Chapter 9: September - The Glow of the Moon

Decisions vary in scope and importance. We make them all the time; their making defines us as people, tells others who we have been, what we are, what we might be. Maybe you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, or hot summer nights with a tall glass of cold lemonade. A slender girl with legs that climb all the way to heaven, or one with curves that don't quit, promising to send you freefalling into love. The high-paying stressful job that will line your pockets with green and face with stress, or something more menial, impacting the lives of others in such a meaningful way that one can't help but love the work they do. Decisions deeply rooted in every sphere of life. Family. Lovers. Friends. School. Jobs.

Marriage.

Jahn had spent a lot of time over the previous months thinking about his future. Somewhere along the line, he had finally realized that what he was doing wasn't just an attempt to retain a sexy, thrilling relationship with two incredible women, but he'd actually fallen in love with both of them. A slow revelation, chiseling away at his defenses like a miner's pick with a slow and steady tapping, It came to him that what he thought was love in other relationships was just commitment, but without an emotional bond. Not that all fault could be laid at his doorstep, but there was a recognizable element of self-involvement.

Together, Jen and Fiona were stronger than any two women and had managed to drag him out of the shell he'd erected. That former solitude, the loneliness of it, held no appeal for him. He'd looked to the heavens and found his sun and moon. He wanted to reach out, draw them close, and never let them go, to marry them.

Jen examined the ring cupped in her palm with wonder, but Fiona stared at him as if he'd suddenly grown a second head. "That's ... polygamy," she said, words tumbling from her mouth as if forced. Her sister half-turned to her, listening intently.

"You're absolutely right. People judge it harshly for a lot of good reasons. I don't think any of those reasons apply to us, do you? What you think matters to me, not others."

"It's not ... legal." Flatly delivered, her response's meaning was unreadable.

."Of course, the marriage would be strictly ceremonial. I can give you my name, my commitment, my ... self. The tax breaks, all the rest of the things that go along with so-called real marriages? They're not what matters. You and Jen matter."

Fiona's voice was strained, but she continued. "How could we possibly arrange the wedding?"

"Entirely up to you. We could take our vows separately, or together. I like the latter, since all three of us would be in this together, but it's your call. Whatever makes you most comfortable."

"The ... other things?" A subtle emphasis on the word 'other' framed her question. Of course, there was always the specter of sex to haunt the relationship.

A touch of humor tinged his response. "Jen's done a fine job of arranging that, and we're not even married." The blonde's cheeks colored a light pink, but she was smiling. Fiona, on the other hand ... was he losing her?

"I ... what would Mom say? I don't think-" Jen looked up sharply at this reply from Fiona, another more obvious realization having the blonde. He knew what that was – her father.

Mary Reed was an entirely different matter. During the short time Jahn had spent with her away from her daughters, he'd managed to get across to the woman just how much both of her daughters meant to him. Last month, he'd called her again, looking for some advice. After a reminder about his testicles being on the line, she'd answered.

"I already spoke to her. If this is what you want, we have her blessing." Turning briefly to Jen, he said, "However, if you want this too, you're going to have to talk to your father. He'll never accept it from me." The blonde looked back, blue eyes appealing, before lowering them with a nod of agreement, returning to examination of the sparkling ring in her hand.

"And the people at work? I have to ... deal with that." Yes, there was a slight complication due to her position in the company; she was upper management in V&P's billing department, and had to maintain far more professional standards than lower level Records workers like Jen. Still, he didn't think that would be a problem.

"Remember all those long talks we had early on, when you told me about your job? V&P is a family-owned corporation, you said. One that believes family matters, and that family isn't defined by traditional norms. It wasn't chance that both you and Jen work there, or that several of your co-workers have cousins and even parents in other departments. All of those big social events, the reasons why people seem to marry in-company so often."

Jen stopped him from continuing. "Can I say something?" Turning her full attention to Fiona, her voice gentle, she said, "You're my sister and my best friend, Fi, but that's not enough anymore. I've been waiting ... like my whole life for someone to love ... hell even like me. It's lonely, and I don't want to live like that anymore. I love Jahn, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather share him with than you." Holding up her hand, eyes filled with determination, she slid the ring onto her finger.

Desperately, Jahn reached out with, "We've made it this far, Fiona, past family and the obstacles that matter. The rest is love and commitment. Am I wrong? Don't you feel the same? Or is living like that too much to deal with? I want to think that I've moved past being so narcissistic, but if I've completely misunderstood..."

Brown eyes flooded with tears. "Of course I love you, Jahn, and I'm well past any resentment of Jenny. It's just ... I never could have wished for anything like this. It seems like there are so many reasons we shouldn't, like this is wrong or something. I love you, but..."

"We all need somebody to love. This is about what you want. Will you marry me?"

"I..." Staring at the back of her hand, she examined the ring, tears sliding down her cheeks. Her gaze shifted aside to Jen's worry-filled expression before cutting back to his, and some of the luster returned to her eyes. Whatever concerns that exceptional mind of hers could raise, she left them unspoken, resolve in her features. She slid her own ring into place. "Yes."

Hard decisions had to be made in the first weeks after the trio got home, and Jahn, like it or not, had to be at the center of all of them. Mary had accepted the arrangement, and even seemed pleased when he told her both of her daughters had said yes to the proposal, but Donovan was now the paramount issue, and Jen seemed to understand that if they were going to go through with a wedding, her father's approval was absolutely critical.

It was a cool and confident young woman that approached her father's booth at the Johannesberg prison, not a vulnerable little girl praying for her daddy's approval, though Jahn was certain that at least some part of his fiancée still craved it.

Donovan sat with the phone in his hand, a huge bull of a man attempting to discern exactly what had changed his daughter's attitude so dramatically. A steely stare that got no visible reaction from Jahn gained the man nothing, but the ring on Jen's finger told him a great deal. Those blue eyes looked briefly approving then narrowed.

Not stupid, Jahn thought. He knows damn well that something's up and that it probably has to do with Fiona.

"Hi Dad! We just got back from Florida a few days ago, and I wanted to give you the good news. Jahn proposed!" With a bright smile that seemed a little forced, she raised a hand to show off her ring. "We're going to get married, come spring!"

Donovan said a few words that Jahn couldn't make out, seeming to give Jahn a nod of acknowledgement, though not quite approval, because he was still waiting for the bombshell. Was that a question he was asking? Jen obliged with a response, though hesitantly.

"Yeah ... about Fiona. I know it's not something you want to hear, but he's marrying her too." A shadow seemed to fall over the big man's face and it hardened into something like the granite cast Jahn had seen when they first met, but darker. From where he stood, the harsh words the man was speaking were only a drone, but he could guess.

"No, Daddy. I am okay with it. I'm not doing this because it's what he wants, but because it's what I want. I love him, and so does Fiona, and he loves us both. Do you understand that?"

Donovan spoke again, most of it unintelligible from what Jahn could read of his lips, but the last looked something like "It's not right."

Jenny flared up angrily, voice thick with emotion. "Maybe not, but you made it this way, you made this situation different, Daddy. You and your friends! Did you think I wouldn't figure out that the people you've got looking out for us have been chasing off any guys that we might have been interested in, or showed the least bit of interest in us? Do you know what that's like, how lonely that is? Mom told me how you used to be this big ladies man, and how you fell in love with her instead. You had them, then her; and we had nobody. Nobody!"

Donovan seemed to reel as if punched, and Jen continued, "Don't take this away from me, just because it doesn't seem right to you! You made it "wrong" because you wouldn't let me have a normal life, and now you want to take what I do have away! Do you hate me because I'm not like you? Is that it?" Jen sounded as if she were losing her composure, close to tears. Reaching out, Jahn laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Something like panic replaced the darkness and hostility on Donovan's face, and

Jahn was reminded again of the odd mix of love and hate at war inside the man, as if he were some sort of mutant representation of that yin/yang business. Leaning forward, the man spoke urgently into the phone, indiscernible chatter nearly an octave higher than his usual base rumble. Reassurance. Letting her know he did love her. Trying to fix the colossal fuck up that had been his interference in his daughter's life and was now threatening to take the one thing he did love in life away from him. Whatever dark principles the man held, they were losing the war against the one thing that mattered most to him. Good.

In the end, Jen had her way, and while her behemoth of a father looked beaten, he also appeared much happier. The hot seat didn't seem quite so hot when Jahn finally had to sit down and speak to the man, though Donovan immediately put him on the defensive.

"Hope you're sincere, boy, that you really do love her, because you know the consequences if you hurt my girl." All cold menace, delivered under a veneer of calmness for Jen's benefit. That would be terrifying under other circumstances, but for some reason their mother was still more intimidating.

"Or you'll cut my balls off, right?" Jahn delivered the line without a hint of sarcasm to discourage any suspicion of mockery. "I do love her, yeah. With all my heart."

Donovan stared at him coldly for a moment then gave a short bark of a laugh. "You've been talking to Mary."

"Wouldn't be where I am without her approval, sir."

"No, don't s'pose you would. Mary's a beautiful woman, all class, but she's got a firebrand temper. Mess with her little girls, either of them, and she's like the wrath of God. Didn't take shit from me, or any of the guys."

The guys. "Your 'friends, ' I take it?"

After another uncomfortable stare, Donovan said, "I don't care if you don't like what they stand for; they've done right by me. Pick up a paper. Wasn't right for me to have them shielding Jenny the way they did, but that's on me. Not them."

"Including Edwards?"

"He's to his old man what Jenny is to me. That's all I'm gonna say on that."

"And this neighborhood watch program of yours?" Carefully delivered, treading that fine line of sarcasm and respect.

"They'll make sure Edwards stays where he belongs, but otherwise ... I'm ending it. I trust Mary's gonna keep a real close eye on you, but it's your job to make sure nothing happens to my girl."

"'Til death do us part," Jahn said softly.

Donovan looked taken aback at the quote, but nodded. "Just like that, kid. Now fuck off and put Jenny back on the line."

Resolving the conflict with Jen's father had brought all the sunlight back into her disposition, and she spent the ride home gushing over the fact that things seemed to be working out just right. There was a touch of shadow over her newfound enthusiasm, as if she feared that it couldn't last. He'd have to work on changing that, and spent most of the afternoon making good on the attempt.

"Agh!" Jen gasped out as Jahn went down on her again, nibbling lightly at her clit, enjoying the musky scent of her arousal. "God, I love the way you love me." The teasing motion of his tongue around her swollen lips and then back to their original target caused her to arch her back and surge against him, clutching at his head with her thighs, fingers digging tightly into his skull to grip what she could of his head. Her climax was a frantic thing, violently pulling him into her, encouraging him to partake more deeply of her most personal essence. When she finally let him up for air, the satisfied expression on her face could do no less than bring a smile to his.

"You get to look forward to this for the rest of your life," he whispered in her ear, after he'd moved up the bed to lie down beside her. The beatific look on the blonde's face was all the repayment he needed.

September days seemed to fly by as the trio began to carefully let out the news of the impending wedding. Fiona had already spoken to Vander about the matter, confirming what Jahn already suspected: the company had absolutely no problem with what her boss termed an 'alternative marriage' The man's choice of expression had an uncomfortable feel to it, and Jahn was glad he didn't have to deal with the flack that those who led other 'alternative' lifestyles had to. World was an ugly place sometimes, and he didn't want that for Jen and Fiona.

Donovan's advice to pick up a paper had haunted him for a while, and he eventually took a trip to the local library to search their archives. The man's conviction predated most of the library's online resources, and Jahn had to kill most of an afternoon, but eventually found an old scanned copy. Jen had been right in her assessment – the assault and murder had been nasty pieces of work, and by all witness accounts, racially motivated – a deadly assault on a Native man drinking at the same bar Donovan and some friends were hanging out at. Jahn had stumbled over that bit, looking for the name of the man killed, but it hadn't been Fiona's father, who he knew by name, if nothing else.

While the attack happened long before hate legislation had been instituted, the circumstances had been sufficient to put away anyone involved for most of a lifetime: Tate Harding, the dead man, had left a family behind, and the only man who'd been successfully fingered for the murder had taken the rap. That was the important part, what Donovan had been referring to. Several men had been pointed out as being with Donovan that evening, and it was believed that they'd been directly involved but the police had nothing to implicate them. Donovan was the one who went away. A Margrave was named, though it didn't appear to be the same man as their neighbor across the street.

Click.

Donovan's people weren't just doing looking out for a friend, they were doing it for a friend who'd sacrificed his entire life for them. It was the darkest examples of loyalty Jahn had ever heard of, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that, but it ... made sense. More importantly, he didn't feel like he had to worry they might take exception to their buddy's little girl sharing her man with a half-breed. Those friends would do what Donovan wanted.

--Case closed, he thought numbly, turning off the computer.

Life's never that simple, though. Just when you think you've fixed all the problems, another pops right up.

"It's wonderful that Jenny was able to work things out with her father," Fiona said serenely as she put away the last of the dishes they'd been washing together. "But ... there's still some unfinished business we need to take care of."

Glancing sideways at her, he noted the emphasis she'd placed on 'unfinished, ' and said, "I already called Greg. He was pretty cool about it, and seemed a lot more relaxed when I talked to him." Apparently, Jen's intervention had helped Greg and Amy's budding relationship over a major hurdle, and the man had been shockingly friendly when Jahn spoke to him, treating their previous grudge as long dead past. Though, it seemed Jen already knew all the details..." I guess Amy's been hanging out with Jen and her friends since then."

Fiona nodded as they headed into the living room to relax. "On top of everything else, Edwards was a control freak. Amy didn't have any friends of her own. I'm told she used to be a lively, outgoing person before things fell apart for her, and Jen has been helping her get some of that back Amy needs someone who actually cares about what she feels to look out for her, and friends to uplift that battered spirit. She has that now, she'll be okay."