my hand.

"That's a thousand dollars, Richard. Consider it a Christmas present from Brenda and me. I want you out of my house now, and don't come back here again. If I ever hear you speak to any of my wives like you did today, you're going to wish you'd never been born. Now get the hell out of my house!" He moved gingerly around Phil, making his way quickly to the front door, and letting himself out. The tension in the room lessened as soon as the door closed behind him.

"How many wives do you have, Kenny?" I knew Joyce was going to say something about what I'd said to Richard. It had just come out of my mouth, unbidden. Joyce and I had spoken about the relationship I had to each of the X's. We had discussed doing something to let all the X's know they were more than just girl friends to me. I looked over at her, noticing as I did so that all the X's had their eyes and attention focused on me, anxious to hear what my answer would be. Even Phil had stayed to hear my answer. I thought I detected a look of something close to pity in his eyes.

"How many? Let's see. You, Emily, Brenda and Shirley. How many is that? Four?"

"So, we're all your wives?" Joyce wanted it clearly spelled out, so there were no misunderstandings in any of the X's minds.

"That's what I believe. What else would you call them? If it were legal, I'd marry all four of you on Saturday. Since it isn't, I'll try to let you all know then that I'm thinking about you on Saturday. There were four smiling faces, not counting the grin on Phil's face as he turned away to allow the five of us our privacy together. I was swarmed and kissed warmly by all of the girls. I didn't know what I could do, but I wanted to do something, to acknowledge all of them to all the people in my small circle of the world.

On Saturday, right at two o'clock, as scheduled, I saw my father leading Joyce down the aisle of the church. She looked happy and radiant as she walked beside him. I thought she'd never looked better than she did right at that first moment as I saw her smiling at me, her arm tightly wrapped around my Dad's.

I looked over at Mama and Gerta, each of them holding one of the twins in their laps. Derek was sitting in his maternal grandmother's lap as well. I had spotted each of the X's parents sitting in the church, as well as Joyce's mother, father, and brother. Walt and Georgia were sitting in separate parts of the church. Richard hadn't come to our wedding.

The wedding itself proceeded calmly through the point where the minister said I could kiss the bride. I bent down and kissed Joyce for a moment, whispering to her that I loved her and was happy that we were going to spend our lives together. Instead of turning to allow the minister to introduce us as husband and wife to the gathered family and friends, I walked over to Emily, standing on the end of the three bridesmaids.

Taking both her hands in mine, I leaned in and kissed her, just like I had done it with Joyce.

"I do." Emily looked at me, surprised at what I'd done and said in front of two hundred people. "I love you, Emily." I reached in my pocket and pulled out a simple gold band, which I slipped on the ring finger of her left hand. I moved over then to Brenda. She was already crying, overcome at what I was doing. I leaned down and kissed her too.

"I do. I love you, Brenda." I took her ring out, and put it on her finger too. I looked back at Emily. She was staring at the wedding band on her finger. I was seeing that she now understood what I was doing with all the X's. I moved over to Shirley, but she grabbed me and kissed me with such a passionate intensity, that I just knew she was having a very good day.

"I do. I love you, Shirley." I put her ring on her finger, thankful that I'd had the good sense to buy rings for all of them, even before I knew how they would be delivered to each girl. When I looked back, Joyce had come down to Emily, and the two women were hugging each other, crying and laughing about something. Soon, Brenda and Shirley joined them.

All through the church, people were murmuring and talking to each other. There seemed to be a few people. mostly those who didn't really know any of us, friends of my parents, who seemed shocked and either angry or upset by what I'd done.

This wasn't true though with any of the X's parents. Georgia, Kitty, and Shirley's mom were all crying and smiling at the five of us. Walt Connor, Jerry Carstairs, and Ron Jones seemed more confused than anything else. Mama was beaming at me, and so was Gerta. I caught my father's eye, and he was smiling at me too. I had known, since early that morning, what I wanted to do.

While not in any sense a legal commitment, I knew that announcing my love for all of them, in front of all my family and friends, was as close as I could get to marrying all of them. In some societies, a public announcement in your community or village, was all it took to be married. In my mind, they were now my wives. According to Joyce, all of the X's wanted to be my wives as well

Kitty Carstairs was the first of the X's mothers to reach me. She wrapped me up in a warm hug, and then she thanked me. I thought it both strange and comforting that she would thank me.

Georgia was next. She kissed me on the cheek, perfunctorily, before making straight for Brenda.

Shirley's mom was the last of the X's mothers to come greet me. When she hugged me to her, she also welcomed me to her family. I knew she had been very worried about Shirley's decision to come live with us. There had been tension between her and Shirley, and Ron had tried to remain on the sidelines, probably concerned for his job. I also knew that Shirley had called her mother, right after I created the trust fund for her, Derek, and the unborn baby. Part of Mrs. Jones concern had obviously been financial worry for Shirley and Derek.

Back at home that night, all five of us were in the big bedroom, sitting on the bed, discussing our impressions of the day, and conversations we'd either had or heard at the church or the reception. Joyce's parents had thrown a minor fit with Joyce at the reception, telling her that I had shamed and mocked her at her wedding. In spite of this, Joyce seemed the happiest and most content of all of us.

I'm not exactly sure how it all got started, but one minute we were all laughing and talking on the bed, and the next minute, the honeymoon had begun. I think Emily started it by kissing Brenda, or else Shirley started it, by pressing her crotch against my leg when she was pretending to reach past me, to try to turn the alarm clock around, so she could tell what time it was. Whatever it was that got it started, it was the first time all of us wound up together, naked, and in the same bed, at the same time.

Mama had invited Mildred over for Christmas dinner, wanting to show off her new look. She didn't know about the problems Bea and Aunt Clara were having with Mildred. I was shocked at the difference new clothes and some hair styling had made in Mildred's appearance. Her new teeth were a lot nicer looking than her old ones had been, and they didn't make any clicking noises when she spoke either.

Aunt Clara seemed surprised at seeing Mildred at Mama's house, and even more surprised when Mildred stayed close to Mama's side, and didn't make any snide remarks to her or Bea. I gave Mildred and Aunt Clara their airplane tickets, and an itinerary, showing the hotel they'd be staying at, and the reservation for their rental car. I gave Aunt Clara and additional five hundred dollars in spending money for the trip.

I gave Bea a thousand dollars for Christmas, telling her to take the next week off. In the final delivery of the year, each recipient family was given a Christmas card with a check for one hundred dollars in it and a notice that grocery deliveries would resume on their regular day of the week, after the New Year.

The five of us spent the rest of our vacation over at the house, just sitting around, relaxing with each other, and getting almost nothing accomplished. We had attended so many parties prior to Christmas, at the company, the group homes, over at Gracarie's Cocina, that we were worn out from all the celebrations. Staying at home, with each other, and with the children, was all we felt like doing.

It was a very happy Christmas season for all of us. Somehow, we were able to put aside a lot of our differences, and unite as never before. It wasn't sex, it was coalescing into a close family unit.