Chapter 24

Whenever I was out somewhere with both Dorothy and Sonia, I would introduce them to people as Dorothy, my wife, and Sonia, my sister in law. Without any question, this was factually correct, and also how I thought of each of them.

The fact that I was having sex with Sonia wasn't something that was known, outside of my close family, and among Dorothy's family members. The three of us had grown comfortably accustomed to the nature of our unusual relationship. To be honest, I didn't really give that much thought to what our sexual relationship might have meant to Sonia.

Other than on Wednesday's, when I slept in her bed, and we had sex, the rest of our relationship was cordial and pretty much platonic. Occasionally, we might play a bit of grab ass, and might sneak off somewhere, away from the children for a quick blow job, but there never was any of the casual intimacy that Dorothy and I shared around the family. Even on the nights we were together in bed, we never talked about any of our family's problems.

Sex with Sonia was very nice for me, and I'd enjoyed it from the beginning. It had been pretty well established, way back when we had first gotten started, that it would be recreational sex only that we shared. At no time had the sex been more than just a physical pleasure, mutually shared.

Sonia hadn't ever showed any sign that she wanted more than some periodic sexual release from me either. There was no question that she enjoyed having sex with me, or that she felt like our having occasional sex with each other was a concession she'd gotten from Dorothy, for the sole purpose of making her stay with us a happier one.

In 1973, while our new house was getting built over in La Habra, Sonia started getting it into her head that Dorothy and I were treating our other relatives to much more than anything we'd ever offered to her. We never knew whether it was because I had hired my father and brother to work in my business, helped my sister, Nancy, be able to afford buying our old house, or the fact that we had financed the purchase price for the dry cleaning business for Mrs. Ross and Sonia's two oldest sisters. Perhaps it was a combination of all those things, in addition to the fact that I always referred to the new house we were building as Dorothy's dream house.

She seemed to not feel that our taking her and her son into our family, providing them with food, shelter, and a stable home life had compared to those things we'd done for all the others. She made her feelings known to Dorothy, and, in due course, Dorothy made them known to me. Dorothy was very careful to not express her own opinions about what Sonia had said.

When she first told me about Sonia, my initial reaction was that the three of us should sit down to discuss what it would take for Sonia to not feel slighted, or think that she had been left out of our plans. In my opinion, Sonia was just hoping to get some attention, and was hoping to get her own car, or else a gift that had some comparable value to a car.

When I shared my thoughts with Dorothy, she got very upset with me. She seemed to think we should kick Sonia and Jake out of our house. She even suggested that we help her mother find a larger apartment, one big enough for the four women and Jake to occupy.

"Dorothy, don't you think you're overreacting? Let's find out what she really wants, before we even consider taking such a drastic action."

"I already know what she really wants, and I'm not going to let her have it. She wants me to share you with her every other night, once we move into our new house. She wants to be my equal with you."

"She told you this?"

"Not in so many words, but I've known her all her life. She's spoiled, and she always needs to be treated better than the rest of us. She's the youngest, the best looking, and she thinks she deserves whatever she decides she wants."

We discussed things a bit more, mostly to get Dorothy calmed back down again. Dorothy finally agreed to ask Sonia what she really wanted. She didn't want me around when that conversation took place. I agreed to let Dorothy do it her way.

It was three days later before the topic once again got brought up to me. I had just returned from the job site in La Habra, where the last six homes (including our new home), were now under construction. I hadn't really thought any more about Sonia, or about her apparent concerns with how she was being treated. The first thing I noticed was that none of the children were anywhere around.

"Where is everyone, Dorothy?"

"Over visiting with your mother. They'll be home after dinner." That was unusual, that my mother would be having all four children visiting her at the same time. She sometimes looked after Buzz when Dorothy and Sonia went shopping, but I couldn't remember her ever looking after all four before. "Come sit with us in the kitchen, Jim. Sonia has some things she wants to talk to us about."

I sat down, as ordered, and spent the next thirty minutes listening to Sonia trying to make a case for exactly what Dorothy had predicted she was after. I didn't interrupt to ask her any questions, or seek clarification about any of what she had said. She finished up, and seemed to be waiting for me to say something. For my part, I just looked across the table at my wife. It was easy to see how angry Dorothy was, but she didn't speak either.

"What do you think, Jim? Isn't that more fair than what we've been doing?" Sonia didn't seem as confident or self assured as she had been.

"It isn't what I want, Sonia, and I'm pretty sure Dorothy doesn't like your ideas either. She's my wife, I love her, and I'd never agree to what you want, not even if Dorothy told me, herself, that it was what she wanted too."

"What parts of it do you object to?"

"All of it. I already have a wife, and I have no interest in acquiring another one. What you're asking for would ruin the special relationship that Dorothy and I have with each other. I'm starting to think that you might be happier living elsewhere. Right now, I'm pretty sure I'd be happier if you were."

"We have nowhere to go. I can't just pull Jake out of his school. All his friends are there."

"Dorothy can talk to your mother. We can help her with the rent for a four bedroom house in this school district. Jake wouldn't need to leave his friends. You will be working for your mother anyway, so it might be more convenient, for everyone, if you lived in this area, rather than up in La Habra with us."

Right after I told her that, I stood up and left the kitchen. I didn't understand how Sonia could get it into her head that anyone, but her, would want what she was practically demanding we give her. On the spur of the moment, I decided to drive over to my Mom's, to invite myself to dinner. I looked back at Dorothy and told her I was going over to my Mom's, and that I'd bring the kids back home after supper.

Dinner over at my parent's house was a quiet affair that night. Everyone at the table could tell that I was upset about something. All four of the children were unusually quiet, and even my Mom didn't try to make conversation. My father was usually quiet at the dinner table, but I could see all the pointed looks he gave my mother, wondering if she knew what was happening.

When I got home with the kids, at around nine o'clock, both Dorothy and Sonia were off in the bedrooms. I looked in on Dorothy when the kids were getting themselves ready for sleep, and she was already asleep. Zinat was helping a very sleepy Buzz get into his pajamas, as I went around checking to make sure both doors were locked and all of the unnecessary lights were turned off.

By nine thirty, I too was in my bed, trying to find sleep. It refused to come for me. Instead, I replayed everything Sonia had told Dorothy and me, earlier, at the kitchen table. Alone with my thoughts, I understood how she could want what she was asking for, but as I reviewed what she was asking for, I knew it couldn't ever work.

I just didn't have feelings like that for Sonia. I couldn't even imagine how she thought I could accept her sharing equal status in my eyes with Dorothy. I wondered if I might have contributed, in some way, to her apparent confusion about my feelings for her? I wracked my brain, trying to come up with anything I might have said or done to give her the idea that I'd accept her as Dorothy's equal.

All I could come up with was the once weekly sex we'd been sharing for four years. I could see how that could mean much more to her than it ever did to me. I felt a bit guilty that the main reason I'd gone ahead and had sex with Sonia, in the first place, had been because I had really wanted to make that run at Melanie Meyers four years before.

I was in the kitchen at six the next morning. I felt a bit out of sorts, not having gotten much restful sleep. Sonia and Dorothy were each sitting in their normal places, drinking their coffee. I wasn't sure how each of us were supposed to act around each other.

"Good morning. You both are up pretty early this morning."

"We're going over to help our mother with the paperwork transferring the dry cleaners into her name. Afterwards, we're going to talk to her about your idea for renting a big house instead of a two bedroom apartment. How long am I supposed to tell her we'll help out with the rent?"

"I guess for as long as Sonia and Jake are living with them. Make sure she knows that Sonia wants to still be living in Jake's same school district. Tell her we'll help her look for a place if she wants us to."