Chapter 30

It took longer than expected to happen, mostly because Melissa stuck to her guns about completing her Chiropractic certification. (She managed it quicker than most, having begun the training at the beginning of summer the year before and continuing with little break until the end of spring.) Finally, with her true love's erotic and portrait drawings and her own prose poems surrounding everyone in a private showing, she joined the celebration at Elliot's gallery.

Celebration contained abundant meaning at the event. Officially it celebrated a double wedding at city hall, one of them Melissa's.

Sorry had wandered back into their lives when he turned up in pretty bad shape at Zelda's storefront in Paris that January. Zelda nursed him to physical recovery and brought in experts, Elliot helping financially, to explore ways of helping him mentally. Adverse to drugs, saying they slowed his mind unacceptably, when Melissa and Sarah joined Zelda in Paris for spring fashion events, he found the two lovers released the demons that plagued him better than anyone else. Not just Sarah's deep tissue massage, but the two of them brought him into an intuitive dialogue which the young ladies had developed as their relationship sustained and were surprised as much as he was that he understood. Like leeching out pressure in his brain, to have his lonely thoughts which had been trapped his whole life within himself in a sort of autism being understood as he understood their nearly telepathic communication had given him a serenity he had never known. His beatific smile matched Melissa's. They seemed to smile the same, siblings in happiness.

After Sarah and Melissa left Paris, the success of the weird treatment faded. Sarah and Melissa would get calls at all times of day and night from Zelda and would organize conversations with Sorry using Skype. Though less effective without the physical presence it brought him some calm.

"Now I must have you in my life if I am to move to New York and marry that silly dressmaker," Zelda demanded after one session. "Sorry will come too."

"You just want to keep fucking Sorry and have Elliot fuck your ass, you slut," Sarah joked.

"Yes," Zelda replied, seriousness in her eyes.

"What about your documentation, Sorry? Do you have any ID?"

"I am a citizen of the world, Sarah."

"I know, but unfortunately governments tend to need proof of that." Though humorous, Sarah kept her chuckle in check.

"I have contacts," said Zelda.

"In Paris?" asked Sarah.

"No. I saw an old friend."

"From home?" Sarah asked tentatively, knowing the internet had ears, especially for a former Mossad agent.

"Yes. After you left in April my old lover visited. Perhaps because I still felt Elliot's cum in my pussy, at least as a fresh memory, I felt nothing for him like I did before. Though I felt glad to see him. He reminded me I think two things, that my past still shadows me and I should be careful about that, and that he and his friends wish me to know their gratitude for my help. He told me I could have anything he could provide. He wanted me to say I had not discussed our past life with any others, and I made it clear our secrets are safe. But I am thinking perhaps I could do as I did before when I moved to France in order to create something for Sorry. He gave me a number."

"You'll need money," Sarah pointed out, having paid a high price for top notch fake IDs for Melissa and herself.

"I will let Elliot know," said Zelda and everyone laughed.

During another Skype communication, Sorry asked about America and basically interrogated Sarah and Melissa on the subject.

"What about the dispossessed; those that cannot find a way to participate in society?" He finally asked

As it turned out in Melissa's quest for saving souls or at least giving a bit of joy to those deserving, she had delved into the world of the homeless. In fact Elliot's journey into Paris's underbelly had been inspired more by her than by "Sullivan's Travels." The bums she saw may have been needy, but she couldn't get beyond their odor and their dirt. "There are shelters, often like jails, some like missions, but less and less," said Melissa. "Places once havens for bums have been turned into hip and expensive neighborhoods like the Bowery. People live in cardboard boxes, Sorry."

"Yes, this is the way of the west, my love," Sorry replied. "Do you not wonder why I am so curious?"

"Zelda insists you come live here in America," Melissa answered. "And you now own a passport."

"Yes. I am no longer a citizen of the world. It says I am a citizen of France and I am a number." He sounded disappointed.

"It makes it easier for bureaucrats to see you," said Melissa. "Only they care about your number. To me you are infinite."

Sorry smiled beautifully. "Yes. You are too."

"What about me?' Sarah pouted.

"Alas, you are finite," Sorry decided, "but the number is astronomical, beyond comprehension."

"In other words utterly complicated."

"It is a lovely complication, Sarah."

Zelda shoved Sorry, but it created little affect on his solid body. "Ask her," she insisted.

"Ah well. Melissa?"

"Yes?"

"I have enjoyed you intimately as I have enjoyed Zelda and both intimacies have been unprecedentedly pleasurable. Your sweet vagina is so similar to Zelda you are sisters of the body. I have known no other pleasure which exceeds you two, especially when Elliot penetrates your anus and I feel him inside you. And I have enjoyed seeing your smile light the darkest night and the deepest shadows of my soul. And I have conversed with you in boundless conversations, especially accompanied by your sweet love Sarah, which have given me as much joy as your vagina and your smile. But alas, I am not asking this of you because you have been such a great treasure to me. No, I am asking as a convenience so I may stay with Zelda and Elliot in the great city of New York. For this you must forgive me."

"Sorry!" Zelda exclaimed in frustration.

Sorry grinned beautifully. "Melissa, angel of light, I must marry you."

Stunned by the proposal, it took nearly a minute for Melissa to recover. She looked to Sarah, the only other mind needing agreement besides her own. Sarah nodded. "I'd love to marry you, Sorry, but only if we consummate."

"Horny bitch," mumbled Sarah wryly.

Sorry's big body convulsed with laughter. "I cannot imagine marrying you otherwise," he at last stated.

"But how much time do we need to arrange this?" asked Melissa.

"We'll investigate, or better yet, call Jimmy," Sarah suggested.

"If it delays my marriage, so be it," said Zelda. "It is but a convenience for me as well. Love needs no license as you two know too well."

Melissa realized she and Sarah had talked about going to a state that allows same sex marriages and saw that Sarah realized the same thing. "She's right, Sarah."

"Zelda," Sarah asked, "What you say is true. Both Melissa and I have experienced the transitory nature of legal marriage. But we would like a ceremony, an exchange of vows that puts our eternal love out into the universe. I know no one as close to a cosmic priestess as you even if you ham it up a bit."

"That's not nice," growled Zelda, but her chuckle softened the reaction. "I am honored, my two lovely friends. I will look into bonding ceremonies of pagans and traditional religions and cultures for inspiration, but will create something that will please the gods for your divine union. You will be composing vows as well?"

"Yes, thank you Zelda," said Melissa and Sarah simultaneously.

The reason Sorry could find Melissa and Sarah together immediately or within a day or two of his need for their communication involved a rather complicated life for Sarah. Essentially the home in Missouri became Sarah's hub.

As promised and negotiated rather strenuously, her contract with Carrie allowed her to model no more than once a week or at more than one gig within a short period of time at the same location. Her illness promulgated by the slave driving of Carrie's company and its long recovery were used as the excuse to prevent financial penalty for contract violation. Carrie realized the benefits of continuing her relationship as agent and ended up making sure her agency's attempt at claiming violation weakened and eventually fell apart. Ironically, because of the selectivity, Sarah's price went up for whatever she did and so did her visibility. She graced teen fashion covers. Maxim even featured her in the buff on their cover accompanied by Vic and her naked daughter, Saralissa. The article, titled "Intellectual Models?" discussed Sarah's nearly finished treatise and Dr. Cole's completed doctorate thesis as well as printing a drawing from Sarah's published book of drawings for Elliot and an erotic self portrait from the unpublished collaboration between her and Melissa. In fact, a bidding war commenced immediately after the cover article came out for the rights to publish it.

So most weekdays and several weekends Sarah and Melissa lived together. And the house being located in the virtual center of America made travelling to the west coast or the south or Chicago or up to Canada a shorter venture in the end, although New York continued to be Sarah's most frequent destination. In fact, Elliot needed her there as much as any magazine or runway gig because she continued assisting in the drawing of his ideas. When desperate, he paid to fly her to his studio. She refused to be paid more than what she had been paid before, but inevitably a mysterious wad of hundred dollar bills ended up in her purse placed by Sophie.

And the quaint little home became a place to visit. They hosted Marjorie and Naomi and David for a long weekend. Of course Henri refused to go. Sophie and Emily and Jimmy came by, bringing Emily's infant cherub, Sarah's half brother Sam. Elliot showed up a couple of times for some incredible threesomes. Tina and Guido stayed a week, venturing on a last big vacation before settling down in Milan and beginning a family. Vic and Nils stayed even longer, bringing along the surprisingly sedate and infinitely curious Saralissa with her big blue eyes and breathtakingly beautiful face and soft blonde hair and infectious smile and giggle. When their European friends visited, Sarah showed them the nearest big cities: Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Memphis, giving them a taste of America outside New York. Melissa stayed home to work and attended classes as she nearly always did while her peripatetic lover went travelling.

Despite her need to stay home, Melissa loved the visits. She felt so grown up, like a mom getting her house ready for sons and daughters coming home. Everyone always felt welcomed and much loved and never felt like an imposition. While they thoroughly enjoyed Sarah's lovely presence and enthusiastic energy, they loved Melissa's warm, heartfelt embrace. And the house itself seemed to be Melissa writ large. When they left, often in tears, they felt rejuvenated as if Melissa massaged them to their very souls.

Therefore, the one thing which tore at Melissa's heart when she decided to leave Columbia, Missouri prematurely—she had planned at least a couple more years to get deeper into the medical ideas prevalent there, but Zelda steered her to similar training in and around New York—was leaving the home Sarah had bought for her. Putting up the For Sale sign had been the most difficult thing she ever did. And despite the housing crisis, the warmth of the home attracted buyers and a small bidding war ensued resulting in a price several thousand more than Sarah had paid a year before. The fact that Melissa liked the buyers, at least the woman who seemed shy in the presence of her overbearing, cocksure husband, but managed to convince him to buy it and proved, when Sarah and Melissa took her aside and chatted, to be quite bright and charming, and her two year old son wisely showed his utter devotion to her while responding to the coldness of his father in kind, still didn't make it easier for Melissa to give it up.

When the deed was done and the buyers and representatives left, Sarah watched Melissa topple into herself, softly crying. "I'm sorry," Sarah said quietly, wrapping her body around her love.

"Me too," Melissa sniffled.

"Come to bed."

There, Melissa whispered, "Thank you."

"What for?" asked Sarah, kissing her cheek.

"For giving me this home. For your being here. For the loveliest year."

"But aren't I taking it away?"

"Not you. They need us there, in New York. If they didn't, we'd be here forever."

"Probably. What would they think if they saw you heartbroken?"

"I'll never be heartbroken as long as you're here or wherever we are. It aches, but it's definitely not broken. But we won't let them know, will we?"

"Best not I guess. We love them too much to make them feel guilty. Besides, we have a new home, a new place you can turn into the house of love, and I mean that purely psychologically."

Melissa giggled within her tears. "Let's hope it's physical too. It's something to look forward to, making that Englewood house warmer. We were too young to think we could change it."

"You definitely graduated into an adult, Melissa."

"You did too, Sarah. I'm proud of you, what you're becoming as a woman."

"I feel the same about you. I love you so much it hurts."

"Me too. What made you buy this house?" asked Melissa.

"I saw you here, Mel, at least potentially. It stood empty, which may have helped. The previous owners hadn't kept their mark on it so much. It was like a vacuum to be filled by you. You remember the yard?"

Melissa chuckled. "What a mess. It's great though because you saved a ton of money, I'm sure."

"And you immediately resodded and created a flower bed for pansies and daffodils and planted the lilac bush by the entrance so it smelled so sweet when it bloomed as you stepped outside."

"And our little white birch tree. How I wanted to watch it grow."

"I know. Remember when I brought Joe and Mary home."

"They were so happy when I cooked them meatloaf. You'd think they hadn't eaten in weeks."

"Home cooking, they loved it. And they loved our home."

"They sure seemed to love christening our guest bed."

"They felt so comfortable, they could become unrestrained."

"You'd think performing hourly for johns might put a damper on it."

"What can I say? They love each other. They love to fuck. They love to fuck each other."

"I miss them Sarah. You sure we're not kicking them out of the New Jersey house?"

"Those two don't grow roots. They want to stretch out their wings and catch the current to wherever it takes them."

Melissa felt her pain easing as they chatted. "Amsterdam. It's perfect for them," she smiled.

"Yeah. The whole live sex show is perfect for their kink. Not just a man or a couple watching them fuck."

"And who would have thought Vic would find Mary so appealing?"

"And Nils would like gay sex? But I bet they wander off to explore the world."

"You know them better, Sarah. And to think they were nickel and diming in their seedy little LA hovel selling sex on the internet until you touched Mary and sent her flying. What about Evie?"

"She's still got a couple years of school so she's staying home. She'll probably find another dancer to continue my stripping legacy. She created a couple new dances with Mary."

"Not as good as yours, I bet."

"Thanks, Mel, but she's a pretty great choreographer. I like her new routines."

"If you say so," Melissa said doubtfully. Sarah chuckled. "What else about this house?" Melissa continued. "Sophie."

"Yeah. I'm glad she tracked us down."

"Except inevitably we lost the house because of it."

"It was bound to happen despite my hiding shenanigans."

"I know. Her timing was perfect. You needed to return to your life, your family, your loves."

"I don't know. All I need is you really."

"Same here. But I could tell you wanted to take another stab at the modeling bit. You chomped at it. It's like a dare. It beat you. You wanted to beat it back. And you did."

'I still think it's silly, but at least I seem to be good at it for some reason."

"Because you're radiant my love," Melissa smiled and turned around and kissed Sarah, pushing her onto her back and stripping her naked slowly, celebrating each new exposure with a kiss, caressing lower until lips and tongue and fingers found the warm wetness within. It comforted her more to make love to Sarah than for Sarah to make love to her. Providing a quiet lingering orgasm for her true love pleased her as much as it pleased Sarah.

"Your turn," Sarah murmured, bringing her lover's mouth, tainted sweetly by her juices, to her mouth and kissed her gently.

"Later, my love," Melissa replied after the kiss. "I want to talk about our house some more."

"Of course, my love," Sarah smiled.

They talked well into the night, capping it off with mutual caresses and a sixty-nine that brought them both to highest ecstasy, the pinnacle reached because of the overwhelming love they felt for each other in the bedroom in their quaint little home.

"Thanks," said Melissa, lying in her lover's arms.

"For what?"

"I'm a lot less sad. And somehow I love you even more for doing that for me."

"My pleasure. Definitely."

Smiles shared from their hearts became the last they saw of each other that night as sleep finally claimed them.

That night a little over a week before helped enormously in giving Melissa's glorious smile a purity of joy as she celebrated her marriage to Sorry and Elliot's to Zelda and acquiring an agent for her and Sarah's book and Sophie being pregnant and Vic being pregnant again and Tina through Skype telling her she's pregnant ("I'm sure it was conceived in your lovely, loving home in the middle of America," Tina told her. "She will be graced by your sweet soul.") and more than anything being amongst friends and family she cherished; many of whom she hadn't seen in over a year.

George for instance. Having many distractions, it took a good half hour before she approached him at the reception in the gallery.

"When's the orgy?" he wondered wryly. "I came for the orgy."

"Patience, George," Melissa smiled and embraced him. "Great to see you. Thanks for coming."

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world,. But when's the ... ow."