Chapter 5

We told Karen the next day about our conversation with mom. She said she had been talking with her parents, too.

"Are they ready to string us up?" I asked.

Karen laughed. "They weren't too happy about me saying I'm in love with both of you. We had a long talk about it, though. I don't think they're going to shoot either of you when you come over to our house next."

"Did they get upset about Jed and me?" Becky asked.

"That never really came up. I'm sure they wouldn't be happy about it, but as long as they don't think we're all three together at the same time, I think they'll accept it."

"They are probably going to figure it out sometime. Are they going to forbid you to see us if they do?" I asked.

"I don't think so. They might yell at me a little, but eventually, when they see I am very serious about this, they'll give in. They really do love me. They just want what's best for me."

"I can understand that. That's pretty much the way mom is. If this had been a few years ago she would have had our heads if she knew Becky and I were in love with each other. Her and dad were really into this fundamentalist church. Anything, and everything was a sin."

"Yeah, dad was even worse than mom," Becky said. "Dad saw me in my panties and bra a couple of years ago. Hell, I really didn't even need the bra at that time. He called me a slut and preached at me for half an hour."

"At least mom and dad have never been into anything like that," Karen said. "I think it would be very hard to live under those conditions."

"In a lot of ways it was. We couldn't play cards, and we couldn't have any game that had dice in it. We weren't even allowed to dance."

"That must have been a hard way to live," Karen said.

"In some ways it was, but I think it made us stronger people. We learned to live without all of the material possessions most kids have. I also think it made Becky and me grow a lot closer than most brothers and sisters."

"Didn't it effect the way you think about things?"

"Maybe in some ways, but for the most part Becky and I figured out things for ourselves. We're not hung up on what our parents thought. Most of our beliefs come from our own reading, and our conversations with each other."

"Well, I for one think you did quite well."

I'd like to tell you that the rest of the summer was a bacchanalia of revelry and sex. It wasn't, though. I think all of us respected each other too much to rush into anything, or to cheapen what was going to become a very important part of our lives.

We knew there was no reason why we had to hurry about anything. I think all of us knew from the very start that we would be spending the rest of our lives together. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun together. We even experimented a little with sex. We just didn't go all the way.

We did get to know each other's bodies, both visually and manually. Before the summer was over, we spent a lot of time skinny dipping in the pool, or soaking, nude, in the hot tub. I think if any of us had made a concerted effort, we would have started having full sex much sooner than we did. For some reason, none of us felt the need to make that effort.

Our relationship wasn't without passion. The passion was definitely there. It just wasn't a driving force. It was more like our relationship was the meal we needed to live, and the passion was the desert.

When school started, the three of us were inseparable. Becky didn't have any classes with Karen or me, but she was with us at all other times. Karen and I had almost all the same classes.

Karen always introduced us as her boyfriend, Johnny, and her best friend, Becky. Of course, that made Becky and I both feel good.

Karen is a very smart young woman. She helped me get good grades in all of the fuzzy classes, while I helped her get through calculus. Both of us helped Becky. The three of us always studied together.

As time went by, Becky and I got to know Karen's parents, Alice and Bob. At first, we thought Alice was one of those no nonsense people, who are always kind of intimidating to me. After she gets to know you, she can be a real tease. As we got to know her, we found ourselves liking her more and more.

Bob was an accountant. I probably don't need to say anything more. I know that accountants are stereotyped, but Bob fit the stereotype perfectly.

It was on a nice warm Saturday in the middle of October when we had our first serious conversation with Alice. Becky and I had walked over to Karen's to see what she wanted to get into, and Alice met us at the door.

"Hi, guys," Alice said. "I've asked Karen to hang around for a while, so we can all have a talk."

Those words scared the crap out of me, and I guess Alice could see that, because she said, "It's nothing bad, Jed. Go on out on the back deck, and I'll call Karen. I'll bring out some Cokes."

After we were all four seated on the deck, with drinks in our hands, Alice said, "Before I say anything else, I wanted you to know that I think all of you are very mature for your ages. The problem is, two of you are sixteen and Becky is only fifteen. You all seem to be getting very serious for people your ages."

"Yes, I guess we are," I said as Karen and Becky nodded.

"Teenagers fall into and out of love very quickly. We've all seen that. What makes you think that what you feel for each other is different from what any other teenager feels?"

I looked at Karen and at Becky. Both of them just nodded at me, so I answered for all of us. "Karen dated other guys before she started dating me. I dated other girls before I started dating Karen. Neither of us have felt a connection with anyone else we dated that was anything like what we feel for each other. We're in love, pure and simple. It's not puppy love. It's not a teenage crush. It's a deep, abiding, now and forever love."

Alice looked a little taken aback by the sincerity of what I told her. "How do you know it's not just your hormones talking?"

"If we were being controlled by our hormones, we'd have made love long before now."

"You mean you haven't had sex?"

"I mean we haven't gone all the way. We've had many opportunities. There have been times when we've been very tempted. When we do have sex, it'll be when we are both ready for it."

Alice smiled, and said, "You are even more mature than I thought you were. I figured you had gone all the way long before now."

"Mom, it's going to happen. It may even happen soon, but as Johnny said, when it does, we'll both be ready for it," Karen informed her mom.

"What do you guys plan to do with your lives? What kind of job do you want, Jed? Where do you plan to live?"

"There are many inequities in our laws. I'm going to become a lawyer, and see if I can do something about that. Karen wants to help people with emotional problems, so she's going to become a psychologist. Becky wants to help people with physical problems. She doesn't want to be a doctor, so she's looking at either biochemistry or biology. I have no idea where we'll end up living. As long as Karen and I are together, it doesn't matter to me where we live."

"Those are all lofty goals," Alice said. "Where do you see your relationship being in five years or ten years?"

"Karen and I intend to be married before five years are up. In ten years, we hope to have a couple of kids."

"What about Becky? How does she fit in?"

"I'll answer that, Johnny," Karen said. "Mom, do you want a politically correct answer, or do you want the absolute truth?"

"I may regret this, but I want the truth."

"In five years, or ten years, or thirty years, or fifty years, we see Johnny and me married; and Becky living with us and sharing our bed every night."

Alice just sat there in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she sighed and said, "That's kind of what I thought you were planning. You know there are a lot of drawbacks to that. First off, there is the matter of incest. Secondly, if I'm understanding you right, there is the matter of homosexuality."

"Yes, Mom, and you can add to that the fact that multi-partner marriages are illegal. We're not worried about any of those things. We're hoping you'll be open-minded enough to accept us and be happy for us."