Still Faithful, Always Pt. 04

"Help, help, help me someone. I need some sanity."

Laughing at herself Laura poured another brandy and looked at her watch, just past six pm. It's nine in Charlotte and I haven't talked to Dan since I kissed him goodbye Friday morning; I better call. He will still be with Mrs. Patron and Artsy I am sure, but probably not much longer. Laura dialed, she could hear the rings, Artsy answered.

"Hi Artsy, how are you? It is so good to hear a woman's voice again; I've been with only men for the past few days."

"Have you been taking good care of our Baby?"

"Artsy Honey, you have him all week and you can use our house too. I know Dan can't stay away from home all week with me gone. He is your man now too; stay with him."

"Hi Baby, love you so much. I just wanted to share a few love words with you before I get wrapped up in Business Lady doings during the week."

"Awww, that is sweet of you Baby, I do love you so much."

"So everything is okay there at home? Nothing burned down over the weekend?"

"Yes, Greg and I had a great time together, all at his place this time. I just got back home a couple of hours ago and I am sore all over from you know what."

"Yes, you are right, it is a good sore and I smiled every mile of the drive to and from San Jose. I hope you and Artsy have the same sort of smiles for the same reasons."

"Okay, kiss Artsy and Mrs. Patron for me. Baby I told her but I'll tell you, take her home with you at least once or twice. Love you! Bye-bye."

> > > - - < < <

At lunch later that week with her best girlfriend Liaison Laura shared her matrimony plans. "Alright girlfriend, here's the plan. You are going to be my Matron-of-Honor. I am getting married in that cathedral we visited in Puerto Vallarta Mexico this coming June. I still have a lot of details to work out but your job between now and June is keep Laura from going crazy. You are also my number two in working out the wedding details."

"Laura, you are really going to marry Greg without divorcing Dan? You're just nuts but knowing you everything will work out perfectly. You always have had the magic. You go girl!"

> > > - - < < <

Laura also had to let some folks in Charlotte know of her plans. At one of the monthly Friday lunches her Executive Sisters always scheduled Laura held court. "You all remember Greg I am sure and the affair he and I had back then. Well, we have resumed that affair." With the simple 'we have resumed' Laura got all of her Executive Sisters to drop other conversations and focus solely on her. Sex trumped all topics and illicit sex was always top of the mountain.

"This time Greg and I are going all the way. I am going to marry him in a personal ceremony in Mexico this coming June. I will have two husbands; Dan as husband here in Charlotte and Greg will be my husband in San Francisco."

Two of the sisters announced as duet, "You can't do that, it's illegal!"

The senior Executive Sister broke into the conversation, "Now wait a minute girls." She stared down all for quiet and attention. "Our sister Laura works two part time jobs on two coasts and gets paid as though they are full time at each job. Hell, they pay for her to fly back and forth first class except when they send the private jet for her. She is on the Board of Directors for one of the firms she works for and I'll bet she gets paid extra for that too."

Laura broke a shy grin and nodded her head admitting that she was paid extra for being on the board at Business Lady.

"As long as Dan either agrees or never finds out, and if she doesn't run afoul of the IRS, I think someone who has already worked two sweetheart deals like she has can probably have as many damned husbands as she wants. Who is going to stop her?"

That last question broke laughter around the table. Laura decided she ought at least buy champagne to celebrate so she waved for the waitress and ordered two bottles. As she poured and served she invited all of her sister friends to come to Puerto Vallarta for her wedding. Giggles and good natured ribbing accompanied the six ladies through their lunch. Everyone wanted to drop all and fly off to Mexico to attend Laura at her illicit wedding.

Once again the senior sister had to interject reality. "We can't all be gone at the same time. Can you imagine leaving just the lawyers to run the firm for a week? We would have chaos for months when we got back."

The Executive Sisters were half an hour later than usual returning from lunch and they all wore big smiles when they returned to their desks and reactivated their telephones. The office grapevine spread the news to the remaining support staff before going home time that day. Even a few of the lawyers, the ones Greg directly supervised when he worked at the firm, learned of their former boss's upcoming nuptials.

> > > - - < < <

Once more at a restaurant table, she and Liaison having a working girls lunch, another wedding task came to resolution. "Okay girlie, while you have been away playing at legal secretary back east I have been diligently working my pretty tail off trying to get you married. I think I may have solved one of your problems."

"And what might that be my Matron-of-Honor, I already have a prospective bridegroom."

"Yes dearie, you have a groom and his healthy parts but you still need one other man; I think the he is normally referred to as a Man-of-the-Cloth. This one, however, I would not look too hard at the cloth and what may or may not be underneath."

"What in hell are you talking about Liaison? Don't look under the cloth, if I do look what will I find?"

"I think he might well be the kind of preacher that goes naked under his robes and I am not taking any bets on how often he bathes his robes or what's under either. Understand now girlfriend, he is a hippie preacher complete with beard and sandals?"

"Wherever did you find this hippie preacher wonder?"

"Where else, The Haight!"

When Laura proved ignorant of San Francisco geography and its cultural significance Liaison had to explain about the Haight Ashbury district as center of the hippie movement in the 1960s and '70s. "There are still a bunch of old hippies in San Francisco and they still hang there; this guy has some kind of people's church."

"Okay, I believe you. Does this preacher have a name?"

"Don't laugh Laura; you've got to promise me not to laugh." Liaison dug in her purse and pulled out a business card. She handed the card over, "His name is Reverend Sing Praise High. That's what the card says -- Reverend Sing Praise High, Arch-Minister of the Church of Loving Hearts."

"Please don't tell me there are ministers and sub-ministers of this Loving Heart Church too. Where the hell did you find this quack?"

"He had an ad in the Weekly Rag. That's the paper that lists what bands are playing in all the clubs and has the crazy personal ads too. His real name is probably Joe Not Too Bright or something vanilla like that."

"Reverend Sing Praise High?" Laura shook her head and waived for the waitress. She knew she just absolutely had to have a stiff drink to finish this conversation. "What time can we meet him?" Laura pulled out her cell phone and pushed a speed dial number.

"Stan, it's Laura. Will it kill things in the works if Liaison and I take the afternoon off? Something has come up with my damned wedding plans that will take both of us to resolve."

"Oh good, you're the best Stan, anything you want except sex just name it. If it's sex you want Liaison will take care of you." Stan could hear Liaison's good natured scream and the laughter of two of his best employees as he hung up his phone. He could only shake his head and prepare some humor for tomorrow at the coffee pot.

Liaison handled the introduction. Laura understood immediately that Reverend High was properly named. He was smoking one of the funny cigarettes that she was sure fathered the man's name. The good reverend was also barefooted wearing cut-off-to-knees ragged cuff jeans and a flowery Hawaiian shirt. His beard had been neither trimmed nor cut in weeks or longer. In spite of the visual appearance Laura was entranced by the man's voice. His was the type of voice that inspired women to immediately begin removing their clothes. He would be perfect to perform the ceremony.

"I love your appearance and your voice Reverend High, you are hired. I will give you the exact dates in June quite soon. Make sure your passport is in order. I will handle all transportation and hotel arrangements. What else could there be?"

"You haven't mentioned my fee at all my dear, my fee is important."

"Yes, you are correct, fees are important. I assume you have made the IRS aware of the tax exempt status of your church. Let's say a service fee of one thousand dollars for performing the wedding and . . .," Laura could see in the man's eyes he was expecting a little more, ". . . a tax deductable contribution to your Loving Heart Church of another five thousand dollars." An ear wrapping smile graced the man's face. With Liaison's help Laura had just solved another problem on the road to the altar.

> > > - - < < <

With most wedding details falling into place nicely Laura decided she needed to have at least one more conversation with her current husband, with Dan and Artsy really. She gathered them around their back yard table after brunch on a Saturday morning. "We are going to need something to drink for this conversation guys; I am not sure just champagne is the correct lubricant. Which is your preferred poison, Mimosa or brandy?"

"Neither of those for me, either a screwdriver or vodka tonic, I lean toward the latter." Both women voted screwdriver but Laura suggested Dan get the makings for both. Finally they were ready for conversations.

"My wedding in June is pretty much a given; you've already said yes Baby and I love you for that much. What I think the three of us need to figure out is our future and how we get there after the wedding."

"Artsy, just as you needed to start rebuilding your relationship with my Baby by talking with me I need to find the way to my two husband future, especially my way to the future with this loving husband, by asking you some questions." Artsy nodded her understanding by taking a drink from her glass and saluting Laura with her drink.

"Are you and my Baby going to have a ceremony? I know you can't do what I am doing. I am sure you won't do something this elaborate."

"I don't know Laura . . . it's just th . . .No!" Artsy reached with left hand for Dan's right; he squeezed and leaned closer to his lover and kissed her neck softly. Artsy closed her eyes and accepted his tenderness. Finally she was ready to try and answer Laura's question.

"It will be two more months before my final decree Laura, nothing is possible until then; anything Dan and I might want could be used against me and interfere with the whole damned process. You remember about my lawyer Lester MacDaniel? He was emphatic, lay low. So nothing for a while as far as Dan is concerned." Artsy paused again going private inside herself with her thoughts.

"If we do anything, if Dan and I ever do anything it will be very, very private. It has to be that way for me or I can't live with myself." Artsy paused and looked into the other woman's eyes. "Laura, I am not going to criticize what you are doing with Greg; that's your business. I love you of a sort, but I don't like the way you are going about you and Greg. That's just me."

"You know I have never been afraid to speak my mind about how you and Greg act. You know why. I cringe when you hurt Dan. I cringe because when he hurts I hurt. You know that; you have talked to me about that fact."

"If Dan and I have a sharing of some sort of vows it may be sitting under the shade of that big live oak in Mrs. Patron's back yard. It may well be just two people holding hands and agreeing to share what little bit of life they can have together." Once again Artsy turned to Dan who was still close. With her off hand she pulled him in for a kiss that lingered and grew to an exchange of passion. Artsy pressed her forehead to her Honey's head. The action appeared to be their special form of mind meld but it was simply a way to share the intensity their love could reach. Laura watched her husband and his lover with silent respect before she finally spoke to break the spell.

"You two are so beautiful together. I love seeing how tenderly you relate to each other. I can see your love. Seeing you be tender together makes me happy and not jealous at all." Dan sprouted an aw shucks grin; Artsy looked down to her hands in lap.

"At very most we might try to add those people we are very, I mean extremely, close to: you, Mrs. Patron, probably LF and Interior Decorator but no more than those few. That's my feeling Laura; Dan and I have never talked it through so he may have other ideas. I could not do what you are doing and I don't think my Honey, your Baby, could live with himself any more than I could if we tried to splash."

Artsy ended her dissertation on a vibrant positive pitch conveying no sense of animosity. She reached to Laura and shared a hug and kiss to make sure the woman understood her point of view.

"I do understand completely Artsy. Let me change focus a little to Dan and I and how we need to be to keep this okay current place a continuing okay place and hopefully get even better. I'm concerned about time Baby, having enough time for all we have going on and still have enough time for you and me being together. That was a problem in the past; it was a problem I caused and I don't want that again."

"Baby, I hear what you are saying. I have a feeling you are going to try to spend more time out there. I hope you don't go too far again. Time is an issue because there is not much we can do to stretch time. What we can do is try our best to make quality use of the time we do have. We can't do too many things on our own or we eat into what time we really need being together."

"I know there is one thing I want to start that will be one more together thing we do; you will be involved too Artsy. I want both of you to teach me about the art world you two live in. I want to be more than a naked body on canvas."

Laura's suggestion brought a peal of laughter from all three. She picked up the others glasses and went off to get refills. Over her shoulder she called out, "More than a waitress too." When Laura returned with fresh drinks her Baby and Artsy were still laughing with her.

"You're right Baby, getting more deeply involved with what this pretty lady and I, Mrs. Patron and our mutual friend LF as well, do in the art world is what I was talking about when I said we need quality time together. You would also be more firmly involved in our main circle of friends." Dan paused and a wicked smirk shaped his face. He bit off a quiet chortle before pressing into territory he knew would draw punishment from his Baby.

"If you have trouble picking up what we do you could combine the modeling and waitress skills you've already mastered and be our topless barmaid."

Dan was absolutely correct about his punishment. His Baby rushed him and slapped him about shoulders and head with both hands. "You Jerk!" Artsy called encouragement, "Hit him again Laura; hit him again for that sexist crap." Laura kept swinging but lightly; she finally sat in her Baby's lap, laughed and showered him with kisses.

After recovery from the fun times Laura asked Dan what he needed from her to make more quality time together. "I have two points, important points; first I do need to spend time with Mrs. Patron and Artsy here on our turning Mrs. Patron's home into a gallery-museum project. We can try to schedule intense work when you are on the west coast but that will not always be possible. I don't think there are many ways we can include you in the planning process. After we open things will ease up and there are probably more things we can do together." Laura nodded her understanding.

"The second point I want to make, it goes back to the issue of quality time, is vacations. When you were with Greg the last time you reserved all of your vacation time for him. We never took a single vacation together those four years."

Laura tried to object, that couldn't be true that they never, but then she stopped objecting. He knew Dan was correct in his accusation. "I was a nasty shit Baby; I am so ashamed of the way I acted in so many ways. I'll do better and if you see me slipping call me on it. You too Artsy, just jump in and shake me back to where I need to be."

The conversation continued through the afternoon. Most of the suggestions and discussions were quite positive. Both Dan and Laura understood what they wanted to achieve. Artsy often served as referee helping one or the other explain or make a point. When the last screwdriver, the last vodka tonic, was drained as far as these three could say Laura's wedding with Greg was still a go.

> > > - - < < <

Dan became Laura's shopping consultant helping find the perfect wedding dress. One Saturday they began early, visited half a dozen department stores and smaller boutiques, looked at dozens of dresses and Laura tried on at least ten, all rejected. Late in the day Dan suggested a boutique operated by a woman he had met several times at gallery openings.

Owner and Dan hugged a greeting; the atmosphere started to get confusing when he introduced Laura as wife and announced what they were looking for. "Mother of the bride you mean?"

""No, I am being unusual but I am going to marry my lover in a simple ceremony in Mexico so I will be the bride. We've been shopping all day and I am exhausted. Can you help us by showing something simple?"

Dan amplified Laura's request. "Instead of something simple think something primitive, maybe that will help." Shop Owner retreated behind a curtain and returned in a few minutes. "You're a six, right?" Laura nodded. "I thought so; take a look at these three."

Owner held each dress for display on hanger spreading hem and top to give best view to her customers. Dan pointed and said "Yes" to the second dress but owner pressed on. "Let's see that second one again. I think it's the one you want Baby."

"Is he as good with women's fashion as he is with art?"

"My Baby is even better, simply the best with women's clothing. That's why I have him at my side. Well, it's one of the reasons but only one. Let me get a better look, please."

The dress Dan pointed out was simple in shape, not at all fitted, with short sleeves and it fell to knee length. There were three layers of cotton gauze, sheer individually but quite properly opaque together. Laura went to the dressing room to try on and returned a few minutes later. She did her best fashion model runway strut twisting and turning to give the dress a proper display.

"It looks perfect on you Baby; the fit works, it flows well when you move, the dress looks great and you look great wearing it. How does it feel to you?"

"Wearing this dress I almost feel like I am wearing a nightgown. It is light and comfortable."

"Well, we are all adults and understand what comes next after the wedding ceremony, a dress that feels like a nightgown is appropriate, isn't it?"

"For a two husband whore like me it should have some red to be my scarlet badge or maybe hooker black. What do you think Baby, should we take this or keep looking for something with just a hint of color splash?"

Shop Owner was appalled at Laura's self deprecating remark but jumped in to save the sale. "A good seamstress could add a border of red ribbon to each sleeve that would still look natural and give the color splash you are looking for."