Chapter 1

Violet ran around the outside of the house, looking for a Mommy.

The advantage to being the oldest child was you usually had first crack at telling your side of the story, but it still relied on getting to a parent first. At three and a half, Violet was an old hand at this, but the sheer number of parents she had to take into account was often more than her young mind could deal with. However, having that many people to love you more than made up for it, and more often than not the little girl felt pity for those with just one Mommy.

Violet rounded a bush, and stopped. This caused her three year old sister Cindy to run into her, and they both tumbled to the ground laughing. A giggling tickle fight broke out, and it wasn't until she had her sibling pinned to the ground that Violet remembered her quest. She stood, brushing the grass from her shirt and knees, and ran over to Mommy Taylor

"Mommy! Freddy hit me!" Cindy waddled up next to her, nodding in support of big sister while sucking a thumb. Cindy tended to support both sides in these disputes, as if her brother and sister were in trouble then she herself wasn't.

Taylor put the sleeping bag down next to the van, and looked down at her daughters. Both were the splitting image of their mothers. Violet had smooth shiny black hair falling to her shoulders, skin the color of light chocolate, bright brown eyes and a default impish expression. She was growing fast, and while not fat was rather solid. Not so little Cindy. Like Taylor she was as thin as a stick and always seemed to be in danger of blowing away. Her hair was long and brown and her skin was almost pure white, but while Cindy's eyes were the green of Taylor's they had the look of her father. They seemed to convey deep thought, although at this point the only thought involved whether to switch to sucking the other thumb.

"Well, did you hit your brother first?" Taylor put her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at them, trying to act the tough parent. It wasn't easy. She was the pushover in the family and everyone knew it.

Violet considered her answer. Lying was out of the question. You couldn't lie to a Mommy, nor (shudder) to Daddy! But, not saying something wasn't the same as lying. What could she say to avoid the question...

Unfortunately, Cindy hadn't developed that sense of a moral grey area yet.

"Violet was hitting Freddy, an' I was holding him, then he got away and started hitting us!" This got Cindy a mean look from her sister, which she ignored and went back to sucking her thumb.

"Well," said Taylor, looking down at the duo, "that seems fair to me." Just then the two and a half year old in question came running around the house, waving a Nerf bat and yelling. The girls screamed, and ran around the car to get away from the charging sibling. The brown haired tan skinned boy chased them around the van twice, all three laughing, and Taylor flattened herself against the side of the vehicle and watched the battle. She was tempted to join Freddy in the chase.

The front door opened, and out walked Mommy Anita. She paused on the top of the steps, holding six month old Jaxom in her arms as she took in the scene. The two girls immediately changed course and headed towards her, their screaming laughter increasing. Anita walked down to the sidewalk as the two crashed into her legs, hugging her and giggling. She looked over at Taylor, who laughing had picked up Freddy and was tickling him. The two mother's eyes met, and for the millionth time in the past three years they were the happiest people in the world. The slightly older Mayan woman then looked down at her clingy daughters.

"OK, lunch time! Go wash up!" The two yelled in glee and dashed up the stairs into the house. Taylor put Freddy down and he followed them in, yelling for them to wait up. Taylor walked up to Anita and gave her son a quick tickle. Jaxom giggled sleepily, then tried to use Anita's right breast as a pillow. The mothers again gazed lovingly at each other, and Taylor leaned in for a quick tender kiss. Breaking it off they realized they were a bit too exposed out here in front of the house. Anita sighed, and raised her free hand to caress Taylor's cheek.

"Do you think he'll be OK?"

Taylor sighed, copying the gesture.

"No. But he's doing it for us. We have to do what we can to help him through this." She looked around, taking in the warm end of June day The flowers in the garden were a brilliant yellow and red, the two large Maple trees flanking the driveway created a green archway that seemed to separate their little paradise here from the rest of the world. Why did reality keep intruding...

"Well, he'll be home soon enough." Anita handed Jaxom to his birth mother, and the two of them made their way inside. "What will be, will be."

Fred pulled his car into the driveway, careful not to block the van in. Turning it off, he closed his eyes and leaned back.

It was over.

Ten years, and his teaching career was already over.

It was his own fault, naturally, although he couldn't see how it could have been avoided. Well, he COULD see, but neither option was something he could ever do. One would require living a lie, living in constant fear of discovery, and the other would have meant not having the best family anyone ever had. Giving up your dream career was nothing compared to keeping that.

The problem naturally was people. More specifically, people who expected teachers to somehow be if not perfect, at least not in any way out of the ordinary or "morally" questionable. The more conservative the school district, the worse this was. In some places nobody openly gay would be allowed in a classroom, others would object to a Muslim or Atheist teaching (although that would never be the official reason for termination). For the small town Western New York district Fred had made his own, having two wives would have been the final straw.

The news hadn't made the rounds yet, mostly thanks to him living a half hour away just outside Buffalo. But, after three years word was starting to spread, and a few of his friends had asked some pointed questions. It was time to leave now before this became a public scandal and his lovers were dragged before the spotlight in shame. He could never have lived with having done that to them.

Fred opened the car door and stepped out, and that must have been the signal because the front door suddenly burst open and out poured four kids and two wives. The three oldest children made the dash in half a second, while Jaxom had to wait until Taylor had descended the concrete steps and deposited him on the grass until he could half stagger, half crawl over to his Daddy. Fred knelt on the grass with Violet, Cindy and Freddy hanging off of him and welcomed Jaxom with a big hug. With a growl he shook himself as he rose, tossing off giggling kids in every direction as he stood up straight holding Jaxom. Anita and Taylor were suddenly there, and the family shared a big hug. A few cars passed by as they stayed like that for a few moments, then Anita shooed everyone inside. The kids ran back in while the adults took their time, Fred flanked by his beautiful companions.

"Everything go OK?" asked Anita, her eyes searching his face for any sign of worry. It would be just like him to try and hold back.

"Yeah..." Fred sighed. "I don't think I'll really consider this the end until fall comes and I'm not in class. It's always possible in three months I'll be in a class room again..." He gave both of them a squeeze. "I just need a vacation."

Taylor leaned against her man.

"Well, you're in luck..."

The sun had vanished from the sky and the stars were starting to twinkle when the kids were finally put to bed in the tent. Taylor exited the large nylon construction (at three rooms it was bigger than her first apartment), zipped it up, then turned to look towards the fire. They had set up camp in a small clearing on a wooded hill. No water, no electricity ... just a few hundred yards of gravel roadway connecting them to the rest of the world. Anita had heard of this place from someone at work and had gotten permission for the weekend. Both of them agreed this was what they needed.

Fred had set up a double cot up as a lounge chair, complete with raised back, and was sitting in the middle looking up at the stars. The embers from the fire floated up to join them, making new constellations every few seconds. Taylor couldn't tell what he was thinking, or even if he had any thoughts beyond the beauty of the night. Her eyes picked out Anita emerging from the darkness where the van was parked, probably having put the coolers in it for safe keeping. Anita paused just on the edge of the firelight, taking her own long look at their man. Taylor moved up herself so her wife could see her, and after a moments silent communication they nodded to each other and stripped. Leaving their clothes where they dropped the two made their way to either side of the cot and joined Fred. He was startled when they suddenly appeared next to him, but with a chuckle at their nudity he put an arm around each and drew them against him.

"Now this," he said, turning his head to give each woman a brief kiss, "is how camping should be." They all laughed at that, then Taylor pulled herself partway on top of him and looked into his brown eyes, her green ones sparkling. Her right hand caressed his cheek.

"I love you, Fred." She lowered her head and kissed him, tender and yet submissive. As soon as she felt him kissing back, she allowed his lips and tongue to have their way with her. She pulled back, and only partly slid off of him as Anita pulled herself onto his right side. Anita caressed his entire face with both hands, her soul visible in her dark eyes.