Chapter 21

Inga and I finished our interview shortly afterwards and after we were presentable I took Inga to find her mother and then led them both to the office and made the happy announcement about them starting down here soon. I did manage to corner her mother and invite them out to supper at our house after work. She agreed at once and promised they'd just follow me there in their car after work.

I headed back to my office and the snag in my plans jumped up and bit me on the ass, figuratively speaking anyway. I already had a steady girlfriend, namely Wanda, and now I had proposed to another girl. Things could get messy, but I thought of a way out of it, or at least I thought I'd thought of a way out of it.

I had to face it. Wanda was coming around, but I didn't think she was anywhere close to being ready to answer in my favor if I popped the question to her.

What? You think I didn't realize there were laws against marrying two women? Hell, I knew all about that, but we were living in Arkansas, the state where the eldest daughter often became the second wife especially in mountain communities.

I decided to call my lawyer and ask for advice. When I rang his office he asked me to come right on over.

I know, I know, he was technically an officer of the court, but that didn't mean he was going to tell on me even before I did something horribly wrong.

Once I was in his office and explained things I got a reaction I never expected. He laughed. Well actually it was more of a guffaw.

"I'll swear Jake, you are the most entertaining client I've ever had. Legally you don't have a leg to stand on, but this is Arkansas. I assume this Inga is every bit as good looking as Wanda is and so I'm just guessing you aren't about to let either one of them get away from you if you can help it," he said.

"You've hit the nail on the head," I said.

"It really is a shitty law no matter what state it's in. It's always been my opinion that a man with plenty of money should be able to have all the wives he can afford. I'm sure there're some good reasons for keeping most people from doing it, but there is no need for government interference in the case of a man of your means. Especially if both the women agree to the union in the first place."

"Well," I said.

"Don't tell me they don't know about each other."

"Well, they don't yet. The truth is I haven't even asked Wanda yet," I said.

"You're smarter than I thought then. It is always best to get a legal opinion and advice before you do something illegal."

"How were you planning to go about this?"

"I just thought of it and I don't have a working plan in place yet."

"I'm going to have to let you work out the interpersonal details, but I can practically guarantee you won't get any crap out of the county. The judge won't give a damn and the sheriff won't either. If the city police chief tries to give you grief just let the mayor know you're going to run against him next election if the police chief doesn't mind his manners. We'll get a new police chief shortly after you mention it to his honor the mayor."

"As far as the details are concerned it'll be easy. Just get a couple of different preachers and have private ceremonies. If you don't worry about the marriage licenses no one else will either. In fact if you can talk the girls into getting them without you going along you can even get those, but I don't think you really need them. No checks are ever done on them and they aren't sent in to the state. They're really just extra paperwork dreamed up by someone who wanted more clerks in the county offices.

"I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like to me you figure you already have this Inga wrapped up, especially with her comment about allowing you to have mistresses. Wanda is going to be the tough nut to crack, but you happen to have just what is needed for that too." he said.

"I do? What do I have?" I asked.

"You have a large business and plenty of money. You'll be able to build a big home and if you play your cards right Wanda will come right on along with your scheme. Don't be afraid to tell her exactly what's going on, and if you have to, lean on her a little. Let her know it's your way or the highway."

"She was a prime little nugget in the marriage market a couple of years ago, but for God's sake, she wasted her time with that dumbass Danny knowing all the while he'd never be able to support her in the way she wanted to become accustomed to. You can, in spades. Hell, bribe her. When you tell her the deal make sure you bring along an engagement ring that would choke a horse. Tell her where and when and let the diamond smooth out the details. If it comes down to it be sure to let her know Inga will be just as glad to have two sets of the same diamonds.

"Hell, you're bound to know how to make deals after all your time at the car lot. Just let her get the best of it for once and she'll be on your side no matter what. If Inga has a little gold-digger in her too it won't matter. You've got plenty of gold for both of them to dig. Meanwhile, I'll lock up the corporation to make sure neither of them can get their claws in it if things go bad later on. It's always wonderful to be able to give you wife, or wives, in your case anything they want. It's a completely different thing if they're able to take what they want on the way out." he said.

I made up my mind I was going for it. No matter if it didn't work I was pretty sure I'd end up with one of them. Getting both would just be the cherry on top. I already knew Inga would get along fine with Wanda and I'd paid more attention to Wanda than she might have thought. She seemed to get along famously with any female. In my estimation getting the deal done would be the hard part and I thought they'd get along fine together once it was done.

Thankfully it was coming to the end of the week by now and so I called Wanda for a Friday night date. She sounded genuinely happy to hear from me and we were set for another night out on the town, so to speak.

My next complication was breaking the news to Inga. I intended to tread lightly with her. I'm not saying I already liked her more than Wanda, but I felt every bit as close to her and if I was going to lose one of them during the negotiations it wasn't gong to be Inga.

I decided it was time to head home, and after making sure Svetlana and Inga were in tow I headed that way. I'd also called Mom to let her know we were on our way and she was waiting for us to drive up. She and Svetlana got along famously from the start. I managed to slip Inga off to my bedroom for a little but she was surprised when I wanted to talk instead of just getting naked right off the bat. I had to talk fast though because she was determined to get comfortable from the start, and to her comfortable meant down to her bra and panties.

I tried to hem and haw about it, but with English being her second language things were difficult. I finally asked her how she'd feel about being a co-wife, with another wife along to keep us company.

"Jake, you are such a joker. Even I know you Americans aren't that civilized. Of course I would love for you to have another wife or two to help me out, but you can't, can you?" she asked, and damned if she didn't look hopeful at the last.

I broke down and told her the whole story then and even added a little bit I'd been hiding from myself. I told her how I'd always intended to ask Wanda to marry me, but then explained how she, Inga, had stolen my heart the first time I saw her and how I'd just blurted out my fondest wish.

It was the truth, but she chewed it like a pickle. She actually seemed like she felt sorry for Wanda and in the end she told me she'd do all she could to help me land Wanda too. I was surprised she even knew who Wanda was, but she'd met her in school and she said Wanda seemed nice to her.

I guess I came close to discovering the answer to my prayers just then, but didn't quite get there. It was true Wanda was always nice to all other girls, no matter their station in life. I didn't even get a hint of the real truth yet, but if I had I would have felt nothing but relief.

Anyway, I went over the whole deal with Inga and some of it surprised her. The diamonds were one thing she took an interest in right away and I had to tell her we'd be going down to pick some out for her tomorrow.

"Oh Jake, I knew there was a reason I loved you. My mother and I both love diamonds, but my father was miserly about them. Even though he had plenty of money he never bought my mother a one. Now you're telling me you will buy me a diamond before we are even married. I can hardly believe it," she said, and then threw herself on me."

It let me know two things at once. First I was sure as hell going to buy Inga some diamonds tomorrow, and second I was going to grab some for Svetlana while I was at it. I felt the tiniest bit guilty about grabbing the daughter and getting the mother as basically a lagniappe any way. Besides, an uptown man of wealth like myself needed to have all his women dripping diamonds. Even if the town I was uptown in was Prescott Arkansas.